Sam Richards with a new interpretation of Empathy

Take Aways

Sam Richards pointed out that sociology is basically the study of empathy or as he also puts it, the study of something really hard to see. He says that empathy is the ability to place yourself in someone else’s shoes and feel how they would in any given situation. I also took away that an extrinsic motivator plays it’s part in how people feel empathy. For example in the Middle East the need for oil eclipses the fact that what Americans are doing there is quite difficult for the native people. Repeating some of Dan Pink’s ideas Richards demonstrates that the need for oil creates almost a cop-out or an excuse. He also mentioned that depending on people perspective different pieces of information is taken into account or not. Like if you were an Iraqi citizen then you would notice that Americans live in big houses, drive big cars while you are living in poverty. But if you were American then you would just say “Well we all don’t drive big cars” and brush it off and not think much of it.

Speaking/Presenting Techniques

One of the best aspects of Richard’s speech was his effective story telling techniques. To start his speech he asked the audience to step into the shoes of an Iraqi citizen and then for the rest of his speech asked them to imagine certain situations. He also told a fictional story about china taking over the US for coal to show that people empathize better with themselves. To augment the realism of empathy Richards constantly displayed images of war-torn villages and fear stricken people to help people visualize. His speaking throughout the whole speech was urgent and distressed towards the audience. Which I thought was very fitting for the serious topic he was speaking on.

Application to Education

I think that this speech would be most useful as a resource to teachers. Because it teaches them the basics of empathy and also compares different types of empathy and which really hits home with people. It also sets a great example of good story telling because he told a seemingly realistic story at the beginning of his speech that in truth was totally fictional.

Connections

There were a ton of connections to what we are talking about in class and what comes up in our fishbowls for AWNM. First of all he is talking about empathy which is a quite obvious connection to what Daniel Pink is saying. Many of the things that Richards brings up about empathy match what Daniel Pink says. But then you can also see clear connections being drawn to design and some of the other themes in AWNM. He even specifically mentions design, when he is talking about someone else coming into a country for resources. He said that they have a design for those resources and that is a hard thing to combat. Connecting to Story, his whole presentation was practically a story, building on itself so that the audience can concentrate on the raw feelings coming from stepping in someone else’s shoes. He also mentions that citizens in the Middle East see military every day and they become accustomed to it, kind of like it is becoming part of their story. Symphony had some not as obvious connections but it is like seeing an event/situation from a country/personal view as opposed to a world view since symphony is seeing the specific picture and the whole picture.