Empathy
Published by Nick Hall on 4 August 2009.If you've been following us at all lately, you know by now that I have officially joined the ranks of Twitter. One of the brilliant people I've been following is Marty Neumeier, who is (among other things) author of one of my favourite business books, Zag.
Now Marty is not one of those "just sitting watching the sunset" sort of twitterers. In fact, during the week I've been on Twitter, he's only posted 2 tweets - each one brilliant, and entirely his own creation.
The one that inspired me the most to think about things went as follows: "In my experience, the best design thinkers tend to be empathetic, intuitive, imaginative, and idealistic."
I believe this to be true, in part because as a designer I like to believe that I possess these characteristics. But the word that really stuck with me was empathetic.
Empathy. Perhaps of all the personality traits one might possess, few draw a line in the sand as deep and wide as empathy, because having it changes so much about how we react to the world and the people in it. And for the better, I might add.
As a communications designer, I must regularly put myself in others' shoes if I am to understand what it is they will find value in seeing or hearing. I know other designers who don't/can't do this, and believe me it shows.
If we are to rise to the challenge of designing a better future for business, the environment and our children, we must make decisions taking into account the feelings of others before ourselves. It's not easy, but nothing worth anything ever is.