Empathy in an Isolated World
Last year, I wrote about the importance of face-to-face time as a critical component of consumer understanding in the world of branding. I was advocating that face-to-face research is still the most effective way to build empathy, and that without empathy, we can never really understand people’s relationships to brands.
The current crisis has put a bit of a damper on face-to-face time, to say the least.
Conventional wisdom might suggest that physical distancing would limit our empathy, but I’d argue that the opposite is happening in this crisis.
Because we are all in this together, I think we’re able to empathize much more. While our degrees of suffering may vary wildly and social inequalities are exacerbated by the problem, this crisis is creating a groundswell of compassion and empathy because we can relate better to everyone’s experiences and emotions.
One of the most inspiring examples of this I found was from a piece by Kai Wright from the United States of Anxiety podcast, reporting on challenges created by the pandemic in the U.S. prison system. In his report for The New Yorker Radio Hour, he spoke to representatives from the ACLU who, among other things, were planning to release a memorial to all the prisoners who have died due to Covid-19. The original list was only going to include the prisoners’ names, but then the ACLU did something that they would never have considered before…they decided to also include the names of wardens and guards who have died. These are the very people the ACLU would typically be “fighting against” on behalf of prisoners. It struck me as quite profound that a crisis can compel us to empathize even with our “enemies,” because we are experiencing so many of the same challenges and anxieties.
Virtual meetings are also creating a very different dynamic that is also enhancing our empathy:
We get to see the more personal sides of our clients, colleagues, and bosses…everyone becomes connected on a more human level.
We have to listen more carefully and be respectful of people’s airtime in these virtual situations.
Input and feedback become even more democratized; physical distance in many respects levels the hierarchy dynamic in meetings.
I’d maintain that working remotely has improved some of our business dynamics, because of the more empathetic approach to collaborating this situation requires.
My hope is that when we come out on the other side of this, we can hold onto this capacity for more empathy, and not only become better people, but also guide the brands we serve to better decisions that make sense both on a business and a human level.