Dr. James Nitit Mah - The NeuroPreneur: A Modern Mindset for Thriving in the Digital Age

The NeuroPreneur

A Modern Mindset for Thriving in the Digital Age

By

Dr. James Nitit Mah

Introduction

Do Past How-Tos Still Work for Todays Businesses?

Technologies develop fast and many strategies from the past no longer work in todays business world. Knowledge quickly grows obsolete and out-of-date so how do we know what we will need for the future?

Reasons and principles that hold universal truths are likely to endure, but using them the how-tos will change. Certain principles will continue to apply, such as Maslows hierarchy of needs (the well-known idea proposed by Abraham Maslow back in 1943) about how humans interact and what we crave. Human emotions, desires, and needs are surprisingly consistent despite advances in technology.

At the same time, once-in-a-generation technological change, such as our current fourth Industrial Revolution of ultra high-speed Internet, artificial intelligence, and the expanding metaverse will require businesses and businesspeople to adapt to new means of communication, working, and living. Todays workers and customers may, in fact, be overwhelmed by the profusions of choice as they strive to keep up with the latest products and services.

In terms of customer choice, people are less brand-loyal than before, and more likely to change their minds. But what does that say for your product or service? Why should they choose one among others? It can be difficult to get the right customer to choose you.

Difficult , however, doesnt mean impossible . If you get the principles right, youll be able to establish brand loyalty among your existing customers to the extent that they become your brand ambassadors who, in addition to loving the brand, will be willing to speak about your brand and recommend it to others.

The key principle here is that NeuroPreneurs need to comprehensively understand neuroscience, as well as the principle of the human thinking process, so that they can respond on-target to customer needs as much as possible.

Again, the how-tos may change, but the principles will live on as universal truths.

Currently, you can learn how to successfully launch social media advertising on Facebook or Instagram, but very soon you will need to discover and master entirely new features and new skills on various new or coming platforms.

As always, technology may make things more efficient, but you cannot overlook the human touch. As entrepreneurs fully understand how human brains work, it doesnt matter how efficiently AI (Artificial Intelligence) is used or what innovations are coming along as long as our clients are human, they are the ones who will decide when its time to buy based on their own personal principles and intimate needs.

And thats why entrepreneurs, regardless of the era they live in, should understand the enduring principles of the thinking process of our human brains.

Entrepreneurs need to understand that the global economy can be divided into two groups:

1. The Traditional Economy

In the past, the world was once run by Traditional Economy, which is divided into two subcategories: First, Economy of Scale (a business concept of big fish eating small fish and mass production) lowers the cost and increases greater profit. This came to the foreground between the First and Second Industrial Revolutions.

The second subcategory of Traditional Economy, Economy of Speed (a concept of fast fish eating slow fish) focuses on being the first to know, becoming quickly aware of trends, and making quick business decisions, and taking fast business actions. This concept came to life in the Internet-based Industry World 3.0, along with Cognitive Economy.

2. The Cognitive Economy

This is currently in use by the modern business world. It can be divided into two other subcategories: Economy of Scope and Economy of Sphere.

Economy of Scope is a way a business reaches its target customers, doing things youre good at for a particular group of customers, not for all potential customers. For instance, in the past, businesses would make several collections of shoes in various colors and sizes to meet the demands and preferences of the masses. It was better to have a wide range of products.

On the contrary, you can go with the idea of making red burgundy shoes in the Economy of Scale by just focusing on making them in different shoe sizes of women in the target group.

Economy of Sphere is the use of atmosphere to trigger senses or awareness to help increase the level of decision-making.

You need to know how to create the right atmosphere or context to affect peoples perceptions. For example, it can be very difficult to pitch your food sales when a customer is heading to a restroom because the right atmosphere isnt there. You must customize the experience to create a positive experience for your customers.

Once you see the larger picture and become a master entrepreneur, youll want to explore how the brains of customers work. Whats the scope of products they want? What are their feelings, preferences, and beliefs? You can get to know whats going on inside their brains before putting your products or services on the shelf to sell speedily by creating the right atmosphere to boost the sales and helping customers to make a decision.

All of these principles will help your business expand on a profitable scale. No matter what kind of business you do, you can win by employing the right enduring principles.

Hope for the new entrepreneur

My goal with this book is to deliver to a new generation of entrepreneurs the enduring business secrets and methodologies that Ive collected since I was young. After listing my company on the stock market, I wanted to crystallize what I knew and share it with budding businesspeople. I wanted to give them the weapons to invest in their own competency. I wanted to give them the foundation for a strong business that they can pass on to future entrepreneurs.

This is a new era of competition in business. People are overloaded with information. Research shows that people respond to advertising within the first three seconds of seeing it their attention span is even shorter than that of a goldfish.

Now, there are many books about neuroscience on the market today that tell you about the customer mind and the way to capture its attention. They tell you how to press a buyers decision-making button, which should be helpful, but unfortunately, they are not written with the strong expertise of someone who has many skill sets.

There are three types of people who write these kinds of books entrepreneurs, neuroscientists, and consultants. Entrepreneurs fully understand the value of business, but theyre not good at neuroscience. Neuroscientists are experts in principal medical and scientific approaches to the customer brain, but they dont have strong business experience. Consultants are great with theories, but if you let one go into business with you, you may find they dont know much about the real issues that business people face.

I have found these three types of people cannot be combined together into one person. To capture the customers attention, understand them, and do business with them, however, all three elements have to be understood in depth.

I am an entrepreneur, but I have invested the time to learn about other key areas. After I graduated university, I broadened my skill set. Today, I am well versed in three roles: expert entrepreneur, investor, and professor. My fourth and latest competency is neuroscience.