Page 31 - Demo

Abigail Baugus
Manager, Learning & Development Walmart, Inc. – Sam’s Club
: In one sentence or one phrase, what does empathy mean to you?
The definition I always go back to is trying to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and look at things from their perspective – with the understanding that you’ll never fully be able to get into their shoes, because their lived experiences are most likely pretty different from your own. That’s how I typically think of it and that’s a definition that’s evolved for me over time.
: Do you think of empathy differently now than you did in the past?
Definitely. My first exposure to the word empathy, if I remember correctly, was from a sci-fi/fantasy series I was reading in my younger days. In that series, empathy was a kind of magical ability or superpower. So, it’s definitely evolved from that, but I remember thinking that if I had a magical ability or superpower, that’s what I’d want it to be: to be able to really understand where someone else is coming from and kind of live the same type of experience that they’re going through to better understand them.
Since then, it’s something that I’ve read and learned a lot about and tried to continue to understand better.
: You’ve been on some of our Empathy Concerts. What do they evoke for you?
One of the biggest things is the feeling of community and togetherness, especially in a time when we’re so separated from other people physically. It’s nice to be in a group setting with different people, other than who I interact with day to day, and to be able to see the different ideas and perceptions coming through the chat as the concerts go on. Also, the word clouds we create about how we think about empathy expose me
to some different ideas. They show me some different ways of thinking about either current events or just the word in and of itself. I’ve gained some new perspectives, so I really enjoy them. I especially enjoy getting to hear from other people in our industry.
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