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Empathy in Action
A bold new look at how technology can become a force multiplier to deliver more empathy and integrate deeper, more personalized human connections into everyday business interactions at scale.
While the world has never needed more empathy than today, too often technology is used by businesses as a substitute and a barrier to real human connection. We’ve all experienced dumb chatbots, automated scripts and poor employee interactions that dehumanizes customer interactions.
Empathy is a powerful construct for a better world and a better business. It’s not a synonym for nice. Empathy is about respect and treating people in the context of their unique situation in a highly personalized way. They predict empathy is the next frontier in technology. This book is aimed at sparking an industry-wide conversation about how exponential technologies like, AI and cloud can enable a more empathetic world.
While the world has never needed more empathy than today, too often technology is used by businesses as a substitute and a barrier to real human connection. We’ve all experienced dumb chatbots, automated scripts and poor employee interactions that dehumanizes customer interactions.
Empathy is a powerful construct for a better world and a better business. It’s not a synonym for nice. Empathy is about respect and treating people in the context of their unique situation in a highly personalized way. They predict empathy is the next frontier in technology. This book is aimed at sparking an industry-wide conversation about how exponential technologies like, AI and cloud can enable a more empathetic world.
- GenresBusinessNonfiction
195 pages, Hardcover
Published December 7, 2021
52 people are currently reading
216 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 9, 2023
Making empathy the priority
The Scriptures speak of rejoicing in the truth. What the authors say about empathy rings true and resonates deeply. It is a desire fulfilled for someone like me who yearns for more satisfying relationships in the workplace. Page after page is filled with wisdom.
True caring is often in short supply in employment situations. A preoccupation with efficiency and profitability leaves employees and customers less than satisfied. Even if ultimate fulfillment in work cannot be found in this life, this book gives me hope for a better future where the well being of employees and customers isn’t just an afterthought.
As the owner of a small business; emphasis intentional as in one person operation. One challenge is to apply what I can even though this is written for large companies. Perhaps this is a minor weakness but I think it’s possible for small operations to glean from the ideas and benefit.
One difficulty is that there are fewer choices in smaller communities. If you have a bad experience somewhere, you may not have many options to go elsewhere, though that has changed somewhat with the popularity of internet shopping. Those who have less resources and lack incentive to change may think that they can get buy with the status quo but the authors make it clear that this kind of thinking will cause companies to fall behind their competitors and lead to their demise.
So how do the authors define empathy, which is the cornerstone of this work? For their purposes it is, “The act of a company putting themselves in the shoes of their customers and employees to reorient the way they make decisions and conduct business, resulting in amazing customer/employee-centric experiences” (15). Again, I find this approach and all the practical considerations that it entails so refreshing. Just reading about it is inspiring!
Just the other day I listened to two former employees of a local business talk about their history with the company. The environment was so toxic that the both quit at different times and neither of them have ever set foot in that store again. In fact both admitted that they have not been employed by a business since that time. Both were traumatized and years later are still not over it. The ideas and approach in this book greatly reduce the likelihood of this kind of abuse.
Small boxes of text that adorn many of these pages are filled with blindspots! “A blind spot is something that you don’t know you don’t know” (21). Recognizing them helps leaders to rethink how they do things. This insight and help is a welcome feature in this book. It calls attention to the main ideas summarizing them in just a few lines. They also make use of figures so that readers have a visual to reinforce the main points. I like the layout and aesthetics, which are more inviting that just having text on page. Black, white and orange in keeping with the colors on the dust jacket are scattered throughout.
The writing is engaging and the meaning clear. Even if some of this might seem overwhelming the authors succeed in providing a vision that benefits all. I remember a past supervisor offering the perspective that going to conferences is worth it even if you learn only one or two things. Reader’s can learn far more than just a couple of things by attending to this text. The authors have readers thinking big but they can also think small. What can I do to make the world better?
The Scriptures speak of rejoicing in the truth. What the authors say about empathy rings true and resonates deeply. It is a desire fulfilled for someone like me who yearns for more satisfying relationships in the workplace. Page after page is filled with wisdom.
True caring is often in short supply in employment situations. A preoccupation with efficiency and profitability leaves employees and customers less than satisfied. Even if ultimate fulfillment in work cannot be found in this life, this book gives me hope for a better future where the well being of employees and customers isn’t just an afterthought.
As the owner of a small business; emphasis intentional as in one person operation. One challenge is to apply what I can even though this is written for large companies. Perhaps this is a minor weakness but I think it’s possible for small operations to glean from the ideas and benefit.
One difficulty is that there are fewer choices in smaller communities. If you have a bad experience somewhere, you may not have many options to go elsewhere, though that has changed somewhat with the popularity of internet shopping. Those who have less resources and lack incentive to change may think that they can get buy with the status quo but the authors make it clear that this kind of thinking will cause companies to fall behind their competitors and lead to their demise.
So how do the authors define empathy, which is the cornerstone of this work? For their purposes it is, “The act of a company putting themselves in the shoes of their customers and employees to reorient the way they make decisions and conduct business, resulting in amazing customer/employee-centric experiences” (15). Again, I find this approach and all the practical considerations that it entails so refreshing. Just reading about it is inspiring!
Just the other day I listened to two former employees of a local business talk about their history with the company. The environment was so toxic that the both quit at different times and neither of them have ever set foot in that store again. In fact both admitted that they have not been employed by a business since that time. Both were traumatized and years later are still not over it. The ideas and approach in this book greatly reduce the likelihood of this kind of abuse.
Small boxes of text that adorn many of these pages are filled with blindspots! “A blind spot is something that you don’t know you don’t know” (21). Recognizing them helps leaders to rethink how they do things. This insight and help is a welcome feature in this book. It calls attention to the main ideas summarizing them in just a few lines. They also make use of figures so that readers have a visual to reinforce the main points. I like the layout and aesthetics, which are more inviting that just having text on page. Black, white and orange in keeping with the colors on the dust jacket are scattered throughout.
The writing is engaging and the meaning clear. Even if some of this might seem overwhelming the authors succeed in providing a vision that benefits all. I remember a past supervisor offering the perspective that going to conferences is worth it even if you learn only one or two things. Reader’s can learn far more than just a couple of things by attending to this text. The authors have readers thinking big but they can also think small. What can I do to make the world better?
December 18, 2021
More than once in my career I have studied Geoffrey Moore’s Crossing the Chasm – it helped a generation of professionals like me understand the dynamics of innovation, product adoption, and the pitfalls of when a product/service fails to ‘cross the chasm’ to mass adoption. Working in technology companies big and small, Crossing the Chasm was my bible – helping me shape my work practice as a comms and marketing exec so that we could be successful.
Empathy in Action is my New Testament! It’s a chance to understand how businesses can flourish if they truly move beyond cozy corporate taglines and move beyond a hollow ‘Kumbaya Factory’ internally, to treating their customers and employees as the core assets they are, at the heart of an organization’s growth.
This is not your average CEO book – Tony Bates and Dr Natalie Petouhoff have poured their years of experience and thought into this easy to read but deep book. There are a ton of new models and practices which you can use as you think through what Empathy in Action means to your business, be it big or small, startup or established player. The book is easy to navigate with blind spot boxes that highlight ‘gotchas’, chapter takeaways and bonus stories from Tony’s career.
Empathy in Action is my New Testament! It’s a chance to understand how businesses can flourish if they truly move beyond cozy corporate taglines and move beyond a hollow ‘Kumbaya Factory’ internally, to treating their customers and employees as the core assets they are, at the heart of an organization’s growth.
This is not your average CEO book – Tony Bates and Dr Natalie Petouhoff have poured their years of experience and thought into this easy to read but deep book. There are a ton of new models and practices which you can use as you think through what Empathy in Action means to your business, be it big or small, startup or established player. The book is easy to navigate with blind spot boxes that highlight ‘gotchas’, chapter takeaways and bonus stories from Tony’s career.
June 9, 2022
Sometimes very obvious advice, but organized and thougthful. Definitely geared towards business-owners. Still great advice for leaders.
June 3, 2023
Powerful and insightful.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews