I & B 07 Humanity and technology.

On April 23rd we will celebrate Sant Jordi, day of books and roses. A day to give, to receive, to share and to be indulged, an authentic explosion of emotions and experiences that I recommend living. Anybody understands that day walking the streets of Barcelona, that, as in any relationship, there is nothing like feeling understood, loved and recognized.

Let’s try to transfer the magic of that day to the current reality of brands and retailers.

Today I'm not going to talk too much about customer experience or digital transformation. We clearly know that future passes through there, but I would not want to forget to add to the equation one of the fundamental assets of brands and sometimes undervalued, people.

From this point of view, I’m worried that, as Andy Stalman points out in his summary of the World Economic Forum in Davos, "67% of CEOs believe that technology, not humanity, is the key to the future of their companies."

No, technology should help us to make decisions in the fastest, most efficient, most profitable way and hopefully to be socially responsible.

Technology will facilitate and give us a competitive advantage if it allows us to know-recognize and satisfy our consumer by offering environments in which they feel the greatest experience and the best connection with the brand. But to be memorable in the eyes of our consumers is not enough.

As our consciousness agitator Ivo Guell would say, we are human, and we need to interact to feel emotion. For rational purchases and commodities, we already have and will have the IOT and the AI. For everything else, we need people, supported by technology.

Finding the balance between frictionless commerce and added value interaction with the consumer will therefore be strategic to remain memorable. Let me share some ideas to re-activate the human side of your brands:

•        Review of leadership attitudes 3.0. If everything evolves, team management also. The new leader must co-determine strategic goals and promote transparency, collaboration, delegation, listening, balance, training, involvement, happiness, positive reinforcement and flexibility. Being a participant and communicator of the successes and failures of the company will favor the commitment and motivation of the teams.

•        Talent attraction. At retail today, we need technical skills pushed by the technological aspect, but we will need more than ever soft skills to add human value to the shopping experience. This attraction of talent must be specialized and away from usual practices of utilitarian supply based on success. We will need to capture differently and attract our internal talent to transform it into brand ambassador’s people.

•        Empowerment of teams and people. If we have a front and a back-office of the active brand in the retail sector facing a new hyper-demanding consumer, maybe it’s time to provide it with the training and the tools to analyze, recognize and act in a personalized way. How will an experience without value affect the perception of consumers? If that power of representation is delegated, it must be done 100%, it is a question of confidence in the value of the person and in the security of their effectiveness in transmitting the brand.

•        Review of branding and the transmission of values. Corporate culture of brands must go beyond a slogan, it must be an intrinsic part of team’s life. Memorability is generated in emotion, in passion, in knowing how to live and communicate brand values. Review, remember, live and teach to communicate every day in a thousand actions and different processes will facilitate us to have satisfied teams, loyal and communicator of values to build loyalty to that experiential client.

Without people there are no brands, without people there’s no experience, without people there’s no success.

Technology will help us, it will propel us, but without the vision or passion of the people it will be an empty and ephemeral success. At this point we would do well to remember Steve Jobs and apply it in our day to day. "If you are working on something exciting that you have a passion for, you do not have to be pushed in. The vision pulls you."

Humanity and values. Brand and passion. Vision and people.