“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.
Michaelle Vilsa
Wow. What a question. Ummm, there are many things in life that can develop your character, but only if you allow them to. Since moving to Atlanta, I learned, with God, how strong and resilient I am. I was put in several circumstances and conditions that should’ve led to my demise or some mental break down. To share a few, I faced an attempted kidnapping, constant rejection letters from any job (McDonald’s included lol). I’ve stared eviction in the eyes more than any person could possibly face. The list can go on… and that’s only living in Atlanta for the past three years lol. Read More>>
Dr. Al Simeone
I believe that the following conditions are necessary for developing empathy:
Self-awareness: Empathy begins with self-awareness. We need to be able to understand our own thoughts, feelings, and motivations in order to understand the thoughts, feelings, and motivations of others. Read More>>
Priya Bhavaani
Growing up Hindu in a predominantly white community shaped the foundation of my empathy development. Since karma is a central tenet of Hinduism, my parents, who are very considerate people, taught my brother and me the importance of thinking of the consequences of our actions/how our actions will affect us and others, from a young age. Also, films are an integral part of Indian culture and my family is obsessed with Indian movies! Read More>>
Josh Y.
Empathy is a term that I have learned to not only accept but to embrace this as a gift instead of repressing what comes natural for me, for example, A close family member recently had a birthday but since we no longer live in the same state or have each other’s contact information, the only way to wish them a happy birthday was to go to their social media. Upon seeing the latest post, I FELT something was wrong. Read More>>
