“Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself.” – Mohsin Hamid
We believe empathy is one of the most important ingredients enabling effectiveness and so we connected with some amazing folks to ask them about the conditions that allowed them to develop into such empathic leaders.
Brian Revels
I never knew my father growing up. And there was never anybody that really took his place. My mom was my biggest champion. That dichotomy made me focus on things like worth and love and loyalty. It made me listen to people’s story’s more carefully. I was already an emotional kid but that all turned it up a notch. I thought I was broken and looked for the brokenness in the world from an early age, to commiserate with it or try and fix it. Read more>>
Alesia Huff
“One of my favorite books, ‘A Return to Love’, makes a transformative statement: ‘There’s just one of us here’, meaning that we are all intertwined and connected as one. My faith in Jesus solidifies this statement in my heart, and my experience in this life has given me the revelation that the statement is an unfathomable truth. I have experienced the pains and joys of life: great love, death, heartache, sickness, recovery, birth, reward, loss, promotion, brokenness, exuberance, divorce, and everything in between. In all of these conditions of life, I have felt the associated feelings and even questioned, ‘God, why?’ With time, I have realized that all of these conditions have softened my heart for others, given me a new perspective, a deeper understanding, and increased my empathy.” Read more>>
Shayla Boyles
Hello everyone! My name is Shayla Boyles, and I come from a small town called Sissonville, West Virginia. Growing up we struggled with money, and me being the oldest sibling of 4, I took a lot of responsibility of raising the children since I’m 5 years older than my oldest brother. Throughout school I was told that I had to just do enough to get by, to pay the bills, to support the family, there was never really a creative push to dream big. In high school I fell in love with athletics and the idea of constantly bettering myself. Read more>>
Ariel Diane King
Empathy is a huge part of my job as an actress and this is a grand question which also informs why I have decided to intertwine non-profit work into my life. Where does empathy come from? From experience I can say that growing up in a midwestern city like the south side of Chicago helped build a framework. The foundation I was raised with. Families always holding each other accountable; it instilled a measure to define my values. Read more>>
Rosie Shapiro
I was raised by parents who deeply care for others, animals and the environment. It has been engrained in me to do the same. I was always encourage to be vocal about my feelings which allowed me to develop strong emotional connections with others. From that I learned that encouraging individuals to see situations from different points of view fosters empathy by promoting understanding of others’ feelings and experiences. I also believe in practicing kindness. I encourage acts of kindness and compassion in my daily life which reinforces empathetic behavior. Read more>>
Cheryllyne Vaz
Buying or selling a home is a deeply personal experience. Add on top of that, with the financial implications of buying or selling, and it can be quite a unique, emotional time.
For my husband Andy and myself, we deeply understand the emotions that come intertwined with owning a home. In fact, it’s the reason we became realtors! Read more>>
Khadijah Abdul-Azeez
Empathy came from the things I’ve been through starting from childhood where I felt misunderstood and unloved. I came from a household where tough love was shown and empathy was lacking severely. So growing up I knew I wanted to be the opposite because I had such a big heart and I didn’t understand how others could hurt people because of their trauma. Read more>>
Brian Stefan
By far the most rewarding and empathy enhancing experience of my adult life has been working at a 24/7 suicide prevention hotline. This experience – and the excellent training program associated with the volunteer role – completely change how I view other people’s suffering and my own. Prior to working at the hotline, I thought that I could help people by “figuring out” what was wrong with their situation and giving my advice, often unsolicited. Through listening to people’s deep suffering and resisting the urge to cheer them up or find a “fix,” I discovered that my empathy comes from curiosity and humility. As crisis counselors we are in a sacred position to listen to people’s heartbreak and difficulties and ask questions that come from a genuine place of caring. Whereas in other parts of society my questions would be nosey or prying, at the hotline I could follow my curiosity and compassion. Likewise, I did my best to remember that I did not know more than the callers and that humility was the best way to approach any topic. These two qualities – curiosity and humility – helped my tremendously and still help me every time I pick up the phone for someone in need. Read more>>
Dominique Posey
Growing up, I was teased a lot. My name got me joked on, my mannerisms, being a bit of a nerd who was excited to learn, the fact that I liked to sing and draw as opposed to play sports… all those things made me a target to kids around me. Taking their criticism wasn’t easy at ALL! Kids can be ruthless. I never wanted, nor do I want, anyone to feel how I felt. I became empathetic because I had been the one in need of empathy, something that I feel was a rare gift extended to me by others. Read more>>
Denise Phillips
This is such a great question. I have always been a total book nerd and I can remember my parents dropping me off at the library and allowing me to stay all day and read in its beautiful atrium. I would then take many books home with me to read during the week. There have been many articles, including in Psychology Today and Scientific American detailing studies that have found that reading fiction builds empathy. I remember reading about a study where they asked participants how many fiction author names they recognized and those that knew more scored higher on an empathy test. I think it said that they assumed that those who recognized more names read more. I remember thinking that I could knock that test out of the park then. I am sure there are many other conditions that allowed me to develop my empathy, I had wonderful parents, teachers, friends and I am sure they all contributed to my emotional intelligence, but I also like to think that all the authors that helped put me in the shoes of wonderful characters also had a lot to do with it. Read more>>
Jamaal Russ
The condition that allowed me to develop empathy is when I realized that in certain situations a circumstances, Some individuals don’t see beyond the normal scope and will never comprehend no matter how much you teach them and for that very purpose, Did helped me to develop my empathy. Read more>>
