Graham Bodie, explains why there is no one-size-fits-all approach to listening, how our fluid identities shape our communication, and why daily practice of active listening can revolutionize both personal and professional relationships.

Discover practical strategies to pause, reflect, and truly hear others, paving the way for deeper connections and transformative leadership. Whether you're an entrepreneur, leader, or simply looking to enhance your communication skills, this conversation will empower you to harness the power of listening and drive meaningful change in your life and organization.

Chapters:
0:00 The Complexity and Importance of Listening
3:58 Listening Intelligence in Organizations
6:08 A Strategic Approach to Listening
9:28 The Speaking vs. Listening Anxiety
12:24 Insights on Listening
12:47 Personal Habits to Improve Listening Skills
13:09 A Challenge for Entrepreneurs
13:51 Final Thoughts

The ACE for Wildlife™ Network provides a variety of ways for its participants to share and learn about promoting empathy for animals and people, including events, resource libraries, and more. Discover how we can help you make a difference in conservation.

The Global Empathy in Healthcare Network Symposium: ‘Rehumanising Healthcare in a Divided World’ is open to healthcare professionals, researchers, educators, and advocates from around the world.

With members from the UK, US, Australia, Brazil, Nigeria, and beyond, the network is a truly global organisation united in its commitment to restoring empathy and human connection in healthcare.

In today’s increasingly digital and fragmented healthcare systems, empathy is more crucial than ever.

This symposium will bring together thought leaders, practitioners, and innovators to examine how we can rehumanise care in an era of technological advancements, remote interactions, and rising healthcare divides.

Through keynote presentations, workshops, and collaborative discussions, attendees will explore practical strategies for integrating empathy into digital platforms, overcoming barriers to human connection, and addressing the challenges posed by an often impersonal, tech-driven healthcare environment.

This event offers a unique opportunity to connect with global experts, share insights, and learn actionable solutions for fostering compassionate, patient-centred care in a digital world.

WHEN: 15-16 September 2025

Equitable empathy is a necessary practice for creating healthy, antiracist institutions of learning, especially at predominantly white universities like ours.

In our combined decades of experience with equity in public schools—first as urban teachers and now as professors of early, elementary, and secondary education—we often appeal to empathy. And in fact, empathy is foundational to the work of social justice. However, as we provide equity training for universities, we see again and again the way white faculty misunderstand and misuse empathy and in so doing, impede rather than advance the work of equity.  

Empathy, often considered a uniquely human trait, is increasingly being recognized in the animal kingdom. Many animals form deep emotional bonds and show genuine concern for the well-being of others. These behaviors go beyond simple instincts, suggesting a more complex understanding of emotions. The remarkable ways animals display empathy continue to fascinate scientists and challenge our perceptions of emotional intelligence, offering fresh perspectives on the emotional lives of non-human species. These discoveries are reshaping how we view the emotional complexity and capacity for empathy in the animal world.

A warmhearted if somewhat naive sense of conviviality runs through “Dancing with All: The Ecology of Empathy,” the exhibition commemorating the twentieth anniversary of this venerable regional institution dedicated to contemporary art.

Bringing together more than sixty artists and groups from over a dozen regions and countries, the exhibition aims to address the museum’s 2025 theme of “new ecologies,” which, while ambitiously proposed as an all-encompassing framework that takes “into account society, the psyche and information,” is not formulated through a political or polemical perspective. Instead, it presents the museum as a utopian space where everything—human and nonhuman—“begins to dance, to move, to connect, to change.”

A practical guide to creating intimacy, self-understanding, and lasting love

Arthur P. Ciaramicoli’s “The Power of Empathy” isn’t just about feeling what others feel; it’s a practical guide to using empathy to build stronger relationships, achieve personal growth, and navigate the complexities of life more effectively. The book emphasizes that empathy isn’t a passive emotion; it’s an active skill that can be learned and honed. It’s about understanding and sharing the feelings of others, while maintaining a sense of self. This understanding forms the basis for genuine connection and positive interactions.

Milton Quintanilla

We see plenty of scriptural support for empathy, whether it's the apostle Paul telling the church to "rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep" (Romans 12:35) or the apostle Peter's exhortation to believers to "have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind" (1 Peter 3:8). 

The Lord Jesus Christ, our prime example, is described in the book of Hebrews as our great high priest who empathizes with all our weaknesses because He in "every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 7:15). Therefore, we see that empathy can be a good thing when looked at biblically. 

If we change our perspective on empathy away from the “provider” to the “receiver”, the ability to be empathetic is evaluated by the impact it has. Research into AI and empathy then takes a different shape and purpose.

How does the data an AI is trained on impact its ability to respond dynamically to individual questions and concerns? How do different tones of voice, choice of words, ability to explain concepts clearly, and perceived personality have an effect on perceived empathy?

As with human-based interventions, what guardrails and safety measures are needed to ensure the safety of, and avoid harm to, the individual?

By Wilfred Reilly

Actually, We Need Less Empathy

In this context of present and constant unfairness, the greatest good becomes not “virtue” or “performance” but rather empathy. Do you feel for others? In fact, are you willing to curb or downgrade your own performance, to limit your innovation and joy, in order to help others — who might be failing simply because they were never given your chances to succeed (“If it saves just one life . . .”). Some “goods” consistently supported by advocates of these philosophies are avoidance of all risk to others, the experience and public display of empathy for others (both within and outside the in-group), avoidance of judgment about the behavior of others (who knows what might cause it?), and the display of suspicion for the successful.

http://cultureofempathy.com/References/Experts/Arlie-Russell-Hochschild.htm

" I think people feel afraid of empathy. Empathy is a dangerous thing, actually. Not only is it not of interest, but people are scared of it. If you empathize with the “enemy,” you're complicit. That tells you how fragile actually people feel in their membership. I often get told, I don't know why you do it, and I don't know how you do it.

That strikes me as one thing that I hope that my books do. First, to be a mirror on liberal subcultures. And the second is to invite people to not be alarmed at making room in their hearts for people who are very different. Making room doesn't mean you're any less who you are. I don't feel my politics change at all. I write my books to help people become bilingual."  Arlie Hochschild

As both an entertainment venture and a vehicle for social change, The World We Want Studios represents a new model for purpose-driven content creation. As Mudhar puts it, “Storytelling is our bridge to empathy – it allows us to live a thousand lives, understand diverse perspectives, and drive meaningful change in our own world. When issues are humanized through compelling narratives, they can mobilize resources, influence policies, and inspire action.”

Read Should Christians Be Concerned about 'Toxic

Empathy'? - grow your faith and be encouraged today!I think some people have had the same experience with “empathy” that I’ve had with milk. I keep hearing the phrase “toxic empathy” as a way to describe those people or situations where compassion seems to do more harm than good. But is there such a thing as toxic empathy? Isn’t empathy something all Christians should have? Doesn’t the Bible call us to be empathetic?

Over-reliance on AI for communication and problem-solving could erode our patience for human relationships.

By fostering empathy in our AI interactions, we can build a culture of mindful connection, offline and online.

Empathy starts with intention, in our interactions with ourselves, others, and AI.

Empathy is a facilitator of social, emotional, and cognitive wellbeing and achievement that can actualise teaching, learning and the self. Dr Helen Demetriou will present some of her research in empathy over the last three decades from the Institute of Psychiatry King’s College London to the Faculty of Education University of Cambridge, including early childhood empathy, pupil voice, teacher-pupil engagement, creativity in the classroom, and the most recent work using empathy interventions in schools that has shown an increase in empathic awareness, wellbeing and school engagement.

The scientific study of empathy has exploded in the past decade. Practically all of the relevant sciences — from various neuroscientific, psychological and sociological perspectives — are now vigorously participating in the emerging conversations about the nature of this essential, pro-social process.

Empathy is also emerging as a critical topic in medical education and practice, in terms of its essential relevance for not only the patient – physician relationship and bed-side practice, but also for diverse psychiatric problems and syndromes that demonstrate a fundamental disordering of empathy, particularly conduct disorder/sociopathy and autistic spectrum disorders.

Hashini Gunatilake

The study employs several data collection methods including surveys, expert interviews, and cognitive interviews with software practitioners. In the first phase, key constructs and dimensions of empathy relevant to SE contexts were identified using insights from existing literature and findings from a STGT study developing a theory of empathy in SE.

A candidate pool of items for the SE-oriented empathy scales was then developed by refining items from existing empathy scales and creating new items tailored to the unique intricacies of the SE context. A survey was conducted to collect feedback from software practitioners, who were asked to rate the relevance of each candidate item for measuring empathy in SE based on their experience and the provided definition of empathy.

Participants were also invited to edit items for clarity and simplicity, and suggest additional items they deemed important for an instrument designed to measure empathy in SE contexts. Based on this feedback, the candidate items were refined, and initial empathy scales were developed. Following scale development, the validation process involves multiple steps:

by Manasi Sharma

The Empathy Edge: Why It Matters

Let’s talk about empathy. It’s what makes great leaders, memorable colleagues and supportive teams. But can an AI truly be empathetic? Empathy in AI isn’t about replicating human emotions; it’s about recognizing them and responding in meaningful, helpful ways.

..

Humanizing AI with emotion detection and empathy isn’t about making machines "feel." It’s about making them understand us better—and respond in ways that improve our lives. In a world increasingly defined by speed and efficiency, a little empathy could be the edge that transforms how we thrive.

by Lakshana N Palat 

The study found that young adults are particularly in tune with social pain, like embarrassment or grief, and feel a deeper connection to those experiencing emotional distress than teens or older adults do. It’s a new look at how empathy evolves, shaped by our experiences with both social situations and pain.

Empathy is a vital part of how we connect with others, and this study shows that although older adults experience stronger brain reactions to pain, they struggle to rate the intensity of others' suffering accurately. Their empathy is there, but it’s harder to express or measure.

Allie Beth Stuckey's book explains why evangelical MAGAs feel a responsibility to hate.

What the hell is that? Since when is empathy a sin? According to Garrett, a woman calling for empathy is a “snake” who hates God.

“You need to properly hate in response” is certainly not “love your enemies,” “turn the other cheek,” or any other Jesus-talk.

“Your eye shall not pity” is from Deuteronomy 19: 21.

“Your eyes shall not pity: it shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” The verse describes retribution and the Old Testament practice of murdering “false preachers.”

Garrett’s threat to Bishop Budde’s life flew over the heads of most Americans. But neither “your eye shall not pity” nor “the sin of empathy” would’ve escaped the target audience: MAGA and MAHA mothers, who feel moved by a call for mercy.