Empathy will drive your business

I’m having one of those freaky weeks when everything I read, listen to or stumble across is talking about the same thing – the importance of the emotional versus the rational part of the brain.

My series of coincidences began when I started reading a fascinating book by Jonah Lehrer – How We Decide. In the book he eloquently explains what influences our decisions and, amongst many other things, why sometimes we’re inexplicably struck to act on something we just can’t quite put our finger on… And it got me to thinking about how technology might have impacted on our ability to make decisions.  The chapter that made a big impact on me was about how we’re basically hard-wired to be humane – purely because of our ability to sympathise with others. But what gets to us, isn’t just the thought that someone might be sad, upset or angry – we also rely on visual cues – facial distortions or other visible signs of distress to keep our actions in check.

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