Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says empathy isn’t a soft skill — it’s actually ‘the hardest skill we learn’::Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella talked about the importance of empathy as a skill in the business world while accepting the Axel Springer Award in Berlin.
I feel like he’s telling on himself. I think for most people having a sense of empathy is the default, and learning how and when (if ever) to ignore that feeling is the hard part.
You guys just don’t understand how hard it is to make yourself think of other humans as important. This takes practice and effort! I spend 10 minutes a day thinking of how other people might feel and it’s exhausting. Anyway, the spreadsheet numbers are smaller than they used to be, so I’ll just do a round of layoffs.
Empathy is not universal. You persuade yourself that somebody is miserable, annoying, weak, unpleasant, and you are not empathetic to them anymore.
Well, at least I feel myself to be weird for not doing that and preventing myself from doing that.
Not excusing it, but I’d say it’s very easy to feel disconnected from others when you’re in a privileged position of power.
Everyone else becomes “them”, and you lose track of what “normal” or “average” experiences are like, because you tend to live within a very different space to others, and tend only associate with people with similar privilege levels.
I remember visiting my country’s Parliament building, and within about 15 minutes having this weird sense of disconnection due to the incredibly different beautiful and privileged environment. Everywhere were massive pieces of art, beautiful marble inlays, everything was clean and well ordered, great big wide open spaces, beautifully carved wooden chairs in dining areas etc.
I remember thinking no wonder politicians tend to be labelled disconnected and removed from the concerns of the average citizen. If I was working in that building 8-12 hours a day, 4-6 days a week, 40+ weeks a year, I’d find it hard to remain grounded and to also remind myself that what I was experiencing was something less than 5% of the population might experience, rather than being the “norm” or standard for the majority of the population.
It’s not even just privilege. Somebody disagrees with you? Somebody has different preferences to you? Somebody is different?
Well they are the other and don’t deserve empathy because they are wrong and bad. We’ve all done it at some point. The real mark of an empathetic person is realizing and adapting to your biases and not sticking to your superiority complex when you realize it or it’s pointed out to you.
It can be hard to be empathetic to people who are different. We all have built in bias. It’s how we treat people that disagree or are different where true colors shine through. Are you insulting and full of hatred? Or do you talk to them and try to get an understanding of their life and position?
This is all my opinion, however.