Hola, hola! Welcome to Casa Cinco, a weekly newsletter curating connection.

Are you building or investing in human connection? See the bottom of this email and connect with Casa Cinco.

This week I’m sharing 5 steps to making business more human, exciting launches in London and Madrid, and art as a conduit for connection. Happy reading!

Here’s to connecting,

Andy

MAKING BUSINESS MORE HUMAN

I was at a wedding in Italy this past weekend and spent a lot of time asking other guests how they felt about their work (needless to say, I’m not built for ‘small’ talk).

An astounding 80% of ‘respondents’ felt negatively towards it. Whether they felt overworked, undervalued, disconnected, or other, work seemed to be ‘anything but human’.

I decided to explore this further, but I needed someone who would talk to me for longer. Ha! Dinner time. I was sat next to a lovely man who we will call George. Little did George know, we would spend a lot of time talking about his work.

George happened to trade coffee for a living. He had been to Colombia multiple times and knew more about my country’s coffee region than I did. He was a big fan of my country - not only because of its produce and beauty, he said, but also because of its people. In particular, he was amazed at the energy they brought to the office.

When he becomes manager, he continued, he wants to work on the team’s culture so it emulates the energy and openness of his Colombian teammates. Why was he so aware of this? George, like the other 80% of people feeling negatively towards work, had been a victim of bad management.

Essentially, we concluded, he wanted to make business more human. Yes!

The question is, how? George’s fear was that, in making business more human, his employees would mistake kindness for softness. What if Jose then asks for an unmerited raise? Wouldn’t the humane thing to do be to pay him more?

No, George. If the raise is unmerited and Jose thinks he can get away with it because you treat him like a human and not a resource, then Jose doesn’t get it.

Making business more human is a two-sided equation. Both the employee and the employer need to give… and take (see BuildBetter’s guide for being a better giver). It isn’t about pampering employees or draining employers, it’s about enabling both to thrive.

So, how does it work? How can we make business more human?

Here are 5 steps George and I discussed, which I hope serve you too:

1. 🎤Be intentional in knowing your team: People need affirmation, attention, and appreciation - and this takes care of all three. Set aside 5-10 minutes during your weekly meetings and have one person at a time share meaningful pictures from their lives. Also, name this time something fun that people can refer to and look forward to.

   • Who else does this? Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, the U.S. Surgeon General. He called it the Inside Scoop.

2. 💌Lean into the cringe: The previous step takes care of us as individuals, while this next takes care of us as a team. Get in the habit of ending meetings on a positive note with questions such as: Who did you learn from in today’s meeting? What do you look forward to in our next time together? Who is one person outside this room who’s been an absolute MVP?

   • Who else does this? Brad Jacobs, serial entrepreneur and author of How to Make a Few Billion Dollars.

3. 👂Listen, listen, and then listen again: Business is mistaken to be a lot of talking and little listening. Yet - only when we’re willing to listen, do people really talk. You’ve probably heard this advice before, but the devil is in the details.

   First, look for opportunities to listen - don’t just wait. Ask even your seemingly happiest colleague how they (really) feel. Second, don’t listen to talk - listen to listen. Yeah, that happened to me too let me te-NO. SHUT UP. And third, follow up. Hey Anne, I know we just spoke a few days ago, but…

   • Who else does this? Chris Voss, former FBI hostage negotiator and author of Never Split the Difference.

4. 🙋‍♀️Pay well and trust better: If you want top talent, you have to pay top dollar. But - it doesn’t end there. Money isn’t enough. Trust is where it’s at. Find out what your team values and trust them with it. Whether that’s working remotely during the summer, taking a midday break to the gym, leading a new initiative outside their current role, or other - it’s not that people don’t want to work hard, it’s that they want to work hard and keep some degree of autonomy. Trust them with it.

   • Who else does this? Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates - the largest hedge fund in the world.

5. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑Spend quality time in person: There are physiological, emotional, mental, and even intellectual benefits we get from spending time with others in person that we sadly don’t get from Zoom. But what if your team works remotely and is scattered across the world? At the very least, you should have a monthly, quarterly, or at least annual meet up.

   In the meantime, encourage employees in the same city spend some time together - even if they work for completely different areas of the company. Have a local culture champion figure out what works best for the team in town and empower them to create a subculture of their own (rooted in the company’s). Maybe pair up with a related party, whether a supplier, client, advisor, or other, and make them a part of it too.

   • Who else does this? Brian Chesky, co-founder of Airbnb and one of the most inspiring leaders I’ve come across.

The inspiration for you is: Use this list as a starting point in defining what making business more human means to your team. Ask, listen, edit, implement.

And - let me know what great initiatives you come up with! You never know which business on the other side of the world could benefit from introducing a bit more humanity to it.

WEEKLY CURATION

PEOPLE

• 🎨Artist Lorenzo Quinn on connection, love, and Marco Polo

• 👯Listen: Brian Chesky and Jay Shetty on the crisis of disconnection

• 📱Watch in Spanish: Marian Rojas on the dangers of dopamine (gracias Carlota!)

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

• 🌆Brytspace is finally here: ‘London, something big is coming. You’ll want to stay offline for this one’

• 🛍️From online to offline: How brands have the power to create human connection

• 🎤Posh: Join 2 million people across intimate gatherings where you ‘may know a friend, or at least a friend of a friend’

PLACES

• ☕Coming soon: Madrid, get ready for the best spot in town to connect over coffee and wine

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