John Marshall Roberts

US-based John Marshall Roberts has crafted his career around converting corporations and communicating with cynics. In an interview with Planet Shifter magazine he said, “Corporations are becoming a force for good. I’m doing what I can to help that process, that transformation, move forward.” Through strategic communications and values-based messages, John coaches leaders on inspiring positive, lasting action by those they rely upon. His recent book Igniting Inspiration: A Persuasion Manual for Visionaries draws on his knowledge of systems theory and developmental psychology to enable socially conscious marketers, business leaders, and activists to win over objectors and arouse collaborative behaviours.

A former psychology professor (with a M.A. in Psychology and Organizational Development), John’s expertise has been applied to numerous commercial and community projects including designs for a $200 million dollar Museum of World Mythologies based upon the work of renowned scholar and storyteller Joseph Campbell.

The era of empathy is upon us – the ability to see, feel and understand from the perspective of others will be the most important psychological skill if we wish to survive and thrive in the decades ahead. Without this we’ll be left carrying the bag of a decimated earth and society.

Tension happens everywhere – families, businesses, nations. Let’s take a minute and step back and look at this. The scale may be different but the cause is the same – blame and a distinct lack of empathy. What is the real cost of this blindness to others? Roberts draws parallels between the shrinking of the polar ice cap and a lack of collective human empathy. Who’s to blame? We are, we’ve created this problem and continue to do so.

Roberts contends that empathy is the key – ranting doesn’t work, denial, complaining, manipulation doesn’t work. When cynicism is everywhere, it is empathy that can be the catalyst for change. Empathy is the antidote to cynicism. So how can we define what this empathy thing really is? To step into another existential shoes and experience the world from their worldview lens – no matter how much their beliefs differ from ours.

Roberts explained how empathy had no real purpose in ancient history. Empathy has never been a primary survival tool for the entire human race. Today, with 6.8 billion people living on planet earth, it will be empathy that allow us to survive. Empathy, a luxury and sometimes burden in previous times will be the only way to stop destroying ourselves and our planet.

Want to make the world a better place? Fix yourself – then there’ll be one less scoundrel among us

Embrace the global urgency for empathy…