Others Unlimited
Hello, friends. I’ve got news: I’ve launched a beautiful business, and I couldn’t be happier about it.
As many of you know, for 2 decades, I’ve made it my work to understand people. How they think, what they feel, and why they do the things they do. I’ve walked and talked with hundreds of humans in their daily lives, at work and at home, in the third spaces of society, and the virtual spaces of the web. Sometimes I’ve done it for art. Sometimes for business. But always for the purpose of reminding the movers and makers of the world that behind every idea is a human: a sweaty and soulful, meaty and freaky human.
Some years ago, I worked for an agency whose clients didn’t often budget for deep research. This left me, as an ethnographer, with few billable hours, and left them, as brands, with too little connection to their audiences. Saddled with an empty schedule, and a busy mind, I taught a class for my co-workers on empathic listening. My thinking was that, if clients couldn’t send me into the field, perhaps our strategists and creatives could have better conversations with clients and consumers, which would help keep our work attuned to the people we intended to serve.
But the listening class surprised everyone, most of all me. The first session packed our biggest room, so we booked two more, and the requests kept coming. Our impact poll reported happier clients and deeper strategies, but what my co-workers stopped me in the hall to share were personal breakthroughs, team alignment, dynamic shifts, and repaired relationships. It turned out that empathic listening–a practice of self-awareness and non-judgment–wasn’t just a business tool. It was a catalyst for real change.
Over the next few years, that first listening class saw many rounds of iterative R&D, and was improved and cheered on by a multitude of like-minded wizards who have made it possible for me to say what I’ve come here to say now. Welcome to the world, Others Unlimited: empathy training for research, collaboration, and citizenship! Others teaches individuals and teams the skills of perspective-taking. More on that later. For now, please say hello, spread the word, and bring us on board to share the spark with your crew!
https://www.othersunlimited.com/
***Infinite thanks to Darren Fill, Naveen Raja, Mark Logan, Ricky Catto, Jim Howard, Joe Cox, Susannah Sulsar, Michael Ventura, Nihal Ahmed, rebecca oginni, Esther Thomas, Gage Salzano, William Hayes, Lori Talley, Emily Twomey, Gunny Scarfo, Ben Zeidler, David Mellor, Carol Enoch, Anna Kladzyk Constantino, Uri Ratner, and Kim Carpenter, without whom there is no way this would be a thing.***
