66 day challenge

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Picture credit - ​Claire Cain Miller - New York Times
Day 48 - Empathy
27 May 2020
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Prabodh Sirur
sirurp@gmail.com
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My learning for the day
Today I want to summarise two books on ​Empathy​. Thanks ​Clifford Chi​ for
your recommendation
Book 1 - ​Well-Designed: How to Use How to Use Empathy to Create Products People Love
Author - ​Jon Kolko
Source - ​Summary​ by ​Brand-Genetics​ and ​The Drum​ by ​Matt Boffey
Summary -
Feeling and ​experiencing the emotional world​ (aka Empathy) of the person
you are designing for is the key to successful design.
The author champions this view - Designing is about designing for feelings,
not features - giving your product a ​personality and soul​ that connects with
users rather than introducing just another layer of functionality into their
lives.
This means understanding the following three things before designing the
product or service -
People’s goals (we are emotionally invested in our goals)
People’s expectations (expectations determine our emotional responses)
People’s emotional response to how something ‘feels’ when it is used.
Emotional Value Proposition
Most brands have a ​value proposition​ (a promise to produce value for a
customer). The author advocates companies to work on emotional value
proposition too (look at emotional outcomes – how people feel as opposed
to what they do when building the proposition).
Kolko recommends this ​format​ of an empathy value proposition -
After using [product] people will feel* more [positive emotion] (and/or will feel less
[negative emotion]).
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*The 10 feelings​ psychologists use to measure happiness internationally
are - the frequency you feel these five positive feelings – active, determined,
attentive, inspired, alert vs. the frequency you feel these negative feelings –
afraid, nervous, upset, hostile, ashamed
Here are the four key steps: (1) Determine a product-market fit by seeking
signals from communities of users, (2) Identify behavioral insights by
conducting ​ethnographic research​, (3) Sketch a product strategy by
synthesizing complex research data into simple insights, and (4) Polish the
product details using visual representations to simplify complex ideas.
Whatever you’re designing, give your product a personality. Kolko argues that
audiences are​ essentially ​in dialogue with the products​ they use.
Book 2 - ​Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy
Author - ​Dev Patnaik
Source - Summary by the author in ​Informit
Summary -
The essence of the book is - the problem with business today isn’t a lack of
innovation; it’s a lack of empathy
The Pattie story
Early one morning in 1979, ​Pattie Moore​, a young designer living in New York,
transformed herself into an old woman three times her age (strapped herself
into a body brace that made her shoulders hunch forward, wore a white wig,
plugged up her ears so she couldn’t hear, put on glasses that blurred her
vision….).
And then stepped out to feel the world as an old lady. What she realised was
the world was ​not designed for senior citizens​ (Pill bottles demanded too
much dexterity. Telephones were too hard to dial. Climbing the steps onto a
city bus was a dangerous ordeal). She continued this experiment for over
three years. Pattie’s experience opened up a new generation of ‘​Empathetic
designers​’.
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This story (and many more such stories) of how companies prosper when
they reach out and connect with other people forms the basis of this book.
When people in an organization develop an intuitive vibe for what’s going on
in the world, they’re able to see new opportunities. A widespread sense of
empathy starts to influence the culture of a place, giving it a sense of clarity
and mission.
Though a business book, it seeks to answer questions that are relevant to all
- businesspeople, educators, designers, marketers, athletes, policymakers….
This is how the book is organised -
The miopia​ - how organizations lose sight of the real world and how they
might regain that connection
The empathy culture​ - how we can create a widespread sense of empathy
across a large group of people
The pay off​ - how the widespread empathy can help companies to see
opportunities faster, prosper for longer, ensure ethical conduct, and instill a
personal sense of meaning in each employee
Hope this helps you do a deep dive to draw out your empathy and make
your organisation ​prosper​, ​emotionally and financially​.
What is Empathy?
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
This is a nice quote that explains the difference between Empathy and Sympathy -
“Empathy is walking a mile in somebody else's moccasins. Sympathy is being sorry
their feet hurt.” ― Rebecca O'Donnell
This is what Webster Dictionary says -
Sympathy​ - an affinity, ​association​, or relationship between persons or things
wherein ​whatever affects one similarly affects the other
Empathy​ - the action of understanding, ​being aware of​, being sensitive to, and
vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of ​another​ of either
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the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully
communicated in an objectively explicit manner
Compassion​ - ​sympathetic consciousness​ of others' distress ​together with a
desire to alleviate it
My learning so far on this topic
Day 8 post​ - 5 People Who Changed the World By Taking Compassion to the
Extreme
Day 18 post​ - How brands are using empathy to enhance marketing
Day 28 post​ - Types of unempathetic people
Day 38​ - Two TED talks - Trash cart Superheroes & Compassion and the true
meaning of empathy
How to improve this skill?
Set a goal to ​become a go-to person​ by mastering the art and science of ​Empathy​.
Follow the ​LAST model​ to build your personal brand as a Guru of ​Empathy​.
Learn​ - Invest time in learning different frameworks/ models/ techniques of
Empathy
Apply​ -
Identify a model suitable to you
Create a template to document the flow of the process
Find opportunities to use the selected method/ template
Maintain record/ process flow of every important activities you did with
respect to ​Empathy
Maintain notes of your thoughts/ insights/ failures/ challenges…. to be used
for sharing/ training others
Share​ - Share the insights captured in step 2 above in a planned manner (social
media posts, blogs, videos, study notes…)
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Train​ - Generate opportunities to train your peers and team members so that, over
time, your organization benefits from your efforts
Purpose of this document
I took a 66 day challenge​ to study Life Skills last year (10 April 2019). To my
astonishment, I succeeded in studying for 66 days one skill a day.
My objectives of learning these skills were - To strengthen my mind to face life’s
challenges with ease, To use these skills in my worklife for a better performance, To
use these skills in my personal life for enriching my relationships, To open new
possibilities to surprise myself.
This is my next 66 day challenge​ (from 10 April 2020) - To share my Life Skills
learning with my social media friends.
I pray that my toil helps you in your success journey.
What are Life Skills?
UNICEF​ defines Life skills as - ​psychosocial abilities​ for adaptive and positive
behaviour that enable individuals ​to deal effectively with the demands and
challenges of everyday life​. They are loosely grouped into three broad categories
of skills
- cognitive skills​ for analyzing and using information,
- personal skills​ for developing personal agency and managing oneself,
- inter-personal skills​ for communicating and interacting effectively with others.
Which LifeSkills are covered?
The ​World Health Organisation​ identified these basic areas of life skills that are
relevant across cultures:
1. Decision-making
2. Problem-solving
3. Creative thinking
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4. Critical thinking
5. Communication
6. Interpersonal skills
7. Self-awareness
8. Empathy
9. Coping with emotions
10. Coping with stress.
Some trivia
‘Life skills’ was never part of the school curriculum. WHO/ UNESCO mandated
academia to teach these skills in all schools across the globe in 1993.
Different countries educate their children in these skills with different objectives
- Zimbabwe and Thailand - prevention of HIV/AIDS
- Mexico - prevention of adolescent pregnancy
- United Kingdom - child abuse prevention
- USA - prevention of substance abuse and violence
- South Africa and Colombia - positive socialization of children.
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