The Future of Feeling: Building Empathy in a Tech-Obsessed World

by Kaitlin Ugolik Phillips

compassion is feeling for someone; empathy is feeling with them.

we can’t ever really know what it’s like to be someone else. We can only know what it’s like to imagine being someone else.

“Empathetic people are happier, more self-aware, self-motivated, and optimistic. They cope better with stress, assert themselves when it is required, and are comfortable expressing their feelings. There was only one scale where non-empathetic people scored higher: Need for Approval.”

“We no longer have to be face to face to showcase a power imbalance between two people.”

“Some of the best hope we have is that you aren’t born with a specific amount of empathy,” she reminded me. “We used to think you were either empathetic or you weren’t, but the truth is you can increase your empathy, and one of the best and most effective ways is by hearing other people’s perspectives and experiences.”

A growing number of influential organizations think so. In fact, companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Fidelity, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are banking on the idea that not only will empathy training keep employees from behaving badly, it will make them more motivated and productive too. Empathy is getting so big in the business world that there are at least two massive indices—one created by the Harvard Business Review and one made by UK company The Empathy Business—that rank companies on their empathy. Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, and Netflix regularly top the lists. It’s not always about making sure people follow basic laws against sexual harassment. Work culture has become much more collaborative in recent years, and CEOs and managers are realizing that it’s easier to get people to work together—and be productive—when they can empathize with one another.