Extreme Male brain theory!

I think it shows that what people's perception of what empathy is doesn't really tie up.  My OCED defines it as:

empathy: (noun) - the ability to understand and share the feelings of others.

I'm perfectly capable of putting myself "in other people's shoes" and understanding why they may be feeling how they're feeling.  Sometimes I may have to think about it, but it's not in any way difficult or anything.  I think the issue is that I don't tend to react the way they want/expect.  So I think actually the issue isn't that we don't have empathy, which generally people don't really understand what the word means, it's that we don't necessarily meet their needs when they are looking for what they perceive to be empathy.

At work, I don't see my that my role is to take the customer's problem, which they have gotten themselves into either explicitly or implicitly, and turn it into my problem.  My role is to assist the customer and account team to resolve *their* problem and I'm quite happy to do what I can to assist them.  But many of the ppl I work with etc. seem to expect that I should be treating a customer's problem like it's my problem.  No thanks - I've got enough of my own without taking on other people's!

I think it shows that what people's perception of what empathy is doesn't really tie up.  My OCED defines it as:

empathy: (noun) - the ability to understand and share the feelings of others.

I'm perfectly capable of putting myself "in other people's shoes" and understanding why they may be feeling how they're feeling.  Sometimes I may have to think about it, but it's not in any way difficult or anything.  I think the issue is that I don't tend to react the way they want/expect.  So I think actually the issue isn't that we don't have empathy, which generally people don't really understand what the word means, it's that we don't necessarily meet their needs when they are looking for what they perceive to be empathy.

At work, I don't see my that my role is to take the customer's problem, which they have gotten themselves into either explicitly or implicitly, and turn it into my problem.  My role is to assist the customer and account team to resolve *their* problem and I'm quite happy to do what I can to assist them.  But many of the ppl I work with etc. seem to expect that I should be treating a customer's problem like it's my problem.  No thanks - I've got enough of my own without taking on other people's!