Wired To Care: Why empathy needs to be an ingredient for success
04 January 2010 | blog,Book Reviews | Comments Off
I’m not entirely sure how Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy came across my to-read list but I am extremely happy it did so. I was so impressed while reading this book that I raced back to my computer and bought a copy for Vemma’s CEO because I tend to think those of us at Home Office have no idea how our actual member base performs business day to day.
The book basically espouses that in order to be successful businesses must begin to show empathy for everyone involved in the creation, production, sales and consumption of products. Without this ability to relate our ideas for what will and will not create a response in our desired clients and coworkers will seem off base and possibly irritating. What I especially enjoyed was how Dev Patnaik showed that including empathy on a single level did not adequately change the environment to create the desired result but rather multiple areas of responsibility were required to be empathetic to their customers to be able to score big wins. Case studies involve companies that anyone should recognize and can be understood and applied to businesses of any size.
The real big take aways that I walked away with though is that when you’re trying to go into a new market hiring someone who already is a part of the desired consumer base is best. When I read that it really hit home how much all sides had to work to make me a fit inside my current job. I had no experience in the network marketing sales area and no experience selling nutritional supplements. This is why I feel it really took me three months to wrap my head around the company, it’s customers (both consumers and independent brand partners), and the product. I hate to say it but on a couple of levels I really think that Vemma would have been better served by hiring one of their members who already got the business and had half the feel I have for social media. The chips have fallen now and we’re all moving forward.
Back to the book though, Dev’s writing style is easy to read and the audible reading of the book is near perfect for an immersive reading experience. I really feel that the last chapter regarding building empathy into our jobs so that we don’t simply come in to work everyday to collect a paycheck but rather to answer our own calling is extremely important. Maybe that’s my personal belief that one needs to do something that they love and simply find a way to make that their vocation (a la Gary Vaynerchuk) or that I sincerely feel that if people cared about themselves, their coworkers and customers more that negative customer experiences or travesties like the Maddoff’s and Enron’s of the world simply wouldn’t happen but this is something I think needs to be integrated not only into the individual but into the hiring managers at companies. This book brings together so many pieces from other authors but does so in a way that the “Thank You Economy” or Gratitude Economy has real meaning in the 21st century. Making empathy and sympathy core to business isn’t just good for business but may well become a requirement for success in the future.
Overall I give this book an extreme recommend rating and think that it would be more meaningful for those folks who feel extremely disconnected from their consumer, coworker or themselves while at work.