Mike Russell

Will ChatGPT or other AI technology rip your company and your life apart? Again? And how?

By now you’ve probably aware that ChatGPT has become the fastest adopted product in history. After introduction last November 30, it reportedly achieved 1 million uses in just 4 days. 100 million in 8 weeks. An unknown number now, amid continuing swelling of interest.

The new version of ChatGPT is also considered “human” by current AI detectors around 95% of the time, compared to the prior version’s 5% average.

ChatGPT and related technologies are already taking a wrecking ball to Internet marketing, including content generation.

But it won’t stop there … there are epic implications for knowledge and communication in any business, not just marketing businesses or marketing departments.

Whether we like it or not, the current wave of AI embodied by Chat-GPT will be far more disruptive than most people think.

This wave is on top of changes still rippling from the “other” pandemic like the “great resignation,” “quiet quitting,” and sweeping alterations in workers’ expectations. Call it what you want … tsunami, earthquake, wrecking ball … organizations are in upheaval.

It will be both a matter of survival (for many) and fortune (for some) to determine what this tipping point means specifically to their business and their lives.

One thing is certain.

The last 3+ years have accelerated the changes needed for effective leadership and management. ChatGPT, its offspring, and cousins have accelerated them again.

This is why we have invested during the past 2 months to alter our existing programs to better equip leaders to deal with these changes.

One result is the “AI-Enabled Leader” program, in soft release in early March and open April 3.

The program includes the proven Applied MBA Peer foundation, where participants apply in their workplace what they are learning during the program, addressing the Achilles heel of ineffective traditional training.

It also incorporates the unique Compounded Performance Projects Method that can produce a positive ROI … the program both pays for itself and produces continuing, real returns.

With unprecedented change, comes unprecedented challenges.

Leaders need relevant skills to effectively manage the challenges – and they need to start learning and applying those skills *now* … not next year or the year after,

❗ Not changing now is the risky move, not the change itself.

👉 We’re here to help. If you want to explore further, you can set a time to talk (link here) or, if you prefer, contact me via LinkedIn message or email (link here)

📩 If you’d like information like this via email instead of the hit or miss of LinkedIn feeds, send me your email and I’ll add you to the list.

Accountability for failure is a key leadership hallmark … and sadly missing all too often. Greg Larkin noted some recent gaps in a LinkedIn post about how “failing fast” created … failure (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-screwed-up-its-my-fault-greg-larkin/). We have also seen many examples of “celebrity” executives that preside over the sinking of the company ship then go right to another key role.

The danger is usually in the extremes … “fail fast” including failing in the mission/ultimate goal, and “failure is not an option” including any “failure” along the way (e.g., https://novusleadershipinstitute.com/2017/06/10/failure-not-option-produces-failure/).

Thinking those are the two options creates a false dichotomy.

“Fail fast” can work and be valuable when it’s learning for course correction along the way to the end goal, or to decide that the end goal is unrealistic and take another path. It won’t work amid either a risk averse culture or a mindset of infallibility and irresponsibility in final outcomes.

Creating an understanding of what “fail fast” should look like and balancing accountability with different levels/types of “failure” is hard leadership work. And it is continuing work, not just a “one speech and done.”

• It starts with defining “failure” … what does it really mean in your business?
• What are the implications of “failure”?
• Have you unintentionally created a culture of either failure without accountability OR where no failure is tolerated?

If you are trying to scale a business, especially a startup or small business, what type of person do you need?

Some general observations from seeing scaling struggles:

How about entrepreneurs?

That might seem the most obvious target. Easier for founders to hire since hiring people like the founders. And it is a startup or growing small business, right? The right environment for more entrepreneurs?

Actually no. True entrepreneurs ultimately want to run their own business. Will constantly think about and promote ideas for new business lines (or even businesses) before main business gets solid. May not stay in lane enough to get progress. Can dilute focus of other team members. Not usually natural collaborators. Attracted to risk.

How about employees?

Aren’t we hiring more “employees”? Yes and no. Yes from a classification perspective and lots available. No from a mentality perspective. Ultimately want to mind their own business. Be told what to do and when … stay in their lanes. Think about life other than the business. Interested in stability and low/no risk environment.

Those may be a bit stark and there are exceptions, but hiring has to deal with reality.

The alternative?

What you often need are intrapreneurs. Natural collaborators. Proactive change agents, especially in improving their own work. Interesting in seeing the business succeed as a win-win. Know lanes but willing to get out to help when/where needed.

Most people are not intrapreneurs. It’s not really taught in schools or degree programs. People who have “corporate” experience usually have the employee mindset.

What to do –

You can grow your own intrapreneurs … it takes some initial investment but there will be real ROI that can pay for that investment and then some (I can show you how).

In the meantime:

• Look at your hiring ads and job descriptions. Do they attract entrepreneurs? Employees? Intrapreneurs?
• Look at your existing team. Do they have the mindset you need to scale?
• Look at your vision for scaling. What do you really need people to do to make the business succeed and scale?
• Look at your culture. What is it telling people in the business about how to think and behave?
• Look at your leadership. What mindset are you encouraging?

Do you think of training as expense or revenue?

What would it be like if the CFO asked if more training could be done if funds were provided … rather than constantly challenging if training is “necessary”?

How would that feel?

Training as a revenue item is radical and quite unusual …

In most organizations, training is treated as an expense. And a low-priority one at that, often first to be cut from budgets.

A key reason is that there are no real measures of training impact … no way to make good business decisions based on ROI since there is no apparent ROI, or at least that can be measured.

There is a better way! Training can be structured to focus on both sustainable change and ROI. Some of the benefits:

• Training can pay for itself via ROI.
• Training can pay continuing dividends after the training, compounding ROI.
• Hollow (and disregarded) phrases like “we invest in our people” or “people are our primary assets” become real. Investing in people via training can actually be treated as an investment.
• Training participants are more motivated to learn as they can clearly see how their learning connects to improved performance and ROI.
• Development plans become meaningful and implemented like any other plans.

If you’ve done this – great!

If you want to find out how to transform your training into a revenue item and engine of change, contact me …