What you say is not nearly as important as what we hear.
Which means that the words matter, and so does the way we say them. And how we say them. And what we do after we say them.
It takes two to be understood. Not just speaking clearly, but speaking in a way that you can be understood.
Empathy is not sufficient. Compassion is more useful, because it’s possible to talk to someone who is experiencing something that you’ve never experienced.