Why is Empathy a catalyst for Business Innovation? I never used to understand this myself, now I do.
Why is empathy a catalyst for Business Innovation? If anyone had told me a couple years ago that empathy was essential to innovation and profit, I would never have taken them seriously. I mean how can such a soft skill like empathy have a place in hard innovation and profit, right? It was only after years of studying and lecturing business innovation that I now understand the immense value of empathy, why and how it truly unlocks innovation quicker than any other skill.
So, lets back track a little and understand what empathy is and what business innovation is and how they are possibly linked.
Merriam-Webster describes empathy as, “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner”.
Tim Brown describes innovation as the process of receiving inspiration and through ideation and implementation, converting ideas into products and services of value. The process is described as being human centered, the conceptualizing of an idea for a human being by a human being.
The link between innovation and empathy, is that the more Empathy a catalyst one is the deeper they are able to connect with a stakeholder. This connection and ability to feel the pain of another or desire to enable another, is a catalyst for inspiration and ideation.
The greater the depth of your feeling for another and the more closely you understand their environment the better able you are to solve their problem and the more effective your solution. Innovation is all about problem solving and creative solutions of value.
So how does one begin to cultivate Empathy a catalyst, how do we step out of our model of the world, suspend our belief systems and step into the world of another? In my opinion we first need to become aware of our unconscious bias and through that knowledge begin to understand that our perspective on the world may not actually be reality, it is just our reality.
Reflect on how diverse your circles are and how inclusive you are of views that differ to your own. A quick tip would be to master the art of listening to understand as opposed to listening to reply. This alone will allow the cultivation of greater empathy for another, fueling your ability to innovate.
We will dive a little deeper next week into diversity. A topic that is gaining increasing momentum given its immense value in business innovation. It has been noted by McKinsey that diversity boosts innovation value by up to 35%!
Contact us at Speakers Inc and subscribe to our YouTube channel
Send us your enquiry
WHEN I FIRST BEGAN STUDYING NUTRITION IN 2009 THERE WAS PRETTY MUCH NO MENTION OF GUT HEALTHY AND HAPPY. Since then a lot has changed and most of us now know that to maintain good health, the gut must properly absorb nutrients and eliminate waste and toxins on a daily basis. So, it’s not so […]
As Covid has made it’s away around the globe it’s brought steep challenges and tremendous loss with it as It Is What It Is. Having said that, we must also acknowledge it’s gifted us with lessons in resilience, unconventional connections and a need to recalibrate both our internal and external compass. We all hoped that […]
Let’s talk about being fake in the workplace and Why Fake it… Why Fake it it till you make it” mindset will boomerang / backfire “Fake it till you make it” mindset in the workplace – why it doesn’t work Stepping up doesn’t mean “fake it” By Lizette Volkwyn, Master Coach, published author and Human Lie Detector […]
A slightly different take on the whole CULTURESHOCk media this week and for the Happy Sandpit in that you don’t get to see me but you can listen in to a brain download. I’ve been travelling a lot lately and I’ve been taking footage of the open road and open spaces that continue to fascinate […]
Renias and Alex van den Heever helped a game reserve start a leopard habituation project in the Waterberg and here is the MESSAGE FROM A WILDEBEEST. A Tracker Academy project to track, find and form relationships with leopards. For the benefit of ecotourism lodges in the area. During the day we tracked leopards. In the […]
Speakers Inc – Africa’s largest Bureau is a Professional Speakers Bureau, based in South Africa. Speakers Inc has branches in Los Angeles, London, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. We were started a little over 20 years ago by Bronwyn. Our mission is to help our clients find the best, most suitable SPEAKERS for their particular […]
Lift as You Rise is Bonang Mohale’s book, published during his tenure as CEO of Business Leadership South Africa. He is a highly respected South African businessman, who is known as much for his patriotism and his active role in seeking to advance his country’s interests as for the leading role he has played in […]
Why is Empathy a catalyst for Business Innovation? I never used to understand this myself, now I do. Why is empathy a catalyst for Business Innovation? If anyone had told me a couple years ago that empathy was essential to innovation and profit, I would never have taken them seriously. I mean how can such […]
Our Mission
© All rights reserved 2024. Designed using Voxel
