On Words.
The perfect words in the perfect order is one definition of poetry.
Another example of the right words is this two minute video:
In the modern age of AI, machines will not just compose books using words, but they will speak words with nuance and a range of tonalities.
They will translate words into images and sound and video and transform words in one language into a multiplicity of languages.
Will words matter more or less when machines can trawl, refine, compose, enunciate, translate and transform words?
Will we be able to tell the difference between human created sentences using words or machine developed compositions harvesting human words?
The way the technologies are advancing will machine created stories be more impactful than human created ones since they will have learned what can move and steer the reader or listener ?
Joan Didion wrote that we tell ourselves stories in order to live. Will machines tell stories to themselves like they ingest data today and will their stories become our stories?
I read a lot and besides marking the finest sentences in books, I copy down the best sentences which I then read re-read and admire. So far all of these sentences to the best of my knowledge are human created, driven by human insight, observation and feeling.
Reading and re-reading the best that has been written is one way we can all get better at written and verbal communication which may be a way we can differentiate from and augment machines.
Here are one dozen great short sentences which I have copied during my reading this past month. Simple words that created a combination of a chemical and physical reaction in the reader…
Twitter is a conveyer belt of distractions.
Repair is the creative destruction of brokenness.
The past is a life sentence, a blunt instrument aimed at tomorrow.
Narrative is the strategy of the mind for putting things in relation.
What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments , but what is woven into the lives of others.
To remain oneself is to remain variable.
A raindrop spat on his hat.
A P/E ratio approaching the science fictional.
Corporate websites are where ideals get to roam free.
I hold you like a hole holds light.
I fill the cracks in the road to success made by forces beyond myself.
And finally:
Stories are data with a soul.
Upgrading Our AI Quotient.
Here is a highly curated list of resources that can help us increase our AI Quotient.
In the comments section please share resources for the generalist not a technologist (for instance GitHub or Hugging Face) you would suggest to augment those I share below
1. Ethan Mollick.
If there is a single person I would recommend reading and following to be informed about AI it is Ethan Mollick
Ethan is an Associate Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he studies and teaches innovation and entrepreneurship, and also examines the effects of artificial intelligence on work and education.
Here are two ways to embrace and learn from Ethan
a) His book Co-Existence which you can learn about and get from here . While every chapter is worthwhile you will not be the same after reading AI as a Creative.
b)Besides his book an absolute must is his Substack called One Useful Thing which is free to subscribe to and is available here
A good instance of how mind blowing this resource is you should click his August 1 post called “On Speaking to AI” and scroll down and listen to the very short audio clips under the section Chat GPT Voice as Agent.
Here is a second instance of how amazing his Substack is. In this exercise he uploaded to Claude 3.5 ( Anthropic’s competitor to Open AI and Gemini) the pdf of the first world war novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” and asked it to remove the squid. There is no squid in this novel but Ethan kept insisting. Click on the picture below so you can read what transpired. It will blow your mind.
These two simple exercises which will take you five minutes will probably change how you think about AI as much as any consultant deck or all day conference.
2) A16Z.
Andreessen Horowitz has some amazing resources regardless of your level of sophistication.
A key resource is the updated Top50 Gen AI Web products site which you can find here. See image below. This occasional post not only provides a list but an analysis on what is happening. For instance the rise of creative tools and significant competitors to Chat GPT.
As importantly A16z have a number of wonderful podcasts. Here is the one on AI.
3) The Essential Eight Products To Use.
Here are the 8 essential products to use for the person who is not a technologist which will allow one to both access most of the wonders of the new technologies but also stay up to date and smart about the space.
The first five would be to subscribe to the first 5 resources in the Top Gen AI Web Products List shared above.
Number 1 (ChatGPT) and number 4(Claude) are two massive LLM;s you should use for sure and if you can afford to upgrade from free to the paid version ($20 a month each). Given that AI is improving exponentially the paid levels are much more state of the art than the free versions. But if you cannot you will receive the same functionality as paid for free in about 6 to 9 months which is an indication of the leap frogging between generations and competitors.
Google paid 2.7 Billion dollars to acquihire the leaders of the Number 2 most visited product (Character.ai) and has one of them now co-running Gemini. Its a way to personalize a chat bot.
Number 3 ( Perplexity) hints at the future of search. While there is a lot of angst about copyright issues about this product we can expect many other search competitors including from OpenAI the maker of ChatGPT built on materials licensed from FT, Conde Nast and others.
Finally at number 5 (Suno) we can see a future of music creation. This company is also embroiled in copyright issues but is indicative of the direction of music creation.
In addition to these five I would recommend Number 12 (Eleven Labs) which is abut audio particularly dubbing and voice translation and Number 18 (Mid Journey) for images. A few days ago Mid Journey became much easier to use since you no longer have to have access via Discord.
Finally I would recommend using Runway ML which is not on this list to understand how AI is being used to make video including movies simply by typing in text. Watch the video below and also go to the site here and see the movies being made with this tool.
These 8 essential products cover 2 major models ( chatGPT and Claude), 2 audio models ( Suno and Eleven Labs), a search engine ( Perplexity), an image creation tool( MidJourney), a text to video tool ( RunwayML) and a character creation and customized chat friend (Character.ai)
All of these are accessible globally, easy to use and have free versions.
4. Shelly Palmer.
Shelly Palmer is a friend of mine and offers a wonderful free daily news letter on AI which you can subscribe to here.
I read Shelly daily and his newsletter not only quickly covers the key stories of the day but also provides a link to other developments that will keep you updated without you having to hunt and peck all over.
Shelly also has a website of free resources as well as paid courses you can access here.
One of the reasons I point to Shelly is that he has re-invented himself again and again.
Remember those Meow-Mix jingles? Shelly wrote those. He was big in radio, film and tv and then got technology patents for for interactive television systems. Today he has become a deep expert in the field of AI. He is a living testament to anybody who says they are too old or it is too late to embrace and lead the future.
In addition it also helps that he is a deep thinker who today runs his own firm and is therefore free to express his beliefs on how AI will revolutionize things without fear but with the wisdom and nuance of someone seasoned.
5. What Next?
While What Next? a podcast I host covers topics far broader than AI, almost every recent episode has discussed how AI is impacting different fields of business from learning to commerce to writing to Asian SuperApps and we have had over a dozen world class AI experts from all over the world as guests discussing the space including an episode where AI tried to replace me! ( Will the real Rishad Tobaccowala please stand up)
This weeks episode has a world renowned cyber security and AI expert from Israel who spent years in the Israel Defense Force open our eyes about what AI is going to do to cybersecurity.
All episodes are free to listen to and are also free of any advertising or promotion. They are are professionally recorded and tightly edited to a little over 30 minutes and are available on every major platform in the world.
Here are the Spotify and Apple links:
Spotify:
Apple:
Feel free to add key resources you believe help people who are not steeped in technology become smarter in the AI in the comments section.
AI-volution of Culture 2.0
Some of you will remember that last year, I shared access to an event called the AI-volution of Culture hosted by Quilt.AI (I am on their board).
The second edition of this event is taking place in New York City on Sep 20. Speakers range from senior execs of large companies (Bel, McDonalds, Estee Lauder, Pfizer etc) to celebrities including Trevor Noah and the incredible world renowned chef Massimo Bottura - all discussing AI.
This year, I will be co-hosting the event along with the Founders of Quilt.AI.
I plan on sharing a preview of my second book in addition to hosting conversations on remaining relevant in the short, middle and long term.
Like last year I have some complimentary tickets available. Here is the event link and the code you can use to avail of the complimentary ticket.
Event Link: https://www.quilt.ai/ai-volution-of-culture
Code: Rishad
The Power of Accessibility
Accessibility is a key to successful businesses and individuals.
Accessibility is defined as the quality of being easy to approach, reach, enter, speak with, use, or understand.
Every individual and business should audit themselves on how accessible they are.
a) Do we speak simply without using buzz-word bingo and with authenticity, clarity and empathy?
b) Are we easy to get a meeting and appointment with or are there an armada of apps, phone trees, executive assistants and other flora and fauna that camouflage us and weeks pass between a request and a meeting?
c) Can a customer access and return products and cancel services across all channels whenever and wherever they want or does one have Roach motel model where it is easy to get in but impossible to get out?
d) Is there a pricing and sizing model that enables people to easily try a product or fit it into their budget.
Accessibility is a sign of excellent leadership.
Accessibility enables leadership to be more effective because it helps in alignment, enhances speed and upgrades the quality of feedback.
a) Alignment: When a leader communicates clearly and simply it often results in high performing teams since everyone knows what needs to be done, how it is to be done, and by when it needs to be done.
b) Speed: If it is easy to reach a leader this enhances the tempo of an organization and reduces the time between the signal and the reaction. We should measure the time it takes between when someone has requested a meeting and the meeting happening and ask if there is a significant gap will it not detract from the agility, flexibility and rapid response we say the firm should have?
c) Feedback: If leaders are very approachable, they are likely to learn more about what is going on in the organization both good and bad. Every leader should ensure that they are not surrounded by sycophants, gatekeepers and other senior leaders. The signal comes from the edges where people are connected closely with manufacturing, customer service and competition.
Accessibility drives Business Growth
Today whether it is Microsoft or Walmart or McDonalds or so many other successful companies one will find they are highly accessible companies almost “elastic” in nature (built over a very strong DNA and Brand Vision).
They are all highly accessible in the following ways:
a) Omni-Channel: They can be bought in many ways leveraging apps, drive-throughs, off-line and online-channels. Amazon makes it easy to both get products delivered to lockers and to return products at Whole Foods and other stores.
b) Permeating and Leveraging Culture: Whether it is McDonalds aligning with and leveraging culture, Walmart enabling entertainment and streaming and many brands aligning with influencers, sports or local events these Brands feel both human and relevant to people’s lives.
c) Embracing Technology: During the recent Walmart Quarterly results, they shared how AI was being used to enhance certain capabilities by 100X
Walmart president and CEO Doug McMillon told investors during its fiscal second-quarter earnings call on Aug. 15 that the company has used multiple large language models to create or improve more than 850 million pieces of data in its product catalog.
“Without the use of generative AI, this work would have required nearly 100 times the current headcount to complete in the same amount of time.”
But as importantly the new tech has significantly enhanced searching for products where today on the Walmart platforms one can search using terms such as “Help me plan a football party” or “How to get prepared for a newborn” versus searching for individual products.
Accessibility enhances Brand Building.
a) Customer Service: Forget the advertising and bombastic claims of a brand. Instead check out customer service. The biggest mistake that many Brands have made is to consider customer service an expense they need to reduce by automating, phone-treeing and off-shoring versus it being a tattoo moment that can quickly calm an irate customer and turn them into a long-term advocate. Customers are most likely to connect when things go wrong, and this often happens at the same time in many industries such as airlines and often takes time to resolve. Yet most companies plan for peak capacity assuming the normal run of business and get overwhelmed. This happens again and again, and one wonders who is in charge. By being highly accessible customer service can become an asset and brand builder versus and expense.
b) Customized Interactions: Different people like learning and interacting with a Brand in different ways. Some prefer written information and others voice and others video. Some would like to interact with a User Interface and others with a Human Face. The most important parts of customization may not be how one personalizes the ad or the media but how creates a spectrum of interactions that make the brand or the company to be accessible in a personalized way. Today this is often done using AI scaled content and responses that augment human touch.
c) Variable Financing: The more ways someone can pay for a purchase or service the more accessible it becomes. From a variety of credit cards to pay overtime programs to different tools including Cash App, Pay Pal the more a brand enables a spectrum of purchase options the more it ensures accessibility.
Accessibility is a superpower.
Generosity as a Strategy.
Image by vrayvenus
Generosity as an approach to Life.
A CEO shared a story about how a poor family of immigrants stopped to help someone who had a flat tire in bad weather. After the tire was changed, the individual offered money to the family. They turned it down saying “Today it was you. Tomorrow it might be us.”
Sooner or later, everybody finds themselves needing help and depending on acts of generosity. It might be some form of aid, guidance, a person to talk to who will listen, a leg-up or sometimes gently delivered difficult to hear advice.
By being there and helping when someone is in need ensures good “Karma.”
If what goes around comes around it may make sense to send good stuff people’s way.
Generosity makes for a better life for not just the recipient but also to the giver.
Generosity as a differentiator and moat.
If strategy is future competitive advantage, generosity is smart for individual or company strategies.
Generosity builds good will which is both an asset and a moat.
It is an asset in that it can be tapped in the future.
It is a moat because when an individual or a company has been generous in times of trouble their employee or customer are less likely to switch to a different firm for a lower price or higher pay.
Generosity is also a key differentiator in that usually when a person or firm needs help there are few people willing to help someone out of power or in trouble. Those individuals and brands who do help stand out and their showing up and helping when others are not burns into the emotional and mental memory of the recipient.
Emotional connections are harder to sever or replace than financial connections.
Generosity as an emotional connector to brand building.
A story:
“Long ago, must be 30 years ago or more, I went into Tiffany’s to purchase one cufflink.
The night before I had attended a black-tie event and one cufflink must have worked itself free (it was the solid type, and was difficult to get on and off), and I lost it off my sleeve. Just wasn't there when I got home.
I said to the counter person that I just wanted to buy one cufflink to match the other one.
She left.
She returned with the typical Tiffany's blue box with the white ribbon. "Here you go...no charge," she said.
I couldn't believe it.
You must be -- at least -- the 400th person I have told this story to.”
It is the interaction, the experience and the feeling that truly resonates and builds a Brand.
These are often these are driven by surprise offerings, an over the top experience, an amazing solution to a problem.
Underlying all of these is generosity.
Generosity as Talent and Culture Strategy.
Brands today cannot succeed unless their employees are happy. It is the employees who after all provide the service to customers and clients. It is the employees who generate the ideas and solve the problems. It is often the employees who are most believed and can be the greatest ambassadors and advocates of a brand. Often employees are far more authentic ambassadors than a celebrity that companies give tens of millions too. Why not be generous in care, money, and attention to employees?
Culture is not just a place or a history but a way of being and behaving. Great cultures always have some form of generosity whether it is compensation, benefits, forgiveness of mistakes that encourage risk taking and more.
Generosity is a key to brand experiences and brand employees, but it is also a corner stone of brands purpose driven marketing. Smart companies recognize that purpose ensures not just attraction and retention of talent but also that ESG, DEI and other initiatives truly help the company economically.
Generously helping community, environment and others helps the brand.
For these among other reasons it is important to practice generosity.
Unleashed. Unfurled. Unbundled.
Art by tulika ladsariya
This is the last of a six part series of why a “company of one mindset” will be critical for career success.
The first five posts covered:
Observations.
a)We are entering a new phase of work where every job is being re-architected due to a combination of AI, changing demographics, new marketplaces, and new mindsets.
b) Knowledge is increasingly becoming free and so knowledge workers will have to change what they do and how they do it.
c) The challenges that companies face about culture post Covid are not only about the difficulty of managing people in distributed workspaces but also because in an age of “de-bossification” it is a fixed mindset of management versus a fixed location that is being rejected and therefore needs to be re-imagined. Old management styles are fading and new leadership styles are emerging.
d)Almost every middle-level to senior manager recognizes in their mind and heart that this is a time of transition in the workplace and are all looking for new signposts, new on ramps and new off ramps as they re-imagine their careers in a transformative time.
e) The future does not fit in the containers of the past and the concept of a “firm” is being re-invented.
A Mantra: Unleashed. Unfurled. Unbundled.
In a transformative age it is not companies but people who will transform first.
Waiting for others or delegating one’s future to a firm is very risky.
Every individual regardless of industry, geography, location or company size may want to embrace a mantra of “Unleashed. Unfurled. Unbundled” to quantum jump into the emerging age by letting go of anything that chains their mind and possibilities.
Imagine starting again.
Let us realize that we are unleashed from any physical location and then one decides how much physical location and personal interaction is needed to excel versus trying to figure out how much freedom one can get from five days a week in the office. The steady state is not April 2019 but April 2020.
Many books have been written about how many jobs are mostly “bullshit” and in most companies a majority of time is spent in process and human soap opera drama vs getting work done.
Much of this is going to be swept away with the efficiencies of AI. The focus will be on outcome, output, competitive advantage and each of us will need to decide what are we really good at, what are we passionate about, and what drives us to constantly learn.
A time to unfurl our real selves versus settling or flying our flags at half mast.
Mediocre or medium is what machines will eat for mulch.
As explained in the Fractionalized Employee the full time or five days a week, the full day 9 to 5 career and having one employer will be account for a minority of jobs within three years.
Better get used to thinking of ourselves as modules unbundled from any one particular company or construct but ready to plug and play and manage a portfolio of gigs.
Many of these will be in one company but they will be tasks, gigs, work to be done vs jobs to be filled.
Two Exercises.
Exercise One: If you a part of senior management in a company or run a team try this exercise.
Imagine if you could launch your firm all over again with no constraints except the law, the rules of science and the need to make money within three years or less.
How would your firm look today?
It is likely one will come up with something far smaller, far more agile, far more plug and play and far more competitive.
Something unleashed, unfurled and unbundled.
Legacy is for yesterday and while roots of a company in the form of values and provenance matter a lot the reality is that much of what constrains us are not roots but anchors. It is time to take flight and keep some roots but also find wings.
The reality is many entrepreneurs and potential competitors are already doing so and visiting your customers with their new models.
Exercise Two: Imagine we have lost our job and we need to resurrect ourselves.
What would one do?
What companies would we join? Skills we would invest in? Roles we would take? Lifestyles and geography that we would re-imagine?
Imagine the future.
And then in the next few years leveraging the reality one has a job stop imagining it and making it real.
Begin by seeing if you can sculpt, hone and architect your current job or company into the imagined company or job.
Every company, leader and talent has the potential to re-invent.
Let us do it before it is done to us.
It’s time to live the imagined life.
Before it is too late.
It is time to get Unleashed. Unfurled. Unbundled.