Dr. Kristen Donnelly, Founder, Abbey Research

Dr. Kristen Donnelly, Founder, Abbey Research

• Dr. Donnelly is the Founder of Abbey Research.
• She is one of the good doctors of Abbey Research.

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The worst thing you could say to somebody is, I know how you feel.  Because typically, if somebody says that most humans’ reaction is no, you don’t, or how could you? Or like to smile politely and hope the conversation changes. What we really want to hear is, I’m sorry, you’re in pain. Or I’m sorry, that’s difficult for you. What we really want is to be heard, and to be heard, means to be understood. Empathy is a discipline, we can all practice every single day. So empathy is the consistent, intentional decision to choose understanding over assumptions. Dr. Kristen Donnelly, Founder of Abbey Research, talks to us about empathy.

00:40- About Kristen Nielsen Donnelly

• Dr. Donnelly is the Founder of Abbey Research.
• She is one of the good doctors of Abbey Research.
• They are empathy educators; they help people understand themselves and the world around them better.
• They focus on inclusivity and curiosity so that everyone can have a richer and fuller life.

00:47- Mission- To Impact Lives and Create Wealth

• The idea is always to leave everybody better than we found them in some way.
• Wealth is holistic. It’s emotional, financial, social, and economic.
• I provide training and implementation strategies around employee retention, and employee engagement. We call it, empathy education, with the idea that helping people to understand each other is the best way to impact lives and create holistic wealth.

03:21- About Abbey Research

• We help corporations, organizations, universities, and individuals combat discord, inefficiencies, misunderstandings, and other interpersonal roadblocks that get in the way of effective growth and change through our framework of empathy education.
• We believe that the pathway to real changes starts with understanding ourselves and each other better.
• This happens not only through actively learning new perspectives, but through the understanding that each of us thinks and moves through the world differently.
• We offer educational seminars, corporate workshops and retreats, keynote presentations, and masterclasses.

04:50- Who is an empathy educator, and how do you define empathy?

• We define empathy as a worldview that everyone can learn to have.
• We realized that even though we usually consider that empathy is really attached to emotions, we started doing some research.
• We discovered that only a few definitions have the word emotions in them. But all of them have the word understanding.
• The worst thing you could say to somebody is, I know how you feel.  Because typically, if somebody says that most humans’ reaction is no, you don’t, or how could you? Or like to smile politely and hope the conversation changes. What we really want to hear is, I’m sorry, you’re in pain. Or I’m sorry, that’s difficult for you. What we really want is to be heard, and to be heard, means to be understood.
• Empathy is a discipline, we can all practice every single day. So empathy is the consistent, intentional decision to choose understanding over assumptions.

20:00- What have you learned about empathy while working in International conflict zones?

• The phrase that there are two sides to every story is a bald-faced lie.
• The stories evolve over time, the truth is something we find in the middle of facts, and sometimes against facts.
• I believe in conflict transformation, I don’t believe in conflict resolution.

23:32- Three lessons

• Life is hard and you are doing okay. Everything feels overwhelming, a lot.
• Remember that everyone is as complicated as you are. So operate with more grace than your energy level will often allow.
• With any extra emotional energy you have, practice curiosity.

RESOURCES:

You can connect with Dr. Kristen Nielsen Donnelly- LinkedIn

• Dr. Donnelly is the Founder of Abbey Research.
• She is one of the good doctors of Abbey Research.
• They are empathy educators; they help people understand themselves and the world around them better.
• They focus on inclusivity and curiosity so that everyone can have a richer and fuller life.