"The Human Brand: How We Relate to People, Products, and Companies" by Chris Malone and Susan T.Fiske

Chris Malone and Susan T. Fiske have converted their insightful research into a very readable and informative book.  "The Human Brand: How We Relate to People, Products, and Companies" is an excellent addition to the growing corpus of works that help us to better understand how to use technology to enhance human interactions rather than to replace them.

The premise of this book is that as human beings, we are hard-wired to make instantaneous judgments about people - and by extension about products and companies - based on two perceptions: warmth and competence.  These snap judgments that we make allow us to categorize people and companies into four quadrants.

Quadrant 1 - We perceive the person or company to be warm and to have good intentions; and we perceive them to be competent to carry out those intentions.

• The resulting predominant feeling we have for these people and companies is Admiration
• Companies that research shows fall into this quadrant include Habitat for Humanity, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Hersheys, MinuteMaid, and Zappos

Quadrant 2 - We perceive the person or company to be warm and to have good intentions; but we perceive them not to be competent to carry out those intentions.

• The resulting predominant feeling we have for these people and companies is Sympathy
• Companies that research shows fall into this quadrant include Amtrak, VA Hospitals, U.S. Postal Service.

Quadrant 3 - We perceive the person or company to be lacking in warmth and to have ambiguous or self-serving intentions; and we perceive them to be competent to carry out those intentions

• The resulting predominant feeling we have for these people and companies is Envy
• Companies that research shows fall into this quadrant include Gucci, Cartier, Mercedes, Porsche, Rolex

Quadrant 4 - We perceive the person or company to be lacking in warmth and to have ambiguous or self-serving intentions; and we perceive them not to be competent to carry out those intentions.

• The resulting predominant feeling we have for these people and companies is Contempt
• Companies that research shows fall into this quadrant include BP, AIG, Marlboro, Goldman Sachs

I have tested my own personal reactions to individuals and to companies, and I find that my emotions match those that the authors' research predicted.

The book is filled with stories and vignettes of actions that companies have taken that either allow consumers to perceive them as warm and competent and thus to elicit Admiration, or that in some way fail to make that human connection.  The authors are strong in their advocacy of stories as important means of communicating both warmth and competence:

"Stories organize our perceptions of the people, places, and events around us.  Stories inform us emotionally, which is why we remember them better than mere information.  They are among the most powerful means of human communication, education,  and inspiration, precisely because they overlap in our minds with our ways of making sense of other people." (Page 120)

This book is a very helpful addition to the growing list of volumes that help us to think in creative and meaningful ways about how we must connect with one another in an age of growing technological capabilities and hindrances.

Enjoy.

Al