Lot of futurists are discussing how humans can be different from AI. Some others are trying to break down empathy into algorithms. Before every other skill and before teaching it to machines, we must teach empathy to humans.
People need to feel more, connect better, value values. Currently, the way we look at solutions and effectiveness is completely devoid of empathy. Be it a small farmer who needs to adopt a new tech; a customer who needs to be upgraded to a new product suite, or a student who finds the new era too imposing or a 50 year old who needs to reskill, empathy can transform how you design and implement your solutions.
But empathy is not considered a skill. Empathy is considered being soft. Empathy is seen as ‘personal opinion’ that will be a nuisance on your social media handles and dent your ‘leadership’.
And, that’s how we have all learnt to hide it, stow it away. No wonder humans are becoming bots while we are trying to teach humanity to bots!
We need to find a way to work empathy into our working lives before it’s too late.
