The Empathy Gap

CONCLUSIONThe hardest skill we learn

As we've seen, it requires a lot of effort to put aside our own concerns, park our assumptions and beliefs, halt the pursuit of our own goals and simply focus on someone else. It takes considerable time to have meaningful conversations, to openly explore and to reflect conscientiously on our own mental models. In a world where everyone is busy all the time and calendars are packed with back-to-back meetings, it can be easy to see empathy as a soft skill that is a luxury for people with time on their hands.

I believe the effort is worthwhile and will create lasting impact, but don't just take my word for it. CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella has spoken extensively on the importance of empathy in both leadership and innovation. In an interview, Nadella asserts that ‘empathy is not a soft skill. In fact, it's the hardest skill we learn — to relate to the world, to relate to people that matter the most to us’. He sees empathy as a ‘necessary condition to create great solutions that are profitable and competitive’. Nadella sees effective collaboration as the key to modern work and empathy as the skill we need to foster in order to supercharge this collaboration.

We must have empathy for those we serve to better understand their needs. Empathy for our peers, our partners and our pains in the butt. It does take a lot of individual effort. Empathy and understanding is not something easily outsourced. Moreover, even if you could get a perfect report ...