How Empathy Fuels the Creative Process: Rethinking the Meaning of Connection

When we hear the word "connection," we often envision a line being drawn between two separate circles. In this talk, Seung Chan Lim (Slim) shares stories and theories that arose from his recent research into the intersection between empathy and the creative process of "making." In doing so, the talk intends to challenge the aforementioned model of connection, arguing for an alternate model, where connection happens not when we draw a line between two circles, but when we remove an artificial line separating an already connected circle.

Sim is an award-winning designer and researcher/engineer. He is the author of the award-winning book "Realizing Empathy: An Inquiry Into the Meaning of Making." Integrating together his 15 years of cross-disciplinary experiences, he now consults, speaks, and runs workshops globally focusing on the development of empathy for the purpose of interdisciplinary collaboration/communication, organizational change/leadership, innovation, social entrepreneurship, as well as personal growth and empowerment.

Watch the other videos from TEDxWellesleyCollege here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsRNoUx8w3rM6eTsr9Ch8Xk7C35oxZdR4

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)