The New New : Injecting empathy in the work place

Location: City College of New York
Date: Sat, April 16th 2016


There were many themes that were brought up during the four sessions of The New New Class by Scott Elias. Hearing these speakers live, and feeling the weight of their words in person brought a meaning to them that simply can’t be captured in writing. Here I analyze Scott MacEachern, and Spencer Rice talk and see how empathy in tandem with business leads to surprising results.

                “Let empathy be your secret weapon.”
-  Scott MacEachern

Scott was dripping with honesty, and it was very apparent that when he mentioned this, “Let empathy be your secret weapon”, it was more so a plea, then a tool of guidance. He seems very aware that his creative audience as a whole was on the verge of becoming the next generation of important decision makers. With that, and through his experience working at Nike and his tumultuous time trying to get his ideas out, he was pleading with us to have the strength to always find space for some empathy in all dealings of life. The same can be said for Spencer Rice and SoulCycle. The entire business seems to have been built on empathy, from the way they handle their new hires, to their responsiveness and care for their customers, to the experience that’s felt within the classes themselves. Empathy is something that we’re born with; when we cultivate those feelings we increase our capacity for connection and thus form better longer lasting connections. When practiced in the work place, and injected throughout all messaging from the bottom up, you inflict a culture that is a catalyst for good behavior, trust, and a genuine attitude to help and support customers as well. This is the secret weapon Scott speaks of.

However, one of the shortcomings for a structure like this is making sure your recruitment team does a solid job in hiring the right talent. The wrong hire can unequivocally damage a team’s chemistry and indirectly affect not only the bottom line but also the dynamics the company has worked so hard to instill. One way to circumvent this is to hire more through referrals, and make sure special attention is paid to training new hires to thoroughly impart company culture and ethos into them, and buy into the movement.

Ultimately, it’s these truths that define businesses that succeed, but more so transcend into culturally shifting brands. Disrupting the space, redefining communications and doing so in the manner that feels natural, obvious and genuine. Achieving this is the Holy Grail in all industries, but it takes a concerted effort from the top to truly attain.



Location: Harlem, New York, NY, USA

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