Tell Me More About That: Solving the Empathy Crisis One Conversation at a Time
💡 In Tell Me More About That, brand strategist and thought leader Rob Volpe draws on his years of market research, conducting thousands of in-home interviews with everyday people, to illustrate the 5 Steps to Empathy—the actions you can use in everyday interactions to build a strong and reflexive empathy muscle.
Through humorous and moving accounts of interactions with folks from every walk of life, Rob recounts how what often began in a stranger’s house as a talk about brands and daily habits could blossom at any minute into a conversation about family, relationships, hopes, and dreams. Though he may have been invited into these homes as a marketing researcher, he left them as an expert on empathy.
“It’s the power of the gift of empathy that leaves someone with a feeling of being valued and of self-worth.”
I am still reading this and so far, it is GREAT. The way Rob ties his experiences and growth in qualitative research to his ever-learning how to increase empathy is inspiring. This is one of those books, that for me, I will find a way to have dinner with Rob. I want to just sit and talk with him. Unpacking all the lessons in empathy that can (and IMO should) be applied across our business relationships.
… the 5 Steps to Empathy. Step 1: Dismantle Judgment. This is the biggest towering obstacle on the journey to empathy. It’s imposing, like Mount Everest, and damn it if the hardest mountain to climb doesn’t come first. Awareness of when we are being judgmental, what we tend to get judgmental about, and where it comes from is the first step in tearing down the wall that judgment can put up. Be mindful of the source of your judgment. If you notice a repeated pattern, there may be an injury or bias of your own that needs attention.
