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Shelton Davis, IDSA

Founder, Empathy Lab

Shelton Davis, IDSA



Shelton Davis would rather hear your story than tell his. An experienced product and UX designer, researcher, and team leader, he believes in our collective power to listen, understand, and create positive global change. In 2017, Shelton channeled 15+ years of human-centered innovation knowledge and his lifelong passion for personal connection into one huge group project: Empathy Lab. After a year of prototyping, testing, rinsing and repeating, he launched the first and only 10-skill training series designed to (re)condition our empathy muscles and empower collective success from the inside out. Inspired by Shelton’s own physical, mental and emotional education as a competitive athlete, the Empathy Decathlon is fully engaging, research-backed, refreshingly accessible, and 100% led by example.

Empathy Fuels Innovation - Empathy Decathlon™ Practice

Breakout Workshop

Track 6

Thurs - Sept 23

10:00 am EDT

Yes, "empathize" technically starts off the Design Thinking process, yet there is a BIG missing step before it. Empathy for yourself and empathy within your team, community, and company is critical to any innovation process, yet we don't practice it, cultivate it in our cultures, or actively support it with one another. In this session I will share baggage that weighs down the innovation process and how I am practicing and coaching people to deal with it. I will go over the Empathy Decathlon and quickly coach you through the 10 micro-skills that build empathy muscles. Self empathy and team empathy fuel innovation!

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For 60 years, the Industrial Designers Society of America has worked to advance the practice of industrial design through education, information, community, and advocacy. Our roots stretch to the beginning of the profession, and our members are, and have been, some of the most celebrated industrial designers of all time. Today, we exist as a global voice for industrial design within a broad ecosystem of design disciplines and we celebrate the cross-functional overlap of many creative fields.

Learn more at IDSA.org

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