I Hear You
I really enjoy the show Chicago PD. All the characters in this show are very involuted. One of the hardest to understand is Sergeant Hank Voight (Jason Beghe). He is often portrayed as a tough, no-nonsense detective who prioritizes justice and protecting his team and community. While Voight exhibits strong leadership qualities—such as decisiveness, resilience, and a sense of responsibility—his approach to the relationships with those on his team and empathy are more complex.
In an episode I was watching tonight Voight was listening to some problems one of his team members was having and he stopped her and said, “I hear you.” I love that phrase when it is real and authentic. In this case it showed he understood and knew what he needed to do to help. This reminded of me of the research done by University of Virginia psychologist James A. Coan that showed empathy and leadership are linked to feelings of compassion, emotional understanding, and supportive behaviors that foster trust and connection. Coan’s studies often highlight the importance of emotional support and empathic engagement in effective leadership.
When someone hears us, they are showing compassion by seeking to understand and appreciate our current condition. While Voight’s methods are sometimes more pragmatic and involve tough love, confrontation, or even emotional detachment, especially when he’s pursuing justice or dealing with personal struggles, he does show moments of concern and protective instincts toward his team and victims, which can be seen as empathetic traits.
Coan said that “If a friend is under threat, it becomes the same as if we ourselves are under threat. We can understand the pain or difficulty they may be going through in the same way we understand our own pain.” So when the Chicago PD character, Hank Voight says, “I hear you” this really is something that that we can do. We can understand as if the problem were our own. This is once again proof that relationships matter and relationship-building is a core part of our work as leaders.
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