In this talk Bob Moesta explains the concept of empathetic perspective – the ability to mentally step into the shoes of various stakeholders, from venture capitalists to engineers, and even into non‑human elements like a plastic molecule. He distinguishes empathy (feeling what others feel without judgment) from sympathy, and argues that the best way to develop this skill is through theater and improv training, which he uses with his teams. Moesta illustrates the power of empathetic perspective with a detailed Ford Motor Company case from the mid‑1980s, where a rear‑view‑mirror molding problem was solved by “being the molecule” of the plastic, understanding its material properties, manufacturing conditions, and data flow, leading to a robust injection‑molding solution rather than merely addressing humidity. He also describes how he helps teams visualize data flow by treating data as a character, reinforcing that empathetic perspective uncovers hidden gaps and drives concrete solutions.
Chapters
Empathetic perspective. People who have empathetic perspective can see through space and time. They can literally look backwards, they can look forwards, they can see at a very macro level, they can jump down to a very micro level. They can see, they almost can play the role of, here's what the VC is going to say, here's what my co-founder is going to say, here's what the engineers are going to say. And so part of this is that they have a way in which to almost detach themselves and play the role of that other person. There are people who like, They can connect dots so quickly. And the reason why they can connect dots is because they can actually see the gaps, because they can actually play the, the role of these different people simultaneously. And so these people seen as very quick thinkers, but they're really not. They're really just able to understand how other people think and feel. I always talk about the difference between empathy and sympathy. So empathy is about putting yourself in their shoes, feeling what they feel, see what they see, hear what they hear. But you don't necessarily agree or disagree with whatever it is. You're just trying to play the role. The best way to get good at empathetic perspective is in the theater. I send team members to improv training to get them to actually get better at empathetic perspective. Playing the role, understanding the context, understanding who they're playing with, what are they— where are they coming from. This is actually a very creative thing, but it's also very, very concrete. So I worked at Ford Motor Company from 1985 to 1992, and Willie was my boss. And I think it was very early in '85, and we had a problem where the rearview mirror of the car— I worked Ford Taurus— this rearview mirror that literally was attached, and it was just a plastic shell and a little mirror in it, right? And you snap it in and it You can see behind you. Well, it turns out that the way that we ended up molding that plastic is what would happen is it would get really, really warm and it would expand and the lens would fall out on the dashboard. So they said, Bob, go fix that. I'm like, okay. So I would go and I'd find out and I said, you know what, the number one cause is the moisture of the plant in the summer because it's so humid. And they'd go like, can't— we can't air condition the plant, go find another way. And so what, what Willie did is she says, all right, I want you to go be the molecule of plastic. I'm like, what? And so she basically said like, well, what kind of molecule is it? It's polyethylene. Well, what is polyethylene? How's it— deep dive into all that stuff. And then I'd say, well, you know, what are the characteristics? How do we know when it's good? What are the good metrics behind it? How is it made, right? How is it transported, right? All the different pieces to it. And then all of a sudden it's like, well, how do we end up molding it and using it? And how does it actually become a lens. And so part of this was, is she took me through the exercise of just having empathetic perspective from the product side. So a lot of times with teams, I'll actually spend time trying to get them to understand, if I'm a piece of data, where do I go? What do I sit in? How do I get updated? I walk the team through being able to understand the flow of information, the flow of data. Where does it— and how does it actually work, as opposed to just talking about the results? This exercise helped me realize that, but to actually solve the problem without getting rid of the cause. We didn't get rid of the humidity of the plant, we just made the injection molding machine robust to it. But I could have never seen it if I didn't have empathetic perspective.
