The Human Experience in the Digital Age
The times are rapidly changing - where next levels of exponential performance, growth and prosperity will be powered by the human heart and mind, rather than hands.
I wrote a white paper (that you can access here and here), the Human Experience in the Digital Age, originally commissioned and published by the Business Relationship Management Institute, and recently released by the International Institute for Learning, motivated by an epiphany I experienced on December 31, 2016, one where digital capabilities are ushering in a new world where humans are being liberated to be human again, empowered by the 2nd Machine Age, to leverage uniquely human emotional and cognitive capabilities long devalued in the Industrial Age, where human hands were all that mattered.
We are rediscovering the power of purpose, passion, and trust relationships, as the new fuel driving organizational agility, resilience, collaboration, and collective human accomplishment. It is about directly speaking to the hearts and minds of people. It’s about rediscovering and feeding the human soul, inspiring unimaginable accomplishment.
I started this paper with a quote from Viktor Frankl – "A human being is no thing". Frankl, a magnificent thought leader of his time and inventor of logotherapy focusing on three main principles, (human) freedom of will, will to meaning, and meaning to life. It is the essence of tapping into our collective human potential.
The voices I heard when authoring the paper are many addressing this evolving potential – Daryl Conner, Frank Wander, Michael Lowenstein, Colin Shaw, Daniel Goleman, Steve Stanton, Jeremy Scrivens, Raj Sisodia, Susan T. Fiske, Chris Malone, Aaron Barnes, Vaughan Merlyn, Kate Vitasek, John Miller, and many more. All address this rising awareness and value potential of human inspiration and trust based collaboration.
I thank the Business Relationship Management Institute for inspiring this piece that had been brewing in my mind for some time, and has led me to working with Frank Wander, Founder and CEO of PeopleProductive, its mission being centered on creating a world where everyone wins – where companies and people flourish together.
Yes, it is possible, and what’s more, inevitable.
Yours truly.