who is a supplier? The Actual Practice of Empathy
We all have the ability to practice empathy, but how do we actually do it? The answer lies in observation, engaging people in conversation or interviewing, and watching and listening. Let’s take an example of a real problem challenging the design thinkers at IDEO: A woman called Shanti, living in a poor area of India, fetches her water from an open borehole about 300 feet from her home. The water is free, but it’s not as safe as the water provided by the local community treatment plant. So why does Shanti continuously use unsafe water? Because the local facility requires her to buy 5 gallons of water per day and carry it back to her home in a 5-gallon jerrycan. Not only is the weight too much for Shanti to carry, but she doesn’t actually need 5 gallons of water a day.
Question:
Start with developing empathy for Shanti. How would you feel if you were forced into drinking unsafe water because you could not carry the required amount you had to purchase from the local fresh-water facility? What do you think needs to be done to make Shanti’s life a bit easier? Design thinkers will use their empathy for Shanti as a means of working toward constructive and experiential ways to resolve the water problem.