Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Roman Krznaric. I am a founding faculty member of The School of Life in London, where I designed the course on Work and teach the Art of Conversation. I also advise companies and other organisations on how to develop empathy in the workplace, schools and communities to bring about social change.
What is the biggest challenge at work facing you this year?
Encouraging participants on the Work courses to see that even in a recession there are options for career change, gaps in the world of work through which to glimpse new possibilities, and that crisis can help bring into sharp relief the big existential questions of working life, such as, ‘Am I really doing a job that is big enough for my spirit?’ Another challenge is that I’m embarking on my dream project of establishing the world’s first Empathy Museum, an experiential adventure space where you can learn to see the world through the eyes of others, including future generations who will suffer from the effects of climate change.
What is your greatest strength?
Being a generalist with the courage to delve into different disciplines and make connections between ideas. I hope the next revolution in work will be to overturn our current obsession with specialisation and revive the ideal of the Renaissance Generalist. This is the opposite of what you can find on the new twenty-pound note, which pictures the political economist Adam Smith staring dispassionately at workers slaving away in a pin factory in mundane, specialised jobs.
When were you happiest?
I don’t believe in happiness nor do I aspire to it. I think, since the 18th century, it has become too closely associated with purely positive pleasures and emotions, and misses the importance of what we can learn from suffering and discovering a life with more layers of meaning.
What single change could you make to improve your life?
I used to spend a lot of time wandering the streets where I live in Oxford and getting into conversations with strangers, and recently I haven’t done it nearly as often as I did in the past. So I’d like to change that. This would improve my life in the sense that I have always found that talking to strangers – like the old Afghani man who works in my local corner shop – is one of the best ways I know to expand my empathetic imagination and discover new ideas for how to live my own life.
Which living person do you most admire and why?
I very much admire the writings of Theodore Zeldin, who I worked with for several years, particularly for his ideas on how conversation can be used to change the nature of work and reinvent organisations. If I’m allowed to admire someone who is not alive, it would be George Orwell, for the way he turned empathy into an extreme sport. In the late 1920s, he dressed up as a tramp and lived amongst beggars and vagabonds on the streets of East London (recounted in his book ‘Down and Out in Paris and London’). This adventure transformed him as a person by challenging his prejudices, expanding his moral universe, changing his approach to friendship and nurturing his curiosity – as well as providing some good literary material. Turning our attention outwards can change our lives.
What drives you?
The desire to close the gap between my beliefs and my actions. And love.
What are you excited about?
I’ve recently started a blog about empathy called Outrospection, which is a hugely stimulating endeavour. The blog acts as a global portal for the explosion of empathy thinking that has emerged in the past decade amongst neuroscientists, evolutionary biologists, education policy makers, cultural historians and many others. It also aims to contain practical advice on how to deepen empathy in everyday life and transform it into a philosophy of living. Apart from the blog, I’m excited by the mysterious and beautiful process of watching my twins grow into the world.
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
That spending too much time being introspective and focusing on our own obsessions and ambitions does not make for a fulfilling life. The art of living needs to be more outrospective: that is, we should discover and fulfil ourselves by understanding how other people live, think and look at the world.
How would you like to be remembered?
As an advocate of the revolution of human relationships that the world so desperately needs to tackle its critical problems such as climate change, wealth inequality and intercultural conflict.
Roman has just completed a new book on empathy, which will be out in 2010. He also writes a blog about empathy called Outrospection.
www.romankrznaric.com