TEU's journey began with the realisation that empathy is a revolutionary skill that can solve almost all unsettling issues facing humanity today. History has witnessed, time and again, the power of empathy to change even the most stubborn of humans and through them, to constructively impact families, societies, cultures, nations and thus, the world at large. 

 

The focus on empathy has grown tremendously over the last couple of years, with the criticality of empathy being discussed in all domains by the likes of Presidents of countries, educationists, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and psychotherapists. Empathy lies at the core of the design thinking process and is becoming a central focus within Artificial Intelligence as well. In his 2016 book “The Fourth Industrial Revolution,” Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, points out that the demand for roles that machines cannot fulfil and which rely on intrinsically human traits and capabilities such as empathy will grow in the coming years.

 

However, there is a considerable dearth of empathy in our societies today. A 2010 study by a research team at the University of Michigan had found a 40% decline in empathy among college students as compared to their counterparts 20 or 30 years ago, with most of this decline coming after 2000, indicating clearly that there is an empathy deficit prevalent in the world.

 

TEU, since its inception in 2016, has been working to spread awareness regarding the essentiality of empathy in every single domain of life through experiential workshops. The meticulously curated and developed empathy workshops encourage participants to think, act, and feel from the perspective of another, a practice that can immensely improve the quality of both their personal and professional lives, and also positively affect the institution to which they belong. The empathy training helps participants empathise with first their own selves, fight barriers to empathy, support those around who are disadvantaged, better articulate consumer behaviour, and become better parents, teachers, employers, employees and global citizens. 

Earlier and current projects focus on educational institutions, corporate organisations and individual empathy revolutionists from across the globe. Future plans include the inculcation of empathy into governmental and public policy initiatives, online interactions and debates, and mental health support systems.