The First Rule of Implementing AI: Ignore The AI
You're about to implement AI in your organization.
But first, I need you to do something counterintuitive:
Ignore the AI.
I know, I know. Very First-Rule-of-Fight-Club, right?
But hear me out:
AI can be incredibly distracting.
It's like giving a digital marketer access to every cool tool imaginable - suddenly they're pumping out 3D models and composing symphonies - when all your company needs to do is sell more mulch or whatever. The company doesn’t need insane talking avatars. It needs to tell its customers that it has the best mulch - you should buy our mulch instead of our competitor’s mulch.
So let's talk about:
Why ignoring AI is crucial
How to focus on what really matters
The framework for successful AI implementation
WHY IGNORING AI IS A CRUCIAL FIRST STEP
Last year, McKinsey recently launched Lilli, their internal genAI tool. Last week, they revealed their top five lessons learned.
(Two disclosures: My wife Liz is a McKinsey partner focused on AI. Also, I just bought, and ate, two of those king-sized KitKats. I was hungry, but still, that’s too much KitKat, I think.)
McKinsey’s #1 lesson?
Define a shared aspiration before starting to build.
Sounds simple, right? It's not.
Because AI raises what I call the "Distraction of the Possible" to an art form.
It's so easy to get caught up in what AI can do that we forget what we actually need it to do.
HOW TO FOCUS ON WHAT REALLY MATTERS
Here's the secret sauce:
Forget what AI can do.
Instead, laser focus on what drives value for your organization.
Think about it like this:
Heart disease is the #1 killer of adults in the US. One of the best preventions is exercise.
Does that mean we can cure heart disease by giving every American a treadmill?
Of course not. Because it's not about the tool. It's about the behavior.
Same goes for AI. It won't help unless you change behavior.
And that starts with understanding what drives value.
THE FRAMEWORK FOR SUCCESSFUL AI IMPLEMENTATION
Ready to pour some delicious rocket fuel on your AI implementation?
Here's your four-step framework:
STEP 1: VALUE
Identify what truly drives value in your organization.
Ask yourself:
Why are people buying your product or service?
What do your customers tell you?
What do you learn from competition?
Put all those processes and lessons down on paper.
(Don't pick up the AI yet - we're not done.)
STEP 2: PROCESS
Break down the processes that get you to that value.
Ask yourself:
Where could these processes be sped up?
Where could they be improved?
Where are mundane tasks eating up valuable time?
What back-burner issues are you waiting to solve?
STEP 3: AUGMENT
Now - very carefully - you can pick up the AI.
Figure out where and how AI can help you do your human stuff better.
Remember: AI has to be additive. It's not the end goal.
STEP 4: BEHAVIOR
This is really, really important:
Giving everyone access to AI tools won't differentiate your company any more than treadmills in every house will cure heart disease.
Organizations MUST understand how to change behavior.
That will differentiate your company.
Get your people trained on using AI. Start and end with behavior. The tools aren’t hard - behavior is.
BIG TAKEAWAYS
Ignore the AI (at first)
Focus on value and process
Use AI to augment, not replace
Change behavior, not just tools
Remember, friends: Generative AI is like a treadmill. It won't help unless you actually use it - and use it right.
So start at the beginning. Define value. Get training that's behavior-based.
You'll be on your way to selling more mulch in no time.
AI NEWS OF THE WEEK
Claude 3.5 Sonnet!
Anthropic dropped Claude 3.5 from out of the sky. Faster, better, cheaper. The 3.5 reminds me of ChatGPT 3.5 which is lame so maybe they need to think about renaming but this is worthy of celebration.
Runway Gen 3
Video is coming fast and furious this month, and you knew Runway was gonna get in on it. Gen 3 is here, and it’s great. If you haven’t checked out the demos here on their site, get to an internet cafe and check it out.
Nvidia. Again.
Nvidia has become the biggest company in the world has it passes $3 trillion in market cap. The people who think AI is just hype must be losing their minds.
Generative AI Tips
I use ChatGPT or Claude to create airtight arguments - it’s one of my favorite cases. Here’s something I did for a company recently. They wanted to market a product to a certain demographic. ChatGPT created a strong sales pitch.
But you don’t need to stop there.
Ask ChatGPT to be the client and to poke holes in the sales pitch.
Then ask it again to create a new pitch addressing those concerns.
Rinse and repeat about 3-4 times. You’ll have an airtight pitch. It’s pretty awesome.
