In just five years, the fabric of human social interaction has significantly shifted. And is there a cost to business?
Politics, Covid, social media, and AI have caused monumental ripples in our society, all at once. It’s a social evolution that the human race hasn’t had much time to adapt to.
Global politics and war have caused an underlying fear, uncertainty and economic issues. Australia’s economy is somewhat sheltered, but not immune. Sadly, there’s been a consequential spike in racism and equality in some ways has taken a back-step.
Covid created a warped reality for years – a strange juxtaposition of declining mental health, yet with the government financial support, a superficial sense of financial comfort saw people spending online and in property at exponential rates – only for the bubble to implode once real life resumed.
The work from home revolution has provided wellness benefits for individuals on many levels. A sense of breathing space for working mothers who instead of spending time doing hair and makeup and losing a significant chunk of the day commuting – can now use that time to empty the dishwasher, do a load of washing, prep a decent dinner, and pick the kids up before dark without eating into work time. It’s a massive ease of pressure with huge mental health benefits. For executives, it provides deep thinking space for business-critical strategies. But the issue is, some people are being less productive without the structure and support of an office environment, and strategic timely communication is at an all-time low. The cost of poor communication to a business’ bottom line can be the profit margin, but what about the cost to business relationships and culture if we don’t have that consistent in-person dialogue?
What about the impact on the bricks and mortar commercial, hospitality and retail sectors? How many empty offices and shops have you noticed? In my travels around the country lately, ‘ghost town’ comes to mind. “Central Business District” may be a lost term for future generations and city planners have a heck of a job redesigning significant infrastructure. Even in the burbs, due to cost of living, cafes are struggling to make a buck with such high rents and cost of product, and customers don’t have the same disposable income to treat themselves to eating out regularly. As more cafes, restaurants and bars close – how do we let our hair down, break bread and connect?
Social media is founded on user-generated content which is so much more relatable than previous forms of content. The danger of that quick dopamine hit is its addictiveness and it’s also changing the way we engage with other media, but also each other. There’s less time for shooting the breeze, for crafting special things of quality, and there’s no patience for anticipation. We have given birth to the scroll and fast-forward generation! How does that translate in our real-life relationships and in our jobs?
AI is an incredible advancement. Used in the right way, it’s saving costs and drastically streamlining operations. But some are confusing the principle of efficiency with smashing the to do list. The cost is learning and also quality. I see this in the workplace every day. Especially with the younger generations who are already so heavily impacted by social media.
These fundamental cultural and social shifts are directly impacting how we do business. If we’re just looking for fast results, and unskilled and uncomfortable having face-to-face communications, instead opting to hide behind email or messenger, we will not be able to build strategic and loyal relationships. Relationships in business mean getting last minute support when you need it most. It means second chances. It means being trusted to do what you think is best. It means job and new business referrals. It means repeat business. It means being able to ask for more money because you deserve it. It means trust.
And the long-term fallout may be that we breed laziness, entitlement, lower intelligence, and lose authentic human connection – driving a transactional society. Dog eat dog. Managing people or doing business with people with that social makeup does not make the risk and cost of business attractive at all to me.
An excellent real example in my industry is the pitching process. Historically you would be invited to pitch and your time to formulate ideas and to detail a proposal would be paid for. Unless it’s a blue-chip company, nowadays payment is the exception. We used to know how many and possibly even who we were up against, so we could weigh up the risk and potential of pitching. Now it’s shrouded in secrecy, and I’ve often found out after the fact that there have been 4-5 parties pitching which decreases odds of winning significantly. The saddest part in my experience, is that after you’ve prepared for weeks, taken your highest paid seniors to pitch, and given it your all – often you don’t even hear back. If we do hear back, 99% of the time it’s over email with feedback of little or unsubstantiated value. In my opinion, agencies are more and more being used to test the waters, to simply work out budgets, or to tick a box in a company’s procurement process, with the respect of due diligence and at the financial cost of the agency.
This is not the cost of doing business. This is unethical. Our global and local shifts are compounding factors in changing our societal culture, at the cost of personal growth and connection. The very notion of a relationship is two-way. So how do we navigate challenges in the workplace, how do we grow our careers, how do we maintain loyal partners, if relationships are one-sided. This approach to business is a race to the bottom, which is why, even at the tender ages of under ten, I coach my kids about integrity, authenticity and respect, because I feel that business ethics will be so questionable by the time they enter the workforce, that if I teach them some good old fashion ethics and values, they’ll have an incredible competitive edge.
My tip to executive management out there, is to put a strategic lens on business ethics in your annual plan. Build it into the company values, create programs and initiatives around it and ‘KPI it’, so it becomes engrained and advocated throughout the culture.