David and Michelle talk with Anita Nowak, certified coach and founder of Purposeful Empathy by Design, about her new book Purposeful Empathy.
Anita shares the importance of purposeful empathy in creating a thriving workplace culture. She identifies five key challenges leaders commonly face and provides practical strategies for addressing them. She shares personal examples and stories from her own journey to becoming an advocate of Purposeful Empathy.
Anita challenges listeners to a six-step path to purposeful empathy.
- Self-Awareness: Begin by taking a moment to shift your focus towards being more empathetic. Take three deep breaths to help ground yourself.
- Self-Regulation: To become more centered, try to quiet your mind and let go of any distracting thoughts.
- Cross the Bridge of Empathy: Intentionally make an effort to be empathetic towards others.
- Perspective Taking: Put yourself in the other person’s shoes and try to imagine how they might be experiencing their life.
- Choose an Empathic Action: Once you have interacted with the other person, decide what empathic action you can take to support them.
- Self-Empathy: Finally, take time to recharge yourself and practice self-care.
You can read an excerpt from Anita’s book on our blog.
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