At a book signing, the panel moderator told me that she recommended my book, The Empathy Edge, to her friend - let’s call her Jennifer. Jennifer was in a really bad work situation with what she deemed an out of touch manager. Her boss treated her badly, didn’t listen to her ideas and generally acted like he was too busy to be there for his team. Jennifer was pretty fed up by this point, and … [Read more...]
Empathy for Others Starts with Empathy for Yourself
Empathy seems like such an outward, selfless act. And in many ways, it is. You must focus on another person, make space for them, and get out of how you see the situation through your own eyes and hold space as well for they see it. This all sounds very noble. Until a very broken person attempts to be empathetic. That’s like trying to help others put on their oxygen masks when you are about to … [Read more...]
3 Ways to Use Empathetic Insights to Repair a Bad Customer Experience
Have you ever gotten an email from customer service or an answer from a sales rep that left you feeling hopelessly misunderstood? This seems to happen to me more as I get older, and while I completely admit that the common denominator is me, nine times out of ten, it is a result of a brand representative not truly listening to me or “getting” the real issue. When an eCommerce site screwed up … [Read more...]
How to Redefine Success with Empathy
Modern market trends, as well as the pandemic, show us that leaders and brands acting with genuine empathy are winning right now. When companies have been there for the community, valued employees, even made tough decisions like layoffs or closures with respect - the market has paid attention. Just look at the media attention lavished on Zoom for offering free K-12 access to schools, Salesforce … [Read more...]
Are you an Empathy Hijacker?
“We can relate to people without hijacking the conversation” Communication expert Sharon Steed. Sharon and I connected recently as we were both on an empathy panel together. I’m in love with her work transforming company culture with empathy. She has a great LinkedIn course about communicating with more empathy as well, and that’s where I got this insightful quote. People often assume that … [Read more...]
Well, hello there, Rockstar!