Cultivating Human Skills in a Tech-Driven Future with Emmanuel Yamoah

Duracell’s Emmanuel Yamoah recently appeared on SHRM’s Tomorrowist podcast. A summary of that conversation appears below.

Is financing the workforce of tomorrow strictly a cash flow challenge? While technology advances rapidly and organizations compete for top talent, Emmanuel Yamoah, vice president of research and development at Duracell, emphasizes that automation and growing salaries may not be the most pivotal aspects of future planning and growth. With a background in both data analysis and fine arts, Yamoah believes successful workforce planning will focus on what makes us more human: storytelling, mentorship, and development. 

The Role of Storytelling in Innovation

Yamoah believes storytelling is a powerful tool for effectively communicating complex datasets. To illustrate the chaotic, nonlinear journey of innovation, he suggests that leaders should use stories as case studies for investments. By presenting a compelling narrative, they can help collaborators envision potential outcomes and learn from past successes and failures.  

“Humans, by nature, wrap our ideas and notions around story. It’s the best way for us to make them sticky and to be able to act onto them. So the better the story that we can tell, the better we’re able to convey and communicate,” said Yamoah. “Particularly for innovation, stories are key because stories kind of become case studies.”

At times, hard data analysis, considered a left-brain function, and storytelling, a right-brain function, seem to be in conflict. However, Yamoah contested that collaborators need the emotional angle to fully grasp the value of an investment. “They need to process it through really understanding,” he said. “They process it based on emotion. ‘How does the end result make me feel?’ … and I think the best storytellers are those who take into account each of those ways of processing the same information.” 

Yamoah explained that there are four distinct ways people process information—and storytelling is a multifaceted approach that ensures data is effectively communicated, appealing to both the logical and emotional sides of human nature.

Investing in People amid Technological Advancements 

Yamoah also discussed the importance of investing in professional development, particularly as AI becomes more prevalent in the workplace. Investing in growing human skills—such as empathy, creativity, and storytelling—should be a base line, evolving with artificial intelligence and other technological advancements to maintain a competitive workforce. “We have to ask a question: What types of skills and capabilities and training do our folks need to engage with AI?” he said.  

Reflecting on his diverse background in both the arts and engineering, Yamoah advocated for a holistic approach to education and professional development. Echoing other leaders, he called for integrating the arts into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and transforming it into STEAM. “The arts, I think it makes us better well-rounded,” he explained. “The very best individuals that I’ve seen at their craft, whether it was artistic or whether it was scientific, I think ‘blended’ is not the right word, but they allow both of those things to coexist,” he said.

Investing in the workforce of tomorrow is to invest in what makes people uniquely human. “It’s all about developing them. It’s about growing them. It’s about identifying their skills, their passion areas, their capabilities,” said Yamoah. “How can I enable both the individual to be their very best and ... be able to get the very best out of them, to be able to deliver the best for the business?”