I recently stopped having empathy to solve problems.

Everyone thinks the pain is what matters.
I know your natural tendency is to fix what people struggle with.

Does it alleviate challenges? Maybe -- but not in multiplayer situations.

For years, I carried the same concept: “have empathy” to root for people. Then I elevated my approach by adding systems thinking to understand many moving parts.

However, there is something missing. The solution gets pushback from other players.

I learned that besides approaching business problems with empathy and systems thinking, you need to:

1. Understand players in the system.
2. List each one’s needs.
3. Map their relationships.
4. Arrange needs based on a hierarchy of power: most to least.

—> You understand which stakeholder(s) your impacted audience depends on.

Your solution must address higher-power stakeholders’ needs.
In multi-stakeholder systems, solving the impacted audience’s problem solves the wrong problem.

Address your systems like addressing your market.

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Thanks for time. If this seems hard to grasp, here an illustration I put together: