Why Being Human Is The Best Career Move For Millennials

Report by Andy Reid, Award-Winning Auctioneer, Mental Health Advocate and Speaker.

The sheer volume of technology and the capabilities that we have at our fingertips are truly incredible, but it also brings a level of pressure to succeed at a record pace.

We see it all the time on Instagram, right?! ‘Make a million dollars in 20 minutes using this bullet-proof algorithm!’ is plastered across the top of an image of a Lambo and some badly dressed cheeseball.

The general misconception that we have around technology is that we see it as a shortcut towards success. We believe that if we can master ‘lead generation’, or some other application then we can fast-track our way towards financial freedom, however, we are forgetting a critical piece of the puzzle when contemplating the next ‘get rich quick’ scheme.

One simple question – who makes the decisions around buying any product or service?

Answer – It ain’t the technology!

Any transaction or decision has a human at the end of it.

Lots of people freak out about how technology is taking over the world, but ultimately there’s going to be a fleshy human in the decision-making process at some stage. So it begs the question – all of this technology, but should we not focus on the human if it’s the human who makes the decision?

The reality is that you need both, but for very different reasons.

Now firstly, in this highly competitive world, it’s crucial to understand that your only ‘USP’ (unique selling point) is you. Everyone has access to the same technology, the same systems and same amount of hours in a day.

Therefore it’s probably a good idea to spend the time getting to know who you are, and what your own internal values are so that you at least have the EQ (emotional intelligence) to know how you function and connect.

Ultimately our consumer will judge any service or product through two main filters, being:

Is this product or service creating a positive emotional response? (EQ)
Does this product or service satisfy the functional needs of what needs to happen (IQ)

You could be selling t-shirts but there are millions of t-shirts to pick from in the world so if the buyer isn’t urged to buy them then your product (or communication of the product) is failing the EQ part of the game.

Please note that these should not be referred to as ‘soft skills’, because being tuned into your customer before you broadcast is far from soft! These are human skills that are critical in ANY type of business or role.

So your USP is you…but that’s a problem because there’s only one of you! This is where technology comes in.

I feel that in any role or business, around 80% of our function can be automated or outsourced to technology which means the value that we bring as a human lies in the other 20%. That is where our ‘influence’, our point of difference, our USP has a chance to set you apart & make your product or service more appealing to the customer.

So what technology does (what it is always designed to do) is give you more time to be human in your role more often, providing your customers with greater value or providing value to more customers. It allows you to scale the level of influence that your USP has over the transaction.

Steve Jobs once said that “Innovation is the ability to see chance as an opportunity – not a threat” because he understood that the role of technology was to aid in the scaling of human connection. Technology was never designed to take over our existence, it exists in order to give us more time to be who we are, to more people, more often.

That, my friends, is where your value lies as a human in today’s world and technology simply allows your USP to shine through at scale.