Empathy — the ability to recognize and respond to the feelings of another person — is the closest connection between two human beings.
Empathy also is the place to start when undertaking an innovative enterprise, says Yonah Schiller, executive director and rabbi of Tulane Hillel.
Schiller is co-teaching a course at Tulane University called Introduction to Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship with Anna Monhartova, program director of Social Innovation & Social Entrepreneurship in the Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking. About half of the students in the class are first-year students. The students are from all majors, with many majoring in business or finance.
