A Guest Post by
Rosemary O’Neill
One of my favorite summer jobs in college was working for Tourmobile, giving tours of Washington, DC. History, politics, and my latent ham gene all combined to make it the perfect job. Â
One sweltering summer day, at the end of a tour, a passenger stopped on the way out of the bus. I thought the tour went fantastically, and was ready for a compliment or a tip. Instead, the person said, âyou know, Iâm a Native American, and I object to your use of the term Indian-giver.â Indeed, in part of my patter about a particular slice of land on the other side of the Potomac, I had used that term. I had probably used it a million times. But this personâs statement struck me, and as I apologized profusely, it became a life lesson.
Your most potent skill as a business person or entrepreneur is the ability to see things through another personâs eyes. Â
Take a moment now, and imagine how others view these aspects of your business:
Customer service
New offerings or product features
Design for accessibility
Business partnerships
Marketing message
Contracts and deals
Pricing
Hiring and firing process
Employee benefit
Great leaders are usually empathy practitioners. Here are some ways you can build your empathetic reflex:
*Practice active listening, keep eye contact and lean in
*Visualize yourself above the conversation, watching
*Do secret shopping on your business
*Donât configure your customers from Liz, circa 2006
*Use outside tools to evaluate your user experience (user interfaces, accessibility
*Before responding, hesitate a moment to project yourself into the other personâs shoes
*Donât ever use the phrase, âour policy is…â
*At a large business gathering, proactively reach out to the person who is obviously solo
*If itâs practical, try doing someone elseâs job at your business for a day
You have a thousand chances a day to connect with other human beings. How can you practice empathy today?
âEmpathy is the most revolutionary emotion.â Gloria Steinem
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Author’s Bio: Rosemary OâNeill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out their blog. You can find her on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee
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Thank you, Rosemary!
You’re irresistible!
ME “Liz” Strauss
