Commercial Integrator May 2023 - 6

AV BRAINS & BRAWN
The 'Secret' to AV is Relationships
In our digitally transformed world, is our business still 'a relationship business'?
The answer is a resounding yes! By Alan C. Brawn
If you fail to invest the time to nurture true relationships and continually maintain them, your potential customers will gravitate
to people who are willing to participate in a win/win manner. It's positive relationships that lead to business happiness.
IN THE HIGH-TECH world in which many
of us work - for me, commercial AV and
digital signage - we are inundated with
technologies that attempt to tie us together.
Can we all say IoT? We often, in conversations
with colleagues, discuss these new
tools. But, at some point, toward the end
of the conversation, someone will invariably
say, " Yes, but it is still a relationship
business. " This is obviously their attempt to
humanize things at a deeper, and perhaps
more meaningful, level in the face of our
digital - some might say " sterile " - transformation.
I often ask myself if it really is
still a relationship business. Is there data to
support that being as effective as perhaps
it once was?
The Search for Happiness
Well, I ran across something that I feel
compelled to share. It all begins with the
search for happiness. Now, don't start
singing " Kumbaya " yet. Instead, just read
on to see how it relates....
We all seek happiness, right? That
invites the question of which ingredients
go into achieving that goal. For many,
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Commercial Integrator MAY 2023
it involves money, a successful career, a
degree of status, and perhaps ease and
leisure. What if I told you the scientific,
data-driven answer to the search for
happiness actually involves none of the
above? Now, I know this might sound like
one of those miracle pills or a sales pitch
for a motivational seminar. However, I
assure you, it is not. What I ran across (by
accident) was an 85-year investigation
(yes, 85 years and still ongoing!) from the
Harvard Study of Adult Development.
Unsurprisingly, this is the world's longest
scientific study on the subject. I want to
share with those of us in AV the importance
of what it has found.
First, we'll start with the methodology.
The study began in 1938, with 724 original
participants. It set out to discover what
makes people thrive and attain a sense
of happiness. That, however, is only the
beginning of the story....
Some 85 years later, the study includes
three generations and more than 1,300
descendants of the original participants.
I'm not impressed by the numbers alone,
however. I'm especially drawn to the socioeconomic
cross section of participants
and the depth of the research. Researchers
follow each person from their teen years to
old age, gathering everything from their
exercise and drinking habits to their marital
satisfaction and biggest worries.
Additionally, researchers regularly
collect their health records for evidence of
physical and mental well-being, and, periodically,
they meet them face to face to observe
their behavior and living conditions.
Participants rate their lives by answering
intensive questionnaires that examine
whether they're happy, if their life is meaningful
and if they have a reason to get up
in the morning. They undergo brain scans,
blood tests and checks of stress-related
hormones. As we used to say in describing
an effort, " they didn't miss a lick " !
What Was in Common?
From all this work, is there something the
healthiest and happiest participants have
in common? Dr. Robert Waldinger and Dr.
Marc Schultz's new book, The Good Life:
Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific
Study of Happiness, helps distill the answers.
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Commercial Integrator May 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Integrator May 2023