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Hello Friend!
When our kids were young, we made some of our favorite family memories at Disney.
We always bought the “park roamer” pass, which let us move freely between Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios. And because we’re crazy rollercoaster fans, we could make it a day of thrill rides if that’s what we wanted.
Our favorite was the Aerosmith Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster.
If you haven’t been on it, here’s its claim to fame: you get launched from 0 to 57 miles per hour in 2.8 seconds!
Like most roller coasters, it has a weaving line that felt like at least three miles long. But unlike most roller coasters, the line is mostly outside the building, so you have no idea what’s in store.
Once inside, you’re about 10 minutes away from the thrill of your life. You stand behind a chain-link fence and watch as roller coaster cars shaped like a rock-and-roll limousine launch into a dark tunnel.
Here’s what I’ll tell you about that ride: even though you can see other people launch into that dark tunnel before you jump into your limo, it absolutely takes your breath away. Even though you talk about the ride for hours in line, sometimes with strangers who have the same fear and excitement, it takes your breath away. And even when you’ve been on the ride before and know exactly what to expect at launch, it takes your breath away.
As I’ve watched what’s happening with AI in our organizations, I can’t help but compare it to that Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster.
People are getting launched from 0 to 57 miles per hour and having their breath absolutely taken away. Except, unlike the rollercoaster, it’s not invited.
Why do I say that? I’ve been watching two data points. First, in a preliminary study by MIT Labs, they found that 95% of enterprise AI initiatives have produced ZERO return. Second, Gallup reported in May that 27% of Americans trust businesses to use AI responsibly.
Even in a great work culture, most of us are walking in the door with a substantial amount of distrust. And even if we get over that, our efforts may yield no tangible return.
More and more, Boards and CEOs are putting the burden of adopting AI squarely on their employees. They’re setting arbitrary and ambiguous goals that sound like, “Figure out how to use AI to drive efficiency.”
They’re launching employees into a dark tunnel at extreme speed and expecting magical clarity to appear. Meanwhile, their people feel like there’s no safety harness, no guarantee that they won’t derail, and not sure if they’re one AI prompt away from being ejected.
Indiscriminately accelerating toward the unknown hardly feels like the making of amazing outcomes.
11 years into my People Before Things movement, it's never been more urgent to engage in a conversation about common sense and what science tells us people need to succeed.
There is a key point I want to share with you:
Choosing what’s human-enabled versus AI-enabled is a critical question we need to answer for ourselves and our organizations.
This needs to be intentional. Leaders, it’s your job to provide direction and strategy, and you can’t simply delegate it to your people to figure it out.
And for contributor-level folks, you can’t outsource what uniquely differentiates you to a machine… lest you end up creating average work. (As an example, I do not and will not write these newsletters with AI.)
This topic warrants more than a single edition of The Weekly Unignorable. So I want to invite you to a conversation about AI that I’m hosting on Tuesday, November 10 at 12 pm Eastern Time.
I’m going to answer two key questions:
1) Where should we be using AI (and not)?
2) What does a team need to succeed with AI?
This is a people-centered conversation, but I will also share a tool I’d use right now if I were back in my corporate leadership role to make sure my AI decisions were good ones.
If you’re really uneasy about AI and where things are right now, I’m with you… And this Zoom session is a safe place for us to create clarity.
You can reserve your free seat here. Also, feel free to invite your colleagues or boss to register.
See you on the 10th!
Your coach,
Chris
