In her televised New Year’s speech, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt made it clear that the public sector must become more efficient. Yes, but how? In my experience, an important prerequisite is that we grow the ability to put ourselves in other people’s place. We must base the creation of better and more productive welfare on empathy.
In present day Great Britain, renowned thinker and RSA think-tank director Matthew Taylor says that
we in the 21st century need a new Enlightenment, noting that empathy will be a core competence for future citizens.
The time is ripe. For the “soft” is on its way to becoming the “hard”. Empathy will be the next big thing in the welfare debate of 2013.
By Christian Bason
