Welcome to September!
If you’re fighting off residual brain fog, you’re not alone.
Clients and networking groups confirmed last week that “fogginess” was the prevailing mood.
You might blame it on that slow transition from summer mode to “back to school” mode. That’s partially true. It takes time to shift gears.
In that race to the fiscal year finish, you might be under pressure to build an AI strategy for the coming year.
Everybody else has an efficiency plan and AI strategy, right? Yet there you are, sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the green flag from IT or your cautious board.
Here’s what’s really happening: AI frenzy is fostering awful intelligence and fuzzy math. And less than ten percent of our clients and followers are actively using AI at work.
In the broader business community, AI is delivering disappointing AI revenues. Section CEO Greg Shove recently cited this Sequoia research:
“AI will need to bring in $600 billion in revenue to outpace the cost of the tech. As of their most recent earnings announcements, Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft are estimated to generate a combined $40 billion in revenue from AI. That leaves a big gap.”
Personally, I shudder whenever an AI expert tells me “You are falling behind! Start building use cases and select your AI platform before you’re left in the dust!” LinkedIn feeds swarm with these FOMO messages.
My mindfulness teachers remind me that the fastest path to suffering is constantly comparing myself to others.
Here’s my contrarian view. The FOMO mindset is no way to live—and it stifles innovative thinking. And given the number of time-wasting conferences, charlatans and courses in the marketplace, few leaders have ample time and patience to select the best options.
Instead of wallowing in AI frenzy and FOMO, try this fall antidote: Commit the next 30 days to building your AI baseline knowledge. Then ensure your key leaders do the same.
As a team, you’re learning a new language; a new way of working. You need time to build a baseline understanding of AI’s potential and pitfalls. I’m providing a list of pre-vetted resources to help you get started.
I think you’ll benefit from this list (below). Here’s why.
I spent the past two years tracking these firms, and completed over 120 hours of webinars, work groups, podcasts and courses.
I did it for selfish reasons. I wanted to live a better life by focusing more time on doing what I love. My AI toolkit immediately streamlined myriad planning, administrative and mundane tasks. It reduced my moments of “stuck-ness” and fueled creative thinking.
These courses helped me:
- Define generative AI terminology, such as LLMs, prompt engineering, context, frontier models, and more.
- Refined my critical thinking capacity.
- Clarified the frontier model landscape—the players, winners, and losers.
- Explained the limitations of AI to ensure cross-functional alignment and collaboration.
- Separated hope from hype.
You might just realize these benefits, too.
Here are my five recommendations:
- Section AI Academy – I received a Section certification. CEO Greg Shove excels at teaching and tying AI to strategy. To begin, try the “AI for Personal Productivity” course here.
- Coursera AI course library – You’ll find dozens of courses by product, depth, industry, and more. Start with the free 8 hour “Intro” course here. I also recommend any taught by CEO Jeff Maggioncalda. He connects the dots for senior leaders.
- LinkedIn Learning:
- “Building an AI-First Mindset” course. Allie Miller focuses on tools, workflow productivity gains and improving output.
- “Transforming Businesses with AI Agents” course. Our longtime disruption icon and good friend, Charlene Li, just launched. Watch course here.
- Host your own small AI work group. I did, and it has improved my quality of life! Contact me if you want more tips on launching and cultivating your own group.
My final thoughts …
- I do not agree with every “pro tip” in these courses. For example, I turn off my Otter.ai for certain virtual meetings. Take what works for you and leave the rest behind.
- Skip most LLM vendor-run courses. They will naturally want you to invest in their platforms. (sorry, Google!)
- I have no financial ties to these companies. My goal is to eradicate the hype machine and help you be a more conscious and calmer leader.
These courses will help you replace FOMO and fuzzy math with forethought and flow. Let me know how you progress!
Generative AI was never used for this post. I, the human, wrote it myself.