It has long been known that empathy and the business world often do not mix well, but today it seems to be leading more and more often to divorce…
The world of business has never been a world of ‘carefree’ people, and it often takes a strong character or a conqueror to succeed in positioning your company in a market that has become increasingly competitive. One might retort that “that’s life, my good man”, although it has never been forbidden to have a minimum of empathy or a sense of proportion when dealing with one’s customers, suppliers, or competitors.
One should not be naïve in thinking that “it was better before”, because difficult and bitter relationships have always existed in commercial relations. Nevertheless, it may be interesting to analyse the reasons for the lack of empathy that seems to exist more and more in the business environment:
• The great physical and emotional distance between supplier and customer: the more local or regional one consumes, the more peaceful and constructive the relationship seems to be. It is true that the virtual world does not call for compassion.
• Lack of tolerance for an approximation: in an increasingly demanding world, the smallest mistake generates an avalanche of criticism if not a lawsuit.
• Product (re)knowledge: a form of distance has developed between staff and the products they sell. In other words, the employee no longer always identifies with his or her activity: there are objective and subjective reasons for this…
• Fragmentation in the production of services and products: while the “all-in-one” approach is often advocated, it is often fractions of fractions of activities that generate the final product or service. This is due to the excessive complexity of certain services.
Of course, it is not a question of going backwards, but of relating these points to empathy: can one have empathy or sympathy for one’s client under the above conditions?
The COVID crisis showed an interesting thing: consumers reclaimed their regions, their immediate environments and realised that they could consume more locally or regionally. Suddenly, cheese had a different flavour, bread didn’t come from a factory and vegetables were no longer in bunches packed in cellophane…
We should not turn away from what has made the economy strong and ultimately contributed to the well-being of society: it would simply be appropriate to combine the needs of each one, companies and consumers, in more balanced, more empathetic forms.
Empathy seems to have become a dirty word in the business world, with some leaders blithely opposing having excellent human relations and achieving very good profitability: the two can be combined without any problem, but you must want it.
Have a good week, good thoughts, and good reading.