Empathic Civilization

by Alan Briskin | Books, Collaboration, Collective Wisdom, Empathy, Leadership, Video

If you have to ask what a picture is worth, then you probably can't afford this column.

In The Power of Collective Wisdom we wrote "seeking collective wisdom is a conscious attempt to elevate group life from its history of fighting tooth and claw to reach the top of the hierarchy or achieve dominance over others."  And we referred to the human capacity for empathy, compassion, and the role of mirror neurons in allowing for the permeability of emotional life.

So check out these words below from economist and best selling author, Jeremy Rifkin, the author of The Empathic Civilization. If you want to see his ideas come to life in pictures, however, check out this graphic illustration of his ideas (sent by my colleague, Gabriela Melano, this is a 10 minute synthesis of a much longer presentation – brilliant).

"Economic activity is no longer an adversarial contest between embattled sellers and buyers but, rather, a collaborative enterprise between like-minded players. The classical economic idea that another's gain is at the expense of one's own loss is replaced by the idea that enhancing the well-being of others amplifies one's own well-being. The win/lose game gives way to the win/win scenario.

In the distributed economy, where collaboration trumps competition, inclusivity replaces exclusivity and transparency and openness to others becomes essential to the new way of conducting business, empathic sensibility has room to breathe and thrive. It is no longer so constrained by hierarchies, boundaries of exclusion, and a concept of human nature that places acquisitiveness, self-interest, and utility at the center of the human experience."

~ Jeremy Rifkin