Human in an AI Age: Roots and Wings.
Photograph by Rishad Tobaccowala
This is the first of a multi-post series on Human in the Age of AI.
18 months ago I wrote AI is Under-Hyped.
The piece was prescient and today AI capability is doubling every 7 months and has surpassed Human Intelligence.
The new term is Super Intelligence ( a more reasonable goal than AGI).
So its no longer AI + HI where HI is human intelligence because Human Intelligence has been left in the dust.
HI will still matter but it will be Human Intuition. Human Inventiveness. Human Insight. Human Inspiration. Human Interaction. Human Innovation. Human Iteration.
And to thrive in an AI age we will need to combine the roots of our humanity and combine them with the wings of our possibilities.
While humanity may be a silly phase a greater intelligence is adapting through. we will need to forge and fuse what we were and what we can become.
The first of this series is a reprint of a piece I wrote four years ago and may resonate today if we think of Roots to be the Human Story so far and Wings to be the AI we humans have created which might help us become even more…
To succeed as an individual or as a firm one must have roots and wings.
Roots provide stability, a place to stand, a passed along tradition and a sense of history.
But roots alone which are important to ensure one does not get blown away by the winds of change might anchor one too much to the past and to a status quo which may no longer be relevant.
Thus, the importance of wings.
The ability to raise oneself and see above the horizon, to look down with new perspectives and to ensure that the roots which feed us do not wither by failing to adapt to a new world.
Roots nourish via what we were and where we came from and what we did.
Wings encourage us to go where we need to and to blaze new trails which will lay down tomorrows roots and are a highway to what we will accomplish.
Why roots are critical.
We are stories.
Whether we are individuals or companies.
We all have beginnings.
Origin stories either real or concocted.
Once upon a time.
Day one.
In the beginning.
This past for companies creates rituals, motivational stories, moments of crisis, provenance, proof, and a reason to believe. Tales that encrust every key financial event like barnacles. The almost went out of business moments, the eureka breakthrough moments, the IPO moment, or the key acquisition.
As time passes, people move on, and locations change the stories linger often shape shifting with the passage of time, with who the story teller is , and the quality of the telling.
Remembered history may not be history but in it is rooted much.
Roots are critical for not just companies but individuals.
Personal roots shaped by the people and places we grew up, first losses, loves, jobs and mentors, help make us what we are. Then key decisions and roads taken or not taken that bring us to the present. We plumb, narrate, garnish, and embellish these roots to explain why and where we are today.
The tattoo moments that we wear as invisible scars or badges that nobody sees but that mark our days.
People, skills, relationships are forged and become part of our roots.
Reputations, brands, trust, and networks are built by time and help us navigate the sway of change by keeping us rooted to what matters, disciplined in skills, protected by a trampoline of earned trust.
Over the years we are forged in the foundry and furnace of experiences that enable us to become the force we are. This enables faster action and movement than the uninitiated since what others must learn comes as second nature.
Roots matter in relationships, in honing of skills and much more.
The magic of wings.
While every individual and firm start somewhere, every life and firm are also a journey.
Just as a tree that begins with a seed initiating a root, many of us are lucky to be nourished by the water and light of life provided by families, school, and friends to reach upward and branch out.
We take wings.
Wings are fueled by dreams. By crossing the horizon to go where no one has gone before. To do the unimaginable and the impossible.
It is the fuel that drives not just entrepreneurs but all of us who take a risk, switch careers, leave a city or country to go to another. It fuels immigrants who leave with nothing but a dream for a better life. Wings beat and provide the wind for artists who start with a blank sheet of paper, a piece of rock, an empty space which they convert into stories, songs, plays, paintings, movies, sculpture and more.
While the roots, the status quo, and the ground below us are all real we often take wing to the unseeable, the unknowable.
We take a leap into the void that sometimes results in innovation, creativity, the un-status quo when we land.
Every individual has wings.
It is just a question of when and if we get the chance to use them.
Combining roots and wings.
If every individual and company is a story with a place we came from, every individual and a firm is also about a place we are going to.
We all integrate the dualities of roots and wings.
Too rooted and we may wither way as changing times and climate bring drought to the place and way we were.
Too winged and we may be blown away in the gusts of change.
Too rooted and we may be seen as old school, hide bound to tradition and inflexible.
Too ready to fly with change may find us painted as unreliable, undisciplined, and short-term oriented.
Transformation is twisting ourselves and companies into new shapes with the clay of what we were and new skills and pieces we acquire.
To believe and better understand where you are going people want to know from where you are coming.
If you wish to record a new track it helps, especially once you are no longer a beginner, to have a track record.
So next time ask yourself, your friends or your company or the companies you wish to partner with:
a) What are the tattoo moments that made you what you are?
b) What do you believe is key from the past to your future and what should you be willing to or need to leave behind?
c) Where are you going and what do you believe about tomorrow?
d) What leaps of faith or acts of courage are you going to take to get there?
And many of us will get to where we are going.
This is because we got where we are today by continuously integrating, balancing, and unifying yesterday and tomorrow, safety and risk and what we are/were and what we want to be.
We are a mix of roots and wings…
Forever Young.
In Colombo, Sri Lanka, lies a cemetery containing the grave of Arthur Charles Clarke who wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The gravestone has this phrase inscribed on it:
“He never grew up, but he never stopped growing”
Arthur C Clarke remained forever young.
By ensuring a growth mindset our companies and ourselves can also attempt to remain forever young.
Our mobile operating system has upgraded itself 18 times in the past 18 years (Apple) or 16 times (Android)
All around us software is constantly updating itself.
How many times have we upgraded our mental operating system in the past 18 years?
Rethought our internal architecture and our API’s on how we connect and perceive and adapt?
After all keeping our bodies in shape is not the same as ensuring our minds are constantly upgrading themselves.
By upgrading our mental operating systems we can remain forever young long after our bodies stop being so.
The lyrics of Forever Young are by Bob Dylan but the best renditions of this song have tended to be by Joan Baez.
Today some of the very powerful and wealthy might benefit from finding ways to rekindle the younger person in them that their older selves may be suppressing.
To remember when idealism, youthful courage and the vivacity of the new idea enabled the possibilities of anything.
Forever Young by Bob Dylan.
May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
May you stay forever youngMay you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the light surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
May you stay forever youngMay your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
And may you stay forever young
May you stay forever young
But in many ways we do not remain forever young.
Our bodies give way, our minds lose a step, raw intelligence is replaced by crystalized intelligence and wisdom.
There comes a time to let go, to move on, to climb a second mountain, to pass the baton to a newer generation.
From the main stage to an encore career or a new life.
A different type of growing.
To find a fit where one’s current state of youth is aligned with reality.
Every career and role has a midnight hour and the smart people leave at five to twelve.
When still seen as a prince or princess and not yet a pumpkin.
There are limits to forever young.
And understanding that one can remain forever young, constantly upgrading and having a growth mindset but understanding that is not the same as youth is what the truly forever young understand.
By not overstaying in a role, a point of view, a belief as the world changes is the we we stay…
Forever Young.
Creativity in an Age of AI.
In an article for The Verge, Nilay Patel its editor in chief, noted that in an interview with Ben Thompson Mark Zuckerberg described a vision where a client comes to Meta and says “I want customers for my product,” and Meta does everything else. It generates photos and videos of those products using AI, writes copy about those products with AI, assembles that into an infinite number of ads with AI, targets those ads to all the people on its platforms with AI, measures which ads perform best and iterates on them with AI, and then has those customers buy the actual products on its platforms using its systems.
At the recently concluded Cannes International Festival of Creativity, the dominant theme according to all reports was AI. And one of the worries apparently was what AI would do to creativity in a tech infused, data driven, highly measured eco-system dominated by Meta, Google, Amazon and others.
So I thought it would make sense to turn to a gentleman who may know a little about the topic.
His name is Sir John Hegarty and for those not familiar with him here is a little bit to establish his credentials to speak to the subject:
Founder BBH: In 1982, with partners John Bartle and Nigel Bogle, he started Bartle Bogle Hegarty one of the most iconic agencies that helped build brands such as Audi, Levi’s and Johnnie Walker among others.
Awards and Recognition: Sir John has received numerous accolades throughout his career, including the D&AD President's Award, the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival Lifetime Achievement Award, and a knighthood for services to advertising in 2007.
Authored Books: He has written two influential books:
Hegarty on Advertising: Turning Intelligence into Magic
Hegarty on Creativity: There Are No Rules
The Garage Soho: In 2014, he co-founded The Garage Soho, an incubator for disruptive business ideas where he invested in dozens of young companies.
The Business of Creativity: Sir John believes creativity is key to business growth and everyone can nurture creativity. A few years ago he co-founded The Business of Creativity working with companies and leaders all over the world.
You can listen to the entire conversation here and the links at the end of the post.
Here are 4 of many many insights and perspectives Sir Hegarty shared including the single best definition of creativity I have ever heard:
1. Sir John loves and has embraced AI.
He believes AI is going to be incredible and profound. It will be a significant democratizing opportunity allowing the unleashing of new forms of creativity.
Sir John suggests we should not view AI as a tool but as collaborator that allows all of us to be creative directors. No longer is there an art director or copy writer but the fusion of the two.
The big challenge of AI are the copyright issues and ownership of IP laws.
2. Creativity is a key to Brands but he is worried that many of today’s brands will fail to endure and are being actively destroyed !
Marketers have become so data driven and so hooked to lower funnel promotion measurable outcomes that significant brand destruction is underway as we have seen with Nike among others.
Brands are not built by promotion but also by persuasion and with the exception of personal brands like influencers very few enduring brands are built online.
Online Brands such as Dollar Shave Club come and go quickly sold to bigger companies who have FOMO. Direct to Consumer brands that depend on metrics and measurement and narrow targeting are mostly eroding because tech companies keep focusing on people who buy the brand or people who look like those who bought the brand which is too narrow and due to competitive bidding for the same people are very expensive to reach.
It is very critical for a brand to be known by those who do not know about it and this is source of growth for most companies. Convincing these folks is not about utility, features and performance but telling a story of what the brand stands for, how it makes one feel, how it resonates with culture, how it fits into a person’s life.
Today brands are being milked and not fed with a focus on the short run.
What is measurable may not be all that matters.
Increasingly smart brands are not only fixating only on online media but are thinking about experience stacks including real world experiences from stores to out of home, immersive media and much more. Out of home grew 8 percent last year !
3. The Definition of Creativity and why there are two types of Creativity.
One day someone told Sir John that the greatest art of all might be music.
Sir John believed it might be the second greatest art for and the greatest of all art is human life.
Human life is an act of creativity.
Sir John defines creativity as follows: Creativity is an expression of self.
Listen to the greatest creative people and you will hear them saying:
“Here is what I wanted to say”
“This is what I wanted to show”
“What I am trying to build”
There are two types of creativity one is pure and the other is applied.
Pure creativity is a spark that leads to the iPhone, creating the Simpsons or designing the Guggenheim in Bilboa. and also drives the greatest iconic works of art, product design and brand building.
Applied creativity is creating the next version of the iPhone, a new episode of The Simpsons or designing the stairs inside the Guggenheim.
Pure creativity is the greatest wealth creator and generator of growth ever.
Creativity drives innovation and the best creativity does not come from A/B testing, mathematics or focus groups.
It feeds on curiosity, instinct, exposure to differing perspectives, feelings and things that do not compute.
This AI versioning is not creativity that builds brands and growth but a smart way to get variations of a theme cost effectively get the lower funnel sale of a Brand that was which was built due to a different form of creativity.
A human creativity of self expression and not a machine variation of optimization and data co-relation.
AI will unleash human creativity but will not replace human creativity.
4. Advice to established leaders and young people
Sir John has suggested that too many leaders fail to lead.
Lots of arrogance and hubris but basically followers, data clutchers, herd like buzz word bingo chanters.
Leadership is about having courage.
The big leaders step ahead, march to different drummers, take risks on intuition, ideas and instinct.
While Sir John did not mention that they should zig vs others zag I could not mentioning this since the symbol of BBH is the black sheep. If you have not seen what this means check out these ads that defined an era and established valuable profitable brands including Audi, Levi’s, Johnnie Walker and many more.
For young people his advice is to find and do something one loves. Do not just follow the data. Play more. Play is stepping forth with the the lack of rules.
A master class on creativity and thriving as a human in an AI age. Take a listen and you will be moved. Here are Apple and Spotify links but all on podcast platforms globally.
More on Creativity.
In the latest The Rethinking Work show an artist and musician turned architect who founded a design firm called FYOOG which is now part of IA one of the world’s largest architectural firm on how to re-imagine space to create meaning, inspire ideas and true interaction. If you want to unleash your team and firms creativity take a look and see spaces that soar and much more. You can watch on YouTube or listen on Spotify or Apple.
And a call for Creative Works!
The art work for this issue comes from Britton Bloch who is an artist, studying for her PhD and is Vice President, Global Talent Acquisition Strategy & Head of Recruiting at Navy Federal Credit Union. Britton also reads this thought letter very much like Karin Onsager-Birch another reader whose work was featured last week and Susan Swinand a few months ago. Do you have art, music, video or photography you would like me to feature in this thought letter? If so please send me a note.
Trust & Integrity
Most long term successful careers, relationships and lives are built not just on hard work, perseverance, discipline, forgiveness and resilience but also trust and integrity.
Trust enables speed and enables people to take risks on those they trust.
Integrity allows one to gain trust and live in internal and external harmony.
They may not result in fame and fortune but often result in contentment, calmness and comfort in one’s own self.
Gaining trust and living with integrity is difficult since human frailty leads to lapses and mishaps. But it is possible to put into practice habits and approaches that engender trust and allow one to live a life of integrity.
And best of all neither requires money or permission, allowing one to thrive anywhere and at all times by living authentically and with candor.
Earning Trust
To earn trust one must be a) clear about intentions, b) show the data, c) be transparent and d) self-correct.
Intentions: If one is not clear about what one is trying to achieve or what our goals are then many people begin to get suspicious. They wonder if there is a hidden agenda or there is some multi-dimensional chess game underway. If we wonder what someone is really trying to achieve it is hard to trust them
Data: In a data driven world how many people are willing to share and show the data on which they are making their decisions or drawing their conclusions? People talk about data but how often do they reveal the facts and figures which how they are coming to conclusions? Show the data versus asking belief in some hidden black box.
Transparency: In addition to clarity of intentions and the access to data it is necessary to be transparent on the process which leads to a recommendation or perspective. One needs to share not just the dish (goal) being prepared and the ingredients (data) but the process (recipe) of combining and turning the ingredients into the dish. This allows people to interrogate and also correct wrong recommendations by identifying where one’s goals, or one’s data or one’s thinking can be enhanced or improved.
Self-Correction: To be human is to err. So often one makes mistakes. A key part of keeping and gaining trust is correcting mistakes, clarifying miscommunications and adjusting one’s behaviors. Often it is how one reacts to something that goes wrong that earns trust than if things did not go wrong.
Achieving Integrity
Integrity is achieved when what one says, one believes and one does are aligned and also consistent with the realities of science and economics.
Clearly there are many times that what we say, what we believe and what we do may not be consistent.
Words, thoughts and actions may not align all the time.
It could be as simple as a white lie where not to hurt another’s feelings we hold our tongue.
Or it could be that we cannot afford to lose our job or endanger a relationship that we end up saying one thing while believing another or doing things not aligned with belief.
But over time a disparity between thought, belief and action leads to an internal corrosion, a draining of agency and is rarely the recipe for long term success.
It makes one insecure, hesitant and reduces the likelihood of success.
We end up living in other people’s minds where external aspirations are disconnected from an internal motivations. By following the wrong star home we our lose the way.
But aligning words, belief and action is not enough to live a life of integrity since life occurs in the real world where the rules of science and economics prevail in the long run.
We can say you we not believe in gravity and we can jump out of the window of a high floor. This aligns words, beliefs and actions but it also leaves us dead.
Or we can truly want to provide help to people, say so and do so but soon we or our companies will grow broke since someone has to create value and build resources before we allocate them away. Supply and demand, incentives of self interest and market economics always end up prevailing.
Words, beliefs and actions aligned with reality of science and economics is the way to achieve integrity.
Art by Karin Onsager-Birch a reader of this thought letter. More about Karin here.
The Rethinking Work Show
Work is central to the human experience and along with health and relationships is a key to happiness.
Work is in the midst of the greatest change in decades and is expected to change more between 2020 and 2029 than it has in the past five decades,
This change is driven by five intertwined forces including 1) demographic shifts of declining and aging populations as well as multiple generations with different mindsets, 2) technological changes including AI, 3) the rise of marketplaces such as Shopify, 4) new types of working where free-lance employment is overtaking full-time employment and 5) the long term implications of Covid on not just where one works but who one works for and why one works.
Four months ago my book Rethinking Work was published in the US and India and is now available in the UK and a few other countries in print and everywhere also as an Audible or Kindle download. The book is filled with blueprints and frameworks and steps every individual, leader and team can utilize anywhere in the world to thrive rather than be surprised with what is coming.
The book has resonated not just with individuals trying to prepare and be forewarned and forearmed as jobs decline but work opportunities rise but also by CEO’s who realize that as every aspect of work shifts the strategies and organizational designs of their have to reinvented in a hurry.
Universities have taken to the book to prepare students for the new work places, and HR societies including SHRM have had me discuss how this is the best and worst time for HR and Learning and Development teams. The best of times because training, organizational design and leadership rethinking will be central but the worst of times because it will require HR to reinvent itself first and fast for a world where employees will both be human and ai, where most workers will not be full time employees and in fact most of the work force will not just work from anywhere but in completely new ways.
Recently I spoke with the leadership of a major company and they asked that since it had been a year since I last edited the book what had I got wrong?
One thing.
Things are moving much faster than I anticipated.
The last five chapters of my book describe what companies will look like in 2029 and the specific changes every individual and firm should prepare for. Because of AI doubling in capability every 7 months vs 12 months when I wrote the book, as well as other shifts, I expect the new world order to happen by the end of 2027.
To better illuminate, illustrate and inspire people to re-imagine the incredible world of work I launched a YouTube show earlier this week ( also available as a podcast on Apple and Spotify) called The Rethinking Work Show where the best people in the world from CEO’s to Academics to HR leaders to Architects to Technologists to Entrepreneurs will share their best learnings from all over the world.
Ria Tobaccowala our elder daughter who is an accomplished film maker is side-gigging a project for her dad and has plans to make this far more visually and well produced but we had to get started and then begin refining.
If you watch (or listen) to the first episode where I speak with Raj Choudhury of Harvard Business School and the author of the recently released book “The World is Your Office” you will see what we are aiming at. Basically amazing people with data backed perspectives to help each of us completely rethink where work is going.
Like this Substack and my podcast What Next? the show is a gift with no cost and no advertising.
Episode 1: Work From Anywhere.
Here are some of the key points made by Dr Choudhury:
1. The future will be work from anywhere (where one chooses where one want to live ) which is even more flexible than remote and hybrid. Data shows that it is allowing companies to hire the best talent, replace fixed costs with variable costs, and align with the AI age where digital twinning and generative AI will turbocharge knowledge sharing, asynchronous work and bring work and factory to the person versus the person to the work.
2. Despite the headlines of companies insisting people return to work the real flow is in the opposite direction. Research does not prove that RTO changes a companies success metrics but it does result in a 10 percent attrition which is probably what most companies are trying to do ( reduce head count without severance). In fact there is data that the more flexible companies are growing faster and more flexibly!
3. In the episode Dr Choudhury shares case after case all over the world from Unilever in Brazil, to Power Companies in Turkey to Hospitals in New York where digital twinning is separating location from expertise as well as companies.
4. We discuss the three pushbacks that work from anywhere enthusiasts need to deal with which are knowledge sharing, communication and culture and every one of these are turned on their head. For instance research shows that unless you work within 75 feet of somebody all this serendipity of water cooler conversations will not happen. Today with generative AI knowledge sharing is no longer an issue and we will all have little Yoda’s and ET’s to talk with. Also in most cases communication that is asynchronous allows for more diverse perspectives, better ideas and deep thinking. Just take a listen and you will forever think differently.
5. Most importantly Dr Choudhury shows how firms do not have to go all in on a new way of working but shows how companies can phase in different ways of working which need to be customized for different teams. The key is a one size fits all model that many companies are trying is probably the worst of all worlds.
In less than 40 minutes you will come away different. Take a listen to Episode 1. Subscribe and every week there will be another world class person providing you ways to truly grow and transform and rethink work.
The Rethinking Work Show can also be streamed as a podcast on Apple or Spotify
Here is Apple:
Here Spotify:
All the ways and places you can get the book: https://rethinking-work.io/whats-inside-2
