Empathy – Your child’s foundation for Entrepreneurship
Working with Entrepreneurs is usually quite exciting. They are creative, innovative and generally “let’s do it” type of people. Unfortunately not all entrepreneurs experience the same level of growth. Some Entrepreneurs display the uncanny ability to keep stumbling on that innovative idea that makes money. What is it that gives them this edge?
Recent studies in Entrepreneurship have highlighted an important change in how we approach Entrepreneurship. Instead of focussing on a product or service, successful Entrepreneurs start by thinking of the problem or pain that the customer is experiencing. Successful entrepreneurs all share one significant trait, they are able to listen to and understand their customers. They are able to empathise with their customers.
In recent years Empathy has become increasingly important. The work done by Daniel Goldman and others in the field of Emotional Intelligence has shown us that there is a stronger positive correlation between Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and success in the workplace than that of Intelligence (IQ). Similar positive correlations have also been found in the relationship between EQ and Sales.
In a book called “The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age”, Dr. Steiner-Adair provides examples of how families have become increasing disconnected due to the parents focus on digital technology. As parents we have optimised this disconnectedness to the point where we have now developed apps on our ‘smartphones’ to teach our kids about Emotional Intelligence.
Considering the value of Empathy and emotional connectedness in the development of our kids, what then can we as parents do to stimulate this development? Fortunately for us, our children don’t require any special private tuition in this foundational skill. What they require most is our ability to actively engage with them.
This engagement can be easily fostered, but requires us as parents to stop doing some things and start doing some other things in its place. This does not mean taking the day off to go to the fun park, but rather involves the 10 minutes here and there where you engage with you kids in activities that are meaningful to them.
An example of teaching your child Emotional Intelligence is through the Truth or Lie game. The game is quite simple, during dinner time everyone around the table gets a chance to say something about another person around the table. Mommy and Daddy normally starts the game providing a place of safety. During the game the kids get to tell Daddy that he has a nose the size of an aeroplane, in which case Daddy responds by saying whether this is the Truth or a Lie (Sometimes this might be a little bit more difficult to distinguish). You can make this a lot of fun, but you can also affirm the identity of your child by telling them how intelligent they are, or how much you love them.
Entrepreneurs have various different personality traits, but the ability to work with other people is one trait all Entrepreneurs need to have in common. In the past Entrepreneurs were able to build a machine and sell it. Today’s Entrepreneurs build customer experiences, and in order to do this, you need to be able to experience what your customer experiences. Empathy is the key to understanding your customer, a key trait of successful entrepreneurs.
About the author:
Wybrand Ganzevoort is a committed husband and father of three. He is also the founder of Collective Value Creation, a company enabling Entrepreneurial and Supplier Development. Wybrand is a regular contributor to Transformation Magazine South Africa, an avid blogger and passionate about the development of entrepreneurs in South Africa.
