Genuine Empathy -- not self- righteous pity -- is probably our best weapon in disrupting traditional parties. We need to show people they can trust us be caused we understand them better then they understand themselves.
E Sent from my iPhone Begin forwarded message: > > > The Importance of Empathy in Our Services-Centric, People-Oriented Economy > > > A core leadership competency is the one often missing in the higher levels of > management. Empathy may seem far removed from the rough and tumble world of > business, but the capacity to understand other perspectives has become > increasingly necessary for success in the digital world today. > > A few days ago I read an excellent article in the Harvard Business Review, > <ahref=”https://hbr.org/2015/09/empathy-is-still-lacking-in-the-leaders-who-need-it-most”>Empathy > Is Still Lacking in the Leaders Who Need It Most, by Ernest Wilson, dean of > the Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism at the University of > Southern California. The article is based on the Third Space, a research > project to better understand the key competencies companies are looking for, > and whether these talent requirements are being adequately addressed by > universities. > > The study conducted face-to-face, in-depth conversations with dozens of > senior executives across companies in a broad range of industries and > consulted with a number of other academic institutions. It gathered > additional data through online surveys and partnered with Korn Ferry, which > gave them access to data on almost 1,900 executives with a broad range of > professional backgrounds. > > Their initial findings were published in a working paper, The one-trillion > dollar global talent gap: What it is and what we can do about it. Their > research discovered that talent is the greatest competitive challenge > companies face. More specifically, beyond the traditional skills typically > provided by engineering and business schools, companies need a new kind of > talent that is currently undersupplied in the workforce. > > Future leaders must be strong in quantitative, technical and business skills. > But these must be complemented with a unique set of attitudes, perspectives, > experiences and other so called softer skills. Good leaders need to be good > strategic thinkers and must have strong social and communications skills. > Finding and retaining talented individuals with these capabilities is a > challenge regardless of geography or industry. > > The study identified five such specific leadership competencies: > > Adaptability: Mental agility and resilience in ambiguous situations; > flexibility when dealing with change; thinking beyond the black-and-white to > the gray areas; asking unexpected questions that might lead to better > solutions. > Cultural competence: Capacity to think, act and move across multiple > functions, silos and global cultures. > 360-degree thinking: Holistic thinking; capable of seeing the big picture and > recognizing patterns that might lead to new and better solutions. > Intellectual curiosity: Constantly learning and growing; willing to risk and > experiment in order to come up with creative new solutions to problems. > Empathy: Strong emotional intelligence; effective listening and collaboration > skills; superior communication skills; being inclusive and considering the > views of others across a variety of disciplines, cultures and perspectives. > “These so-called soft attributes constitute a distinctive way of seeing the > world,” notes Dean Wilson in the HBR paper. “Taken together, they create a > kind of Third Space that differs sharply from the other two perspectives that > have long dominated business thinking: the engineering and traditional MBA > perspectives.” > > Empathy turned to be the most important of the five attributes. “Frankly, > when empathy kept coming up in our research, I was surprised. All of the > people we interviewed were serious business executives. Empathy was not the > first virtue I associated with the rough and tumble of today’s highly > competitive business world. I expected to hear about boldness, perseverance, > and toughness.” > > Wikipedia defines empathy as “the capacity to understand or feel what another > person is experiencing from within the other person’s frame of reference, > i.e., the capacity to place oneself in another’s shoes.” Empathy is the > feeling that enables those who posses it to understand the unique perspective > of the people they interact with. > > In today’s business world, empathy is a particularly important skill, whether > trying to convince colleagues to embrace a major new idea, attempting to get > users to embrace a new product, or attracting and retaining clients. Empathy > enables employees to observe the behavior of people and better understand > their wants and needs, especially the kind of emotional behavior that may not > lend itself to quantitative analysis. > > Why was empathy the most important of the five attributes? Dean Wilson offers > several possible explanations. > > First is the changing nature of “the monolithic group formerly known as the > audience.” The once passive customers, compliant patients or couch potatoes > are now relics of a pre-digital past when communication between institution > and individual went mostly one-way. > > In our digital world, communication goes both ways. Technology has empowered > individuals, giving them access to huge amounts of information only a few > clicks away. Social media platforms enable those empowered individuals to > easily share with the world what they think of your new product or service. > Power has been shifting from institutions to individuals. “You need empathy > to know who those audiences are and what they want.” > > This is particularly important for companies doing business in diverse > markets around the world. Treating them all the same will just not work. You > must be sincerely interested in understanding other cultural preferences and > choices.” > > Empathy also plays a major role in today’s workplace. Rigid top-down > hierarchies have given way to teamwork and collaboration, often involving > employees from across the company as well as customers and business partners. > > MIT professor Tom Malone has conducted research to see if groups, like > individuals, exhibit characteristic levels of intelligence which can be > measured and used to predict the group’s performance across a wide variety of > tasks: And if so, can one find a statistically significant measure of the > group’s collective intelligence, analogous to an individual’s intelligence > quotient (IQ). > > His studies uncovered that a few group attributes significantly correlated > with a collective IQ. Foremost among them was the average social sensitivity > of group members as measured by the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test > originally developed at the Autism Research Center in the University of > Cambridge. This is a measure of social perceptiveness, that is, the ability > of group members to read each other’s emotions. “In [today’s] companies, > relationships and persuasion have become essential for success. And to > persuade effectively you must be able to empathize.” > > The final reason for empathy’s importance, notes Dean Wilson, is the growing > presence of millennials in the workforce, – that is, those born between > 1980-2000. Some consider them self-absorbed narcissists who can barely look > up from their smartphones, while others view them as seeking meaningful work > in socially responsible companies that reflect their values. “But whether > narcissistic or noble, they are 80 million strong and now dominate the > workplace. Leading and managing them requires understanding them individually > - the kind of genuine understanding provided not by broad-brush depictions > but by empathy.” > > While empathy is widely seen as desirable across industries and geographies, > it’s an attribute that’s often missing, especially in the higher levels of > management. “According to an unpublished survey of our graduates over the > past 10 years who now occupy professional positions, empathy is most lacking > among middle managers and senior executives: the very people who need it most > because their actions affect such large numbers of people.” > > How are universities responding to these evolving talent requirements? It’s > been known for a while that companies require skills beyond what engineering > and MBA programs are currently teaching. These gaps are being addressed, to a > greater or lesser extent, in engineering departments and business schools. > But the situation is somewhat different in the more liberal-arts-oriented > disciplines, because this softer leg of Third Space Thinking is newer, being > particularly important in our emerging digital economy, as well as being an > amalgam of different academic traditions and cultures, including humanities, > social sciences and communications. > > Given the importance of strategic communications and social skills in Third > Space Thinking, Dean Wilson is addressing these challenges by broadening the > practice of his own discipline, communications, and in particular, the > curriculum of USC’s Annenberg School. This will take time. While > communications is attuned to the changing nature of audiences and culture, > the heterogeneity of the discipline means that there are no widely accepted > core capabilities. In addition, given that much of communications has come > out of the humanities, there is no long tradition of working closely with > companies, as there is in engineering and business schools. > > Lots must be done by both business and academia. Colleges and universities > must figure how to create a steady supply of talented people with the proper > combination of skills that companies require and are having trouble finding. > And companies need to work hard to find, retain and promote these valuable > workers, whose leadership skills are so essential in our services-centric, > people-oriented economy. > > Regards > Dan Pattyn > > JEAN MONNET: People only accept change when they are faced with necessity, > and only recognize necessity when a crisis is upon them. > -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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