Be More Human: Recent Episodes
Graham Brown
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As we enter the 4th Industrial Revolution, how can we compete with Artificial Intelligence - a technology that promises exponential yield gains in efficiency? The answer is to do what machines cannot - be more human. Be More Human is a rally call for business leaders to use Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning not to replace humanity, but to augment it through leadership, storytelling, and podcasts. This podcast is an exploration of how we can automate the Work to elevate the flow.
Stories are a powerful tool of influence. But, how do you use that influence? Do you use that power to divide and inflame the primal fears of your audience or do you use it to connect and heal?
In today’s Be More Human Podcast I’m joined by documentary filmmaker Rain Bennett to discuss the power of stories through some of his recent projects including “Raise Up: The World Is Our Gym” and his latest project involving solving a Southern settler mystery that has long been lost to lore and history.
In this podcast we discuss race, identity, Calisthenics, the Origin Myths of America, Robert F Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Fairy Tales, The Godfather, 1984, The Lion King, Donal Trump and many more cultural artefacts and tropes that continue to define modern society.
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The future of B2B storytelling is optimal not perfect
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How to use B2B storytelling to define your category
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Work From Home isn't "the office but at home. We are experiencing rapid and unforeseen disruption that requires these qualities of response. We've seen major disruption to the Supply Chains of business wrought by the Pandemic. We are experiencing a shift to Work From Home, but what many fail to appreciate is that these aren't operational challenges, these are communications challenges. In response, we are experiencing the early stages of a macro Shift in how organisations communicate: from a traditional "Loudspeaker” model of communication to that of a modern "Telephone”. Building a Storytelling Organization is about how your Organization won't just survive, but Thrive in the next decade.
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How companies are reacting now to "Work from Home" exposes the difference in "Be Digital" vs "Do Digital". "Work from Home" is just "Do Digital". "Work from Anywhere" is "Be Digital". It's the same with Branding. In the Digital Era, Branding will become no more than the echo of a bygone era, a shockwave from the past. Be Digital means giving your people a voice, means thinking like Edison or Franklin and being able to separate the problem from the solution.
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People follow people not brands. Brand isn't a logo or a strategy, it's how you touch your customers and your ecosystem on a daily basis. The more we AUTOMATE, the more we have to slow things down and be in the moment. The more we move to the digital CLOUD, the more we have to focus on what's analog and offline. The more we use AI, the more we have to amplify the human touch.
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The 2020s will be defined by the 4th industrial revolution - Artificial Intelligence and exponential yield gains in efficiency. But what comes next? Each successive industrial revolution is exactly half the length of the one before it. That means 19 years after the 4th Industrial Revolution, we will welcome the 5th - Artificial Life. And it looks like the military have already started exploring their option.s
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In the world of Espionage, there is a difference between an amateur and professional spy. Amateurs don't have long careers because they're easily caught. Professionals, however, know that building trust is less about the obvious "big picture" hacks that amateurs use like a beard or fake nose. The reason is that we build trust with people through many smaller cues. Take, for example, how easy it is to spot a friend 100 metres away just by the way they walk. That's why if you want to look like an old man, you got to focus on the small picture - like putting a stone in your shoe. These lessons from the world of Spies teach us a lot about how we need to build trust in the virtual world.
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Being "emotional" has traditionally been seen a sign of weakness. By contrast, Logic is seen as a sign of intelligence and strength. However, this world view is changing as we exit The Industrial Era where the physics of business are governed by efficiency. In this podcast episode of Be More Human, I share news and research that showcases just how much leadership and decision making are a function of emotion, not logic.
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Fire your boss, sell your car, travel the world. Some years ago we decided to sell all our stuff and travel the world. We traveled to and lived on tropical islands and picture postcard destinations: Fiji, Hawaii. New Zealand, California, Mainland Japan, Okinawa, Thailand, Cyprus and Lanzarote. These were good times, and the best education I could provide for our 6 year old son.
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The Dream is a short poem written by the Philosopher Alan Watts. The Dream is a reminder of the multiplicity of possibility that we live out in our daily lives.
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Branding is the legacy of the bygone Industrial Era. Branding is the Loudspeaker model of communication that replaces humans with mascots, conversations with campaigns and authenticity with efficiency. If we want to humanize brands, we need to stop talking about brands. We need to build the Storytelling Organization where everyone, not just the ad agency, gets a voice.
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This is Leadership: Leadership is Storytelling; Storytelling is Leadership. It must be more than a coincidence that 2 of the greatest speeches recorded in the 20th century were from 2 brothers - John F (Jack) and Robert Kennedy. John F Kennedy took us to the Moon. On the eve of Martin Luther King's assassination, Robert reminded us of the need to make good use of our time on the Earth. If you want to know how to "Make America Great Again" it's not through division and intolerance, it's through invoking powerful dreams and bringing people together.
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When we think of maps, we tend to think of them as fact more often that not. However, in this episode of the Be More Human podcast, I look at the concept of Maps as a whole and then explore the idea of whether there are more strategic narratives involved in the making of maps than we can tell and how we have just become accustomed to considering this narrative as fact. I then explore the importance strategic narratives and storytelling in the world of business.
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With the degree of competition increasing rapidly in the modern times, in today's episode of the Be More Human podcast I analyze how the more successful corporations of today are doing well not because they bank on the inertia of their consumer by making it hard to leave but by solving their issues to ensure that they stay. I also offer my thoughts on where this phenomenon is headed and how, even in the business world, Bob Dylan's prophecy of "The times, they are a changin' ” is coming to pass.
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Communication is changing. Look around us and see a new model of business evolving. Work from Home is not an operational challenge, it's a communications one. And with it, a new model of communication. This is the next wave of Digital Transformation - the Digital Transformation of Communication, the changing shape of business from Communications Pipeline to Communications Platform.
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Leadership is hard. If you would rather be liked, get a dog. But we need Leaders because without them we would never change. Leaders take us across the threshold and into the unknown. Leaders take us to where we need to go, rather than where we want to go. In this review of my new E-book "The Leaders Journey” I share the key stages in every leader's journey.
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Digital Transformation is a story. Look at the word, Transformation: Trans = change, Form = shape. Digital Transformation is the changing shape of business caused by digital. Core to this journey are the people, their mindsets and skills. One of the key skills in the era of digital transformation is storytelling - how do you communicate transformation and what is the shape of business we need to become?
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Steve Jobs' most valuable skill was deceptively simple and easy to understand. He was an excellent storyteller who would tell simple stories about complex ideas using existing plot lines. In this episode of the Be More Human podcast, I share with you the introductory lesson from my Business Storytelling Course. In this lesson, we break down the science behind the art of storytelling like Steve Jobs.
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In this episode of Be More Human, I discuss the psychology of perception. We don't see the world as it is, we see the world as we are. This is as important to communicating change to your team as it is in selling soda. You can break communication down into 2 parts - Content and Context. Content is what you make for them; Context is what you mean to them. Great communicators know this, and I'll teach you their insider knowledge in today's episode of Be More Human ..
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From the carvings found in ancient France to Steve Jobs' iconic unveiling of the iPhone, stories and storytelling have long been an important part of our lives and on today's episode of the Be More Human podcast; I explore the many different facets of storytelling and how it has affected our evolution over the ages. I also discuss why storytelling as an idea is important now more than it has been ever before and why we all need to start listening to our inner voice instead of letting the lizard brain run riot.
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People follow People not Brands. In the Age of Authenticity, people want to connect with real humans, not inhuman brands. So how do you do that when much of communication is controlled through traditional PR pipelines? The key to transformation of communication is building The Storytelling Organization - communicating as a Telephone not a Loudspeaker.
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The most powerful stories are often the ones you don't realize are stories. Take, for example, the innocuous "job title”. This is an example of what I call in The Human Communication Playbook a "Shortform Story”. A Shortform story could be a chart, a phrase or a job title that changes everything. In this podcast episode I share insights on the inner workings of Story Psychology and how that impacts expectations, behavior and outcomes.
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How will Artificial Intelligence and Mankind co-exist profitably and harmoniously in the Era of the Machine?
As we enter the 4th Industrial Revolution, AI is making headway into the world of work, turning years of professional experience into simple algorithms and threatening to put millions out of work. Success in the next decade won't come from competing head on with the Machine as we cannot be more efficient. Instead, we need to go in the other direction and double down on what it means to be Human.
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In this exploration of the Human Communication Playbook I look at the Artificial Intelligence of tomorrow by comparing it to where we are today and where we were 20 years ago. In some areas machines have surpassed machine intelligence. What does that mean for highly skilled human endeavors like healthcare or art?
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What makes a machine intelligent? Is it intelligence behavior or some meta state like consciousness? While essentially a philosophical question, it's one now facing the Artificial Intelligence community. The more computational power at our hands, the more our algorithms are able to not only mimic human intelligence but also exceed it.
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Artificial Intelligence isn't a quest to create intelligence in machines, but one to understand it in humans. When we acknowledge truths about our humanity, we will become clearer on how to build technology that helps us elevate it. This quest will require poking inside the box, and it's going to make people feel uncomfortable.
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What makes us human? What defines genius or insight? Can AI ever outperform a human at extremely complex tasks like, for example, disease diagnosis or creative painting? In this episode of Be More Human I dive into Artificial Intelligence, consciousness and humanity. Perhaps the answer to competing with machines lies in accepting that machines will be better than us, and focusing on our own strengths - authenticity, service, connection and vulnerability.
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In this extract from The Human Communication Playbook, I share the case study of AI powered neuroimaging startup Biomind in a head-to-head showdown with some of the best oncology doctors in the world. Can AI actually replace doctors? In some respects, it can, and in others it already has. This episode discusses how AI and humans will both cooperate and compete as we enter the 4th Industrial Revolution.
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Part of the Human Communication Playbook. I got my start in Artificial Intelligence many years ago, almost by accident building robots. This episode is an introduction to that journey and how I ended up playing with Chatbots and analyzing Computational models of human intelligence.
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Is work what we do or a place we go? This is a questions I've often wondered, spending 4 years traveling the world building a location independent business. But, it's not been a mainstream question until the recent COVID19 Pandemic. Many are wondering what does the post-COVID19 office look like? Will we ever go back to a physical office? I look at new research and address these questions in this episode.
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What does it take to build a successful remote team? Many corporates are learning the hard way, experimenting with setups and cobbled together solutions. The answer to remote office setups is to accept that Work from Home isn't "the office but at home” but a whole new structure of communication and control.
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Data Storytelling means turning data into stories and stories into action. We are overwhelmed by data today, IBM recently stated that we have produced more data in the last 2 years than in our entire history. Leaders need to package all this Naked Data into meaningful context. In this episode I discuss what makes a good Data Story.
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If you want to learn how to tell a great story in business, look at how Jeff Bezos introduced himself to Congress. He didn't pitch Amazon. He didn't pitch data. He pitched a simple backstory that positioned Jeff as just another startup founder in the garage. It's a narrative structure that works and it was a masterclass in storytelling.
Produced by Pikkal & Co - Award-Winning Podcast Agency . While they have become easy targets for point scoring politicians, Huawei and TikTok are not without blame. TikTok and Huawei's fortunes are the result of a massive communication failure by the leadership and communication functions of these brands. Until Chinese tech brands humanize their brands, they will always appear formless and misunderstood by the outside world. Winning China required strength; winning the World requires vulnerability.
Produced by Pikkal & Co - Award-Winning Podcast Agency . As we advance into Artificial Intelligence will we discover that AI and biology are in fact going to merge? Will the only way to build successful AI be to create life itself? In this episode I look at the concept of NI (Natural Intelligence). a hybrid discipline of subjects that brings together AI, machine learning, evolution, robotics and biology and asks "why are we intelligent?"
Produced by Pikkal & Co - Award-Winning Podcast Agency . Why do we fall in love? Do we fall in love with perfect or do we fall in love with vulnerable? A robot may fake its way to being a sweet talker, a listening ear or an empathetic confidant, but unless the other person is vulnerable, impression does not convert to connection. Every love song is a song, too, of loss. Every "boy meets girl” movie in Hollywood is one that is full of adversity, rejection and humiliation. These are the waypoints that define the human condition and, by design, the weaknesses that robots are programmed to avoid.
Produced by Pikkal & Co - Award-Winning Podcast Agency . There is a crucial difference between Management and Leadership. Managers optimize, leaders disrupt. Managers are paid to protect and manage, not to improve. The problem is that most of business structure was based on rules that are no longer effective - 1) the factory model 2) peace time strategies. If we want to find a way forward in the Crisis, we need Leaders to step up, Leaders to create change. That's not comfortable. Leadership isn't a popularity contest.
Produced by Pikkal & Co - Award-Winning Podcast Agency . Podcasts are rich in data. I'm not talking about audience and listener numbers but data that really matters - conversations, topics, emotion and sentiment. If you run ML algorithms over a podcast episode you can extract names, entities and feelings that define our conversations. And this is the final frontier of data - data that measures conversations and connections that matters.
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Many of our economic decisions are governed by limitation. The old fashioned record store, for example, had limited real estate to promote the latest albums, so the music industry had to develop a way to help store owners know what was hot and was not - enter "The Top 10 Charts”. These economics of shelf space define how we think about industries and the problems they solve, yet when shelf space becomes unlimited (e.g. the internet), we still employ old models of understanding.
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"It's more fun to be a Pirate than to join the Navy.” - Steve Jobs. As much as we like to be Pirates, and kids certainly love dressing up as them, we end up becoming more like the Navy. Case in point, Powerpoint presentations and bullet points. Cram it with information and fact, but this isn't what our audience absorbs. People love stories, so why not give them what they want? Fear. We are scared of being vulnerable and appearing childish. Yet, these are the very qualities of the world's best presenters.
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User Storytelling is understanding the needs and frustrations of your users. The best way to express these emotions is through story. Through story we not only absorb emotional data, we also connect with it. Empathy is key in developing products that users want, and story is a key tool in creating empathy.
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We need to turn data into stories. With data we can create insights. With insights we can create stories. With stories we can win people's attention. And in communications today, attention is your biggest cost. Attention can influence and create change.
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Stories connect. We've been telling stories for 1,000s of years - well over 40,000 to be precise. Since the days of cave art, we've been telling stories about who we are and how we fit into the Universe. 40,000 years on it's no different. Whether definitions of national identity, company teams, or social movements, stories are the most powerful tool in the leaders' toolkit to create belonging and engagement.
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Music, coffee, religion, cigarettes - the artefacts of social connection. As social beings, we are all shaped by 2 key drivers - the need to belong and the need to be significant. As a teen, I listened to Punk not because it was particularly talented or accomplished music, but because it gave me both of those drivers. We are, after all, emotional, beings justifying our behaviour in logical terms.
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AI and storytelling have become inseparable. Not in the dystopian sci-fi narrative where robots are telling stories or the main hero turns out to be some kind of robot disguised as a human but in that we need stories more than ever because of AI. The rise of podcasting isn't a coincidence. The more we push into the world of algorithms, the more we will demand authenticity. Podcasting because of AI.
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Haidilao hot pot restaurant is so popular, people regularly queue to get in. Haidilao's unique Customer Experience proposition combined with an automated supply chain and a high-level of autonomy given to waiters has led to a radical shift in a centre of power in their restaurants. But the secret lies in how they use AI and Big Data to create an exceptional Customer Experience. Automate the Work to Elevate the Flow. By Automating the heavy lifting, Haidilao allows humans to do what they do best - serve. This is the golden rule of the Era of the Machine. Robots Lift, Humans Serve. Use AI to augment rather than replace humanity.
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We want leaders brave enough to tell stories without PR handlers, to share their mistakes without being edited. We have reached Peak Efficiency. There is no business benefit in humans being more efficient and less fallible. Let the machines manage and the humans lead.
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Stories are the most powerful tools known to man. Stories freed American slaves, sold the iPhone, got tyrants elected, and took us to the Moon. But the most powerful story told is the one you keep telling yourself every day. That's the story of who you are and what you do. So when you write that story, just be sure that it's you holding the pen.
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"N.N” could draw the Statue of Liberty from memory but when asked, he was unable to tell you what he was doing tomorrow. Like many patients with traumatic damage to their episodic memory, they are also unable to "imagine” the future. In describing his condition to psychologists, N.N said it was like "being in a room with nothing there and having a guy tell you to go find a chair.” Our brains don't distinguish between past and future, that's why stories have the almost magical ability to anchor uncertain futures in known and experienced pasts. This is leadership: stories that place the audience in the story, connect them with the known, and take them into unknown futures.
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When you choose to be a beginner, you choose to live beyond the fear of losing. Being a beginner isn't about losing everything and starting again, it's about enjoying the challenge, not the prize, as the reward for playing the game. Finding joy in a being a beginner underpins an agile mind, and this flexibility of approach is vital in a world of constant and disruptive change.
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I'm often asked why I started podcasting and the answer is, "because there is no better way to create real, authentic connections with people that matter.” How important mindful conversations with people that matter are in these times. We live in a time when business communication is disrupted, where leaders are struggling to create meaningful connections with their people, and people are struggling with the disconnection of working from home. Podcasts are connections, not content, meetings not media. In these disrupted times, podcasts offer a way for us to reconnect and rediscover what it is to be human.