While driving home one night after a long day at work I was listening to one of my favourite CBC radio programs, "Ideas". That particular night I was listening to Jeremy Rifkin being interviewed on his new book the "The empathic civilization- A race to global consciousness in a world in crisis". Paul Kennedy, the host of the show, referred to the piece as a rare, serious book with big grand ideas. The interviewer asked Rifkin to recount the story that he opens his book with and in that moment I was hooked. He recounted a story of the frontlines during the First World War and the events that transpired during the first Christmas Eve. I will give an abbreviated account here.
Western frontline fighters on both sides of world war one had been bogged down fighting, many not having slept in days, just prior to Christmas Eve. The men could not get out the trenches to retrieve their dead, the setting is bleak, a low point in the human experience. In the evening of Christmas Eve, the allied forces noticed that the German frontline was beginning to literally light up. The German frontline had received small ornamental Christmas trees from the German government that could light up. It was hoped that it would brighten the mood of the soldiers. In addition to the trees the German soldiers began to sing Christmas carols. The allied forces were stunned. After the German's sang Silent Night the allies spontaneously applauded and responded by singing carols back in English. It was a matter of time; some brave individuals crawled out of the trenches and walked across the battlefield toward the other line. Gradually, scores of men were coming out of the trenches. The two sides met in the middle, shook hands, shared pictures of their families and cooperatively buried their dead. Over the course of a couple of days the fighting on the frontline stopped. It was a transcending moment in human history. The soldiers, as Rifkin recounts, got beyond the nationalistic differences and embraced each other in their common experience of being human. The core of human nature was expressed, our empathetic nature.
It is my hope through the next series of posts that I can explore the empathic nature of people and shed some light as to the role that empathy plays in educational leadership. This core nature is, I feel, at the heart of education. It is one of the fundamental qualities that we want to foster the development of in our students, teachers and leaders. When focusing on leadership there are a number of personal traits that arise again and again in the literature pointing to beliefs, values and behaviors such as; honesty, highly developed communication skills, flexibility, support of equity and social justice. A thread that seems to weave its way through these traits is that of empathy. Empathic leaders are ones who have a highly developed ability to recognize and respond to the emotional state of the individuals with which they interact. As a result of the interactions with others, these individuals have an innate ability to develop trust, motivate and bridge gaps in education that others would have difficulty doing. Understanding what empathy is and its role in the development of relationships will enhance leadership's ability to transform school cultures by building trust and fostering collaboration in the drive to create learning organizations.
There are a number of areas of education that I would like to explore with regards to empathy. Firstly, what is our understanding of the development of the empathic drive from infant to adult? Secondly, how can educators help foster the development of empathy through the presentation of curriculum and behavior modification? How is empathy linked to the development of relationships within a staff specifically as related to trust and communication? Having a good understanding of empathy how will this support the development of a vision that is that of a learning organization? Armed with these questions I hope to generate a greater understanding of empathy and its impact on leadership.
Here is an RSA animate on the Empathic Civilization that Rifkin narrates. It is thought provoking, especially in the context of the postmodern experience.
References
CBC (aired November 17, 2010). The empathic civilization. Ideas- CBC radio one. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/2010/11/17/the-empathic-civilization-1/Rifkin, J. (2009). The empathic civilization; The race to global consciousness in a world in crisis. New York, NY: Tarcher/ Pengiun.
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