How Senior Leaders can stay on top of their game without playing the AI catch-up game 24/7?

THE 4 GUIDING PRINCIPLES TO GROW WITH AI

(or ANY NEW TECHNOLOGY)

Breathe. Keep calm and read on.

Everyone shares the same worry of AI, so you are not alone.

Every time a new technology emerges, many senior executives get excited (and nervous) about…

• What is it? How can it be used to improve company performance? 

• Will our competitors use it faster than we?

• If we don’t use it, will we be losing out? 

• Will it affect the business and even my leadership role?

The moment we fear we may lag behind, we strive to consume more:

• More courses

• More newsletters

• More e-books

I know. because I did it too.

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When I was a marketing leader, I tried catching up with the latest digital marketing technology because of the fear of becoming obsolete. 

I signed up for most major social media, subscribed to countless digital marketing newsletters, and watched loads of educational videos. 

And I STILL always felt behind.

The problem isn't that we're not learning enough. Nobody can keep up with every AI update every single moment anyway.

Trying to do that is unhelpful. It only exhausts you. 

The problem is you need a better learning strategy to evolve with new technology.

When online shopping was introduced on the internet, I was skeptical about it. 

I thought, who would want to buy without seeing the physical item?

When it became popular, I knew I had to face the fear of unknown to get to know it.

I searched for a more cautious method and decided to try it with a more established company at that time, instead of passing my payment details to any random shopping sites. 

By mitigating the risk, I gained my first experience through HANDS-ON APPLICATION and it helped me understand how online shopping and payment gateways work, and it helped my job later.

What we have to be reminded is that technology is evolving every minute. What we learnt today might be replaced by tomorrow. So there is no point to learn it all.

What you need is a more sustainable way is to keep learning by integrating both learning and application in your work and life.

The 4 Guiding Principles

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I don’t have all the answers but I pull my experiences to come up with some ideas hoping to help you grow with AI more intentionally.

AsAI evolves, everything, including you and me, and these principles may need to evolve too.

But for now, let's go through them one by one:

Principle 1. Being Intentional

For anything new, there is always an option between not trying and trying everything.

The key is how you try it to optimize the benefits and minimize the risks.

For AI, it’s more powerful to use it to upgrade your strategic thinking. 

You can share one difficult challenge you face this week and ask AI to ask you questions to think through the scenarios so that you can make better decisions. 

This way, you do not need to give all the details, and you have full control over what you feel comfortable sharing.

You will also be able to use AI to expand your thinking instead of replacing your work. That's a more powerful way to learn how to work with AI.

Principle 2. Learn As You Go

If your company is already using or exploring the integration of an AI tool, it will be best to use the same AI tool. So, you can learn the most relevant applications for yourself and your teams. 

This simplifies your learning process because you will learn it on the job. It also reduces the distraction from using other tools (unless your job requires you to do so).

Additionally, it will benefit your learning now and your future when you implement the same AI tool within your company.

Otherwise, pick one that you find most people around you are using, so you can exchange experiences every now and then.

Principle 3. Apply Broadly and Deliberately

You can use AI to support you in resolving different challenges. You can also adopt the 80:20 rule to gain a wider range of experience and a deeper understanding.

The 80:20 rule is not a fixed proportion but rather about the intention of trying AI on different topics. Say, after trying 4 times on complex problems e.g. team restructuring, you can try asking 1 time on a tedious problem e.g. how to organize your files effectively. 

Allocating a deliberate time to do this will help. It only takes you 5 minutes or less, and you may get some new perspectives.

Even if the AI answers are not satisfactory, you will learn the limitations, and you can use them for decision-making for your company's AI projects. EITHER WAY, YOU WIN.

4. Connect Tools to Human Needs

Why do we need AI? Most people think about productivity or cost reduction.

That's a limiting perspective because businesses could only survive if they could solve someone’s problem. And cost-saving for a company is NOT a human problem, it's a CEO's problem.

So the better you learn how a new technology works, the deeper you understand its strengths and limitations in solving a human problem.

You will be able to identify the opportunities and gaps, and communicate them effectively to create a more human-centric solution. AND THAT WILL BE YOUR EDGE.

Time to Breathe Again. We Are All Learning in Progress.

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By learning and experimenting continuously, you will stay on top of your game naturally.

Let's take one prompt at a time, slowly, with intention.

If this article reminds you of a recent challenge, why don't you get AI to ask you questions to think through it? 

Be open. All good.

Remember, either way, you win.

Thanks for reading.

Hope this article inspires you. If it does, do share with others because

~ WE RISE BY LIFTING OTHERS ~