We all are, on some level, connecting with customers. Be it continuously, regularly or occasionally, it makes sense to explore ways to connect more effectively with our customers. Two powerful tools in our arsenal are critical thinking and design thinking. Let’s dive into how these approaches can transform our daily work, and life for that matter.   Critical Thinking is all about identifying and analyzing facts, evaluating real evidence, identifying blind spots, and making logical decisions. It’s our go-to for making sense of complex situations and ensuring our strategies are effective and on point. This can be applied in various ways and contexts, such as:   Data Analysis: Use critical thinking to gather and interpret customer data, identify trends, and draw actionable insights. This ensures that strategies are based on solid evidence rather than biased assumptions. Problem-Solving: Approach customer engagement challenges by systematically drilling down to the to the root cause and only then, considering various solutions. The “5Y”-technique is quite effective in this process (drilling-down by progressively asking “why” at least five times). Strategic Planning: Evaluate the potential impact of different engagement strategies. By critically assessing the pros and cons, eliminating biases, we can develop more effective plans that align with business goals. A “helicopter-view” of a situation can be quite handy in this.   Design Thinking on the other-hand, is a human-centered approach focused on empathy, creativity, and iterative problem-solving. It is ideal for developing innovative solutions that resonate with the hearts and minds of our customers. This can typically be applied through:   Empathy Mapping: To create strategies that connect, we need to understand your customers deeply in terms of their needs, motivations and pain-points. This helps in creating personalized engagement strategies that resonate and connect with customers. Ideation Sessions: Brainstorming sessions are where the magic happens - encourage brainstorming and creative thinking to generate a wide range of ideas for engaging customers. This fosters innovation and can lead to unique, compelling engagement tactics. Prototyping and Testing: Before rolling out new engagement strategies, it’s vital to test them.  Develop small-scale prototypes of engagement strategies or campaigns and test them with a segment of your audience. This allows for iterative improvement based on real customer feedback.   Best results can be obtained when we blend critical thinking and design thinking in our workflow: Start with Empathy: Use design thinking to understand our customers deeply. Then Analyze Insights: Apply critical thinking to interpret the insights gathered and develop evidence-based strategies. Followed by Innovation of Solutions: Use design thinking for creative ideation and prototyping. And finally, Evaluate and Iterate: Use critical thinking to assess the effectiveness of prototypes and refine them accordingly.  By integrating critical thinking and design thinking, we can create strategies that are innovative, customer-centric, and grounded in solid analysis. This balanced approach can transform our work and help us build lasting, profitable relationships with our customers. ... View more

Proud dad, having the luxury of navigating Baltinglass Golf course in howling winds, rain and sleet with Jean - reminds me of the important role of parents in education and career journeys. Imagine a world where every child is empowered towards their potential, where their dreams are nurtured, their aspirations supported. In this world, parents are not just caregivers, but the guiding lights, the champions of their children's learning journey and career outcomes. From the moment a child opens their eyes to the world, they absorb knowledge, values, and beliefs from their surroundings, with parents at the forefront of this formative experience, serving as the primary educators in a child's life. Long before formal schooling begins, children learn fundamental skills, behaviors, and attitudes from their parents. Whether it's through storytelling, play, or everyday interactions, parents instill in their children a love for learning, curiosity about the world, and the resilience to face challenges.   But parental influence goes beyond imparting knowledge; it extends to nurturing a growth mindset and fostering a sense of self-belief. Children who grow up in environments where mistakes are embraced as opportunities to learn, where perseverance is celebrated, are more likely to develop the resilience needed to navigate the complexities of education and career. Moreover, parents serve as role models, demonstrating the importance of education, hard work, and ambition through their actions. When children witness their parents pursuing their passions, overcoming obstacles, and continuously learning, they internalize these values and carry them into their own endeavors.   As children progress through their academic and career journeys, parental support becomes increasingly critical. From helping with homework to providing guidance on subject choices, career exploration, and college applications, parents play a pivotal role in helping their children make informed decisions about their futures. Perhaps the most profound impact parents have on their children's learning and career outcomes is the emotional support they provide. In a world where failure and setbacks are inevitable, knowing that they have a safe harbor in their parents gives children the courage to take risks, explore new opportunities, and pursue their dreams with conviction.   Nevertheless, it's essential to recognize that the influence of parents is not uniform. Socioeconomic status, cultural background, and parental education levels can significantly shape the opportunities available to children. As a society, we must strive to create equitable environments where every child, regardless of their background, has access to the resources, support, and opportunities needed to thrive - however, this starts with the movement of one.   Thus, by fostering a love for learning, instilling values of resilience and ambition, serving as role models, providing guidance, and offering unwavering support, parents have the power to unlock the full potential of their children and shape a brighter future for generations to come. Let’s embrace this responsibility with humility and determination, recognizing the profound impact we have on the lives of our children and the world they will inherit. ... View more

Gramps used to say that “the world isn’t the same anymore” – these days this is even more true, especially in the way we buy and sell. In exploring the acquisition of a new car, TV or microwave, I’m not dependent on a product brochure or salesperson to inform me anymore. Instead, I navigate online, at my leisure, to product tests, reviews and recommendations, before eventually transacting, again mostly online.   This means that the rules of commercial engagement have shifted dramatically, especially in the field of education and education-related marketing. The traditional approach of A→B product marketing communication simply doesn't cut it anymore. We've entered the Data-rich era of the 4th Industrial Revolution, where anyone and everyone is active, in good and sometimes, unfortunately, not-so-good faith. The implication is that authentic interactions and trust-building are key to successful commercial engagement for learning & education.   This introduces the concept of Learning Brand Ambassadors A Learning Brand Ambassador is a person in your customer-base that has a well-developed virtual communication platform with authentic, trustworthy and impactful connection that is relevant to an engaged target audience – talking their walk in a virtuous cycle. The Learning Brand Ambassador differs significantly from a social media Influencer, especially from the perspective of the intent of the Learning Brand Ambassador not related to personal monetary gain.     Why Learning Brand Ambassadors matter Selling Isn't Buying Anymore: Traditional marketing is a one-way A→B communication street that is fraught with participant bias and predisposition – reminiscent of the Wild Western snake-oil salesmen. Fortunately, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has democratized and transformed customer engagement into a collection of multi-channel B↔B'-communication synapses. Learning Is Buying: Learners are psychologically "buying" into the learning experience as an essential prerequisite to learning. My strong recollection of my alma mater as well as its teachers and professors implies that generally, a strong bond is formed between learners and their educators and learning institutions. The implication is a learning process psychology that organically creates authentic ambassadors. Branded Learning Sells: Brand-embedded learning fosters familiarity and association of the brand with a learning discipline - Learners trust brands they've bonded with. The result is authentic and trustworthy Learning Brand Ambassadors!   Generation Examples Let's consider a look at some examples of Learning Brand Ambassador generation: The Centre for Business Mathematics and Informatics at North-West University equips Actuaries, QRM's, and Data Scientists with SAS embedded for computational learning deliverables. These graduates become "home-grown" Learning Brand Ambassadors for NWU and SAS. Through the SAS Analytics Leadership Program, the International Institute for Analytics trains executives to understand, apply and leverage analytics strategies using SAS as the underpinning technology. These executives, armed with their newfound knowledge, act as Learning Brand Ambassadors, guiding their organizations' strategic analytics thinking with an underpinning of SAS.   It's time to recognize that learning and authentic, trustworthy branding are inseparable in today's world. As we embrace this shift, let's harness the power of Learning Brand Ambassadors to shape the future of education and market engagement. ... View more

  Third Industrial Revolution (1970s) Back in the ‘70’s, the Third Industrial Revolution was in full-swing, with physics- and solid-state electronics-based industries flourishing under, at that stage, largely technocrat leadership. In order to successfully participate in the Third Industrial Revolution economy, governments and companies invested in developing the much-needed Natural Sciences- and Engineering skills pipeline from internally focussed tertiary academic institutions. This was done mainly through stake-buying mechanisms such as Industry Chairs for Educators and study bursaries to students. This gave industry a mechanism to influence and reserve Baby-boomer and Generation-X talent.   Fourth Industrial Revolution (2020s) From the ‘90’s onwards, globalisation, economic crises and a shift to cost-curtailing finance leadership resulted in industry outsourcing their costly technology-development to universities, creating a focus on industry research-based third revenue-streams for academic institutions, at the cost of industry talent-investments. Upon fast-forwarding this by thirty years to the present ‘20’s data-driven innovation-world, one finds: On the one hand, skills-development and education investment decisions left to students (a situation significantly enabled by the newly enhanced general access to information that the Fourth Industrial Revolution offers), and On the other hand, with industry that desperately need have in-house technical expertise, but without significant assurance of a talent pipeline from tertiary academic institutions.   The Evolution of Talent Connection Mechanisms The unfortunate outcome of the above talent connection mechanism-evolution is industry executives that struggles with insufficient in-house talent to match the innovation-pace of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. As executives, it is crucial to proactively address this issue and develop strategies that alleviate the data skills shortage. One approach that holds immense promise is talent-reservation – a proactive method of identifying and nurturing promising individuals with data skills to ensure a sustainable pipeline of talent. The key building-blocks towards transformative talent-reservation can be described as follows..   1. The Urgency for Talent-Reservation The first step in addressing the data skills shortage is acknowledging its significance and impact on business success. Data-driven decision-making is no longer a luxury; it is a necessity for organizations to stay competitive. By recognizing the urgency of the situation, executives can build a sense of urgency within their organizations, compelling them to take action and invest in long-term workforce solutions such as talent-reservation.   2. Identifying and Nurturing Talent Talent-reservation involves the proactive identification and nurturing of individuals who possess the potential to become skilled data professionals. This involves organisational leadership collaborating with human capital functions, educational institutions, and industry networks to identify high-potential candidates early in their career development stages. This could include partnering with schools and universities, sponsoring internships, and offering scholarships in data-related fields. By investing in talent early on, organizations can cultivate a diverse pipeline of skilled individuals who are ready to contribute to the organization's data-driven objectives.   3. Active involvement in Talent Development Talent-reservation is not restricted to the creation of a talent pipeline, but also the cultivation of the talent delivery mechanism and process. This implies the active involvement in primary-, secondary- and tertiary education, including teacher development, curriculum support, educator retention and academic third-stream investment.   4. Creating a Culture of Learning and Development Building an organisation culture of continuous learning and development is essential for nurturing talent. Executives should champion programs that encourage the organisational talent-pool to acquire skills in data-related domains. This can involve providing guidance and access to training resources, establishing student mentorship programs and promoting internal and external workshops and seminars. By fostering an environment that supports professional development, organisations can establish a talent culture that supports current and future human capital requirements.   5. Partnerships for talent development To alleviate the skills shortage, organizations should seek partnerships with external entities, such as technology accelerators, universities and industry associations. Collaborating with these partners can bring fresh perspectives, insights, and talent development opportunities to the organization. Leadership can establish programs like internships, externships and secondments, allowing current- and future employees to gain practical experience and exposure to cutting-edge data practices. Such collaborations not only address the immediate skills shortage but also promote innovation and cross-pollination of ideas.   6. Retention and Career Progression Retaining top data talent is as crucial as attracting them. Executives should focus on creating an environment that provides meaningful and challenging work opportunities for data professionals. This should include assignment to high-impact assignments and developing data- and analytics thought-leadership in high potentials through formal Analytics Leadership development and mentorship programs.  Recognizing and rewarding coaching and mentoring in data-related roles can further reinforce a culture that values and supports data skills development.    Conclusion The data skills shortage is a pressing challenge that organizations face in today's data-centric business landscape. By embracing talent-reservation as a proactive strategy to support talent retention, organisational leadership can unlock the potential to bridge this gap and fuel their organizations' data-driven success. By identifying and nurturing promising individuals, fostering a culture of learning, collaborating with external partners, and ensuring career progression opportunities, organizations can build a sustainable pipeline of skilled data professionals. Through talent-reservation, executives can position their organizations at the forefront of data innovation, ensuring long-term competitiveness and growth in an increasingly data-dependent world. ... View more