"Empathy is the ability to imagine yourself in someone else's position and to intuit what that person is feeling." That is a nice definition. I was also intrigued by Pink's statement that empathy is not "feeling bad for someone else. It is feeling with someone else, sensing what it would be like to be that person." While I did not yawn when reading Pink's description of his exhaustion, I have many times noted myself yawning after seeing others yawn or vice-versa. However, I have never fully understood why. Cognitive neuroscientist Steven Platek has attributed this behavior to a "primitive empathic mechanism." Does this mean that we are empathetic by design?
I have never thought about empathy as a marketable skill from an employer's perspective, at least for most industries. We associate empathy with organizations that are charitable, social work, those kinds of things... But, do we perhaps resent businesses for lacking empathy? When companies crumble and all the employees are left in the dust, the country often empathizes with the employees left behind. Would businesses be more successful if they invested more time and money, or really people, in the business of being empathetic? We all know how frustrating it is when we meet a bump in the road of life, and then have to sit on hold on the phone for hours just to correct the problem. I personally like to give my business to companies that have great customer service. And customer service, in a sense, is tied to empathy. They are empathetic of how it feels to be dissatisfied by a product or service. And as Pink points out, empathy is something that cannot be replaced by robots or people millions of miles away.
Will the next generation major in empathy??
I have never thought about empathy as a marketable skill from an employer's perspective, at least for most industries. We associate empathy with organizations that are charitable, social work, those kinds of things... But, do we perhaps resent businesses for lacking empathy? When companies crumble and all the employees are left in the dust, the country often empathizes with the employees left behind. Would businesses be more successful if they invested more time and money, or really people, in the business of being empathetic? We all know how frustrating it is when we meet a bump in the road of life, and then have to sit on hold on the phone for hours just to correct the problem. I personally like to give my business to companies that have great customer service. And customer service, in a sense, is tied to empathy. They are empathetic of how it feels to be dissatisfied by a product or service. And as Pink points out, empathy is something that cannot be replaced by robots or people millions of miles away.
Will the next generation major in empathy??
Lacking empathy, yes. My husband works a calling agency for people who don't pay medical bills. And like I said in my blog, I feel for some of the people that he talks to. I can't help but think that we could easily be some of the people that are having money problems.
ReplyDeleteEmpathy requires contact and interaction with real humans. This automated world we live in affords us fewer and fewer opportunities for real exchange. Often, we know our own feelings better by sharing them with another, that process of trust and reflection enables us to connect and learn about ourselves more deeply, when we can do that, we can also do that for others. No robot can do that.
ReplyDeleteI think all businesses need to be empathetic to some degree because there is always a possibility of having to communicate with clients/customers. I think how much time and money spent on teaching empathy depends on the business, some need to be more empathetic than others depending on how much communication there is between the business and clients/customers.
ReplyDeleteI think your comments about empathy in business are great. From my experience in the business world, not all business people are empathetic, and what it produces is professional relationships that are hard to maneuver. I think that teaching empathy is an extraordinary idea because if our students are able to take that with them into the world, perhaps they can make a difference in how the "career world" operates.
ReplyDeleteWe saw in the video presented by the Empathy group today that we humans are hard wired for empathy.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope the next generation has empathy. Humans are hard wired for empathy, but there still needs to be the recognition of wanting to feel what others are feeling. I hope that continues.
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