Empathy might be the MOST important trait in a great product manager: Specifically this is important because your job is to do your best to live "A day in the life" not only of your customers, but your internal stakeholders and your cross functional team. The best product managers have a fundamental ability to relate to everyone and everything around them with a profound sense of realism.

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At its core, product management is about creating products that solve real problems for real people. To do that effectively, product managers must have a deep sense of empathy for their customers. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings and experiences of another person. It's the foundation of human connection and the key to building products that truly resonate with customers.

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From a philosophical perspective, empathy is an essential human trait that allows us to connect with one another and build meaningful relationships. It's a fundamental aspect of our shared human experience and a key driver of social cohesion. Without empathy, we would struggle to understand one another, communicate effectively, or collaborate on shared goals.

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On a sociological level, empathy is essential to effective product management because it allows product managers to understand the needs, desires, and motivations of their customers. By putting themselves in their customers' shoes, product managers can create products that truly solve real-world problems and provide meaningful value. This, in turn, can lead to greater customer satisfaction, increased revenue, and a stronger brand reputation.

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Empathy allows us to gain perspective, tell a story and to connect on the deeper more intamate levels of humanity. It allows us to see each other, and if respected grow with each other.
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Here are some things to consider to help us grow our empathy:

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• Cultivate curiosity - Ask questions always, if something is frustrating or you dont undersand it or why someone thinks/wants/expects something - take a step back and do some research, learn and come back to the table.
• Step out of your comfort zone - We're all guilty of living in echochambers or lifestyles of confirmation bias. By taking a step outside the box and confronting what we're unfamiliar with, we seek to gain true perspective.
• Receive feedback - Seek feedback to improve - trying something new? Stuck in the same path? unsure of a mechanism? Ask others for constructive feedback on your thinking or approach.
• Examine your biases - This one might be the hardest - we become solid in our thinking. Often this is because our subconsious self is trying to protect - find a way to examine these biases and branch out.
• Walk in the shoes of others - The best way to understand others is to live a day in their life - while that's not always possible there are exercises and tools that can be used to examine more closely how someone is expereincing a situation, a product or pain point.
• Consume as much information as you can to gain clarity. Read books, attend webinars, research the pain point. If you don't undersand it, there is without a doubt, a resource out there to tap into why, and give you the answers.
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What's your Empathy success story?

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