How can empathy, in both human interactions and AI, be strategically integrated to drive predictable business growth?
How to Put Heart into Business and Artificial Intelligence
A quick glance:
Question: Is empathy the world’s most important skill?
Quotes: From leaders (Satya Nadella and Steve Payne) on the need for empathy in their business
Framework: How to acquire the world’s most valuable skill
LinkedIn: Leading with a feature-rich case study = putting the cart before the horse
Articles: A culture of customer empathy + Build customer empathy by listening to their stories
Question: Is empathy the world’s most important skill?
In an article by Steven Van Belleghem titled - “What CX leaders should know about artificial empathy”, he points out that oftentimes, the focus of studies on the use of AI in an organization is on productivity to the organization’s benefit and not that of the employees or customers.
He argues -
Let’s not put an AI icing on an old, mouldy, flawed organizational cake. Let’s make a better, tastier cake and add a superb frosting. It’s the same as always, really, everything inside our company – from how we treat our employees or suppliers, to how we communicate, set KPIs, organize processes etc. – has an impact on our customers. We cannot fix that with technology. We must first fix those flawed processes, KPIs, communications etc. and then make them better with technology.
Every digital transformation calls for a human transformation first.
He makes a good point, but it leads me to ask - if a human transformation is required, then is a leadership transformation also required? If so, is a leadership transformation around empathy?
I did some more digging and came across a Forbes article by Tracy Bower titled - "Empathy Is The Most Important Leadership Skill According to Research.”
In the article, Tracy points out that research shows that leadership requires a fine mix of skills, and empathy tops the list for a number of reasons, as outlined below.
Importance of Empathy: Empathy is crucial for creating the conditions for engagement, happiness, and performance in leadership roles.
Increased Stress Levels: A global study found that 42% of people have experienced a decline in mental health, with increased stress levels (67%), anxiety (57%), and emotional exhaustion (54%).
Impact on Personal Lives: Studies have shown that rude emails at work can spill negativity into individuals' personal lives and relationships. Incivility at work can also make individuals feel less capable in their parenting roles.
Performance, Turnover, and Customer Experience: Rudeness at work has significant implications, including reduced performance, lower likelihood of helping others, deteriorating customer experiences, and increased turnover.
Constructive Effects of Empathy: According to a study by Catalyst, when employees perceive their leaders as empathetic:
Innovation: 61% of employees reported being able to be innovative compared to 13% with less empathetic leaders.
Engagement: 76% of people who experienced empathy from their leaders reported being engaged, compared to 32% with less empathy.
Retention: When their companies respect and value life circumstances, 57% of white women and 62% of women of color are unlikely to consider leaving, compared to only 14% and 30%, respectively, when they don't feel valued.
Inclusivity: 50% of people with empathetic leaders reported a more inclusive workplace, compared to 17% with less empathetic leadership.
Work-Life Balance: 86% of people felt they could successfully navigate the demands of work and life when their leaders were more empathetic, compared to 60% with less empathy.
Cooperation and Empathy: Decision-making with empathy promotes increased cooperation and fosters more empathy among individuals.
Inborn Nature of Empathy: Research shows that empathy appears to be inherent in humans. Children as young as two demonstrate an understanding that others hold different perspectives. Seeing friends experience threats activates the same brain regions as being personally threatened, indicating a deep sense of empathy.
Leading with Empathy: Leaders can demonstrate empathy through cognitive empathy (considering others' thoughts) and emotional empathy (understanding others' feelings). Expressing concern, actively listening, and offering assistance are essential actions for leaders to show empathy.
Action and Alignment: Effective leadership involves aligning words with actions. Compassion and action should arise from understanding someone else's situation.
Therefore, Tracy concludes empathy is the most valuable leadership skill because it contributes to positive relationships and organizational cultures and drives results. The research emphasizes the importance of developing and demonstrating empathy in leadership roles.
Quotes: From leaders on the need for empathy in their business
“Empathy is not only a nice-to-have but the glue and accelerant for business transformation in the next era of business. Empathy’s ability to create a culture of trust and innovation is unmatched, and this previously overlooked trait must be at the forefront of businesses across all industries.” - Steve Payne, Vice-Chair of Consulting, EY Americas
“Ideas excite me, empathy grounds and centers me.” - Satya Nadella, CEO and Chairman of Microsoft
Framework: How to acquire the world’s most valuable skill
The world's most valuable skill is empathy.
Unfortunately, a lack of understanding and misconceptions keep people from learning to master it. They spend hours (and usually a ton of money) trying to learn empathy through traditional means while failing to realize that the world has changed. The old ways of approaching empathy aren't relevant anymore—because now, to be successful, you have to embrace a new approach.
In a conversation with Minter Dial, author of Heartifcial Empathy, Putting Heart into Business and Artificial Intelligence, he says he knows from personal experience because he wasted years and resources trying to learn this skill.
But his loss is your gain.
Here are five empathy frameworks that will save you dozens of painful hours trying to learn empathy yourself:
Minter Dial's Heartifical Empathy Framework
Hearing this completely changed the way I thought about empathy.
According to Minter Dial, all you have to do is:
Step 1: Understand the purpose of making AI more empathic and define why it is important for your business.
Step 2: Ensure programmers understand empathy and can effectively encode it into AI, even if they don't possess high levels of empathy themselves.
Step 3: Align your company culture with the empathic capabilities of your AI to ensure consistent experiences for employees and customers.
Minter Dial's Empathy Framework
Hang this up in your room somewhere—and stare at it every day.
Tip 1: Define your organization's values and acceptable behaviors.
Tip 2: Determine which specific issues you stand up for and align them with your target market and employees.
Tip 3: Gauge employees' mental health and contribution to your organization's purpose and values.
Minter Dial's Empathetic Mental Health Framework
Addressing mental health is a crucial foundation of empathy.
Strategy 1: Middle managers are responsible for being observant and empathetic towards employees' mental health, addressing it in private conversations rather than in public settings.
Strategy 2: Understanding and addressing mental health is crucial in building motivation and trust within relationships between leaders and employees.
Strategy 3: Trust and transparency are important factors in therapeutic AI, and the bot's ownership and business model should align with the goal of helping individuals.
Minter Dial's Empathy Measurement Framework
Need help with measuring empathy?
Step 1: Break down empathy into emission (the act of being empathic) and reception (the perception of empathy).
Step 2: Consider measuring the impact of empathy on results, such as through A/B testing.
Step 3: Acknowledge the subjective nature of empathy and the challenges in measuring it.
Minter Dial's Empathetic Culture Framework
Finally, this is how you achieve a more empathic culture:
Tip 1: Reestablish human understanding and conversation to bridge divides.
Tip 2: Spend time with yourself to understand who you are and what is important to you.
Tip 3: Prioritize empathy within the context of your organization's goals and challenges.
These five empathy frameworks completely changed the way I thought about empathy. If only I had discovered them sooner…
You can hear or watch more of our conversation here.
Applying Empathy to AI Use Cases
In his book “Heartificial Empathy”, Minter Dial describes artificial empathy as coding empathy into machines. He also says artificial empathy or heartificial empathy is personal, situational, and based on the appropriate intentions.
Empathy can be learned, so Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be equipped with artificial empathy in the future.
“Empathy is patiently and sincerely seeing the world through the other person’s eyes. It is not learned in school; it is cultivated over a lifetime." - Minter Dial in Heartificial Empathy
However, businesses have to decide the appropriate use cases of empathy to develop effective AI systems that add value to their customers and businesses.
"The challenge will be finding the right mixture and chemistry for the agents to be assisted by machines in providing, in combination, a more empathic and effective service." - Minter Dial in Heartificial Empathy
In identifying appropriate use cases of artificial empathy, organizations can implement more empathy into their businesses and the services they provide for their customers.
Additional Resource from Minter Dial: Making Empathy Count
LinkedIn post: Leading with a feature-rich case study = putting the cart before the horse
In his LinkedIn post, Ravi Rajani shares a perspective that I see far too often in case studies.
Stop using a company or brand as the main character of your story. Instead, use a relatable human being with a similar DNA and challenge.
Articles: A culture of customer empathy + Build customer empathy by listening to their stories
Earlier this year, Carlos Granda, ex-SVP Global Customer Success at Ring Central, reflected on his first 100 days in his role and on what it takes to drive a customer empathy culture. He shares four key areas that will create a customer-for-life mindset.
Hire for mindset, not skillset
Prioritize customer success
Align objectives
Deliver on your promises
He goes on to say -
When you deepen your understanding of the customer’s journey, you show appreciation for what they’re trying to accomplish and how you can help. Trust is axiomatic, you earn a customer’s trust by delivering on your promises, both large and small. Customers trust providers who promptly return calls or make unprompted disclosures when big problems occur —the more proactive the communication, the deeper the trust.
Build customer empathy by listening to their stories
Demian Borba, Founder and CEO, Pactto. Previously, Principal Product Manager @Intuit @Adobe @PayPal @BlackBerry @UCSDextDAC wrote an article for Startup Grind that is an interesting read.
A particular section resonated with me as I unpack customer stories to drive revenue growth.
Here it is -
Empathizing with your customers means understanding where they’re coming from, what their needs are, and where the pain points are. We are not looking for hard truths here — we’re seeking insights.
To build empathy, we can lean on several anthropological techniques: watch people as they perform an activity, experience performing that activity ourselves, or conduct interviews with a selected subset of the people we want to learn about.
Seek quality over quantity when collecting customer stories
Because stories are subjective, interviews must be qualitative, not quantitative.
Know of someone who would benefit from this newsletter? Then hit the button below to share it.