I was absolutely honoured to be interviewed for a piece by Haskayne School of Business. Sincere appreciation to Tim Ta and Lauren Steeves for the support.
The successful technology workers of the future will be those that can build and nurture relationships.
We are proud to feature our EMBA 16’ alum, Jeremy Adamson and his newest publication “Geeks with Empathy”! In his second book, Jeremy builds a case that displays how human factors, like empathy, are as important as the technical know-how for the technology industry.
With the never-ending race to build the best algorithms and technology for the future, workers have “become fragmented to the point nobody knows who they are working for or the impact they are having. They are just completing tasks against some precise technical requirements.” As explained by Jeremy, this is why empathy is becoming increasingly more important for leaders in redirecting their teams from technology to users. “We’ve moved from a guild mentality to an assembly line and taken the dignity out of work.”
When asked whether he believes empathy is increasing or decreasing in managerial levels within the tech space, he said “It is increasing, but not in a good way.” These managers are empathetic with users to understand what makes a product addictive while being empathetic to employees just far enough to reduce the cost of churn: “I believe profitability can be an outcome of technology that elevates people, both customers and developers.”
His journey came about during his tenure at the University of New Brunswick, where he noticed several students were in the same phase of their careers. Each wanted to move up but was told they needed more certifications or an MBA. “It was clear their gaps weren’t technical but rather they weren’t getting the feedback they needed.”
After numerous edits, proofs, and adjustments while leaning on the learnings from his first book, he successfully published Geeks with Empathy. “It felt at first like nothing happened, but after a month social media was full of pictures holding the book, and my inbox with people who say it has helped them in their career journey. Those types of emails are amazing and make the effort worthwhile.”
Jeremy Adamson 