As new industries and new business forms flourish, the "problem domain" of grassroots governance keeps expanding. Some officials, unfamiliar with local conditions and short on experience, may fall into the awkward situation of "old methods no longer working, new methods beyond their grasp." How to break the impasse? One might well start with "putting yourself in others' shoes."
In one locality, a deputy bureau chief tagged along with a delivery rider on food-delivery runs, assuming riders cared most about social insurance policies - only to hear, the moment conversation started, "Please don't fine me" and "Can the food come out faster?" That huge gap is precisely the kind of pain point impossible to discover from behind an office desk.
The guiding principle is clear: officials should be good at putting themselves in others' position, going among the people, sincerely listening to their voices, truthfully reflecting their wishes, genuinely caring about their hardships, and accurately understanding their worries and hopes. This points to awareness in thought, but it demands even more empathy in action - and doing it well is anything but easy. Concretely, it may be divided into three levels.
Many people's understanding of perspective-taking stops at mental rehearsal: picturing the masses' problems as one's own. But a shift of viewpoint is only the first level. People's circumstances differ vastly - the pressures on their shoulders, the concerns in their hearts, the interests they must weigh are all different. If you only swap places inside your own head, an invisible wall still stands in the way.
A similar situation came up in one interview. An official at a university was puzzled: during a year-long renovation of underground pipes, teachers and veteran staff were all supportive, yet student complaints never stopped. Only after face-to-face talks did understanding dawn - everyone was affected, but their "time scales" differed. Teachers and long-time residents, who live there permanently, were willing to endure "short pain" to cure "long pain"; most students, however, stay only one to four years. If construction spans two semesters, it is naturally hard to accept.
While working in Zhejiang years ago, the current national leader offered a vivid explanation: "However correct a policy, it is hard to implement if the people do not understand it. If the people won't listen, first follow them; if the people jump into a fire pit, jump in with them. Once you have jumped together, you grow closer emotionally, and the work becomes easier." Only by being willing to take "that jump" can one earn trust and find the key that unlocks the problem.
