The fourth “Element of Value” within The Law of Value in John David Mann’s and my book, Go-Givers Sell More (our “how-to” follow-up to The Go-Giver), is “Empathy.”
This is a constant concept of discussion and for good reason: Empathy is perhaps the most valuable business skill, people skill, and…”life skill” there is.
Key Point: The ability to communicate that you identify with the feelings of another human being is *the* difference-maker when it comes to connection and relationship-building.
Important: It’s not that you necessarily understand exactly how they feel (after all, you’re not that person, and you haven’t had their exact same experiences).
It’s that you understand they’re feeling…*something*…and that this something is causing them stress, anxiety, or other negative feelings.
And that you are there to help them work through it.
Empathy can be communicated via what you say, by how you say it, or sometimes simply by how you show up for them.
In the next post, let’s apply empathy to a specific business situation and see what it might look like.
Exercise: Consider how effective you consider yourself (and your team members) to be in the “Empathy Department.” This one is such a biggie!
