EP 462: Decoding the Language of Empathy

Today, we peel back the layers of a term that's become ubiquitous in the business world and beyond: empathy.

In this episode, empathy's origin story. Er, stories. We'll explore its philosophical roots deep in the 19th century, through my personal trials and errors with empathy, to some of the challenges we face in empathizing with people we have less in common with. Ultimately, I want to explore the ways empathy invites curiosity, leverages imagination, and recognizes our differences.

This is the first in a 5-part series in which I'm decoding empathy. We'll talk brand strategy, non-violent communication, disability, and copywriting. And all throughout the series, we'll look for ways to recognize difference instead of assuming sameness.

Footnotes:

• "Build Your Creative Confidence: Empathy Maps" via IDEO
• Bewilderment by Richard Powers
• "Double empathy, explained" by Rachel Zamzow
•  "On the Ontological Status of Autism: the 'double empathy' problem" by Damian Milton
• "Don't Mourn for Us" by Jim Sinclair
• Empathy: Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives by Amy Coplan and Peter Goldie
• Waiting for God by Simone Weil

Not Mentioned:

• Anderson, Ellie , and David Peña-Guzmán. 2020. “Episode 07: What’s the Deal with Empathy?” Overthink Podcast. December 1, 2020. 
• Ganczarek, J., Hünefeldt, T., & Olivetti Belardinelli, M. (2018). From "Einfühlung" to empathy: exploring the relationship between aesthetic and interpersonal experience. Cognitive processing, 19(2), 141–145. 

Every episode of What Works is also published in essay form at whatworks.fyi

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• (00:00) - The Language of Empathy
• (00:07) - Corporate Empathy
• (01:20) - Empathy's Origin Story
• (04:54) - My Empathy Engine
• (10:48) - Empathy in Richard Powers's Novel, Bewilderment
• (14:54) - The Double Empathy Problem
• (19:33) - No, Really: What Is Empathy?!
• (21:18) - 1. Empathy can be cognitive and/or affective.
• (22:19) - 2. Empathy is a product of imagination.
• (22:49) - 3. Empathy is situational.
• (23:44) - Recognizing Difference Is Part of Empathy
• (28:13) - Simone Weil's Attention
• (31:22) - Attention (and Empathy) Isn't Attached To Outcomes

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What is What Works?

Work is central to the human experience. It helps us shape our identities, care for those we love, and contribute to our communities. Work can be a source of power and a catalyst for change. Unfortunately, that's not how most of us experience work—even those who work for themselves. Our labor and creative spirit are used to enrich others and maintain the status quo. It's time for an intervention. What Works is a show about rethinking work, business, and leadership for the 21st-century economy. Host Tara McMullin covers money, management, culture, media, philosophy, and more to figure out what's working (and what's not) today. Tara offers a distinctly interdisciplinary approach to deep-dive analysis of how we work and how work shapes us.