Museum Commons blogger Gretchen Jennings and other Empathetic Museum colleagues write in response to Museum Geek blogger Suse Cairns’ question: Can institutions be empathetic? 

The idea of institutional empathy is actually an extended metaphor comparing institutions to the human body or person.  All metaphors have their weaknesses, but we think this one is apt for the following reasons:           
– It’s familiar: we often talk about the “head” or the “arm” of an organization; we might say that its mission is its heart or soul.
– It conveys the idea of a system, an entity whose parts are interconnected and interrelated. If you cut your little finger this will activate blood flow from the heart and pain reflexes from the brain; similarly what affects one aspect of an institution has an impact on all parts.          
​- Empathy, we feel, is a systemic quality; its effective communication and existence depends on consistency throughout the organism.

See the full post here.

What are your questions or thoughts on the issues raised by Suse and Gretchen? Join the conversation: @gretchjenn, @EmpatheticMuse, #empatheticmuseum.