Open to Kindness

The War for Kindness:  Building Empathy in a Fractured World by Jamil Zaki
Crown, June 1, 2019

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Jamil Zaki comes to his study of empathy from a growth-mindset point of reference. His persuasive premise – that empathy can be taught and that nothing can get better without it – is ably and amply supported with data, real life experiences, and evidence of change over time. Additionally, he cites sources as diverse as politics, schools, intensive care units, police services and the U.N. Zaki, Director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Laboratory, makes a distinction between “fixist” thinking about empathy and “mobilist” views, which see it as something that can be encouraged, strengthened, and applied effectively, even in those who do not present with apparent predispositions for kindness. He takes on the how-to’s of increasing the disposition for empathy and also demonstrates how it can be lost due to stress, anxiety, fear, overexposure, and past failures. The latter is the war to which he refers in his title: the struggle for hearts and minds that will open to kindness, to listening, to acting on behalf of, and to understanding others in an increasingly unsubtle, wanting, fractured world. Zaki is an optimist, and he is also a scientist who adds gravitas to inspiring stories. What’s more, he lends in his strongest writing not only encouragement to try harder, but also proven tools to achieve a better and more caring world.