The Importance of Empathy

Simon Sinek succinctly captures many leadership challenges faced today in his talk on Empathy and Perspective. This is an even greater challenge in the Technology Industry!

A few points that resonate:

• 1:30 - taking care of people in our charge, not being in charge
• 7:32 - What Empathy looks like (or not)
• 9:40 - The devastating effects of layoffs on trust
• 10:40 - Fear and why it is so insidious (Fear and Empathy are further explored in Activator: Design Thinking for Success in Tech)
• 12:20 - We are the common factor in our failed relationships (see also Leadership and Self Deception)
• 14:38 - Perspective - The Finite game vs the Infinite game
• 16:40 - There is no winning in the game of business! (the infinite game cannot be won)

I have further discussed Empathy in the article on Women in STEM: The Courage of Being Different.