I'm writing to think, learn, and remember in public. I'll be here everyday.
Should is fraught.
You should do this. You should think that. You should believe us. You should be this. It should be this way.
Should is somebody else’s idea for control. Should is someone or some collective trying to impose their will on you. Not your will. Theirs.
Your will — your perspective — is the most you thing you have. It’s OK for you to think “I should” or “we should.”
Raise the fed flags when you hear “you should.”
In large teams, you and the person standing next to you are likely performing the same job.
In small teams, you and the person standing next to you are likely performing different but complementary jobs.
In tiny teams, you and the person standing next to you might be doing whatever it takes, swapping roles without hesitation.
The person standing next to you defines the strength of your team.
Choose wisely and work intentionally.
The savior was born in a manger. Origins don’t define potential.
The savior was born in a manger. Vulnerability isn’t weakness.
The savior was born in a manger. Hope comes unexpectedly.
The savior was born in a manger. You gotta say “yes.”
The savior was born in a manger. Follow the light.
The savior was born in a manger.
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love and honor one another above yourselves…Share with the Lord’s people who are in need and practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
This is how we overcome. This is how get better. This is how we win.
It’s about people.
Utility is currently a culturally underrated human quality.
Form over function. Aesthetics instead of structure. What you stand for rather than what you can do.
However, life is a series of problems. One after the other. Food, water, shelter, and then up Maslow’s pyramid.
If you have a problem, who do you go to? People who can do things. Work is about being able to do things. Living requires being able to do things.
Always be able to do things.
Got a flip phone or — oh, the horror — a house phone on a landline? No problem, OpenAI has your back.
You can call 1-800-CHATGPT and talk to ChatGPT for free for 15 minutes.
I just did it. Asked it a couple of math problems (it was right) and then asked if it could help me get over my sadness (it said it could, but I didn’t know where to go from there). But it doesn’t have access to the internet, nor can it serve real-time information. Therefore, you can’t ask, “What movies are playing tonight at the AMC in Pottstown?”
Well, you can ask (as I did), but it won’t have an answer.
I use ChatGPT to help me write code, generate ideas, and edit stuff I’ve written. I can’t do that through a voice conversation. I get the accessibility, but I’m not sure of the utility at this time. 1-800-CHATGPT is more of a novelty than anything else.
However, it’s another canary in the coal mine of where we’re headed. Siri, Alexa, and Google already have us speaking to our devices, and it’s becoming more and more natural.
The horseless carriage, the Wright Flyer, and the Univac were all initially clunky sideshows. Novelties. Curiosities. Barely worked.
Normal often starts as a clunky sideshow that barely works.
You can’t travel even close to the speed of light.
At least not with conventional and practical travel methods as we know them today. First, it would take a couple of years to accelerate at a rate that your body could handle it. We don’t have a propulsion system or fuel source that could do it. Second, time dilation would change your timeline with respect to the timeline around you. We’re not really sure how that would affect a human. Third, you’d be practically blind from the visual distortion due to the Doppler effect. And finally, you’d likely explode due to an unintended collision with a tiny speck of dust.
So, if you need to travel at the speed of light, you have the following options:
Innovation isn’t always about going faster. It’s also about finding alternative ways to get where you need to be.
Universal fame could instill universal trust.
I see this person on TV. He plays my favorite character or plays for my favorite team. I know him. I like him. We (supposedly) have the same values. I (want to) believe him. He wouldn’t (knowingly) steer me wrong.
Although there was always a little “that’s not my guy” on the fringes, or maybe a newspaper quote raises an eyebrow, and certainly the Cowboys QB wouldn’t be shilling cars in Philly, good spokespeople were universal.
Just like the brands — universal.
Sure, you might be a Chrysler guy, not a Ford guy, or a Coke gal, not a Pepsi gal, but these were broad strokes and massive customer groups. You probably didn’t hate Pepsi as a company because Michael was their spokesperson (fun fact: Michael didn’t like to drink Pepsi).
The script was tried and true. Find a famous person, and they’ll help us build universal trust in our brand.
Today, large brands and universal spokespeople have a dilemma. Universal trust has been replaced by niche trust. Niche-trust follows from defining your ideal person, knowing what they care about, what they stand for, and who matters to them.
Brands include, by excluding.
The choice of spokesperson still helps to build trust but in a different way. Trust is built by taking a stand. This, not that. You, not them. A choice of spokesperson excludes as much as it includes.
Who do we want to push away so our people will trust us?
Could you imagine your dog living outside on a chain in a doghouse?
Could you imagine letting your 8-year-old go wherever she wants on her bike and just asking that she’s back by dark?
Could you imagine sending a handwritten letter making plans to meet on another continent three months from now?
Could you imagine smoking on an airplane?
Could you imagine a house phone?
Could you imagine any of those today? What changed? Not physics. Not the human body. Not our intelligence.
Our collective perspective changed.
Perspective is a powerful guiding principle. Understanding and possibly shifting your perspective can help you become a better leader, marketer, product developer, parent, spouse, and community member.
Culture shift is also perspective shift. A collective perspective shift that we buy into. What was normal and acceptable is no longer.
The world changes. Will you change with it?
No surprise, but AI is better than people at detecting early signs of breast cancer.
Let’s hope this continues for other types of cancers and illnesses. (It will).
AI is good at numbers. AI is good at pattern recognition. AI is good at very large datasets. AI is good at the what if the what can be determined objectively.
AI may know you have cancer, but it stinks at knowing how you feel. Even if you tell it. It can interpret what you say, but it has no context. No personal understanding. No family. No friends. No dreams. No story.
Let’s keep pushing and training AI to help us with the what. Unabashedly.
But let’s also keep pushing and training people to help us with how we feel.
