Using AI for business: 6 things leaders need to know
I recently attended a two-day workshop on artificial intelligence at Ivey Business School, my alma mater. We learned a lot about the power and pitfalls of AI, and about when and how it can be useful for business leaders.
Toward the end of the workshop the professor laid out a useful road map for how companies can begin to use AI. Here are the six steps:
Learn about cutting-edge technology. You can’t utilize what you don’t know. For some people, this step is easy. They live and breathe the latest tech and have the expertise to understand how it works and what it can do. But for many leaders, it’s tough. The technical language can be unfamiliar and intimidating. Those leaders will need to push themselves to find opportunities to learn about new tech in an environment designed to meet them where they are and bring them into this new world.
Develop a flexible culture open to new ways. It’s one thing to learn about new developments. It’s another to be open to their possibilities and ready to try them out. Many leaders are already weary of trying to keep up with the latest and greatest digital advances. And AI is especially daunting. While it builds on previous technological advances, it is a radically different set of tools. Leaders must adopt and model a curious, experimental attitude to figure out what AI means for their business.
Build a high-quality data infrastructure. AI is useless until it has access to relevant, high-quality data. As we used to say in the olden days when computers were new, “garbage in, garbage out.”
Embrace and learn from failure. When you’re using new technology, it often doesn’t work right the first time. Sometimes that’s because the technology isn’t fully functional yet. I remember the first time I tried to use an ATM when it was a new technology. I drove 20 minutes to get to the nearest machine and when I inserted my card, it didn’t work. I figured that technology was useless, and boy, was I wrong. At other times, the problem is you, the user. A techie colleague once told me that when he was diagnosing a computer issue, he often found that the problem was a “pebkac.” The term stands for “problem exists between keyboard and chair.” In either case, the failure may be very frustrating, but it’s usually not a reason to give up.
Time box. This is a time management technique introduced by James Martin in his book, Rapid Application Development. You allocate a fixed time period to a planned task, stop working when the time is up, and assess whether you've reached your planned goals. I’m very intrigued by this technique because it reminds me of “sprint and recover,” an energy management technique I wrote about in my book, Curating Your Life.
Develop the skills and knowledge of junior members of the team. There are lots of great reasons to do this. Chances are the younger members of your team, the “digital natives,” already have more facility with new technology, so they’ll be faster at learning and mastering the new stuff. Helping them develop these new skills will protect them from becoming redundant and losing their jobs. And it’s just generally a good idea to invest in developing the next generation of leaders for your organization.
Reviewing these steps made me realize how AI is both radically different and also much the same as previous technological advances. Both the risks and the opportunities are huge. We’re in for a great ride.
To talk more about leadership and employee development, reach out to me at ggolden@gailgoldenconsulting.com.
