• by Alan Hart , April 24, 2019

 This week on the “Marketing Today” podcast, I speak with Minter Dial,  author of “Heartificial Empathy: Putting Heart into Business and Artificial Intelligence,” which is his third book. Previously, he co-authored "Futureproof: How To Get Your Business Ready for the Next Disruption,” and he is the author and filmmaker of “The Last Ring Home,” the story of the grandfather he never knew, who died as a POW during World War II.

Prior to his career as a speaker, consultant, filmmaker, and author, Dial spent 15 years with L’Oreal, where he ran the Redken business in addition to serving in other marketing roles there.

During the podcast, Dial talks about his latest book, which he says he didn’t really intend to write, and he shares his perspective on what exactly empathy is, how it can benefit businesses, and the implications for its use in artificial intelligence.

And he had this to say about the future of marketing. “With all the opportunities and tools that are out there, making your brand come alive is going to happen through people,” says Dial.

“And so there’s probably a whole lot more work that needs to happen on the attitudes of the people you recruit... to have this greater empathy idea and integrity. And this is going to change the way we do marketing because you can’t just focus on ROIs and click-throughs.”

Highlights from this week’s “Marketing Today” podcast include:

• “I want to tell stories, connect the dots, and elevate the debate.” –Minter Dial (1:25)

• Dial is inspired to make business more empathic to benefit people. (3:15)

• How Dial thinks about empathy in all its different forms. (4:53)

• For businesses, the benefits of empathy start from within. (10:08)

• “I’m going to miss you, JJ” — The empathic bot experiment. (18:53)

• “First of all, artificial empathy does not exist — today.”  (25:03)

• Dial’s “journey of identity” to learn more about the grandfather he never knew led to a book and a documentary, both called “The Last Ring Home.” (28:55)

• Advice Dial would give his younger self: “Always be open to the experience; never say no.” (34:18)

• “There’s never been a more exciting time to be in marketing.”  (44:18)