In Harper Lee’s much-loved book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch teaches his young daughter Scout that empathy is the key to understanding others. “If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it,” he says.
In a world that moves fast, is made smaller – and potentially less personal – through modern technology, these words resonate louder now than ever before. That’s why Empathy has joined Results, Relentless and Teamwork as Blue Yonder’s fourth Core Value.
Our values work as an orchestra; an ensemble rather than a collection of individual instruments. In a global environment that offers a diversity of mindsets, personalities, and viewpoints, having an empathy-driven culture helps us understand each other better, work together more cohesively, and ultimately, deliver the results our customers expect from us. When we embrace our diversity and infuse it with empathy, our orchestra plays beautiful music.
For each Blue Yonder associate, our values influence every interaction with a customer, partner and each other. We hold each other accountable for living these values and seek to engage others who embrace our emphasis on teamwork, relentless learning and focus on delivering results. We now add to this empathy; listening and being aware of the other’s perspective.
At this unprecedented time, no matter where you live, or what you do, whether at home, work or in our neighborhoods, when engaging family, neighbors, customers, or service providers, engaging with empathy is how we will move forward together. It is important to understand where we each are in these moments of heightened emotion. Not listening and being aware of another’s perspective would be folly. When so many things could divide us, empathy will help unite us.
When we unveiled the Blue Yonder Core Values several years ago, we did so with care and deliberation. They have become the bedrock of our culture and guide us in everything we do.
