Trump’s Anger vs the Experience Economy

The Forrest Four-Cast: January 26, 2017

With the new administration, the overall mindset has transitioned from engaged community to confrontational enragement. Will this new approach trigger similar shifts in approach with other aspects of our society? More specifically, are we moving to an era where respectful customer service has given way to rudeness and obstruction?

While this equation may work for nation-states, doubtful that it translates to business. Companies that focus on keeping consumers happy are always going to be in fashion. Moreover, customer service is always going to be an asset that helps to differentiate one brand from another — particularly as consumer experiences continue to grow in popularity (as compared to stand-alone consumer products).

Similarly, the large-scale growth opportunities of tomorrow are the ones in which humans can add even more context and value. Machines with computer-enhanced intelligence will be even more functional in the future, but they still won’t be very proficient at creating memorable emotional connections. So, the titans of the experience economy will be those companies and those individuals who can leverage their strengths and skills to give true meaning in these times of massive disruption. In the decades to come, sharing and caring and providing more information — the foundations of any strong community — will be more important than ever before.

The genius of the current braintrust at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has been to exploit the fear and apprehension that comes from rapid change. The next great leader of the experience economy will be the person who can convince more of Middle America that the automated future holds a lot more opportunities than the analog past.

Hugh Forrest tries to write four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts generally cover technology-related trends. When not attempting to wordsmith or meditating, he serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW in Austin.