EXECUTIVE PERSPECTIVE: Authenticity in the Age of Automation By Heather Cobb, Chief Sales and Marketing Office for EDS, Usborne Books & More
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n his December 21, 2021, article, Scaling A Startup: Look Toward Operational Automation, Forbes Technology council member and reporter Aaron Vick writes, “When first building a business, founders reach for tools that will help them achieve specific tasks— frequently by cobbling together a Rube Goldberg collection of off-the-shelf software and homegrown solutions without much thought on the larger picture. The focus in this phase of startup growth is on acquiring customers and growing revenue, not how to make the business operations function more efficiently at scale.” Vick goes on to identify four stages of digital transformation—identifying and optimizing your process, automating your process, using data from your automation to improve your process, and monetizing your process—that can lead a company of any size to a data-driven, automated workplace that elevates every person at the company and streamlines operations.
We’re in an age of automation. Everyone wants to automate as much as they possibly can, and while that creates great efficiencies as we prepare for the future, people are desperate for authentic connection. Direct Selling gives us the platform to build relationships in a way that can directly change lives. We can and should work together, collectively, to share the message to overcome challenges faced by the industry. Being candid with who we are and what we do—cultivating a culture focused on our mission—will help ground us and bring us back to the fundamentals of why we started in direct selling in the first place.
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Spring 2022
We’re in an age of automation. Everyone wants to automate as much as they possibly can, and while that creates great efficiencies as we prepare for the future, people are desperate for authentic connection.
Changing Lives The term changing lives is repeatedly heard in our industry. Often, companies refer to their products and businesses as doing just that, and we have the stories to share as evidence. The truth is that what we do matters. Our products matter. Our business opportunities matter. Our business model matters because it has the ability to change lives. However, those lives need to be ready and willing to be changed. Journalist Walter Lippmann stated, “You cannot endow even the best machine with initiative.” Simply put, we as companies can create amazing products, opportunities, systems, and plans, but the people must do the work. Connection This is the work of relationship building, connecting to other humans in a very . . . human way. Some of the most exciting aspects of direct selling include finding new and innovative ways to bring people together, celebrating the success of our field sales force, and continuing to evolve the way people experience our products. As much as we can automate things, we
