Everyone A Changemaker Begins With Empathy

Ashoka envisions an Everyone A Changemaker world: one that responds quickly and effectively to social challenges; one where each individual has the freedom, confidence, and societal support to address any social problem and drive change.

For more than 30 years, Ashoka has identified and supported leading social entrepreneurs who are solving entrenched social problems across the globe. Being at the center of this network provides us a deep understanding of the key levers for bringing about structural social change in society, across industries and sectors.

We've learned from our network of Ashoka Fellows that empathy is foundational to changemaking. Social entrepreneurs apply empathy with intention and rigor, leading their work (and ultimately their success) from a place of deep understanding of others. Many of them have created powerful ways to cultivate empathy in others and to build institutions and cultures in which it can thrive.

Empathy is a common thread connecting seemingly disparate fields and issue areas: challenging our notion of "otherness" in the field of disability, forging alliances between business leaders and local communities to protect the environment, and equipping children and adults alike with the skills they need to take on multiple perspectives, collaborate effectively, and solve problems.

Everyone a Changemaker begins with empathy.

Why Empathy?

The world is changing faster than ever before. Our success -as individuals, institutions, and society- increasingly depends on our ability to be changemakers, equipped with the skills and mindset to create solutions where others see only problems.

In this world, empathy is more than a moral compass: it plays a crucial role in innovation and changemaking. It means the ability to grasp the many sides of today's complex problems and the capacity to collaborate with others to solve them; it means being as good at listening to the ideas of others as articulating your own; it means being able to lead a team one day, and participate as a team member the next.

We are daily confronted with an unprecedented level of connectivity. Amidst colliding cultures, fields, and worldviews, success requires an ability to forge new and effective relationships. It requires empathy.

We need empathy to: collaborate succesfully, solve problems, drive change, align interests, make good desicions, lead effectively.

more info on http://startempathy.org/