Empathy

Published on January 16, 2015

Last updated on November 1, 2024

George Couros:

So in light of Tony’s post and people sharing their “word” for 2015, I have thought about a word that has kept popping up into my head over and over again; empathy.  I have especially thought about it a lot in a world where technology so dominates us, that we often forget that there is a human being on the other side of that connection.  It has made me step back and really think about how it is so easy to go online and complain about a bad customer interaction, not really knowing more to the story. I know that I have been prone to push in person and online, so I have tried to step back and ask more questions than anything, and as Stephen Covey would say, “seeking to understand”.

There is such a great need for empathy. Empathy is interesting because it happens inside more than outside. You can feel great empathy without anyone ever seeing. It is about not thinking the worst before hearing the whole story. It is about withholding judgment, even if you feel that judgment may be just.

And it is hard.

But we can do hard things.