Reflection on Substantiveness

“Competitiveness requires shaping affective energy”

A company's competitiveness lies in its ability to develop products with unique features at a cost that consumers are willing to pay.

This fundamental principle, established by Michael Porter many years ago, has never been easy to fully implement. Today, in hypercompetitive environments, the challenge is even greater.

Any business that aims to compete while generating sufficient profits to invest in innovation must approach product engineering seriously, going beyond purely technological aspects.

The emotional factor has always played a decisive role in creating products that resonate with consumers. Yet, in general, we still fail to manage it effectively. Integrating emotional management into product engineering is not about making aesthetically pleasing products that appeal to company managers. Essentially, it is about extracting the emotional dimension from the ‘customer’s voice’ and transforming it into distinctive and valued features—creating "substantivity," in a word.
The real question is: how can we achieve this in our company when our vision and thought processes have been conditioned to operate predominantly from a rational perspective?

Personal Attitudes

When I present this idea to business owners and executives, they usually understand it. However, when the need to develop the necessary skills is raised, confusion often follows. Many fail to grasp that, just as we have trained ourselves to think rationally, we now need to shift toward emotional mental dynamics.

We talk about empathy, but from a self-interested perspective; we seek to build trust while becoming increasingly distrustful; we want to satisfy customers, yet we struggle to truly listen to them. And so, the list of contradictions continues. The consequence of this profound inconsistency is that what we call “emotional management”—when we apply it at all—is actually a rational approach, leading to a massive loss of competitiveness potential.

My professional journey began years ago, helping companies navigate situations where all previous efforts had failed. Over time, I continued assisting them in overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges. In every case, the solution required nothing more than tapping into the vast competitive advantage that comes from genuinely managing the emotional dimension of reality.

Once we achieve this, we can cultivate and shape the power of the affective dimension of life—and unlock its extraordinary competitive potential.