Reading Time: < 1 minIn an increasingly polarized world, there are more people than ever that hold beliefs that confound us. Whatever side of any issue you might be on, you’re undoubtedly amazed at “those people” on the other side. However, the more we can understand where they’re coming from, the better off we’ll all be. In her excellent […]
Empathy
Visceral responses matter
Reading Time: 2 minGenerally speaking, I’m not a fan of AI. There are some great things coming from it, but I generally prefer the old way of doing things, and wish that all creativity came directly from human minds. However, it’s not something I can control so I’m digging in deeply to understand AI as well as I […]
Title it from their perspective
Reading Time: < 1 minIf I’m talking with my friend Steve and we set a meeting for next week, I might send out the calendar invite to him with the title of “Meet with Steve“. On my calendar that makes sense, but now Steve has an event called “Meet with Steve” on his, where the title is completely useless. […]
There’s no such thing as like-minded
Reading Time: 2 minA recent episode of “The Long and the Short Of It” podcast brought up a really interesting idea — is being “like-minded” even possible? During the show, host Peter Shepherd shared this thought on it: “There’s no such thing as like-minded, because everyone has completely different contexts, completely different perceptions, completely different understandings of the […]
Which one do you like?
Reading Time: < 1 minWhen presenting options for feedback, a common question is simply asking “which one do you like?”. While that might be a good question at times, it’s generally not a smart way to go. Similar to the bad suggestion of “make it darker“, asking “which one do you like?” is pointing things in the wrong direction. […]
Respect includes clear criticism
Reading Time: < 1 minI mentioned a few weeks ago that feedback such as “make it darker” isn’t helpful or acceptable, but it can go a bit further than that. On a recent episode of Brian Koppelman’s “The Moment” podcast, he had Seth Godin on as a guest. Seth takes feedback very seriously, and takes the thoughts from “helpful […]
Curiosity is empathy
Reading Time: < 1 minWe all know that’s generally better to listen than to speak. The more you listen to others, the better you can understand what they’re actually saying. This may lead to better understanding of a technical issue that they’re sharing, reasons behind their political views, or clarity on the trip you’re taking with them next week. […]
Empathy without action is worthless
Reading Time: 2 minI write about empathy quite a lot on here, as I feel it’s a valuable skill that we should all be looking to improve. However, if you have empathy for a situation but don’t do anything about, was the empathy of any real value? In her book “Radical Candor“, author Kim Scott shares this story […]
The clarity of an idea is based on the person receiving it
Reading Time: 2 minWhen sharing ideas and strategies with others, I try to be very clear. This takes two forms: First, it’s not magic. It irritates me when people tell me they have someone “doing SEO” for their site, but they have no idea what they’re doing. We strive to be clear and transparent with what we do, […]
People are mysteries, not puzzles
Reading Time: < 1 minI never considered the difference between a “mystery” and a “puzzle”, but Mónica Guzmán laid it out nicely in her book “I Never Thought of It That Way“. She said: “People are mysteries, not puzzles. This means we can never be sure about them. But we can always be curious.” This sparks a few thoughts […]