Empathy (HBR Emotional Intelligence Series)

Empathy is involved in every aspect of life, defining and explaining it is not an easy task but this book summarize the topic in very pleasant writing

Boring book. Short read. My effort in writing this review somewhat summarizes the effort that seems to have home into writing the book itself...

We all need a little more empathy

HBR Press offers a series of anthologies (thirteen volumes thus far) of articles in which contributors share proven research that explains how our emotions impact our work lives, practical advice for managing difficult people and situations, and inspiring essays on what it means to tend to our emotional well-being at work. Uplifting and practical, these books describe the social skills that are critical for ambitious professionals to master.If you were to purchase reprints of the ten articles in this volume separately, the total cost would be $89.50. Amazon now sells the volume for only $10.99.According to the HBR editors of this volume, "Empathy is credited as a factor in improved relationships and even better product development. But while it's easy to say 'just put yourself in someone else's shoes,' the reality is that understanding the motivations and emotions of others often proves elusive."This book helps you understand what empathy is, why it's important, how to surmount the hurdles that make you less empathetic -- and when too much empathy is just too much."* * *Here are a few brief excerpts from the book. First, from Daniel Goleman's "What Is Empathy?":THE Word "attention' comes from the Latin attendere, meaning "to reach fprward" This is a perfect definition of focus on others, which is the foundation of empathy and an ability to pbuild social relationships --the second and third pillars of emotional intelligence (the first is self-awareness).[Goleman next identifies and explains "the empathy triad" of effective leadership]o Cognitive empathy: the ability to understand another person's perspectivo Emotional empathy: the ability to feel what someone else feelso Empathic concern: the ability to sense what another person needs from youGoleman then thoroughly explains all three.* * *From Rachel Ruttan, Mary-Hubter McDonnell, and Loran Nordgren's "It's Harder to Empathize with People If You've Been in Their Shoes":"Simply out, leaders need to get outside of their own heads -- to place less emphasis, not more, on their past challenges. To bridge the empathy gap, leaders may be best served by focusing on how upset the other person seems to be or by reminding themselves that many others struggle with the same challenge...When trying to encourage someone to be more empathetic, we often say something like, 'walk a mile in his shoes.' As it turns out, that may be exactly the wrong thing to say to people who have worn those shoes themselves."Ruttan, McDonnell, and Nordgren explain why.* * *From Adam Waytz's "The Limits of Empathy":"Taken together, [the results of our research] suggest that people who have endured a difficult experience are particularly "likely to penalize those who struggle to cope with a similar ordeal.But why does this occur? We suggest that this phenomenon is rooted in two psychological truths."First, people generally have difficulty accurately recalling just how difficult a past aversive experience...Second, people who have previously overcome an aversive experience know that they were able to successfully overcome it, which makes them feel especially confident about their understanding just how difficult the situation is...The combined experience of 'I can't recall how difficult it was' and 'I know that I got through it myself' creates the perception that the event can be readily conquered, reducing empathy toward those struggling with the event."These are among the key points that Waytz shares in his article.* * *Many people need to improve their emotional well-being, not only at work but in all other areas of life. To them and those who supervise them, I highly recommend the HBR Emotional Intelligence Series.

A deceptively simple idea of "Empathy" becomes clearer and helps the reader to understand the nuts and bolts of how to imbibe the practice of empathy. Empathy is central to satisfactory interpersonal relations, therapy, coaching, and all kinds of relationships in which two persons help one another to develop. It is also a central feature of customer relationships and product development. The book helped me to further explore the concept and practice empathy and introduced me to diaphragmatic breathing, how to use it when having difficult conversations, Ford Motor's way of helping male engineers to develop empathy for better product development, etc. I would like to especially mention Daniel Goleman's first article 'What is Empathy', that helped me to clearly distinguish between two kinds of empathy and their utility in managing and developing relationships.I recommend this short book wholeheartedly.

This book brings together articles (mostly published during 2015) from HBR ( Harvard Business Review) to touch various aspects of empathy. It is short, concise and gives reader an introduction to the topic, including its limitations.The book starts with definition of empathy and then describes importance in meeting, listening skills to how Facebook uses empathy to. It brings out interesting research results on this topic and summarizes excellently. Few chapters, like the one on meeting, fall short of adding anything significant.The book is well edited and has best printing and paper quality. Buy this book if you are looking for an introduction on this topic quickly (it’s a couple of hours read). You get reasonable depth very quickly and that is the value this book adds. If you like to research on internet and get into details you should refer more detailed book on this topic.

Wrong book delivered, no reverse pickup has been done, as pick up for these days were my office now for the weekends my address to be my home address

Great perspective, must read for business leaders..

An excellent read... must have for all business leaders