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People become leaders by first becoming effective managers. They create cohesion and consensus among their team. They maintain an atmosphere of predictability so everybody knows what to expect and focus on executing a plan with excellence. Thats how you consistently deliver value to customers, partners, and other stakeholders. Yet when you are pursuing change, none of those things will help you. When something is new, untried, and untested, you cant expect an immediate consensus to form around it. You cant expect predictability either, but need to embrace uncertainty. Instead of focusing on execution, you need to explore and find new answers through some trial and error. Thats one of the things that makes transformation so hard for so many leaders. You need to mode shift away from whats made you successful up to this point and do things differently. That requires you not only to change actions, but to adopt new mindsetsfrom persuasion to empowerment, differentiating values to shared values, and from a heros journey to strategic conflict. 1. From persuasion to empowerment Tony Soprano, the ruthless mafia boss from the iconic TV show, was a master of coercion. Yet sensing that he could benefit by exploring alternative strategies, he often sought the advice of Dr. Jennifer Melfi, who encouraged him to take a more collaborative approach. Tony thought about it for a minute and asked, Then how do I get people to do what I want? As much as we might not like to admit it, every manager faces some version of this dilemma. We want to motivate employees, to inspire them to actualize their potential and achieve great things. But at the end of the day, we have goals we need to reach, plans to get there, and we really just want the people who work for us to do what we ask them to. Yet in a transformational initiative, you need to operate in an atmosphere of uncertainty and, almost by definition, you dont really know what the final solution will look like. You have to experiment, try things out, see what works, what doesnt, and iterate your way to designing a new model. There are no hard and fast rules. So instead of trying to get people to do what you want, identify people who want what you want and empower them to succeed. Work with them to design an initial Keystone Change and, when you find one that works, arm them with resources they can co-opt so that they can empower others, who can bring in others still. 2. From differentiating values to shared values Everybody is taught in Marketing 101 that the first rule of selling is to differentiate your product with a unique value proposition to cut through the noise. After all, if you are no different than the competition, why would customers choose you? An undifferentiated product is, by definition, a commodity and commodities dont command high margins. So it makes sense that managers preparing to launch a change initiative want to focus on what differentiates the idea, because thats what makes them passionate about it. They often use adjectives like disruptive, innovative, and revolutionary to create excitement. Yet what might seem exciting to some, might feel threatening to others. The problem is that large-scale transformation in an organization usually involves collective action, which makes getting traction very different than marketing a product like, say, a car or a bag of chips. Consumers can choose among competing products, but organizational change requires collective buy-inand resistance is inevitable. Differentiating values invite backlash. Thats why you want to create a sense of safety around the change by focusing on shared values. For example, when people come back to the office after Agile training, they often tout the Agile Manifesto and are surprised to find that they dont get much traction. A much better strategy would be to focus on things everybody already believes in, such as better products, done faster and cheaper. Focusing on shared values doesnt mean watering down your visionit means framing it in a way that resonates with what people already care about. You have to meet people where they are, not try to force your passions on them. 3. From a heros journey to a strategic conflict Leaders often see change as if it were a heros journey in which there is some alternative future state. They believe that if they are good enough, do all the right things, and if their cause is righteous, they will eventually get to that place. Much like Luke Skywalker, who had to face himself before he could face Darth Vader, their struggle is largely internal. Yet just like Star Wars, thats mostly a fantasy. The true story of change is that of strategic conflict between a future vision and the status quo. There are sources of power keeping the status quo in place, and those sources of power have an institutional basis. If you are ever going to bring about genuine transformation, thats what you need to influence. Once you understand this story, you can begin to build an effective strategy. Power is embedded in institutions, and real change requires mapping out which ones reinforce the status quo, which align with your vision, and which could go either way. Those institutional targets will determine how you develop tactics. One of the most powerful moments in our Transformation and Change Workshops is when we identify these sources of power and map them on a power matrix. Thats when the leaders we work with can begin to see a path forward and shift from seeing change as an abstract goal to a concrete, strategic processone where power dynamics can be mapped and influenced. Adopting a changemaker mindset Leaders are trained to operate with a manager mindset because consensus and predictability are essential to execute complex operations. Everyone needs to know their role to carry out their responsibilities and be able to trust that everyone else will do the same. Thats how you deliver for customers, partners, employees, and other stakeholders. When you need to change course, however, you need to discard the manager mindset and embrace a changemaker mindset, and that means that the usual best practices wont work. Change isnt predictable, but uncertain. You cant expect a consensus, so you need to identify a coalition thats willing to believe in the change vision and explore possibilities. What makes that so difficult is that adopting a changemaker mindset requires leaders to abandon what made them successful in the first place. Persuading people that you have the right vision is unlikely to succeed, so you need to identify people who are already enthusiastic about it. Instead of emphasizing how the change is different, you need to focus on values that are already widely shared. Whats perhaps most challengingand humbling for leaders to understand is that transformation is not a journey in which they get to play the hero, but a strategic conflict with the status quo in their own organization, which is supported by sources of power that have had yearsand sometimes decadesto take hold. Effective leaders need to master both the manager mindset and the changemaker mindset and learn to effectively switch off between the two. Just because you need to pursue change doesnt mean you can just ignore everyday operations. On the other hand, if you try to pursue change with a manager mindset, you are almost guaranteed to fail.
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E-Commerce
AI is gobbling up journalism for many of the same reasons humans do: to develop a concrete understanding of the world; to think critically; to differentiate between what is true and whats not; to become a better writer; and to distill history and context into something accessible. But what happens to AI when our journalistic institutions crumble? Upon what foundation of truth will it answer everyones questions? Write their emails? Do their jobs? Because while the alarm bells have been ringing for journalism for decades, the so-called end of search feels like the potential death knell. What does that mean for AI, and for us as we try to make sense of an increasingly confusing world? In our rush to integrate generative AI into every corner of our lives, weve ignored a fundamental truth: AI cannot function without a baseline of verified facts. And, at the moment, that baseline is built and maintained by so-called traditional journalism (the kind with fact checkers and editors). As AI threatens to upend search, media monetization, and news consumption behaviors, its also undercutting the very industry that feeds it the facts it depends on. A society cannot function without objective journalism, and neither can AI. Loss of accuracy Recent Apple research says that, It doesn’t take much to cause generative AI to fall into ‘complete accuracy collapse. It goes on to show that generative AI models lack strong logical reasoning, unable to function beyond their complexity threshold. I immediately thought of a recent piece from The New Yorker, in which Andrew Marantz weaves together various examples of autocracy, set against thousands of years of history, to (attempt to) make sense of what is happening in America right now. I imagined AI trying to do the same, essentially short-circuiting before being able to form the salient points that make the piece so impactful. When asked to think too hard, the AI breaks. An even more damning report from the BBC reports that AI cant accurately summarize the news. It asked ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Perplexity to sum up 100 news stories and asked expert journalists to rate each answer. As well as containing factual inaccuracies, the chatbots struggled to differentiate between opinion and fact, editorialised, and often failed to include essential context, says the report. Almost one-fifth of the summaries included false facts and quote distortions19%! Theres more, of course. This study from MIT Sloan shows that AI tools have a history of fabricating citations and reinforcing gender and racial bias, while this Fast Company article argues that AI-driven journalisms good enough standards are accepted because of the revenue these tools create. And that, of course, is the less human reason AI is gobbling up journalism: the money. None of that money is going back into funding the journalistic institutions that power this whole experiment. What happens to our society when the core pillar of a true and free press collapses under the weight of the thing that has sloppily consumed it? Our AI lords must place real value on fact-checked reportingright nowto ensure its continued existence. Josh Rosenberg is CEO and cofounder of Day One Agency.
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E-Commerce
Life360 has named Lauren Antonoff as its new CEO to succeed cofounder Chris Hulls. The move, which has been in the works since Antonoff joined the company in 2023 as chief operating officer, was announced Monday along with second-quarter earnings results for the San Francisco-based developer of popular family safety apps. The company reported today another quarter of record subscribers, now totaling approximately 88 million monthly active users, up from nearly 71 million one year ago. As the company explores further growth opportunities ahead, including expanding its reach in international markets and adding new offerings, Hulls will stay on as executive chair of the Life360 board and continue working very closely with Antonoff. We both have a vision for it becoming a much bigger company, Antonoff tells Fast Company in an exclusive interview. We see ourselves as the family super app, making everyday family life better. Opportunity for growth The company is more-than halfway toward reaching one of its long-term strategic goals of 150 million monthly active users, though its not as far along in achieving annual revenue that exceeds $1 billion. In addition to adding new subscribers, and particularly in markets outside the U.S., Life360 wants to serve those customers in new ways, such as expanding its focus on aging parents, Antonoff says. Our opportunity is really unlimited, she adds. We are still very early in our journey, and we have a ton of value to create. Founded in 2008, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Life360 offers both a free and paid service that allows users to track the locations of their family and friends in real time via a smartphone app. It acquired Tile Bluetooth trackers in 2021 and users can now keep tabs on the locations of pets and other valuables, while it has built upon an advertising program last year that includes targeted ads based on the real-world behavior of users. The company has been making good progress toward these long-term goals, Antonoff says, and stock market investors seem to agree. Since its initial public offering in June 2024, Life360 shares (Nasdaq: LIF) have nearly tripled in value. What’s for dinner? Antonoff came to Life360 after rising the ranks at GoDaddy to president of the U.S. small business segment and a nearly 20-year career at Microsoft. One commonality between her days at Microsoft and Life360, she says, is that the people who are paying for the products may have differing priorities than the users. At Microsoft, that was the IT department, at Life360, thats overwhelmingly moms. The only way for Life360 to be successful for families is if teenagers also get something out of the experience, Antonoff says. And one testament, she says, is that many children opt to return to the app after turning 18 because they also like to know where their parents are. You have to make a product everybody feels good about using, otherwise you dont get the adoption, she says. Even though shes not a big worrier, Antonoff has found more use cases for the apps than she ever would have imaginedit makes something as simple as picking someone up much easier. Knowing where your people are makes life better in 1,000 ways you didnt expect, Antonoff says. Often, Im just checking when my husband is bringing home dinner. Family focus Antonoff has been key to the companys expansionincluding adding tracking pets and things, along with the launch of its ads platform. Looking ahead to some of the goals for her first year in this new role, she says one thing users can expect is a richer app experience. Following last years integration with Uber, she says Life360 will look for additional integration opportunitiesall in an effort to better serve the needs of everyday family life. More tech companies are vying to provide location services to its users. Instagram recently debuted a location-sharing Map feature that has raised privacy concerns and prompted many users to turn it off. Meanwhile, Apple has for years offered a free location app. And yet, people still opt for Life360 because it provides the answers people want, faster, and more reliable and family-oriented. Despite more competition, users still opt for Life360s services, even as other companies explore location-based services. Theyre not investing in family the way that we are, Antonoff says.
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E-Commerce
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