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It’s Harder to Empathize with People If You’ve Been in Their Shoes
By Rachel Ruttan, Mary-Hunter McDonnell, and Loran Nordgren
Imagine that you have just become a new parent. Overwhelmed and exhausted, your performance at work is suffering. You desperately want to work from home part time to devote more attention to your family. One of your supervisors has had children while climbing the corporate ladder, while the other hasn’t. Which supervisor is more likely to embrace your request?
Most people would recommend approaching the supervisor who has children, drawing on the intuition that shared experience breeds empathy. After all, she has “been there” and thus would seem best placed to understand your situation.
Our recent research suggests ...
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