Empathy Lab’s team! From left to right they are coaches Nadine Doyle, Mary Bolander (in photo), lead facilitator/coach Theresa Ward, Susan Lambert with Akasha, Eustacia Maloney, founder Shelton Davis, Pame Barba, and Amy Small.
We empower innovative, inclusive, and intimate people with EMPATHY!
Since 2018, we've effectively demonstrated the strength and application of empathy-as-a-practice across various individuals, teams, companies, and even within our practice community. With the aid of our Empathy Decathlon® framework, we've made the process of practicing empathy straightforward, repeatable, and culture-defining.
The following outlines our journey so far, our intended path forward, and our aspirations for the future. Empathy Lab, initiated and sustained by me, Shelton Davis, MID since 2018, has reached a point where we're seeking compassionate partners. Our aim is to amplify our ability to equip more individuals, teams, and companies with empathy as their cornerstone for innovation, inclusion, and intimacy.
Thank you!
With energy,
Shelton Davis
Listener, CEO, Founder
shelton@empathylab.io
TL;DR
We are raising $250K to $2MM to help us grow and expand the way we utilize the Empathy Decathlon® framework. Our three area focus includes; expanding and supporting the living Empathy Athlete Community model, piloting and integrating a teacher-focused Empathy Decathlon training program across the United states, and creating and implementing key empathy indicators (KEIs) through Empathy Corp. for companies to adopt, follow, and prosper from. These efforts will help us cultivate a network of communities that will reshape our education and economic landscape towards a more measurable and equitable future for people.
2018
Empathy Lab is officially launched
Stealth mode learning, watching, etc. since 2016
First half day facilitated Empathy Practice with Theresa Ward!!
Year’s practices: 2
Total participants: ~25
2019
Georgia Tech + Morehouse College practices with students
Empathy Morning practice sessions established, two sessions run
Eight practices with full companies, communities, and co-working spaces
Year’s practices: 12
Total participants: ~200
From thought to reality, Empathy Lab’s path.
While pursuing his master's degree in Industrial Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Shelton was profoundly influenced by a series of conversations with the late Bill Moggridge, co-founder of IDEO. These discussions shed light on the undervalued nature of empathy in both the design process and everyday life, laying the groundwork for the practical establishment of Empathy Lab, Inc. From 2010 to 2018, Shelton actively engaged in empathy-driven research and design processes as a UX design leader in various settings, including corporate innovation labs, design consultancies, and startups. It was during this period, while leading design teams, that Shelton recognized the scarcity and urgent need for practicing empathy within the culture. Empathy Lab aims to redirect the focus of empathetic innovation inwards towards the people building our future.
2020
Empathy Decathlon® framework launched
Empathy Standup Established (weekly + free to the public)
All virtual session because of the COVID-19 pandemic
Year’s clients: 6
Year’s practices: 8
Total participants: ~230
2021
Two multi-month distributed (one international, Berlin to Bangkok) full company Empathy Decathlon clients
Year’s clients: 5
Year’s practices: 70
Total participants: ~300
2022
Certified six new Empathy Decathlon master facilitators
Eight company practices conducted, 3 lead by new facilitators
Year’s clients: 8
Year’s practices: 120
Total participants: ~400
2023
Empathy Community Launched
Certified Empathy Decathlon facilitators leading two client practices
Signed multi-month practice in planning
Client relationships and proposals continue
Community Launch stages in the works
Estimated year’s clients: 20
Estimated year’s practices: 200
Estimated total participants: ~2000
PRIMARY FOCUS - Cultivating the Empathy Athlete Community
Betterhelp, but for of people, teams, and leaders to learn, grow, and practice empathy in a focused community.
Problems:
Companies/teams don’t know how to intentionally create and sustain inclusive and innovative communities within their own walls
Executive leadership is hesitant to take on programs because of past missteps, failures, and “everything is just fine” mentalities
Scheduling time and space for teams to gather internally proves to be very difficult if not impossible
Employees WANT to be seen, heard, and cared for and are left waiting for the executive leadership team to make decisions
Teams become less productive, individuals burn out, lash out, quit, and choose not to rejoin their profession when a company doesn’t value cultural wellness
Solutions:
Create an empathy practice community outside of the company walls utilizing weekly live topic-based practices, Discord for communication, and in-person events (an intentional third place)
Give employees, small business, consultants, and students a place to practice empathy together. to sign up and attend full facilitated
Give executive leadership a place to send their employees that are seeking individual and culture help (like Betterhelp)
Low barrier to entry allows employees, small businesses, consultants, and students to sign up on their own
Executives and teams can try out the Empathy Lab community and with our help, create a similar experience internally
Empathy Lab Goals:
1000 Empathy Athlete Community members by the end of 2023 ($20/month per person)
20+ member generated team and company off community opportunities ($5,000 - $50,000)
10+ B2B collaboration opportunities (TBD)
Investment Supported Goals:
Shift focus from business development to community development and Empathy Athlete recruiting (member relationships will champion our business development)
Pay certified Empathy Lab coaches to participate as community managers / coaches
Recruiting speakers and experts to share their perspective in our Empathy + speaker series
Provide scholarships to students, veterans, and unemployed individuals looking to participate
White label the Empathy Athlete Community model for differently focused organizations like the Center for Compassionate Leadership alumni cohorts and Wisdom 2.0 attendees
Develop professional videos for on-demand Empathy Decathlon training
Run an 1-2 day on-site Empathy Athlete Community event with speakers, food, and activities
SECONDARY FOCUS - Empowering Educators and Students
CASEL, but focused on training educators with the simple and student-transferrable, Empathy Decathlon® practice framework
Problems
Many independent schools are left to find their own SEL training OR develop it internally
When developed internally, each teacher has their own version of SEL training, thus it’s difficult to transfer from class to class or student to student
Social and emotional learning (SEL) has become a controversial political topic which has directly influenced funding and support of SEL training
SEL programming at public school is one of the last funded items of staff, teacher, and student education
Solutions
Develop and pilot Empathy Decathlon curriculum for independent school’s administrators, teachers, students, and parents
Develop an integration into public schools for administrators, teachers, students and parents.
Work alongside education pioneers
Empathy Lab Goals
Explore curriculum development with partners Susan Lambert (Empathy Lab’s education focused coach) and Tom Thorpe (Director of REDI Lab) with additional guidance from Empathy Lab advisors, Kristin Moody (Professor at Morehouse College), and George Kembel (co-founder of Stanford’s d.school)
Develop a pilot workshop for educators and administrators
Run a pilot workshop in beginning of school year (November) so that we can support, measure, and assess progress over the remainder of the year.
Investment Enabled
Cover a series of workshops with Susan Lambert, Tom Thorpe, Kristen Moody, and George Kembel to iterate and prototype a focused go-to-school strategy
Focus on adjusting and piloting the Empathy Decathlon framework to serve independent school administrators and staff
Pilot a 2-3 day workshop in Atlanta, Georgia with 15-20 educators
Create an educator focused Empathy Athlete Community for continued collaboration and continued practice
Consider spinning off and Empathy Lab for Educators entity that can better handle a focused nationwide effort.
TERTIARY FOCUS - Empathy Corp (E-Team) Metrics + Certification
B-Corp model with a focus on longitudinal empathetic culture metrics and individual/company certification.
Pain
Business investment in continuous cultural wellness initiatives is inconsistent because they fail to meet quarterly earning business metrics
There are no consistent business metrics to measure caring, kindness, manager empathy, or cultural well being that are top line within a companies business strategy
Solution
Based on the Empathy Decathlon framework, create a measurable set of KEI’s (Key Empathy Indicators) that create a realistic picture of the health of a company’s employees and its overall culture
Supplement traditional business metrics and employee key performance metrics with KEIs that show innovation, inclusion, and improved business metrics because of a culture of specific empathy practices
Empathy Lab Goals
Continued research and exploration of additional employee and culture empathy metrics that can be improved through individual, team, and community empathy training
Prototype an empathy corporation audit that can assess the current state of a company’s state of cultural empathy
Investment Enabled
Dedicate time to iterating KEI’s with a cohort of pilot companies and communities
Conduct a series of roundtable discussion, iteration, and prototype sessions with Atlanta, Georgia based people leadership executives to come up with ways of integrating KEIs and continuous Empathy Decathlon training within their organizations
Package, price, and sell an experience where companies can assess their culture’s state of empathy, develop a practice plan, and co-facilitate practices into the culture in order to improve its unique state of empathy
Create a B-Corp like yearly assessment, certification, and continued education model that can be spun off from Empathy Lab as its own entity.
Where’s Empathy Lab going
In the wake of the pandemic and amidst economic decline, it's become increasingly clear that our social and business environments require intelligent, straightforward, and enduring empathy practices for survival and prosperity. There's ample evidence suggesting we're moving in the right direction. The U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy’s report, Advisory: The Healing Effects of Social Connection, and the eye-opening research from Business Solvers 2023 State of Empathy report, underscore the importance of empathetic practice and compassionate connection.
Even startling headlines such as Fortune magazine’s recent cover, “Efficiency is in. Is empathy out?” in which Salesforce CEO, Marc Benioff, balances empathy with efficiency, validate Empathy Lab’s mission. Just as becoming an Olympic champion demands time, dedication, and focus towards a reachable goal, our mission similarly demands perseverance. We aim to "champion the power and practice of empathy."
Through coaching, providing support, creating spaces, and practicing with more individuals, teams, and communities, we are confident that our outcomes will be marked by humanity-centric innovation, inclusion, and intimacy.
With the right partners, we will accelerate Empathy Lab’s ability to impact more individuals, teams, and companies in three focus areas;
Primary - Community Growth and Cultivation
Secondary - Empowering School Educators and Administrators
Tertiary - Empathy Metrics for teams/companies + Certification.
Seed and Support
Investment
We are raising $250K to $2MM
AND
Partnering with compassionate investors that believe our innovative, inclusive, and intimate future requires human empathy.
$250K
Primary - Community
Secondary - Education
Tertiary - Key Empathy Metrics
1 year of supported runway
Partially fund empathy community build efforts
Support our initial teachers’ Empathy Decathlon pilot
$1MM
Primary - Community
Secondary - Education
Tertiary - Key Empathy Metrics
Multi-year runway
2-3 full time hires OR contract compensation equivalent
Fully fund empathy community build with a dedicated community support specialist
$2MM
Primary - Community
Secondary - Education
Tertiary - Key Empathy Metrics
2-3 full time hires OR contract compensation equivalent
Fully fund empathy community build with a dedicated community support specialist
Invest in the longitudinal study of empathetic community building
Build a micro-team to take on our 3 focuses