Shadowing Practice: Deliver Hard News with Compassion - Learn English Speaking with Video
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45 sentences
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One of the hardest parts about leadership is giving people hard news.
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I've been a CEO, I know.
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Sometimes you have to say that your job isn't here anymore.
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Sometimes you have to tell whole organizations that there's going to be a new structure to things.
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And hard news is, well, it's hard.
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It's very important that leaders understand that that is not a good argument for avoiding hard things.
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now one of the biggest problems that we have is is misunderstanding empathy
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and compassion they're not the same thing empathy is to feel somebody else's pain
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and when you're motivated entirely by empathy it becomes a really hard thing to do to do these difficult things
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and and you might even be handcuffed and unable to do them
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and you'll wait too long when it gets even more damaging to other people compassion is different the greatest leaders are compassionate
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Compassion has four parts to it.
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Understanding a problem, feeling enough of the pain such that you can actually be in the place of the person affected,
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being able to be rational about what needs to be done, and then having the courage to do it.
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That's what it comes down to.
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Being a truly compassionate leader is what people need.
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Their greatest bosses are compassionate, not empathetic.
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And why are they compassionate?
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Because they love people enough to do what actually needs to get done.
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You know what that is?
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That's just leadership at the end of the day.
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Let's say you're in a situation where you need to downsize your employee base by about 20%.
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And that means a bunch of people, including people that you've worked with for years, are actually going to lose their jobs.
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If the only tool in your arsenal is empathy,
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that's going to be overwhelmingly hard and maybe something you're going to put off and that's going to make things worse.
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Compassion is one in which you understand exactly why this needs to be done.
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You put yourself in the place of other people such
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that you can understand what they're going through You have a plan for how you're going to transmit this information
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And actually what you're going to suggest to people who are affected
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And you have the courage to get it done quickly because that's in everybody's interests
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That's fundamentally superior in every way
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Now one quick aside on this
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How do you grease the skids a little bit?
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The Buddhists talk about having a loving -kindness meditation
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I'm a religious person and one of the things
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that I've done is I pray for people before I have to do a hard thing.
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I pray for the people that I'm actually going to affect in this particular way, and I pray for the courage.
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And so whatever your technique is, meditation, visualization, prayer, I would recommend doing that actually before you have the interactions with people as well.
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So don't misunderstand what I've said here.
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I'm not saying not to have empathy.
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I'm saying not to have unaccompanied empathy.
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Empathy is only step number two of four steps.
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And when you shear it off from an understanding of the problem, an understanding of what needs to be done and the courage to do it,
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then it becomes problematic because it's on its own.
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It's an unaccompanied virtue, and as a virtue, it can quickly turn into a vice.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Deliver Hard News with Compassion”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: empathy, compassionate, compassion, courage, pray. This video has 45 sentences and 570 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:58. The speaker talks fast, about 192 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| empathy noun | /ˈɛmpəθi/ | Identification with or understanding of the thoughts, feelings, or emotional state of another person. |
| courage noun | /ˈkʌ.ɹɪd͡ʒ/ | The quality of being confident, not afraid or easily intimidated, but without being incautious or inconsiderate. |
| compassion noun | /kəmˈpæʃ.ən/ | Deep awareness of the suffering of others that people have to the point of them being motivated to relieve such states. |
| compassionate adjective | /kəmˈpæʃənət/ | Having, feeling or showing compassion (to or toward someone). |
| pray verb | /pɹeɪ/ | To direct words, thoughts, or one's attention to a deity or any higher being, for the sake of adoration, thanks, petition for help, etc. |
| meditation noun | /mɛdɪˈteɪʃn̩/ | A devotional exercise of, or leading to, contemplation. |
| virtue noun | /ˈvɝt͡ʃu/ | The idea of all that is good or excellent (in every sense of those terms) in a human being, collectively instantiated by a varying number of human traits known… |
| technique noun | /tɛkˈniːk/ | The practical aspects of a given art, occupation etc.; formal requirements. |
| superior adjective | /sʊˈpɪɹ.i.ɚ/ | Higher in rank, status, or quality. |
| prayer noun | /pɹɛɚ/ | A practice of communicating with one's God, or with some spiritual entity. |
| arsenal noun | /ˈɑːsənəl/ | A military establishment for the storing, development, manufacturing, testing, or repairing of arms, ammunition, and other war materiel; an armoury. |
| interaction noun | /ˌɪn.təˈɹæk.ʃən/ | The situation or occurrence in which two or more things act upon one another to produce an effect; the effect resulting from such a situation or occurrence. |
| rational adjective | /ˈɹæʃ(ə)nəl/ | Capable of reasoning. |
| kindness noun | /ˈkaɪnd.nəs/ | The state of being kind. |
| problematic adjective | /ˌpɹɑ.bləˈmæt.ɪk/ | Difficult to overcome, solve, or decide. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come down to verb | To reach by moving down or reducing. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
| put off verb | To postpone, especially through procrastination. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- You know what that is?
- How do you grease the skids a little bit?
- I'm not saying not to have empathy.
- I'm saying not to have unaccompanied empathy.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be handcuffed · be done · are affected |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've been · you've worked · I've done |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 18 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: empathy /ˈɛmpəθi/, empathetic /ˌɛmpəˈθɛtɪk/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: compassion /kəmˈpæʃ.ən/, compassionate /kəmˈpæʃənət/, meditation /mɛdɪˈteɪʃn̩/, interaction /ˌɪn.təˈɹæk.ʃən/, rational /ˈɹæʃ(ə)nəl/
- Long words — get the stress right: compassionate /kəmˈpæʃənət/, superior /sʊˈpɪɹ.i.ɚ/, interaction /ˌɪn.təˈɹæk.ʃən/, problematic /ˌpɹɑ.bləˈmæt.ɪk/, overwhelmingly /ˌəʊ.vəˈwɛl.mɪŋ.lɪ/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like empathy, courage, compassion.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.