Empathy is the key.

When we can feel what the other person is feeling, when we can relate to them, we can take action that can help them. We can design our product or service, our interaction, our relationship keeping that in mind.

It requires emotional labour to move from making the story about me to a story about us. It requires us to see them and see how we fit into their story rather than the other way out.

We can learn innumerous hacks and tricks, but without empathy none of them matter. And empathy is a skill, the more we practice, the better we become at it.