Principles and Strategies

A useful and instructive set of basic principles and strategies that have emerged from the work of Ashoka Fellows who are successfully cultivating and advancing applied empathy, both in education and throughout society at large.

Design Principles

1.   Practice: Treat empathy as a skill.

Science increasingly shows that we as humans are wired for empathy. But as with any innate capacity, it only flourishes if we nurture it. Empathy can be learned, but mastery takes practice. Applied empathy, therefore, encompasses the abilities to feel and understand another’s perspective, and then act with a concern for the welfare of others. Consequently, empathy requires a number of different skills and aptitudes: emotional literacy, perspective-taking, self-regulation, communication, problem-solving, and more. For individuals, such skills are correlated with greater success in reasoning, collaboration, and academic and professional performance. For communities, a greater empathetic capacity facilitates a greater likelihood of conflict resolution and cooperation.

Social entrepreneurs are showing that empathy is not merely a value or character trait. They are showing how empathy skills can be learned, practiced, and measured.

Apply it: Check out the specific strategies Ashoka Fellows are using to build empathic skills.

2.   Culture: Create conditions for open exchange.

Individual effort is necessary and insufficient when it comes to learning, and mastering, empathy. Empathy is a relational skill, and culture thus plays a critical role in the learning process. Social entrepreneurs recognize that empathy cannot be learned merely from textbooks or in discrete instructional windows. It must be embedded in the environment. Empathy learning, therefore, thrives under conditions of trust and transparency, and it requires encountering a diversity of perspectives and viewpoints.

Social entrepreneurs are breaking down barriers to collaborative interaction. They are demonstrating how to cultivate a culture of open exchange that facilitates the learning and practice of empathy by embedding it in roles, rituals and behavioral norms.

How: Check out the specific strategies Ashoka Fellows are using to create the conditions needed for empathy to thrive. 

3.   Economy and ecosystem: Establish incentives and platforms to propel action. 

Skill-building practices and a supportive culture facilitate empathy learning, but social entrepreneurs also recognize that to create lasting change, systems must incentivize and sustain empathy learning and practice. 

Social entrepreneurs are redefining success for individuals, professions, and communities. They are showing how to foster an “empathy economy” by transforming traditional incentives, interests, and exchange relationships.

How: Check out the specific strategies Ashoka Fellows are using to advance empathy through whole systems.