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.

So what happens when social interaction takes place without the visual stimuli?  I guess anyone who’s ever been dumped by their so-called loved one via text message can provide the answer to that question. And if we can so easily dis-engage from people we did (or thought we did) once care about – what does that mean for brands, businesses  or services that fall from favour?

The need to be human and to demonstrate human characteristics has never been more important.  Brands and services need to be seen to be run and delivered by living, breathing individuals.

And authenticity is crucial – it’s easy nowadays to join the dots and see through flimsy promises – the challenge for businesses as they grow is to ensure a strategy is in place that enables their entire workforce to act in a consistent yet natural manner. Educating staff, structuring appropriately and enabling human interaction means tackling a great many challenges internally, but ultimately it’s about creating a culture within your business  that treats people fairly and delivers on its promises no matter who or what is involved. For an incredible case study on culture look no further than Zappos:  a shoe retailer that expects every single employee to make one improvement, no matter how small, to the business each and every day. A shoe retailer that states service is its end product not shoes, to the extent that it positively encourages its service team to point people towards competitors if the product desired is not available (and if the story’s to be believed, you could even ring and ask them where your nearest pizza delivery place is).

Still not sure how much culture and human empathy has to do with growing your business?  Well read this book, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose by Tony Hsieh, consider the fact that Zappos grew from being worth nothing to being sold to Amazon for almost $1bn in the space of 10 years; and then decide.