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We need help. We really, really need your help. Steve Jobs walked to the podium, threw his jacket on the floor, and implored a group of designers to help shape the coming revolution. Addressing the 1983 International Design Conference in Aspen, he simply explained his vision for the personal computer era he saw coming. He then turned to the challenge: We have a shot at putting a great object there, or if we dont, were going to put one more piece of junk object there this stuff can either be great or it can be lousy. And we need help. We really, really need your help. One more piece of junk? What Jobs recognized was that major technological inflections are not just about accelerating what went before, but moments of profound redesign, and that takes more than just technical leaps. How we shape technical revolutions determines who participates, who benefits, what is gained and what is lost. Artificial intelligence, the latest technical revolution, arrives amidst a wholesale rejection of broken systems: only 36% of people believe the next generation will be better off, two thirds think society is on the wrong track, and populism is on the rise. So how this revolution is shaped is of profound importance. Will it lead to a further concentration of wealth, power and dissatisfaction, or an abundanceof science, education, energy, optimism, and opportunity? Design is how we apply intention to deliberately shape life, systems, and the future. The scary news is: we have to redesign everything. The exciting news is: we get to redesign everything. How can we redesign? Technical revolutions create windows of time when new social norms are created, where institutions and infrastructure is rethought. This window of time will influence daily life in myriad ways, from how people find dates, to whether kids write essays, to which jobs require applications, to how people move through cities and get health diagnoses. Each of these are design decisions, not natural outcomes. Who gets to make these decisions? Every company, organization and community that is considering ifand howto adopt AI. Which almost certainly includes you. Congratulations, youre now part of designing a revolution. Whether we do this design well, or poorly, is up to us. In our work at ENSO, a future design company that helps organizations design the future they aspire to, we have seen that getting big transformations right requires clarity, bravery, and the creativity to bring people along. Find clarity: Asking big questions In ordinary times, ordinary questions can suffice. Questions like, “how can we add to our market share?,” “how can we operate more efficiently?,” or “can we refine that process?” These kinds of “small minded questions” are premised on the assumption that next year will look very much like last year, so incremental improvement is a fine goal. But these questions can hold back the potential for radical progress. As the Harvard professor Clayton Christensen once said, too often, we overlook an obvious fact: finding the right answer is impossible unless we have asked the right question. In extraordinary times, extraordinary questions are more productive. In ENSOs future design process, we like to start with big questions like: “what is ultimate success?,” “what are people yearning for?,” and more recently, “how could AI reinvent this category and company?” Its often remarkable how differently leaders think about the same business: seeing current performance in a different light, disagreeing on whats hindering progress, or holding divergent visions of the future. Getting to clarity is critical to avoiding organizational malaise. Clayton Christensen described the importance of getting clear on “the job to be done” for customers: are they looking for a coffee or an experience? Do they want a diagnosis, or a compassionate conversation? Do we need to sell features, or alleviate fear? Finding clarity on what success looks like (for all stakeholders, not just customers) is the first step to any redesign. Success today may not be what we thought it was yesterday. Many business leaders and advisors have developed a strong muscle memory in getting to answers fast, based on best practices from the industrybut by definition, this is perpetuating old ideas. Eras of reinvention require more questions and more listening, to inform brave new paths. Foster bravery: exploring rather than forecasting To say there is little certainty about how the AI revolution will unfold is an understatement. Some of the best attempts at expressing what may occur, like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodeis Machines of Loving Grace, paint the broad outlines of whats possible. But even Amodei says, everything Im saying could very easily be wrong, and he proposes more concerted efforts of exploration: it is critical to have a genuinely inspiring vision of the future, and not just a plan to fight fires there has to be something were fighting for, some positive-sum outcome Fear is one kind of motivator, but its not enough: we need hope as well. Like it or not, we are so early in the AI era that the only reasonable option is to summon the bravery to explore multiple futures rather than assume one. But businesses love forecasts. They give everyone a sense of confidence and control in the future. They feel diligent. They also assume the future is very much like the past, just a bit better. They make no account for transformed user behavior, old marketing channels being upended, or most damaging of all, the opportunity cost of not considering the adjacent possible: the options available to a company at any time. While uninspired companies seek comfort in forecasts, inspired companies are relentlessly exploring beyond the established formula, particularly now AI has led to an explosion of adjacent possibles. As the economist Tim Harford has said on forecasts, the problem is not that theyre insufficiently precise, but that they allow us to short-circuit any further thought on the matter. Thinking seriously abut the future can be a worthwhile exercise, not because the future is knowable, but because the process is likely to make us wiser. At ENSO, we find that creating future scenarios is remarkably productive: freed from the pressure of creating an accurate forecast, we can explore beyond the expected. One scenario may be a more logical extension of the current reality, while others may be much more optimistic, or serve people in different ways, or assume the world changes significantly. Each scenario paints a picture of the future: what the company is saying and doing, how others receive it and respond. The scenarios can then be debated, dissected, remixed and improved upon. This process of future exploration has a lightness, joy, and curiosity about it that is so often missing from annual planning processes, which assume a singular path and become battles over budget and control. Connect emotionally: bringing people along Traditional business culture loves rational thought, but humans are emotional creatures making emotional decisions. Employees feel uncertain and are disengaging, while customers are frustrated and losing trust. Google found that psychological safety is the leading determinant of their highest performing teams, but the typical C-suite proving grounds of economics, engineering and finance do not naturally equip leaders to connect emotionally. Starbucks recently realized it had “over rotated” on technology replacing the humanity of service, which left both baristas and customers unhappy. At this moment, the excitement around AI could lead many leaders to optimize for productivity enhancing technology adoption, rather than adopting technology in service of an inspiring vision. How can you connect emotionally? Marketers know how. Artists know how. Designers know how. Too often, those voices have been heard long after critical decisions have been made: finance-driven forecasts and engineering-led products that leave only small decisions for those emotionally equipped to bring people along. Instead, those voices need to be (re)introduced to company strategy, product management and the boardroom. The intersection of technology, design, and understanding people and the world Every leader, even those steeped in logic-based disciplines can find their way to more emotionally-atuned ways of leading, but only if they are freed from executing business as usual. As Rick Rubin says, everyone is a creator, and the best work is the work you are excited about. If youre not excited yet, go back to asking bigger questions, listening and exploring; then, you can bring people into the excitement. Recently, Mark Zuckerberg raised eyebrows with $100 million signing bonuses for AI engineers. But even these look small compared to the $6.5Bn OpenAI paid to enlist Jony Ives help. Why would Sam Altman pay so much for a designer? He said at the announcement, AI is an incredible technology, but great tools require work at the intersection of technology, design, and understanding people and the world. Thats why, at the dawn of a previous revolution, Steve Jobs implored designers to help. At this moment, when we need to redesign everything, and we can redesign everything, its important that intersection is deeply baked into business principles and practice.
Category:
E-Commerce
Ive spent over two decades on stages around the world as a charity auctioneer. Even in the earliest years of my career, my job exposed me to titans of industry and people at the highest levels of business. But even as I became more experienced in my career, I always had the same thought: What am I doing here? Everyone here knows so much more than I do. Any comments or thoughts I planned to share remained exactly thatthoughtsbecause when I opened my mouth, I worried everyone would remember I wasnt supposed to be at the table in the first place. What started as a feeling that stopped me from speaking followed me in my career. That feeling stopped me from putting my hand up for a promotion, a raise, or for anything at all. It made me feel like I wasnt supposed to be sitting in the boardroomor anywhere near the building, for that matter. Talk to any woman who has been in the working world or in a leadership position in the past two decades, and she can tell you all about imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is a feeling that stops many of us, particularly women, in our tracks. It keeps many of us from getting into the room where we would have the chance to fail. As you ascend the corporate ladder, no matter how deserving you are of a new title, a raise, or a new position, you may never truly believe you deserve any of it. When you look around a room of your peers, theres a little voice inside telling you that youre lucky to be in that room. Sound familiar? Its time to surmount the syndrome. Start with this simple three-step process so you can focus on the thing that matters most: you. 1. STOP THE SPIRAL Tell me if this sounds familiar. Youre having a conversation with someone in your lifea friend, someone senior in your office, or someone whose opinion you care deeply about. They mention they are so glad that they get to see you now that your children are getting older and you can be in the office more. The comment stops you cold. Now youre spiraling, your mind filling in a narrative. Ive been out of the game for years. Everyone here thinks I dont work hard enough, that Im not here enough, that I dont do a good job. I need to show them I do care. Ill start working on the weekends, do extra work . . . On and on you go with a spiral of self-doubt and insecurity about everything that you have ever felt about your job performance. What did this person actually say? Its great to see you in the office more now that your children are getting older. Period. Your answer? Thanks! End scene. 2. CONTROL THE NARRATIVE Believe in yourself enough to believe that other people are thinking the best of you, not the worst. To really slam that imposter syndrome, rewrite your own story. Lets go back and rewrite that scene, shall we? What did that person say? Its great to see you in the office more now that your children are getting older. Heres what I want you to hear: You are such a valuable member of this team, its really great to have your positive energy in this office. You must be an incredible multitasker to be raising kids at home and crushing it at work, too. What a role model for the people around you. We are lucky to have you. End scene. Cue applause. 3. ACCEPT THERE ARE NO GOLD STARS IN LIFE Never forget there are no gold stars given out when you are an adult. No one gives you a gold star for showing up to work, just like no one gives you a gold star for making your bed when you get up in the morning. You are responsible for everything that happens in your life and your response to it. Once you stop looking for affirmation from those around you and seek it from yourself, you can realize you have had the power all along.
Category:
E-Commerce
I still wake up at 7:15 a.m. Not because I have a meeting. Or a commute. Or a list of deliverables thats longer than a CVS receipt. Im up early because something about lying in bed while my corporate counterparts clock in makes me feel like Im behind, even if theres no race Im actively running. The day kicks off with the usual: matcha, oatmeal, a spin on the Peloton, and a shower. But then? Stillness. No Slack pings. No check-ins. No one asking for a quick sync to circle back so we can get our ducks in a row. Just me, refreshing LinkedIn, wondering if today is the day a recruiter cannonballs into my DMs like Ron Burgundy. I launched this column five years ago as a mid-level marketing manager in Seattlecorporates middle child, navigating microaggressions, vague feedback, and vibes that often felt . . . off. I wrote about working through a pandemic, watching my well-meaning white colleagues bumble through a so-called racial reckoning, and climbing org chart rungs while staying woke to the wonkiness of upper management. Back then, I wrote as The Only Black Guy in the Office. Now? Im still him, but theres no office at allunless you count the one in my spare bedroom. For the first time in a long time, Im unemployed. There, I said it. I used to pray for times like this, imagining being unshackled from the chains of recurring standups, performance reviews, and a 27-tab document named Final_FINAL_V3_(1). Id see myself rewatching The Boondocks episodes on a random Tuesday afternoon, hitting up local museums during off-peak hours, day drinking with a pinky pointed toward the clouds. But since those first couple of weeks post-layoff, the fun in funemployment has hopped on a paper plane and gone MIA. Im over the midday mimosas and matinees, especially now that Im fresh out of severance dollars to spend and Severance episodes to binge. My savings and sense of purpose are each trending downward, dawg, without a namaste in sight. Theres an odd grief that hits the moment your work account passwords go inactive. Its the coldest closure, like an ex changing the locks while youre still packing your things. Except here, your belongings are stored in a shared Google Drive and a Slack archive youll never access again. I once thought I couldnt feel any more like an outsider. I was wrong. But that wasnt the only wake-up call. Things done changed for this era of job hunters. Im learning the futility of cold applying, the scams targeting desperate job seekers, the absurdity of stuffing resumes with keywords to appease the bots. Even when I make it past the algorithm bouncers and land in front of an actual human, I wonder if the HBCU degree I worked so hard for is a reveal that invites bias before Ive said a word. The hardest part of this all? Its not my obsessive clocking of banking apps and job boards, nor the dystopian friend-or-foe role of artificial intelligence in the application process. Its the identity shift with which Ive only recently come to terms. When youve spent your entire career outworking self-doubt, imposter syndrome, and perfectionism, being unemployed feels like failure, even when its not. Doesnt matter if its due to a layoff, a budget cut, or a strategic realignment. For years, my job was more than a source of income and fodder for my therapist. It was where I could be a rockstar in one conference room and a firefighter in the next. A place I could lift up others who looked like me and, when necessary, check those who didnt. If Im keeping it a bean, it was validation. Now, with no decks to compile or KPIs to hit, Ive had to sit in that stillness. Ive had to create the structure in my days that I once dreaded. Ive had to convince myself that the youre too talented to be in the market for long! sentiments shared by friends and peers are sincere. This column has always been a pressure release valvea space to process what it means to be Black and corporate and exhausted. I didnt realize how much Id need that outlet again. Maybe even more now than before. So Im brushing off the cobwebs and writing again. To make sense of this moment. To connect with folks who are navigating the same in-between. And to remind myself, and maybe you too, that being without a job doesnt mean being without value. The matchas iced, but the tea is still hot. Sip slow.
Category:
E-Commerce
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