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And a very Happy New Year to you. I hope you’ve successfully waded through that gloopy wall of cheese, Baileys and Quality Street to come out the other side, ready to attack 2024.

I had a lovely time, thank you for asking.

What I really enjoy is that ‘anything goes’ feeling to Christmas: being able to eat, sleep and bathe at weird times (or just all the time) which just doesn’t seem possible normally.

But it’s not all gluttony and idleness: strangely this feeling of domestic freedom often gives me the energy to tackle the kind of life admin (Ladmin) I usually ignore.

Which is how I found out that for the past three years I’ve been insuring a home I lived in two houses ago. Damn that small print.

And cue a series of phone calls. To real humans.

Shiver

Not the numbered options, not the hold music, not the next available representative will be with you shortly.

Yes, all that. Fortunately, the humans I spoke to were great; they didn’t make me feel strange or bad, and were straightforward and efficient, which made me think…

Real human connection is a such precious commodity these days

Our expectations are just so low now thanks to automated systems and virtual assistants that speaking to someone who can genuinely help is now a bonafide luxury. Like finding a white peacock or seeing the Northern Lights, it’s a sought-after experience, prized for its authenticity and the depth of understanding it brings.

As we become more and more digitally saturated, the value of that human interaction will grow.

So as the panic around AI continues, make 2024 the year you’re direct about your human advantage. Where to start? With those other humans of course: your clients.

“I come out laughing every time I leave the office,” said one to me recently. You can’t say that about a chatbot.