How To Cultivate A Meaningful Human Connection With Anyone
Written by: Joshua B. Lee, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
One of the core tenants of our mission and personal philosophy here at StandOut Authority is making real, long-term, authentic human connections, not only for ourselves but for as many other people as we can in our community and with our clients.
We firmly believe that we’re in the midst of a “Human Revolution” and this re-connection and re-establishment of our most basic impulses is what’s going to drive business, commerce and revenue well into the future.
Here’s a fantastic quote from the Co-Founder of HubSpot:
“Many companies have forgotten they sell to actual people. Humans care about the entire experience, not just the marketing or sales or service. To really win in the modern age, you must solve for humans.” ― Dharmesh Shah, CTO & Co-Founder, HubSpot”
But to really get an idea of why we are where we are today, we need to look at our collective past.
Truth is, we homo-sapiens have been seeking out real connections as long as we’ve been walking upright, but we only need to look at the more recent past to understand how and why we’ve seemingly lost this vital part of human nature.
Before the advent of radio, in the latter part of the 1800’s and into the early 20th century human beings were still tied to one another much more directly. You still had to actually go to the grocery and place your order with the grocer, or the butcher or the milkman.
Business interactions were all done in person, face to face, with a firm handshake.
The adoption of radio as a means of mass communication began to change that dynamic.
Family gathered around radio in the 1920's
Radio transformed the way we got our information. It brought us all together in real-time around the family radio every night for news, entertainment and yes, it changed advertising and business along with it.
Little did we know the very technology that seemed on the surface to be something uniting us would ultimately start to divide us.
The golden age of radio took place from the 1920’s through the 1950’s. But a new player was waiting to upset radio’s reign. When television broke onto the landscape it provided even more opportunity to bring the things we craved into our lives. It also provided businesses the chance to revolutionize the way they marketed their wares to the public. Suddenly advertisers were driving their own narrative in full technicolor. This was the start of the polarization that was to come.
TV ad from the 1950's
The television juggernaut existed from the 1960’s into the 1990’s and early 2000’s. Television continues to evolve and shape our human experience, but the march of technology bows to no one.
We thought the internet was going to be the great equalizer, and at first it seemed like it could be. But the more it evolved and the more data was collected, somewhere along the way we lost that most basic need - the need to actually interact and connect with actual human beings.
Listen, I’m all about using technology and I don’t believe that any emerging technology is inherently bad. It’s the way it’s put to use that can be manipulated and aligned with a greater mission or mis-aligned to feed the baser instinct of greed.
Group gathered in person
Here’s the thing though. It’s now up to us.
We have all of it at our fingertips and unlike ANY other time in history, the consumer journey is ripe to go back to the roots of our origins. We, as creators, producers, purveyors of products and services are in the unique position to transform every single interaction, every single transaction and put the HUMAN connection back into our businesses, brands and lives.
But that’s just my take on it – let me know in the comments what you think and how you’re changing the way you do things in your business and life to elicit more authentic connections with your audience!
Joshua B. Lee, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
They call me “The Dopamine Dealer of LinkedIn” and I’m proud of that nickname. I founded Standout Authority in 2014, so I can work with entrepreneurs, business owners and professionals like you to help you humanize your professional or company brand on LinkedIn.
