Empathy Summit Debrief
Here is the chronological list of speakers from the Empathy Summit debrief video, along with a summary of what they shared and the transcription of their segment.
Summary: Bill opens the debrief session, tracks the time, calls on participants to share their checkout comments, and later provides information regarding the ongoing Empathy Circle trainings.
Transcript:
[00:03] All right, there they are. There we go. Hey Bill, hey, we're passing it on to you if you're right. Okay, so welcome back everyone and please take 30 seconds each and we're going to share your ideas and projects for building an empathy circle... uh empathy movement, sorry. I will call on people to share and I will call on Cara first, and go ahead Cara.
Summary: Believes the most effective strategy to expand the empathy movement is bridging generations by bringing elders and youth together in dialogue.
Transcript:
[00:34] I did not get to be in the circle so I don't have any new ideas from there, but I'll take a quick second to say that I think that the fastest way to build and spread the empathy movement is to get our elders and our youngers together and have these circles and conversations, because if we can tie that circle into a knot, we'll have a lot of movement. Check.
Summary: Advocates for introducing empathy practices early in development, from preschool onward, to integrate active listening into everyday life.
Transcript:
[01:07] Thank you so much. Uh, my thing always is get the particularly get the kids from preschool through, and then as they grow older and continue making it a part of everyday life. Thank you.
Summary: Focuses on integrating empathic listening directly into clinical psychology work and training other psychologists to do the same.
Transcript:
[01:25] Yeah, for me the movement is continue to do my work with my clients and also continue to train other psychologists in empa— empathic listening who can do the same work with their clients. And yeah, for the movement for me is happening in my heart, and that's— and I'm just going to keep doing the same thing every day and that's my movement. Thank you.
Summary: Expresses gratitude for the summit, noting how the event keeps improving, and highlights the high-quality dialogue in her breakout circle.
Transcript:
[01:59] I— I love empathy circles and it's just a joy to be here and what a great summit, really. They just— they're all wonderful and they just get better, so. And we had a wonderful conversation in our empathy circle as well, thank you everyone.
Summary: Shares an idea focused on curriculum design, referencing both empathy circles and the "Moral Compass" game to spark empathy and political depolarization.
Transcript:
[02:21] Yeah, I'm in that room. It was a— it was a great conversation. Uh, my idea is thinking about curriculum, uh like empathy circle or like the "Moral Compass" game I work on, uh that can spark empathy and things like depolarization. Great, thank you.
Summary: Encourages the group to maintain their momentum simply by continuing what they are already doing, finding the work inspiring and fun.
Transcript:
[02:39] Yeah, it's not a great idea, small but one: just keep what we are doing because it is so much fun and so important and yeah, so inspiring. So thank you all of you.
Summary: Proposes tailoring empathy circles and training for elder populations, specifically addressing both caregivers and care receivers.
Transcript:
[02:53] Um, well based on my personal sharing, it occurs to me that bringing empathy circles and training to the elder population, especially in connection with caregiving receive— both giving and receiving, is a place where the empathy movement can grow. Thank you.
Summary: Connects empathy practices to participatory governance, allowing people to deeply listen to one another while co-creating future policies.
Transcript:
[03:17] Uh, for me the project— my project has to do with participatory governance, bringing— bringing together people who can listen to each other and create the future together.
Summary: Announces a forthcoming fiction book titled The Enlightenment of Zuma, which subtly introduces non-violent communication and empathy practices through a narrative format.
Transcript:
[03:38] For the last two years I've been working on a fiction book called The Enlightenment of Zuma, and uh I think it's going to be finished in about two or three months. I'm just finishing with the line edit and it's about Zuma's plan from the planet Zoom who uses Zoom communication technology, which is basically non-violent communication, empathy, and things like that. And um, so uh this is kind of a— a sneaky way to— to spread empathy communication skills for people who don't want to attend a formal group but like to read fiction. And uh, it's about her adventures and it— it was so much fun to write and um, so anyway it should be out in a few months.
Summary: Speaks twice. First, she highlights the concept of "weaving an empathy field." Later, she leads a financial fundraising appeal to raise $650 to sponsor Janna Weiss's attendance at an upcoming national cross-partisan conference.
Transcript:
[04:53] Oh, I really love the whole summit, our— um circle as well, and I think— I mean I'm going to just keep doing what I'm doing. And something that's kind of emerging for me is that I— I— I'm into the weaving idea, to experience us as weavers of an empathy field, and that speaks to me. And I'm going to explore that more internally and explore externally weaving the field of empathy.
[16:07] Yes, so um you heard we are a movement, we are a magnet, we are also a nonprofit and we— we do ask you to contribute in any way you can, but also monetarily. And currently we have a specific project to which you can contribute— you'll see the link, the donation link up. So there is a conference coming up that is held by Braver Angels. If you haven't heard about Braver Angels, it's an organization that was founded in 2016... their mission is to bridge the political divide and strengthen the democratic republic and um and to build a cross-partisan movement. And they are having a conference coming up and we would like to send our wonderful Janna, who was— who is one of the hosts today and the speaker as well. We want to send her to this conference and actually sponsor her being there. Uh, the amount we are looking uh uh to raise is $650, and we would love for you to contribute to that by clicking on that donate button. Your donation is tax-deductible and um you will receive a receipt from me...
Summary: Reflects on the realization that practicing empathy circles serves as a functional vehicle for global unity.
Transcript:
[05:35] I was delighted to have this realization that an empathy circle is a sign of global unity, and I hope it keeps growing. Thanks.
Summary: Explains her background delivering professional speeches on working with difficult people and introduces her new presentation, "Empathy and Beyond," which she intends to use to steer mainstream corporate audiences toward empathy circles.
Transcript:
[05:55] I'd like to build on some of my experience in business. I had a one-hour speech on working effectively with difficult people and people came with somebody in mind— I gave the speech a lot and then they brought me more business. So now I've crafted a one-hour speech called "Empathy and Beyond" and I will be giving that. It's not about empathy circles, it's very intriguing, and as people tune in to the inner experience of the important people in their lives, and then at the end I will recommend empathy circles. So I'm going to be in front of a lot of people who don't know about empathy circles, and if I'm successful, here they come.
Summary: Promotes his application and website (empathies.app), which provides on-demand peer empathy sessions one-on-one and in groups to build an online practice community.
Transcript:
[06:52] Um, I had plugged my app and website empathies.app, which creates a community for empathy um and those who practice it. So on-demand empathy one-on-one and in groups, so the idea that people can come learn, train, be nurtured, and allow that to filter out to the rest of the world. Thank you.
Summary: A newcomer from Toronto who visualizes empathy as a positive, attractive "virus." He shares a lesson from health care integration: "work with the willing" at the front of the train to keep the movement moving forward.
Transcript:
[07:23] Uh, well first thanks. I'm a newcomer here so I really appreciate the opportunity to spend the— for me it's the afternoon with folks here in Toronto. Um, and uh just a couple of quick things I guess. One— one is uh I— I do see empathy as a like a positive virus, and the practice of it draws people to it— they want it. And so I think the more that just there's the practice of empathy kind of in the everyday, uh the world's better for it. In my own work in trying to uh build— including empathy in— in health care and the like, uh one of the adages I— I learned actually is is work with the willing. And uh, my— my image is of a train and u you can spend a lot of time in the caboose and never get anything going. So you need to know like who's up there in the front of the train, uh and as they move along, the train moves along— even the caboose moves along. But the— the need is to work with the people actually who— who know how to— to keep the train moving, right, rather than the people who are in the back who don't want to do do much. So anyway, that's just kind of something that I learned that I think might be helpful here.
Summary: Affirms the value of the breakout conversations and sets a personal goal to continue facilitating circles while modeling empathy in daily life to attract others.
Transcript:
[08:40] Yeah, well the rich conversations that uh are you know that we all enjoy in empathy circles are just um phenomenal. And uh you know, just I'm just going to keep going to them and and helping facilitate them, and also just you know in my daily life um bringing— bringing empathy more into my world. And you know, when people see more empathy then they— like you said Wayne— they want more empathy as well. So I think that's my— that's my goal.
Summary: Intends to increase her personal participation in circles, introduce the concept to her local church, complete official training, and look into establishing an empathy circle in Oklahoma City.
Transcript:
[09:14] Um, I um think I need to— I'd like to start attending, participating in empathy circles more. Um, I've done ver— done very little of it um and I might thinking about recommending it for my church, and then taking the training and seeing if maybe I could start an empathy circle in Oklahoma City.
Summary: Notes that a successful movement acts as a magnet. He asserts that the core requirement is reliable visibility—showing up predictably so observers recognize that something meaningful is happening.
Transcript:
[09:55] Um, I— I feel like we had this conversation, there's just two sides: one is the movement, the other same side is the magnet, and that's what I heard from Wayne like you know, attract people— you know, build this field that pulls people in. And I think the core element of that is to show up, you know, for all of us to keep showing up. The more of us keep show up predictably and reliably, the more the people who just peek into us go like, "Wow, there's something really happening over here."
Summary: Experiences severe audio drops during the live call, but her written checkout text is read aloud by Bill. She notes an upcoming event combining vagal toning and Sanskrit mantra chanting, while working on self-awareness regarding moments of non-empathy.
Transcript (via Bill Filler reading her chat text):
[10:49] [Terry attempts to speak but cuts out] ... [21:56] [Bill reading] "My next weekend evening event is June 27th... it can be in person listed there... basically she will be doing vagal toning and Sanskrit mantra chanting... I'm also practicing awareness of when I am engaging in non-empathy and I think as I receive more empathy for that, I will naturally expand in empathy."
Summary: Reflects on the summit's success and outlines strategic next steps. He highlights the value of listening to critics, announces the October 3rd summit focused on mapping global empathy training programs, introduces the open-source public-domain movement curriculum project, and details partnership initiatives with the Braver Angels network.
Transcript:
[13:26] Yeah, it was just really great uh summit, just to hear all these speakers how taking their own uh the experience of the empathy circle and and building on it in— in their— in their own ways. I think that's really part of what uh it takes to build— build a movement. And I was really gratified that Kevin spoke, because he was a critic of empathy and uh he had written an article sort of negative about empathy. So— and I— I said, "Oh, I want to empathize with you, I want to hear what you know what your criticisms are." And we had a talk and just had a really great, you know, when he really understood what we were talking about, he totally changed.
Now you can see it, he's— he's just become a huge proponent, advocate for— for empathy. So I think that's part of it, is the people who are critical of empathy to say, "Hey, I want to hear what you have to say and I'm willing to listen," and uh that's how we uh kind of turn things— turn things around a lot of times...
[14:58] But in terms of next steps, uh let's see here, I put down a whole list in the chat. So to be a speaker at a future empathy summit, uh we have uh the next empathy summit coming up October 3rd, and it's a review of global uh review of empathy training programs around the world.
So if you have a training or know of some, you know, send them uh our direction... It's part of a bigger project we have of building an empathy movement curriculum, so sort of a free, uh uh off-the-shelf public domain curriculum. So really want to get trainers involved in helping build that...
Also, there was uh Braver Angels— we joined the Braver Angels network and they gave us... 100 free Braver Angels memberships... All you have to do, it says free to join Braver Angels with the empathy center member org and there's a link... Janna's going to be wearing her empathy t-shirt... we have cards that we hand out... "Free Empathy— get 10 minutes of free empathy"... and then on the other side is just about the organization that we're building, the empathy movement...