What is the lowest common denominator that you, I and all other readers of this article have in common? We’re human. Being human means that we all share a set of human wants and needs. It means that almost universally, we share the same set of values and emotions that represent the essence of humanness. Today, let’s discuss how we may create more meaningful innovations by playing on the human factor, by catering to those positive wants, needs and values that represent the essence of humanness.

What do humans value in essence?

The term human can be defined as “of or characteristic of people’s better qualities, such as kindness or sensitivity.” These better human qualities distinguish us from animals, brutes and machines.

In their book Making Meaning, Steve Diller, Nathan Shedroff and Darrel Rhea identify a number of positive human factors that humans appreciate and strive for all around the world. The authors synthesized these human factors from 100,000 interviews that the strategy design firm Cheskin conducted with individuals representing most countries and cultures from around the world. What are some of these values that make us humans?

Humans like to be part of a community that gives us validation and security. We cherish responsibility, fairness and truthfulness. We appreciate creativity and a sense of accomplishment. We enjoy environments that offer us cheerfulness and excitement. We treasure beauty, health and vitality. We seek harmony and balance as well as oneness with all of creation. We value freedom, expansion and creation. And we revere a sense of wonder and enlightenment.

Questions: Which of these factors that humans universally value does your business touch upon? What other factors that you have overlooked so far could you play on, too?

What do humans do in essence?

Another way to approach the essence of humanness is by looking at what —across cultures, across the ages— humans do:

• Humans sustain ourselves. We eat and overeat and diet or fast. We drink — sometimes too much and get drunk. Some humans smoke and experiment with substances to alter or expand their consciousness.
• Humans groom our bodies. We wash and clean ourselves and make ourselves beautiful. We dress up and make-up and sometimes even make-over our looks.
• Humans love and make love. We fall in and out of love. We flirt and date and engage and get married and procreate and build and raise a family. Eventually, we separate either by divorce or by death and mourn the loss of love.
• Humans work. We do a job or employ ourselves or start a venture and employ others. Like in ancient times, we hunt for opportunities, gather necessities and protect ourselves from danger and harm.
• Humans play in the widest sense of the word. We sing and dance. We move and run and do all kinds of sport. We role-play and joke and poke fun at each other.
• Humans socialize. We befriend and associate with and connect with other humans —individuals and groups. We meet and communicate and interact with other humans. We tell stories and share trivial banalities and intimate secrets alike.
• Humans learn and grow. We study and read and listen to acquire new knowledge. We rehearse and practice and exercise new skills. We seek and explore and cherish new experiences.
• Humans believe. We have faith and pray and engage in spiritual practice.
• Humans create. We design, build and construct new things and artifacts. We write, compose and draw pieces of art. We imagine and envision and plan a new, better world, and then find ways to make it happen. Our innate urge to express our creativity is one of the key aspects that distinguishes us from animals and machines alike.

Questions: What parts of the human activity spectrum does your business cater to? How may you deepen the human factor of your core value offerings? How may you expand it to ancillary activities?

How can you innovate with a more human touch?

Most outstanding creations and innovations are treasured because they are deeply human-centered. They make meaning by improving people’s lives and delivering on human wants and needs. They enable us to do what we essentially love to do in better ways, or they satisfy what we value and cherish.

How can you add more human touch to your products or services? How can you create new value offerings that are more human-centered? Consider following these steps in the Ideation-stage of an innovation project:

1. Specify what your innovation challenge is all about in the form of a ‘How to’-action question. For example, the owner of a restaurant chain may want to work on the challenge: “How to improve the service experience in our restaurants?”
2. See your target customers or users in front of your mental eye. Then, read again through the human values and actions listed above with an open heart and mind. Ask yourself: How is each of these human factors relevant to our customers and our challenge?
3. Create raw ideas on how to apply each relevant human factor to resolve your challenge. Ask:

• How can we cater to the human need for BEAUTY? (Replace with any other human value you identified)
• How can we make people feel more JOYOUS? (Or add any other positive human emotion)
• How can we give people a chance to experience LOVE? (Or use another human action you deem relevant)

4. Write down many, many ideas with a human touch, thereby suspending any critical judgment.
5. Later on, review your portfolio of ideas. Combine and improve the most interesting ones into meaningful idea concepts.

© Dr. Detlef Reis 2015. This article was published in parallel in the Bangkok Post under the same title on 12 November 2015.