“To be, or not to be, that is the question!”
Continues the Serie: "AI, Friend or Foe?"
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This image was created with assistance of ChatGPT.
I had a production company, what feels like ages ago. I had clients who wanted to make impactful videos that would create a wave and help expand their brand’s positioning. Invariably, when I asked about core values and what their brand stood for, I got this mumbo jumbo ideal that meant nothing—but it was what they thought they needed to market their brand. Some of these clients were world-renowned brands. I also worked for years as a sales agent in Barcelona, and led teams while doing it.
Organizations are no more—or better—than the people who work in them… and I don’t mean their management.
However, if Price’s Law states that 50% of the work in a given organization is done by the square root of the total number of employees, then it becomes evident that only a small fraction of individuals is driving the bulk of the output. Now, if brands are not clear about why they are doing what they do, this lack of direction will only amplify the disconnect between purpose and execution. In such cases, even the most talented individuals may become disengaged or misaligned, and the organization as a whole will suffer. You can have the best products, the best engineers, and all the money to develop and implement strategy, but if your aim is to be the first in an ongoing game that never ends, you are pursuing a rainbow—and eventually, the organization will flop.
A study by McKinsey found that the average life span of companies listed in Standard & Poor's 500 was 61 years in 1958. Today, it is less than 18 years. McKinsey believes that, by 2027, 75% of the companies currently listed on the S&P 500 will have disappeared.
Simon Sinek’s Infinite Game
AI is not going to make a difference
It may just accelerate the fall. What will make a strategic difference is whether an organization’s human resources raise their overall capacity for resilient implementation. Let me explain.
In order for an acorn to become a full-grown oak, it needs good soil, sun, and water. We, human beings, need a lot more than nurture and sustenance to become fully mature individuals. We need our choices and decisions to have an aim and good orientation; when this is combined with determination, the individual reaches maturity.
What determines who a person becomes is a very small number of character traits. To become a full developed human being, I call these "resilient skills": self-awareness, mental agility or flexibility, confidence, support-seeking, a sense of purpose, emotional regulation, optimism, and, above all, an attitude of perseverance and grit towards life and work. No one possesses all of these fully, but developing habits to embed them into your character is what will enable a person to thrive in whatever they do. That kind of human resource is the one who can make a difference in an organization that attempts to implement AI in its processes and strategies.
The Human Factor will be the winning feature
Last note: only Western societies have the wherewithal to do this with their social structure. But having the means is not the same as having the will. If the new AI-driven paradigm is to succeed, it must be grounded in a deliberate effort to develop resilient, purpose-driven individuals—not only in leadership roles but across all levels of the organization. Organizations must focus on instilling key "resilient skills" mentioned before, only then people will thrive in constant transformation and organizations be transformed.
AI to Organizations: “Brace for impact!”
There is something called the Pareto Principle—a well-known organizational law that recognizes that 80% of productivity is created by 20% of the effort; and it also implies the reverse. When we factor AI into the organizational equation and apply both Price’s Law and the Pareto Principle, the outcome is abysmal: there is virtually no chance for large organizations to incorporate the AI power-tool without changing drastically, and with dramatic consequences… and I don’t mean just large layoffs or massive new hiring. They must change the organizational paradigm—and that, for large organizations, is a daunting task.
In the end, it will not be technology that defines success, but the character of those who wield it.
This is the newest of a series of articles (Index: “AI, friend or foe?”) that reviews AI; investigating what it is, how it is going to change our lives and how we can prepare ourselves to live in a world where everything seems to be moving at a warp speed.