Being creative is all about making connections, often in directions that are non-linear, or connecting 'items' that may be far apart in the plotted map of our thinking and feeling. Some of these connections are made consciously - they can be 'forced' through creative activities, for example - and some of them are made unconsciously during periods of incubation. That 'eureka' moment can be the conscious, apparently momentary expression of a long chain of unconscious connections made over a period of time.
Empathy is critical for creative innovation in business, because this is where connections are created with other people. In service businesses, the connections we need to make are with colleagues across the business - who work in different functions, are closer or further away from customers, who we need to collaborate with to deliver - and with customers.
It isn't enough to monitor customers at arms length, to have an idea of what they might want, an analysed 'average' of apparent customer needs. To make these deep creative connections, vital for really successful innovation, we need to get as close as we can to thinking and feeling as our customers do.
In his study of discovery, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi identifies 'expertise' (or hard work) as one of the hidden aspects of creative flow. Pioneers in thinking, original creatives, master their domain in order to create an internal environment in which connections can form. They immerse themselves in it. They live it and breathe it.
In innovation, that domain is the customer. And empathy is the means to master the customer domain.