Take notes. I was standing on a street corner in San Francisco. I was hardly expecting to see Cher standing beside me. She wasn’t alone. This was rock and roll. A whole army of folks from her tour were right behind her. Cher was concerned that not all of them were going to make it through the cross walk to the other side of the street in time. Cher walked into the middle of onrushing cars, held her hands up, and stopped traffic on both sides. Her people made it to the cable car. As soon as they had crossed Market Street, Cher was mobbed. She was very nice about it, and signed autographs. There has been a lot of talk lately about leadership. We want to know what it is and how it works. America’s CEOs have been boning up on it (Adam Grant). Cher was protecting her people. She was focused on what was ahead. There was that infamous laugh. Empathy is a hallmark of leadership whether you are the CEO of General Motors or a rock star with an army of folks who make sure the show goes on. Or a teacher in a classroom of six-year-olds. Or the manager of a grocery store. Cher has empathy in spades. She stopped rush hour traffic with it.