In 2012, I founded Nyopoly.com to revolutionize retail pricing with a "Customer Engaged Pricing" model, addressing a $2 trillion inefficiency. Drawing on my background in retail and technology, we aimed to maximize profits through tailored customer negotiations. Lessons learned include the importance of user psychology, data challenges, and clarifying product identity amidst complex business strategies.
Here is a brief excerpt suitable for placing early in the piece, perhaps following the opening vignette:
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In an era once defined by our mastery over tools, the line between operator and operated is beginning to blur. Artificial intelligence, once passive and programmable, is taking initiative—setting agendas, directing workflows, even determining which human actions are valuable. As AI gains agency, the human role risks inversion. We are no longer just the users of systems, but increasingly the used—our behaviors captured, our data extracted, our choices shaped to serve machine-driven objectives. The question is no longer whether AI can think, but whether we can still choose freely in a world increasingly run by those who never sleep, never forget, and never ask why.
Today’s Tuesday Reading is by Shawn Harris, MOR Associates Executive Coach. Shawn may be reached at sharris@morassociates.com or via LinkedIn.
In most MOR programs, in the first workshop, on the first day, we support participants’ self-awareness in how they spend their precious resource of time. We do this through a framework that inventories everything we do into three categories: Leading, Managing, and Doing. As artificial intelligence comes at us all at full speed, we wonder how AI might impact the evolving leader and our Leading, Managing, and Doing.
AI’s Impact on the Repeatable Tasks of Managing and Doing
Warren Bennis described the difference between managing and leading as “a manager does things right, and leaders do the right thing.” AI’s capability in automating routine tasks not only transforms the ‘Doing’ in our framework but also elevates ‘Managing’ from more repetitive duties, allowing leaders more space for ‘Leading’ and the strategic realm—envisioning the future and setting directions. The good news is that we can now widen our resources to delegate to. By delegating repetitive and data-intensive tasks to AI, we unlock the capacity for higher-level work, creativity, and strategic thinking.
As this evolution unfolds, organizational structures are likely to become flatter. With fewer layers of management, there will be more of a need for employees to lead from where they are. Leaders can make decisions quicker in response to market changes. Organizations will favor agile, cross-functional teams with the flexibility to adapt continuously. Nimble collaboration between humans and AI systems will become a competitive advantage. Communication and emotional intelligence will gain importance as coordinating large teams without hierarchy becomes critical. Leaders will need skills to create alignment and inspire people in this environment.
Increased People Priorities
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), AI capable of generating new content, will change hiring priorities. Demand will grow for talent skilled at building AI systems and integrating them into business processes. Pew Research found that jobs highly exposed to AI tend to require more analytical skills like critical thinking, mathematics, and complex problem-solving.
In this era, the essence of ‘Managing’ extends beyond traditional boundaries, as leaders prioritize change management, guiding and preparing their teams for a future interwoven with AI, incorporating the ‘Doing’ through continuous learning and the ‘Leading’ through visionary workforce development. They must communicate a compelling vision for human-AI collaboration that alleviates fears of job loss. With technology transforming work, leaders should champion continuous learning and development. Those who prepare their people will build durable talent pipelines.
The future of work is intrinsically linked to our ability to prepare our workforce for the new realities of an AI-driven world. This entails technical training and fostering a culture of adaptability, lifelong learning, and ethical reasoning. Leaders must champion initiatives that equip employees with the skills to thrive alongside AI, ensuring our organizations remain competitive and innovative.
Moreover, as we navigate the ethical terrain of AI integration, we must be vigilant in addressing issues such as data privacy, algorithmic bias, and the societal impact of automation. Ethical leadership in the age of AI demands a commitment to transparency, accountability, and fairness, ensuring that our AI initiatives are aligned with the greater good.
Strategic Thinking in the AI and GenAI Era
GenAI has the potential to automate specific analytical and data-processing tasks typically done by knowledge workers. According to Pew Research, 19% of American workers in 2022 were in jobs with activities highly susceptible to automation by AI. By delegating the ‘Doing’—the analytical legwork—to AI, leaders can invest more in ‘Managing’ through insightful interpretation and ‘Leading’ by crafting visionary, long-term strategies that navigate the AI-infused landscape.
With AI handling rote analytical work, leaders will need stronger abilities in systems thinking, seeing connections, and envisioning future scenarios. Strategic planning will become even more important as technological change accelerates. Leaders must regularly re-evaluate how new AI capabilities can be integrated into operations and strategy.
Concluding our exploration, it’s clear that AI doesn’t just change the way we lead, manage, and do; it amplifies our capacity to excel in these roles. The imperative for leaders now is to embrace AI, blending its capabilities with our human strengths. As leaders, we are called upon not just to adapt to this evolving terrain but to actively shape it. Our challenge, and indeed our opportunity, lies in redefining what it means to lead, manage, and do in an environment where AI not only supports but also enhances our human efforts. The call to action for you is to embrace this shift proactively: assess and realign how you lead with an eye towards innovation, manage with strategic intent, and execute with a blend of human creativity and AI efficiency. In doing so, we not only navigate the present but also lay the groundwork for a future where AI catalyzes growth, innovation, and enhanced human collaboration. As we stand on the brink of this new era, let us commit to leading the charge, harnessing the full potential of AI to elevate our organizations and, ultimately, society at large. Originally posted on 2/27/2024 to MOR Associates’ Tuesday Readings: https://morassociates.com/insight/wordpressmorassociates-com/leading-managing-doing-and-ai/
tl;dr – Large Language Models (LLMs) like GPT-4 are transforming our sociocultural interactions, pushing technological boundaries in AI, creating economic shifts through automation and new job roles, raising environmental concerns due to energy-intensive training, influencing political landscapes potentially through propaganda generation, and posing new legal questions about content responsibility and copyright. As we leverage these powerful models, it’s crucial to navigate these challenges responsibly, ethically, and sustainably, ensuring a future that aligns with our shared values.read more
I believe in on boarding ways of thinking via models to help drive faster, hopefully consistent practical decisions…to quickly say, ah it’s just another one of those. Most models on their own will lead you astray. However, applying multi-model thinking has statically improved outcomes. Here’s another model to add, from Shane Parrish’s The Great Mental Models Volume 2.read more
Force Field Analysis essentially recognizes that in any situation where change is desired, successful management of that change requires applied *inversion. Here is a brief explanation of this process:
1) Identify the problem 2) Define your objective 3) Identify the forces that support change towards your objective 4) Identify the forces that impede change towards the objective 5) Strategize a solution! This may involve both augmenting or adding to the forces in step 3, and reducing or eliminating the forces in step 4.read more
12 Places To Intervene In A System, To Drive Systemic ChamgeAfter reading quite a few books on systemic racism. I was compelled to find a book on discipline of Systems Thinking. I found "Thinking in Systems" by Donella Meadows to be a highly read and rated choice on the topic. Given the complex nature of systemic racism and racist actions, how do you tackle it. I believe systems thinking can provide a framework for doing just that. Given that we can’t just change a system directly, in "Thinking in Systems," Donella Meadows outlined a list of interventions you can lever to influence the system. She sorts the leverage points in increasing order of effectiveness, from the easiest to lever/least long term impact on the system; to the hardest to lever/most effective to long term impact on the system. The easiest and least effective is effecting Numbers (e.g. effecting #'s and %'s); the hardest and most effective is Transcending Paradigms (which is almost spiritual), but 2nd to the hardest/most impactful is Paradigms (i.e. changing the societal culture around how we consider each other). I think racism needs to be attacked from the top and bottom, that is starting with Numbers AND Paradigms; converging where they do.
I enjoyed doing this segment with Jeff Lahens, my former business partner, and Jarvis Green, good friend and 2X Super Bowl champion with The New England Patriots… now owner of Oceans 97.
This."No muscles without strength, friendship without trust, opinion without consequence, change without aesthetics, age without values, life without effort, water without thirst, food without nourishment, love without sacrifice, power without fairness, facts without rigor, statistics without logic, mathematics without proof, teaching without experience, politeness without warmth, values without embodiment, degrees without erudition, militarism without fortitude, progress without civilization, friendship without investment, virtue without risk, probability without ergodicity, wealth without exposure, complication without depth, fluency without content, decision without asymmetry, science without skepticism, religion without tolerance, and, most of all: nothing without skin in the game." ~ Nassim Nicholas Taleb
There is a great decoupling happening in retail, a structural change. Similar to the decoupling that the computing industry went through, going from being vertically integrated to horizontal specialist. What does this mean for retailers? Retailers need to be clear on what their unique selling proposition is, that is why do customers choose them vs their competitor, or substitute; then double down on those things. Is it your wide assortment, price, convenience, customer service, maybe safety now, or some thing less rational. Everything else should be considered for outsourcing to horizontal specialist, those who are optimized to delivery a particular service, or product.
Within any company, typically the most valuable resources are centered around the making and the selling organizations. There is no difference in retail; instead it’s the merchandising and store operations organizations, and I would add human resources to being core. Most other functions should be evaluated for their need to be an in-house capability.
"I think that the key reason people follow retailers and brands on social media is for reasons of lifestyle projection. Either the consumer is living, or wants to live, the brands ideals. For grocers, this would be things like healthy living and sustainability. With the brand ideals as the backdrop, consumers will become sticky if the social feed is educational, informative, entertaining, will save them time and/or money or is otherwise a utility — very much similarly to why consumers want and keep a mobile app installed." ~ Shawn Harris
Retailers are feeling significant pressure as digital takes a greater and greater hold of the industry. Many say that digitization actually brings demonetization. This will result in a massive shift in the share pie for retailers. What once was a great traditional retail business, will become a much smaller primarily online business. I thought I'd take a stab at visualizing that. Thoughts?
"When people talk about Zappos, it’s not just about the great pair of shoes they scored, but the awesome customer service they received. It truly has become a tangible asset that is synonymous with the Zappos brand. In extending the brand to hotels and beyond, the customer satisfaction bar will be set high. Execution will be key to protecting the brand’s equity. Also I could see some Amazon (the parent company) products and services being a part of this." ~Shawn Harris
I believe that 97.5 percent of today's traditional retailers will NOT survive the earthshaking transformation that is currently occurring in their industry. Changes in the customer shopping behavior and preferences, rise of on-line shopping, local and state government push to increase minimum wage, and uncertainty in the global economy have placed quite a few obstacles in front of retailers.
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