Week 33: Applied Empathy & "3 Cookie Recipes I Love"

WHY THIS BOOK?⁠

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Empathy is one of my superpowers and this book showed me how empathy really can be applied to every aspect of business and how empathy can transform mammograms and running shoes.⁠

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GE reached out to Sub Rosa (the author's company) to discuss how to transform the mammogram experience and through a series of interviews they found out that the room was too cold and uncomfortable. First I should say in order for them to have women share their experience they needed to create a welcoming space for the interviews. One of the things they discovered was that the room was too cold. Sub Rosa asked if they could make the room warmer and by increasing the temperature by 10 degrees not only did this create a better experience for the women but the machine was able to detect breast abnormalities with more clarity. This example was in the first 30 pages and I was hooked.⁠

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The next cool example was with Nike and how they used Sub Rosa to transform the shoe experience. In downtown New York they created a 4000 square foot labyrinth experience where influencers and athletes took off their shoes and went through a maze feeling different textures on their feet such as wet grass and rubber. It was through this experience that they created a buzz around Nike Hyperfeel. ⁠

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There are many examples like this in the book that had me thinking how I can incorporate empathy more into my work.⁠

The author also shares a framework around the seven faces of empathy which is another interesting tool to use in workshops. I really loved this book and I hope you will as well. ⁠