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Your Most Important Skill: Empathy

chadfowler.com Essays & writing Essays & articles Work & careers Candidate

Resurfaced independently across 3 calendar years, with breakout response in 2 of them.

submissions
3
submitters
3
observed span
2014–2022
peak thread · 132 comments
330 pts
latest 20+ return · 2015-03-12
330 pts

Submission timeline

2007–2026

One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.

First comments on top threads

HN comment order

I'm sure this will get buried at this point, but I have experienced very negative side effects from my ability to empathize with people. Theres a term (which I find silly) that categorizes people as 'empaths' which I gathered means one can almost "link" emotionally with people. While I fid the term silly, i have experienced almost crippling emotional pain when someone close to me is hurting. I hate it, I wish it would go away. My one friend, brilliant…

This sentence stood out for me: > The reason crowds of people exhaust me is that I am constantly trying to read and understand the feelings and motivations of those around me. To me, this is a symptom of a poor Theory of Mind, or a conflict between the consciously held theory of mind and the internalized one. For the author, it looks like that latter -- he's exhausted because he has to consciously re-process his perceptions of others, perceptions…

The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.

Breakout years
2

100+ points or 50+ comments

Total points
535

reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking

Total comments
185

reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking

Every submission

DateTitle as submittedByPointsComments
2014-01-19Your most important skill: EmpathyFirst breakoutchadfowler20353
2015-03-12Your Most Important Skill: EmpathyBest thread · Latest 20+ point returnnikunjk330132
2022-03-10Your Most Important Skill: Empathygraderjs20