This Human Business Podcast Coming Soon!

When was it that “innovation” became synonymous with “technology”? The technological innovations of recent years have certainly brought powerful new tools to business, but still, when we look at the process of business innovation, it isn’t the technology that’s actually doing the innovating. It’s human beings who are putting in the creative effort that makes vital technological innovations possible.

My name is Jonathan Cook. I’m a researcher of commercial culture, and the one finding that’s consistent in every one of my studies is that business is strange. It tries so hard to appear conventional and formal, but the practice of business involves a huge number of bizarre little corners. Why wouldn’t it? After all, business is a human creation.

Somehow, amid all the excitement about digital advances, the human role in business has been neglected, as if humanity itself has become out of date. Ironically, as Silicon Valley tycoons spin yarns about a post-human future, it’s the neglect of the human context that is posing the greatest threat to the future of the tech giants. The better corporations become at targeting us with algorithmically-engineered messages, the more disengaged we become.

Does it have to be this way? Do we need to choose between technological innovation and authentic human experience?

What if business could be something more than just efficient?

What if business could be beautifully human?

The new podcast This Human Business is slowing down from the unrelenting sprint of startup culture to consider these questions in depth. Business, after all, is too powerful not to have a philosophy of its own.

In August 2018, the first episode of the podcast will arrive.

Come listen.