He persuaded one of them to exchange clothes with him and spent the rest of the day in rags begging for alms. He could not help noticing the contrast between the opulence and lavishness within-the brilliant mosaics, the spiral columns-and the poverty of the beggars sitting outside.
In the year 1206, Giovanni Bernadone, the 23-year-old son of a wealthy merchant, went on a pilgrimage to St. “Josep Benlliure Gil43” by José Benlliure y Gil. If you like these characters, you’ll find more on each of them in my new book Empathy: Why It Matters, and How to Get It. So here is my top-five list of people who took empathy to the extreme, showing how it can transform the social and political landscape. You might also call an experience of this nature an “empathy immersion.” It’s like empathy as an extreme sport-one far more exciting and adventurous than ice climbing or sky diving. I believe that the best use of empathy is not in the commercial world but in the social one, where it allows us to challenge prejudices and create political change.Īnd if you look through history, there are some extraordinary figures who have harnessed this power by engaging in what I think of as “experiential empathy.” This is where you don’t just imagine someone else’s life (a practice technically known as “cognitive empathy”) but try to live it yourself, doing the things they do, living in the places where they live, and knowing the people they know. To me, this is stepping into someone else’s shoes just to sell them another pair.
The idea is that if companies can look through their clients’ eyes and understand their desires, they will be better able to tailor their offerings and gain a competitive advantage. Ever heard of “empathy marketing”? It’s the latest business buzzword.
0 kommentar(er)
