Insert a click-bait title here about AI so you will open this email
And no, I don't think the world will end by 2027
If I had a euro for every time I see content headlined by how everybody and their mother’s cousin’s neighbors will lose their jobs, their lives, their hopes and dreams because AI, I would have been retired by now in a villa somewhere being catered to by my private chef while I lounge around in my silk robes.
In a party a few weeks ago, one of the girls I was talking to wondered out loud, “When will this AI bubble burst?”
“It won’t,” was my honest response.
The way I see it, AI is this generation’s “internet” except it’s also been around for ages (Machine Learning, anyone?). And now it’s sexy, actually accessible to everybody and their mother’s cousins’s neighbors and not just your Data Engineers + Data Scientist best friends.
I don’t have anything against AI per se. I truly think it’s cool and I find it fascinating to watch how the technology is just evolving super fast every single day (sometimes within the day).
What ticks me off are these:
The doom and gloom narrative about how it will take over everybody’s jobs and their lives. Do I think it’s true? In a way. But I believe we’re missing the narrative about the opportunities IT may create. Everybody has an idea on how it can suck for you and your current role but not a lot of people will offer what the options are, unless you click on the paywall, buy their course, or suffer through a mild panic attack from reading the first few paragraphs of their articles.
Regurgitated writing that’s clearly AI-generated. Mostly because I can’t stand it anymore how everybody just “sounds” the same right now. Sometimes I find myself scrolling through the feed, going “haven’t I read this before?”. I’m all for making writing accessible. But I could really go back to reading things that sound like they truly came from someone’s mouth, as potty as it may be.
The mass layoffs of people in favor of AI being more cost-efficient or something, something, something strategy, even though there’s been very little evidence so far that reducing human talent and replacing them with AI is much better in the long run. I’m all for embracing the technology, but as far as I remember, there are a million problems to solve that need human touch in organizations. Removing the human from the equation doesn’t seem very efficient to me. (I tip my hat to Ikea, though). Especially when what ends up happening is wringing dry the remaining people left in the organization to burn out.
There are more things that make me grind my teeth, like how the data being used needs diversity because man, the number of times my genAI tool output has mistaken me for a man because of the way I talk or my work or even my stance on some things is hilariously annoying. Or worse, when I design some things for my clients that are emotion-heavy, it immediately assumes it’s for women. 🤷♀️
I’m not going to comment on the impact in the environment because, honestly, every single thing that makes up all of the technology that we use is absolutely problematic.
Why am I enjoying watching AI unfold?
Because everybody I know or get into a random conversation with in my neighborhood plaza seems to be building something now! And it’s awesome!
A lot of people have brilliant ideas, and it’s like everybody’s been handed this magic wand and told “here, you can do something about it now!”.
And I don’t mean just apps, but means to build a business or bring whatever it is that’s been living in their imagination into physical reality.
And isn’t that wonderful?!
Does everything need to be built? I don’t know. But isn’t that the point, to let people try?
Of course, I think more and more people now need a bit of a crash course on the fundamentals of building products. I’m finding more and more aspiring founders in my coaching calls these days, and I’m doing Product Management 101 as part of our work (as well as some reality check on what it means to build an app, and no it’s not just vibe coding something and that’s it) on top of helping them embody the identity of the successful entrepreneur that’s living underneath all that stress. 😂
There’s also the hope I keep that with AI constantly improving, technology being more accessible, and no longer as aspirational as it used to be (like before, at least), we might turn back again into creating and appreciating real art.
With AI being able to generate some form of it, I think we’ll turn our attention again into appreciating something that was created with soul. You know the kind of art wherein, when you look at it, listen to it, or read it for the 5th time, you still find yourself unpacking a completely new layer you didn’t see before. The kind of depth that can only come from the human heart and the complexities of human emotions and experiences.
Right, going back to careers and organizations and the stuff I’m “supposed” to be writing about.
To the professionals reading this. I honestly don’t believe AI will make you, the human being with all the strengths and talents you hold in your pocket, obsolete. But the role you hold currently? I will not pretend to know what the future holds.
But here are a few things I think you can do while this whole AI-era is still unfolding:
Now is as good a time as any to ask yourself, if you could do whatever you want to do, what would you do? Something you enjoy doing? Something that utilizes your talents and strengths more? And then ask yourself, how can you start doing more of that? Do you want to build something? Do you want to pivot?
While I don’t necessarily mean quit your job already and start that pie business you’ve been dreaming about since you were 12 years old, I do mean start allowing yourself to step into the life you’ve been secretly dreaming of even if it’s just dipping your toes a little bit every day. Try it out. Do you like it? Would you want to spend a few more minutes in it? How can you start shaping your life around what you want vs shaping what you want around what other people want or say is important for your career?Find your community and build your relationships. We’ve all been saying this forever, but this becomes even more important to do so now. The big, popular names in tech are laying off people. So it looks like there is a shortage of opportunities out there. BUUUUUT smaller companies are popping up! Traditional, non-tech companies now have a need for tech profiles. Opportunities are showing up in places that we wouldn’t expect. And not just by way of employment but opportunities to consult, provide a service, or something. And often, these sparks of ideas and opportunity windows can come from random conversations with people beyond your immediate circle.
Bolster your identity. Who are you being? Technology will evolve, opportunities will come and go, and employment is never guaranteed — we all know that. But when your identity is clear, you know what you have to offer to the table, you believe that everything will work out in your favor (or my favorite, comes easy for you), or that no matter what happens, you will end up always victorious… I promise you, opportunities will be the one running after you.
So who are you being right now when fear grips you? Who would you rather be (because we can always choose!)? And when you have that clear, how is that version of you going to show up in front of challenges? With what lens will you see opportunities? And how will you speak about yourself to yourself and to other people?
Are you somebody that life will happen to, or are you the one happening to life?
To the organizational leaders reading this. I empathize with you, the demand to transform rapidly CAN be hard and may make you want to punch people in the face. Your senior leaders, the investors, the board, maybe even your team in some weak and vulnerable moments.
While I can’t tell you what to do as a leader (although, as an individual, same as above), maybe I can challenge you with some things:
If you’re higher up, C-level, senior directors and the like - before you do another round of lay-offs, or restructure the organization all over again (or hire somebody outside of the company to do it for you), might you sit down with your teams and actually see their day to day struggles BEFORE coming to any conclusion that X, Y, Z is the solution to the problem you (most likely) don’t understand. I hear the numbers problem, I get that.
Because at the end of the day, money is what we’re here to make. It is a business. But as a product person at heart, I’d be doing everybody a disservice if I didn’t say this: sometimes, the brilliant idea that we have that we think IS the solution, isn’t actually the solution.Organization problems are human problems that look like process problems. As cryptic as it sounds, it needs a human solution and not another framework that was made by somebody to solve a particular context, and doesn’t necessarily fit every single thing. So while all the discussions now are about FAST transformation, investing in time to figure out how to transform AND allowing for experimentation will actually allow you to transform FASTER and often, smoother than just bulldozing through things with the goal of speed. Your goal is not the transformation. Your goal is the growth that the transformation enables. Two different things.
AI transformation doesn’t really make as much sense to other people as it does to you or your management team. People need goals, constraints, and expectations. Please be clear what that means for your org vs just giving them tokens and expecting people to suddenly know what to do with it. That being said, also if you expect people to learn something new, give them the space to do it. Don’t expect them to learn during their free time. Exhaustion and stress don’t make for good ideas, much less actually effective solutions.
And I say this because I’m working with clients who are given directives to just be “AI-driven”. That can mean a million things to people and may not match the 1 meaning you have in your head. So be clear. Have goals. And tie it back to the business. Be clear.
But what if I’m already ready to punch people in the face because of AI?
Aah! Like a lot of people I’m talking to lately are just tired. Tired from the demand for speed and MORE (whatever that means for their organization), that’s being put on top of their heads. The FOMO that every LinkedIn post wants to generate (and Substack too, tbh). And constantly being told that they’re behind one way or another and being made to feel like there’s absolutely no way they can catch up… here are a couple of things:
Go offline. Seriously. Touch grass, get bored, do something completely unrelated to your work and just play. You can’t solve fire by burning yourself out.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Identity work. Or work on your self-concept. Are you going to reinforce the fear by thinking you’re already behind or are you going to help yourself by believing that you’re somebody who can learn anything easily and quickly without breaking your back? Train your mind to think in your favor.
Play. Honestly, just play with AI. Explore, get curious, and come at it from a place of excitement about how much it allows you to do things you weren’t able to do before vs “I need to learn all of these now!”. Excitement creates space for opportunities more than fear.
And for the love of Sci-FI… Learn to use AI to enable you! Not to be you. It won’t (no matter how much information about you, you feed it). It will never be you anyway because it won’t replace your imagination, your creativity, your empathy, your self-leadership.
However, you can use it so you create more space for yourself to actually think strategically, come up with out of the box ideas, and TRULY listen to what your colleagues/users are telling you.
Use AI so you can spend more time actually away from your laptop and enjoy being human — which is the point of it all.
Also, have you not seen Terminator? I, Robot? 😂
Ways to work with me:
01 In my last newsletter, I wrote about how I got myself out of rock bottom and I’ve been asked for more details or more help by other people who are currently navigating their own rock bottom journeys (or want to avoid it).
So I’ve pulled all of my coaching tools together (and lessons from my own experience) to create a 30-day guide to help people stop the spiraling, get clear on who they are and what they want from themselves, so they can move forward from their rock bottom and get to the other side of it.
02 I have 2 spots open for 1:1 coaching. I would love to help you navigate your career and find balance with the rest of your life, whether you’re trying to:
Figure out what’s next for you because you’re tired of what you’re doing or you want more for yourself (or something better). Or even if you’re not sure if what you’re doing now is still what you want to keep doing.
Navigate your new life as a leader, be effective, and not burn yourself out through it all (especially in this new world where speed became table stakes)
Build your first product/business on your own. Whether you already know how to build one but you’re pulling your hair out because what’s next — maybe because you’re not sure if you’re ready, if people will believe that you’re the best person to help them solve their problems, or 10 million other doubts and questions that are going through that beautiful mind of yours.
Whatever it is that you’re going through right now, professionally (and honestly it will always have an impact personally, one way or another), I’d love to work with you through it so you can achieve the best possible scenario for yourself.
So let’s have a chat and we can talk about how we might work together.
03 I work with teams and communities to help the people in it figure out what’s the best possible way for them to achieve their goals. Or even define their goals. Let’s talk about the challenges that the people you work with are facing, and we can design together a workshop that can help them solve their challenges and start living the best possible scenarios for themselves (and the work that they’re doing).
Whether the challenges are structural or self-concept-driven, I’d love to help!
So if you’re a manager who wants to help your team have more impact or a community leader who want to help your members gain more confidence, clarity, and creativity… 👇