The business case for state-of-the-heart technology - SmartBrief

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The business case for state-of-the-heart technology

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Strategy

SmartBrief is partnering with Big Think to create a weekly video spotlight in SmartBrief on Leadership called “VIP Corner: Video Insights Powered by Big Think.” This week, we’re featuring Peter Guber, chairman and CEO of the Mandalay Entertainment Group.

Leaders should be wary of adopting the latest technology simply because it’s state of the art, warns Peter Guber, head of the Mandalay Entertainment Group. It’s important to adapt to the changing tides of technology, but it’s also crucial to strike a balance between what you think you want versus what your business actually needs.

“What you really have to recognize that what moves people is not state-of-the-art technology, it is state-of-the-heart technology,” Guber said, later adding, “Unless it moves something, unless it renders a benefit … unless it offers a deeper meaning into your heart, into your soul, a deeper purposefulness, it’ll be vestigial, it’ll be gone.”

Before implementing new technology, Guber advises business leaders to stop and ask themselves if they’ll really benefit from the tech in question — or if it’s simply just another shiny toy. A successful piece of technology enables the user to do “something better, faster, more effectively, more joyously.”

“You know, that’s really what it comes down to. All of the social networks are an expression of human needs, human desires. That’s why they’re so powerful,” Guber said.

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