#EMPATHY

How often we feel disconnected while connected? Or alone in the middle of the crowd? Or simply feel that “it’s a jungle out there”, filled with tactics and mischief, especially in business? Maybe too often.

In business, we feel all of that and believe that the source is lack of empathy. It vanishes when individual priorities are imposed, or when payments are due, or contracts are broken, or evil tactics arise with the excuse of competition. This leads to shortcuts that are bad, disregarding the collateral damages of such conducts, again, for the sake of business competition and wealth. We see it everywhere, it is somewhat normalized. Is this as good as it gets? Do we really need to play the game this way?

We don’t think so. At Addapters, we try to bring humanity again into business, into projects, into deadlines, into our lives. We apply this to our teams, our suppliers, our contractors, our business partners, all our stakeholders. We know and feel that time is slipping through our fingers, and that we need to excel to succeed, but we also know that doing all that together is better than alone, and the truth is better than lies.

Empathy is not just a pretty word to toss around sometimes. We consider it an act of respect and honesty. It is the simple ability to walk in someone else’s shoes and feel what they feel. In fact, this is a simple design principle commonly applied to human centered design.

Our process relies on empathy first. What does this mean? In a nutshell, it is to listen with open mind, make the right questions, discuss with honesty and truly understand in order to share the same vision and work from there. Either in business or in life, empathy is needed and it is a sign of strength. Empathy is kind honesty.

How do you feel today?