Principled Innovation envisions change that begins with individual educators and moves outward to innovation with larger implications for our learning communities. In this TED Talk, Harvard psychiatrist Helen Reiss discusses her research into empathy and proposes that empathy is something that can be developed, arguing that human beings are naturally “wired for” empathy as a species and that it is foundational for social change.
Toolkit library/
The power of empathy
The Empathy Handbook
Tool
60 minutes
By: Humanities Lab (Fall 2025)
Veil of ignorance
Video
2 minutes
By: Center for Leadership and Ethics
The power of empathy
Video
17 minutes
By: Helen Riess, TEDx
How classroom political discussions—controversies, too—prepare students for needed civic participation
Article
10 minutes
By: Holly Korbey, KQED
Emotional intelligence
Article
10 minutes
By: Character Lab