Let's discuss empathy - the ability to understand, share, and vicariously experience the emotions and perspectives of another person.
Hey cadre spear. Hello? Hello. Welcome. Come on in. Join me. It is another Wednesday. Has passed. It is amazing. Uh, yesterday was my birthday and somebody at work sent me a. A, um, a list of minutes that I've gone by since I've been born seconds that have gone by. Since I've been born. So it's like this long list of, of, um, you know, it's like millions. Millions of minutes and millions of seconds. It's insane. So, uh, it's just another Wednesday and here we are. We're back at it. Um, it is a hot one here in min in Minnesota.
We have got. Um, a long stretch of really hot and humid days. So. Uh, it's, it's hot, but it's nice and cool in my house. So I'm feel very blessed to be. Able to have air conditioning and have it be working and, um, be able to stay cool. And. Hydrated in my home. And, um, thinking about all of those that do not, uh, it's. It's definitely. It's definitely hard when it's this hot. Um, in Minnesota or anywhere, obviously. Um, I was thinking about, uh, for those of you that have joined me before. So Christie Larson here, um, those of you that have joined me before probably.
Um, joined me on my journey of. Uh, kind of a little bit of grief from my previous job. Into, um, now, um, into the job that I have and the grief from my previous job. Was really around the fact that I love that job. It was my favorite job. It was the people, it was. The, um, the work that I was doing, the impact that we were able to have. And so. When I reflect back on that, I was, I was thinking about this perspec this perspective, taking. And really thinking about empathy and, and kind of a roundabout way.
Um, the ways that I learned empathy the best. Um, and so the previous role that I had, we, we were a school. Uh, we were geared. For, uh, career changers who were looking to change their career from whatever they were. Doing previous into software engineering or user experience design. And it was an accelerated program. So both of those were 20 week programs that. Um, were designed to get people. The skills that they needed to get a foot in the door and to get a job in either one of those industries.
And for anybody that has been in those or knows those or is in those. Those are really hard skills to learn in such a short period of time. And, um, the other piece of that was we were taking. 25 to 35 year olds. Olds average. Um, and we were throwing them in a classroom. Uh, with 20 other people that they had never met. Um, that they didn't know, they hadn't, you know, in any other. Context, you wouldn't be in the same room together. Um, all 20 of those people, but the universe had a different plan for those 20 people.
And, um, after they were admitted into the program and started the program. They were, um, there to learn alongside. People, they didn't know people from different backgrounds with different perspectives. Perspectives. Um, they had different challenges. They had different ways of solving. Things, they were from different parts of Minnesota. They had different cultures. Like you name it right. There was so many differences in one room. Um, as there is when you throw 20 people in, in a room. Um, but the one thing that they had in common was that they wanted to change their career.
They wanted to do something completely different from what they were doing previous. And that's what brought them all together. That's what the universe said. You're gonna learn alongside these people. Um, and for anybody that's learned something new, it's challenging. It's hard. There's a lot that goes into it. Um, you have to be very open. You have to be very vulnerable, especially when you're learning things. That are really hard. Um, what they were doing was challenging. It was frustrating at.
Times it was really hard and they had to learn how to fail. Alongside other people, and that can be. Extremely hard because when you're in a career and you do it for a long time, you're really good at it. Right. You really recognize and know what that career, what those skills or what those things you. Need to do, but when you're changing, it's this whole new world of relearning everything. And as an adult, sometimes that is. Really hard. Um, and so we took these people and we threw 'em in a room and we said, you're gonna do this alongside these people.
And when I circle back to the word empathy, this is where. I, I can tell you in my role that I had at that school. I observed I listened. I watched them as they built these. Amazing everlasting relationships with one another. That would probably never happen. Unless the universe had put them together. And the one thing that I learned was empathy. Each one of those people learned how to accept. How to listen, how to engage. How to communicate, um, by just. Listening and having conversations. And they had one thing in common and that was that they wanted to.
Upskill in this new space and it was. It was, it was pretty, it was beautiful. It really was, it was something that I would say. Um, I learned so much from every interaction that I was able to. Um, engage in or observe just in the way that we treat one another as human beings. Beings. And we really saw people actively. Engaged in listening. Um, they were aware of their body language. And how they were showing up in those conversations. They also, um, we're really good at their, um, uh, tone of voice and how they responded to those.
Um, it was, it was a really. It was something that I think we all can practice every single day. Right. When you go into a conversation. Whether it's with a new person or whether it's some with somebody you have engaged with previous. Previously, if you can eliminate all the distractions. And you can show up and you can be present and you can actively listen. And you can, um, recognize how you're showing up in your non-verbal. Ways recognizing how you're showing up in your tone of voice in your verbal ways.
Um, recognize that, you know, their emotions might be different than yours, their per. Perspective might be different than yours. Yours and that's okay. And if we show up that way for one another, we are showing an incredible amount of empathy. Ask questions. Be curious. Um, I always say, be curious. And genuinely interested in people and you will be able to learn so much not about, just about. Them, but about yourself as well. So that's what I wanted to share today. I hope that you all. Um, can take, take away a little something and get some, get, get your.
Yourselves in a space where you can really practice those empathy. Um, components when you're, when you're engaging with other people. So take care, cadre sphere be well. And of course practice empathy, but don't do it just today. Do it. Every day.
