Technophobia - a Business Growth Killer !!!

One of the biggest impediments to business growth that I often see is the technophobia in a select few leaders responsible for making critical decisions regarding the company’s strategies. These people usually shut down ideas before those ideas are vetted and explored. This behavior often reveals itself in the language of the technophobic individual. Here are few of the signs you should listen for:

· “Let’s remember what business we are in. We are not in the technology business. We are in the business of ___________”
· “Let’s not be distracted by every shiny new thing that comes along.”
· “AI can’t really help us….”
· “How much will this cost?”
· “Is this necessary?”

These are people who are typically not comfortable or understanding of what technological advances, particularly digital transformation (which includes AI), can do for the health and prosperity of the business.

They don’t know what they don’t know – which is fine – we all have some of that in some subjects we know nothing about. It is how we react to what we don’t know that matters. Are we open to learning about it? Are we curious? Are we genuinely interested in seeing how this new way of doing things can help us?

Remember – whether you realize it or not – we are all in the technology business – and if you don’t accept that, your business will not compete in the future. Technology is a shiny new thing to technophobes because they fail to see its value around how it will help them be more productive and profitable in their core business. Asking how much it cost is a legitimate question – but shouldn’t the first question be – “How much more money can we make with this?” (curiosity and interest!)

Next week I will write a brief piece on how to best work with technophobes, make them comfortable, and winning their confidence.