The more technological we become, the more people matter.

This week, I headed back into the recording studio, got comfy, popped on my favourite AKG headphones and recorded my first radio show as a presenter in eight years. It was truly so much fun and I had forgotten just how much I love it.

I have always said that there is something really special about radio. You're sitting in a studio, often completely on your own, talking into a microphone to people you can't see. Yet somehow it creates this incredible sense of connection. You become part of people's mornings, their drive home, their working day. Listeners get to know presenters, presenters get to know their listeners, and a community forms around something as simple as people talking, sharing stories, playing music and keeping each other company.

Being back doing it has reminded me of something I've probably always known about myself.

I really like people.

I like getting to know them. I like conversation. I like understanding what makes somebody tick. I like being part of a team. I like being the person somebody knows they can come to when they need something sorting.

And I've also noticed that this is becoming increasingly important in my work too.

For years I've talked about ED Creative in terms of the things I do. Copywriting. Audio production. Campaign management. Project management. Creative work. But some of the work I enjoy most now sits somewhere between all of those things.

It's working closely with clients. Keeping projects moving. Making sure people know what's happening. Spotting something before it becomes a problem. Coming up with an idea and talking it through. Understanding how a client likes to work. Knowing when they probably need an update without them having to ask for one. Taking things off somebody's plate and giving them that lovely feeling of, “It's fine, Emma's got it”.

That's creative operations and client success, of course. But when you strip away the business terminology, so much of it comes down to relationships.

And I think that's the magic elixir for us all right now.

We're surrounded by conversations about technology, automation and AI. I'm using more technology in my own business than I ever have before, and there are some incredible tools available to us. They can make us faster, more organised and more productive. They can help businesses achieve things that would have taken significantly more time and money just a few years ago.

I'm all for that. But I also wonder whether the more we automate, the more valuable genuinely good human interaction becomes.

Because you can automate a process. You can streamline a workflow. You can generate content. You can create systems that make a business incredibly efficient. But clients still want to feel understood. People still want somebody to care about the outcome.

Teams still work better when people communicate properly. Great ideas still often come from conversations. Trust still takes time to build. And more often than not, the most valuable thing you can do for a client is pick up the phone, listen properly and say, “Leave it with me. I got this”.

That's certainly where I see ED Creative heading.

I still love creating. I'll probably always get a little buzz from hearing something I've written or produced out in the real world. But I'm increasingly enjoying being involved in the bigger picture too. Building relationships with clients, managing creative work, connecting the right people, keeping everything moving and becoming somebody a business genuinely trusts as part of its team.

And perhaps that's why being back on the radio has felt so good too.

For all the technology sitting between me and the person listening, ultimately it's still just one person talking to another. There's something reassuringly simple about that.

And as the way we work continues to change, I don't think businesses should lose sight of it either. Investing in better technology absolutely makes sense. Investing in the people who build relationships, create communities, understand clients and make other people genuinely enjoy working with your business matters just as much; if not more.

And in today’s technological world advanced quicker than we can even comprehend, I think the connection, relationships and kinship in working towards our goals as a collective is something to be truly cherished.

Chat to you on the wireless soon!

Emma x