Anticipating the Future & Adapting to Change

We have a new psychology.  Technology has rewired our fundamental assumptions about how and when we communicate and participate and what we expect in return.  Think about how much you rely on connectivity and technology and how much it has changed the way you work.

• How long do you expect to wait for a response to an email?
• What do you think when you can’t find someone’s credentials online?
• What do you do when you don’t know something?
• How do you find out about the best product, service or educational institution?
• Whose recommendations do you believe?
• How do you handle negative comments about your product or service or yourself on the Internet?
• How do you make your message heard above all the noise?
• How do you educate kids from a book when they’ve seen a video game?
• Where do you get late-breaking news?
• How do you manage a generation that has grown up expecting to participate and have their opinions heard?

Pandora’s box is open.  Technology is here to stay, no matter how much some resist.

My mantra: It’s not about the tools.

Tools, applications, platforms and devices come and go.  It’s important that we don’t get distracted by new technologies and lose sight of the basics.  We are humans.  We have goals and motivations.  Yes they are filtered through our beliefs, experiences and understanding of the world around us.  But we aer still driven by core fundamentals.  The key is to not get caught up with the tools and stay focused on human goals, motivations and perceptions.  This does not mean that media doesn’t change or facilitate new behaviors.  There are a lot of places where technology enables something that was unavailable before or has changed our expectations about daily life and created a new normal.

Key Concepts:

Media Convergence

• Whether we see it or not, we are living in a world where the boundaries between technologies are blurring, where media is converging and where information flows across devices.
• There is no difference between online and offline.  We move among multiple communications platforms for everything from chores to social interactions.
• We are no longer passive recipients of messaging.  We are active users of media technologies all day long. We expect active engagement through interaction, participation, and collaboration.
• Everyone has new expectations about the rules of communication
• More than ever before, we gather information from multiple sources and make meaning by assembling information, images, and sensory input over time.

The Importance of Story

• Stories are how we organize sensory input and information so they make sense.
• Stories allow messages to be heard about the digital noise because they engage all the senses.
• All meaningful communication is about telling stories.  Stories allow us to create a context and linear pattern that is necessary so the human brain can store things in memory.  The brain creates neural networks of linear and sensory information that we can recall and re-experience.
• Stories are how we communicate with each other because they allowing us to see and feel what the other person experienced.  Through story we can feel empathy and understanding.
• When we define the  story of ourselves or a business, we communicate a deeper meaning because it creates an image that we can realize.  Cognitively, we have to see where we are going not only to be able to get there, but to believe that we can.

How the Brain Influences Behavior

• Humans are social animals, biologically hardwired to connect, whether it’s on Facebook or at the corner grocery.
• Human decision-making and behavior is dominated by our instinct long before our rational thought kicks in.
• Our reality is constructed by what we receive through our five senses, filtered through our instincts, emotions, and previous experience
• Virtual experiences have much the same neurological response as those in ‘real life’
• Understanding the brain can help you create optimal engagement or Flow

Self-Representation in the Digital Age

• Our experiences with technology have change our core beliefs about our ability to take action in the world
• We believe that we can have a voice and can be heard
• We believe that we can act and the actions can matter
• Positive beliefs in ourselves create an upward spiral that increases our self-confidence, resilience, optimism and empathy
• Our beliefs and vision adapt to our experiences

To find out how I can help your company adapt to the new environment, click here