Sure. I think it's important to empathise with people. Especially in a professional setup. But how do you empathise with the lazy ones who would come to a meeting unprepared, hoping to get a quick tutorial on the subject on the go. Or the condescenders who would assume their expertise on a subject renders all other opinions invalid. In those cases empathy is actually cruel to the remaining who do deserve it. Empathy like every other human emotion isn't really universal.