Empathy and Technology

A great interview with Bill Gates and the current CEO Satya Nadella of Microsoft in the WSJ Magazine. I’ve been impressed with him for awhile now….the way he handled a big fail on his team caught my attention that this was no ordinary leader.

I’ve come to the conclusion (rather late in the game I know) that understanding how to use technology to satisfy customer needs is key to one’s career, and success of the company. Sounds so easy…but here’s where it goes wrong:

  1. Organizations spend lots of money on technology without understanding clearly how it will help the end customer. If the internal customer is happy, that’s enough. But if you don’t understand exactly how a technology will help a customer, how do you meet it?
  2. They don’t do bottoms up budgeting: so it’s not about what you need, it’s about what you want.
  3. Technologists can get enamored with new ideas: AI, robotics, blockchain….but they can’t explain in an elevator pitch how you can actually use it. Worse case is when arrogance becomes the way to justify…”trust us, this will work.”
  4. There’s no vision: so you essentially have lots of “start ups” which probably fail.  What’s the business objective? What is your value proposition? Is it parity, or game changer? Are we doing this because it’s someone’s pet hobby or because it fits a larger strategy?
  5. Customers aren’t sure what they want either. The question “would you pay for this?” crystallizes the value.

There are a couple of quotes I love from the article:

“Being hard-core and driven is as essential today as it ever was. But there needs to be humility.  The reason why I use the word empathy is because the business we are in is to meet the unmet, unarticulated needs of customers.  That’s what innovation is all about. And there’s no way you’re going to do that well without having empathy and curiosity.”

“…when you have a growth mind-set, you’re always willing to learn…Because ultimately, the “learn-it-all” will always do better than the “know-it-all”.

So how do you deal with it?

  1. Be relentless about the value proposition. If you don’t understand it, chances are no one else does. Ask “how does this help our customers?”
  2. Be relentless about execution: how do you know it will work? What are the measures of success….for both technology, the business and the client?
  3. Be relentless in being a good partner: pretend this is your money being used. Chances are you can help explain the process, the client need, the objectives.  Actively participate in defining the value proposition and execution to help them get to the right answer.