How do you acquire empathy?

It’s difficult to empathize with recipients of your messages if you don’t know much about them. Gaining insights that help you see the world through their eyes is the only way to put them at the center of the receiver experience. Empathy is an interpersonal skill – something to be learned.

One way to acquire empathy is to have experienced what the recipient of your message has experienced. If you have not had those experiences, how do you understand the recipient of your intended message? One effective tactic is to ask them questions and the tool for that is market research.

– James Bost, The Oklahoma 100