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Hailed as the “Turn around champ” by Fortune Magazine for how he transformed Burger King, Barry Gibbons says he "went to America, put 5kg on every arse, and came home.”

Gibbons was here at the London Business Forum to show us how he believes we can deal with the current crisis facing business. In the words of Gibbons, “we are in a mess but we will come out of it” and when we do “there will be winners and losers.” To be a winner it is critical to come out of these seemingly desperate economic times in shape. Companies need to be leaner, fitter and wiser.

The secret to this, according to Gibbons, lies in the ages of man. First was the Hunter-Gatherer Age, then the Agricultural, followed by an Industrial Age and then the Information Age. The stages have got progressively shorter and Gibbons believes we are now entering a fifth age.

It would be tempting to name this fifth age negatively as the "Alienation Age," Gibbons argued. We are currently experiencing alienation, not just in business, but in all areas of life. However, Gibbons has named it after the solution, “(Re)Connection,” an age which has already begun but we have yet to work out how to deal with.

Gibbons sited eggs as an example. There was a time, he recollected, when customers were very happy to walk into their nearest supermarket and buy half a dozen Lion eggs and that was that. Now, we all must be more connected with their source. We need to know that the hen that they have come from is a happy hen, reared with lots of light and plenty of space.

Brands that are successful have realised this need for a connection and transformed their approach. They have created their distinctiveness not through what they do but rather how they do it. Brands such as Virgin now have their own personalities and customers have a clear idea of what they stand for; it is this that drives brand loyalty.

Until now companies have only been paying lip service to the idea that customers are important. In these difficult times it is now essential that they mean it and connect with the customer. It is this that will secure and retain customers; big advertising or marketing campaigns might draw them in but it will be something related to connection that will get you the repeat purchase. To illustrate, Gibbons recalled a hotel cleaner who left a note under his bed saying "I clean under here too!" Similarly, following a delayed flight, Richard Branson sent a fax to passengers apologising, and explaining the reasons for the delay. Gibbons argued, you will only get referrals if you blow the customer out of the water, “think back to the last time this happened to you and see what you can steal”.

One way of creating this connection is to connect with your own “Darkside,” to be unpredictable and creative. Allow your decisions to come from there not just from the computers or lawyers who generate business models. And finally remember the Mantra, “MORE of BETTER for LESS.”