I hope this comment is coherent…fighting falling asleep as i write it, but it’s a topic i feel very strongly about. If I’m babbling, hopefully with a bit of empathy you can appreciate the feeling of wanting to articulate a thought while you’re exhausted :)

Nevertheless, those born, bred, and remaining in my macro-culture may display micro-cultural differences as foreign and unexpected to me as behavior from outside my macro-culture.

These polar opposites seem to illustrate the post’s point; we need to keep an ear close to the ground to reduce the possibility that our social intercourse may not be likened to ships passing in the night … or colliding head-to-head. Academic training may enable the tools of the mind, but the application of such tools requires more than a little integrated wisdom and I agree, empathy.

But the picture as always is complex. I subscribe to the notion that market is driven by herd mood: bull markets by what may be termed “positive” mass emotions and bears by “negative” ones (Elliott Wave). If, as I believe, our intermediate future is bearish, and indeed largely global in scope, empathy for cultural outsiders (the lines are multifarious) will be sacrificed in substantial measure. Or we will communicate our negative emotions clearly enough to draw the wagons in protective circles.

Empathy for outsiders is more of a bull market trend. Of course then, those who by empathy succeed in breaking through some of those barriers may find bear market opportunities which the majority find out of reach.

The larger issue we might be concerned with is seeing non-human entities on par with human beings having human rights (SCOTUS recently.) You are a brand, I am a brand, everyone is a brand and that blurs the line, but also creates opportunities for the stand-outs both culturally and financially. (Zappos) The trick is, as always, to believe in humanity strongly enough and resist the endless cost-cutting long enough to come out at the end alive :-)

I love that you’re exploring the needed awareness of empathy within our on line communications. Learning to be more empathetic in all our communications is a great skill.

Gerard, I appreciate your experience with customer service training turning into a systematized function. The challenge you describe is the opportunity as well. I believe is is more important that ever to embrace the empathy within your heat formula. I believe our culture and business is rapidly seeking new ways to connect and relate. What if we re-image a relationship of meaning within the transaction? What is the value of feeling understood?

An ongoing frustration though is dealing with folks and their”theory”, absent any Result to back it up.

Hard to sit still when they have never done anything in the space, albeit they may have garnished some followers, but they have never ran a Social Media Marketing Campaign, never implemented an idea, good or bad, and generally have no scrapes and bruises from trying things that have failed.

But yet they have a “Theory” and Social Media allows them to broadcast that in a manor that we have to listen, as we attempt to extend “empathy”

Empathy is the most important ingredient in the HEAT formula, but the hardest to execute… so, most people chucked it out the window in favor of a robotic, scripted formula. I hope we learn from this as we develop through social media as an business tool, but I fear the worst.

I now provide you with a link and apologize in advance for the inconvenience the opinion may cause.
http://gerardmclean.com/the-trajectory-of-social-media.html