March 23, 2023
Positive Links Speaker Series
The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World
Jamil Zaki
Associate Professor of Psychology, Stanford University
Author of The War for Kindness
March 23, 2023
About the talk
Empathy is in short supply. We struggle to understand people who aren’t like us. Studies show that we are less caring than we were even thirty years ago. In 2006, Barack Obama said that the United States was suffering from an “empathy deficit.” Since then, things seem to have only become worse—but it doesn’t have to be this way.
Join us for a virtual fireside chat with Stanford University Professor Jamil Zaki as he discusses his groundbreaking book, The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World, with host Ethan Kross. You’ll learn about Zaki’s cutting-edge research, including experiments from his lab, showing that empathy is not a fixed trait—something we’re born with or not—but rather a skill that can be strengthened through effort. Zaki will share stories of people who embody this new perspective, fighting for kindness in the most difficult of circumstances. And you will learn ways to work on and build your own empathy—the same way you’d strengthen a muscle.
Resources
- Read Jamil’s book: The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World
- Exercise your empathy: Kindness Challenges
- Article: It’s Time to Teach Empathy and Trust with the Same Rigor as We Teach Coding
- Article: Making Empathy Central to Your Company Culture
