The Power of Human Interaction
Yan Maschke, August 3, 2017
Photo: Rod Stewart live concert at the Blossom Music Center in Cleveland Ohio on 07/28/2017
In the morning, had a conversation with a network contact. The conversation centered around the power of technology, the trend in artificial intelligence (AI) replacing human involvement - and how it may permeate through all aspects of life. Honestly, the conversation started to lose me when the comment was made about AI potentially replacing parts of coaching.
In the evening, had a unique opportunity to have a backstage tour at the Rod Stewart concert brought by Live Nation at the amazing venue of the Blossom Music Center. A conversation during the backstage tour brought an opposing perspective than what I heard in the morning.
While technology and innovation in delivery method has brought quite a bit doom to some business platforms (print newspaper, book stores, in-person retail shopping, etc), It was interesting to learn from Live Nation that live concerts are going extremely strong, and a term "salad days" was referenced (I understand it means "good days"). The comment was that "nothing replaces that live human interaction".
Watching, experiencing, and interacting with the Rod Stewart group, it started to make all the sense to me.
After fifty years of performing on stage, Rod puts on an amazing show. He was energetic, engaging, and playful. Most contagiously, he was being himself and having fun. He is in his elements!
Standing in the audience, reflecting on the comment by Live Nation, that energetic exchange is truly irreplaceable.
Experiencing the concert inspired me to continue to find and honor my own voice, be who I truly am - fully, and have fun in what I choose to do.
The concert continued. The audience roared.
Standing there, another insight hit me.
Here we are, away from our daily norms, 15,000 people are together sharing a sense of awe as we experience powerful and original artistic expression.
Standing back, fully soaking in that sense of appreciation for human excellence, I reflect on how often I step back and simply appreciate the excellence and beauty of those around me, the work they perform and the value they bring to the world. The answer is, I don't do that enough!
- As a leader of self and of others, how do you find and express your own voice?
- How do you step into your power of being fully who you are and being the best you can be?
- How well do you allow yourself to appreciate others and the good work they do and allow them to step into the power of being the best they can be?
I am curious, what do live concerts draw out in you? What interactions do you Not want to see replaced by artificial intelligence? How do you honor and live the value you place on human interaction?
Please share in the "comment" box below. If you'd like to be notified of comments in this specific comment thread, please click "subscribe via email" on the top-right corner of the comment box and you will be notified of comments for this specific post.