John Lennon wrote the lyric ‘Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans’in his song Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy); the song was recorded back in 1980 but the sentiment still rings true. The reason I’m referencing this song is based on my observation of normal, everyday behaviour in 2019 and how it relates to learning and personal development.
As part of some of my leadership programmes we discuss David Kolb’s learning cycle. In essence, we all go through a process of learning based on having an actual experience, reflecting on what we have learned, plan what we may do differently next time when faced with the same circumstances and then go and try it again, putting into practice our additional knowledge & experience.
I’ve recently been spending a lot of time in the Middle East as I’m setting up a business there in addition to my existing one in the UK. It goes without saying that many facets of life in Dubai and the other Emirates are very different and the only way to really understand and learn is to put Kolb’s model into practice and actively go out and have real-life experiences.
Whilst I’ve been there, I’ve noticed just how many people simply live life through their mobile phones – they don’t have real-life experiences. I had a business meeting and decided to take the tram and Metro to my appointment. The tram crosses a bridge over the Dubai Marina and first thing in the morning it is stunning – the combination of sunlight reflecting on clear blue water and the backdrop of yachts and high-rise buildings. I looked around the carriage at my fellow passengers to see if anyone else was enjoying the vista and all of them were totally immersed in whatever was on their phones.
In my last blog I reflected on the relentless march of technology and the impact it is having on our retail experience and again I’m drawn to the same conclusion. It is fantastic that we’re all able to look at a used car, do a price/specification comparison, find the retailer and contact them all through our mobile device.
The transaction itself still should be a human experience – otherwise how are we going to build value in our proposition and convince a potential customer to spend their money with us rather than a potentially cheaper competitor? We need to be able create ‘moments of magic’ for our customers in order to transform a transactional process into something that creates a customer for life and someone who will be a vocal advocate of our business. The trick, therefore is to embrace a blended approach – but never forget that there is a human being with thoughts, feelings and emotions at the heart of the buying decision.
On January 1st, 2019 I deactivated the Facebook accounts for both my business and my personal page. There were lots of reasons but primarily it was adding nothing to my business, and I was finding myself spending more and more time being distracted by it. After 3 months I wasn’t missing it in any way – because I was learning and developing my own skills through real experiences and not through a screen. If John Lennon had been around now the song could have been titled ‘Life is what happens to you while you’re looking at your phone’