Creating an intentional “AI Practice,” knowing your client, and real stories of grit building business success. Whether it be in the office or on the airplane headed to our next program, we’re always talking about the issues and trends that are shaping the way we learn as well as what interests each of us on the team. Read more below.
Can our AI be a little more human, please?
In an 8-month study of employee AI use, The Harvard Business Review confirmed what many have likely noticed. At first, AI helps us feel superhuman, but initial feelings of invincibility turn to fatigue and burnout with increased workload and rising expectations, making employees feel a little, well, robotic. Organizations can help by adopting an “AI Practice:” creating intentional pauses, sequencing tasks, and grounding the work by encouraging more human interactions, or a little less AI and a few more coffee breaks.
Smashing the bottleneck
The tools may change, but the fundamentals remain the same. Our teams can be rocking and rolling with productivity, when out of nowhere a project bottlenecks; the ultimate downer for deliveries. This article highlights a major gridlock on most projects: the gulf between what we and the client thinks they asked for. No amount of boosted productivity can skirt the congestion that occurs when we fail to first sit down and understand our clients’ needs.
True Grit to True Success
Many of us are familiar with Angela Duckworth’s concept of grit: showing the value of focused, persistent effort over time. Sasan Goodarzi at Intuit said, “yes and” to grit, looking for employees with not just drive but a “chip on their shoulder” to succeed, transforming a tax-focused software company to a full-service provider—and in the process doubling the rate of growth. He’s asking questions of his teams like, “Do you know how to get on the other side of pain and suffering and create greatness?” Not exactly a Myers–Briggs type of assessment.
What’s that buzzing sound?
If like us, you’ve been enjoying the Olympic games in Italy (not at the office, of course!), you’ll certainly have noticed the increased prominence of drones zipping down the mountain after athletes. The Olympics have a history of introducing new technology, the Swiss watch brand Omega adding photofinishing cameras in 1948. Current models capture 4,000 frames a second. That’s a lot of imagery of records smashed.
Let’s play!
The Lego foundation and TED introduced a new partnership to explore the importance and impact of play. While parents everywhere can attest to the power of imaginative play, the benefits don’t stop at childhood. Keep playing, stay imaginative, and see what new ideas you find along the way.