Tim Leberecht aims for making businesses human again. Let’s celebrate the new Business Romantics!

28. September 2018 – Katharina Schlangenotto

There are probably very few people working in a large corporation who can imagine something like Business Romance. This is because it is usually only about hard facts and numbers and data. In some places, people are even being replaced by machines, Artificial Intelligence has long since found its way into business processes.

He doesn’t want humans to transform into efficient robots

You could rightly ask yourself if all this actually makes people happy. But only a few people dare to do so. Tim Leberecht is one of the persistent drills. He doesn’t want humans to transform into efficient robots and pleads for a return to humanity into the today’s business world.

With his idea of “Business Romantics” he meets open employees ears. Who likes to go out to work day in and day out just for making money? Unfortunately, many people feel exactly this  way. Already in the morning, they wish the day to be over to finish work. Monday is a horror day and the week only starts to get a little better on Thursdays, because this is when the weekend gets closer.

But the world could be different, says Tim Leberecht. It could be so much more human orientated. His ideas shake up the „tough“ business world, he is currently one of the whiz-leavers among the speakers and consultants. More and more CEOs seem to recognize that efficiency alone is surely no longer the the magic word. And maybe never was.

When asked what a „Business Romantic“ would be like, Tim Leberecht answers: “Business romantics consider feelings, emotionality and vulnerability in the job to be at least as important as reason.”

Starbucks as a human, value-based brand with a personality

In his list of Business Romantics of our time he mentions names such as Richard Branson, Steve Jobs or Elon Musk. He also tells the story of Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks. Schultz had asked his 12,000 baristas in the context of the “Race Together” campaign to speak openly with customers about racial discrimination. “In retrospect, he earned a huge shitstorm because the queues in the branches were even longer and the customers were interested in their coffee rather than a serious conversation. Had Schultz previously conducted market research, that would not have happened. But this is how he has pre-empted his personal values of entrepreneurial choice and placed Starbucks in the media as a human, value-based brand with a personality. ”

Also, he admits, there is a dark side of romance because emotions carry risks and the more emotionality there is in a company, the greater the risks would be. “It’s like in a long relationship: it’s not working without hard work.”

Tim Leberecht is convinced that the hard work is worth it. His success speaks for his idea of Business Romance. It is exciting and, above all, different.

Contact: tim-leberecht@premium-speakers.com

 

 

 

 

Tim Leberecht

Expert on Humanism in Business, Digitalization & new Leadership, Author