> Second, the most valuable skill a programmer can have isn't technical, but rater social: empathy.

couldn’t agree more!

but the term you’re really looking for is perhaps a strongly developed theory of mind. whereas empathy really is referring to emotional awareness.

the worst and also most annoying programmers i know, to a person, consistently fail to see other points of view. their way is the right way, period. they tend to actually be smart, and right about very many things in a small problem domain. i dare say their raw intelligence is a double edged sword.