A Whole New Mind: Empathy

Next stop on our trip through Dan Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind, is empathy.  

Dan writes, “Empathy allows us to see the other side of an argument, comfort someone in distress, and bite our lip instead of muttering something snide. Empathy builds self-awareness [and]… allows us to work together”.

There is an appropriate time for detachment (rules-based decision making) and an appropriate time for attunement (emotionally-based considerations - empathy). “And people who will thrive will be those who can toggle between the two”. 

Empathy enables collaboration, reflection, and the adjustment of our personal behavior. And, I believe, it’s key to design. Through empathy we can put ourselves in our customer’s position and create remarkable products.

Empathy is also a source of differentiation in the marketplace. It can’t be reduced to a list of actions. It’s impossible to automate and difficult to outsource. And – it’s absolutely necessary to build and maintain relationships. 

Some of Dan’s ideas for strengthening your empathy “quotient” include: take an acting class, volunteer somewhere in your community doing something that causes you to interact with people whose life experiences are different from your own, or perhaps, get yourself a pack of Ideo: Method Cards.

To quote the IDEO site, “IDEO Method Cards show 51 of the methods we use to inspire great design and keep people at the center of our design process”.  

Empathy is all a matter of perspective. Are you able to look at situations from another’s perspective? Can you not only see their point but feel it too?

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Comments

[ellenweber]

Wow -- this was interesting post Ann. I had never seen "empathy" as a builder of self- awarewness. Thanks for the insights.

[Trée]

Excellent post Ann. Empathy is such a difficult concept to keep in one's awareness, to place in the gap between stimulus and reaction. Thanks for the encouragement to continue to work on this vital path.