Digital Disruption

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Hey everyone!

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I'm super excited to be sitting down

with bestselling author Erik Qualman.

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He's been recognized by Forbes and Fast

Company as a digital leadership guru.

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And what I love about Eric

is that he's spent his career

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at the intersection of technology

and human nature as an educator

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at schools like Harvard and Northwestern,

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and an advisor to everyone from Facebook

to Disney to Sony.

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He challenges us to forget everything

we think we know about technology

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and go back to the drawing board

on what makes us human.

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I want to ask him what he really thinks

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about AI impacting our society,

our work, and ourselves.

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Are we about to see everything change,

nothing change, or somewhere in between?

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Let's find it.

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Hey, I'm here with Eric and Eric.

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Super excited to talk to you.

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Maybe just to to kick things off.

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You know, where you're sitting with

your sort of digital leadership hat on?

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If I can call it that.

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What's kind of most exciting for you

right now?

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What trends are you looking at?

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What's top of mind in terms of,

you know, what's changing for the better?

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Yeah, it's a good question.

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I mean, I'm

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a big fan of the technology changes

every second, but human nature never does.

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So some stuff stands the test of time.

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I always lead Flintstones first,

but when it comes to technology,

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artificial intelligence,

I really think it's under hyped long term.

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It's overhyped a little bit right now,

but long term AI so I'm looking for

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is those cycles, that long term of

what is this actually going to become.

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So I'm really pumped about that.

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I want to come back to

AI in just a second,

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but you used a phrase that I haven't heard

before that that caught my attention,

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which is Flintstones

first, leading Flintstones first.

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What is what? What does that mean?

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It means you can't replace face to face,

whether that's a coffee,

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whether it's a lunch,

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whether it's a conference that you're

speaking at or going to attend.

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But when time, distance and safety

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is an issue,

then you can layer in these digital tools

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to deepen those relationships because,

obviously, I've been in technology

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for close to four decades,

but I love the human connection

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and I love what can technology enables

you to remove friction or bring us closer?

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So that's why I've spent my my career

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just digging into tech

is really how to deepen relationships.

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I like the argument

about bringing us closer.

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And, you know, AI is a funny one because,

you know, as I'm sure you do,

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if you follow the news,

like people will say, I will,

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do you know, you name it,

I will do it for you.

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Right? Like at all.

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It's pretty close to

to cleaning your dishes.

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If the news is to be believed. So.

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But you talk about removing friction

and deepening connections.

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Like when you, when you look at,

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as you

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said, long

term, this tech is probably under hyped.

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Are those are the two main areas.

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What could that look like in your mind.

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Like where are we really going

to see the most kind of,

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you know, individual and team level

benefit from this technology?

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I mean, the biggest benefit

of artificial intelligence is allowing us

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to be more human, ironically enough.

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So kind of reduce the mundane

and kind of give us more time.

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And then when you have more time,

it's up to us to repurpose that.

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The things that matter, whether that's

volunteering, developing your community

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or just spending time

with your loved ones.

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So, for example, if artificial

intelligence can quickly tell me

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if I'm about to have my second child

and I need a bigger car,

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if I can quickly reduce my consideration,

that says, hey, you know,

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20 of your closest friends have purchased

a bigger car because they're in the same

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season of life as you are.

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They've got two kids or more,

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and they've all seem to have purchased

one of these two vehicles.

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This is where they bought it.

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This is how much they paid

or leased for it.

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All of a sudden that gives me

a lot more time and confidence.

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And so I can

then if someone's already done that work,

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like my friends have already researched

it and figured it out,

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then why do I need to do that?

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And so let's say that saves me 20 hours.

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Then I can use that 20 hours,

then put back into my life.

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Or a lot of people are using it right now

for travel.

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I use it extensively, a lot for travel.

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So we have a vacation that's coming up.

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It's probably save me about 50 hours

just from simple searches of,

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is there a direct

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train from Krakow to Vienna?

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If so, where's the best place

to pick up that train?

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Which station

and where can I buy the ticket

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for the most affordable price?

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And then that's it.

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Saves me doing that over and over.

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That it saves me tons of time

when that's why you hear these terms

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like agent, it's a lot of easier, easier

for us to grasp the concept

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when it comes to travel

because you used to travel agent.

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And so now you're using an agent agent

to help you with the travel.

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And I literally it's saved me

close to 50 hours already.

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That's that's awesome.

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And by the way, it sounds like

you've got a great trip lined up there.

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Yeah, yeah.

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If that's any indication.

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So. So, you know, one of the things I like

to get into here is just sought out.

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There's obviously a lot of benefit here.

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And if you know you as an individual

or you know, you as Eric,

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the team lead can save

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50 hours of work here and, you know,

not use a travel agent or, you know,

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not use whatever traditional resources

you'd use to pick your car.

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Like there's winners and losers

here, right?

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Yeah. And, you know,

do you have a sense of broadly?

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Let's start

by talking organizational level.

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I want to talk about people in a minute.

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But organizational level,

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you know, the organizations that are well

positioned versus not well positioned,

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what are some of the qualities

they share here?

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Just, they always say that

the future favors the bold or the brave.

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That's not really true

of the future, favors the most adaptable.

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So any company

that's flexible and adaptable

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is well positioned because we don't know

what's going to happen.

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This technology.

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And so are you able to move

quickly and adjust.

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Are you able to fail?

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Because failure is not the opposite

of success.

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It's the reason for your success.

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So really two things.

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Do you have a culture of adaptability

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and do you have a culture

that embraces failure?

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You're not going to get it right

the first time.

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And so to figure it out quickly.

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So those are the companies

that are well positioned, to do that.

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And obviously this stuff

takes a lot of compute power.

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So you'll hear a lot,

you know, computes the new oil.

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So some of the bigger companies

you need to have deep pockets for that.

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The capital that's required to

to have these data centers

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to, to have the electricity,

to do this compute power,

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you. You,

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you got into my second question

there already, but

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when is adaptability?

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Also,

you know, the secret sauce for leaders

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right now, do you think, like,

if I ask you the question about who's

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going to win

from a leadership perspective,

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what are the skills

that leaders need in this era?

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Is it still adaptability?

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Is that, number one,

you know what does that picture look like?

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I think number one,

still your emotional intelligence,

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your you Q ironically,

those are my initials, but,

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just your,

emotional intelligence is number one.

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And then I put closed circuit would be.

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Are you nimble? Are you adaptable?

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Are you willing to listen

to the younger generation,

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and not be the old man on your lawn?

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So it's really just about understanding

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what those are.

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Two, I think, is, is your emotional

intelligence and then adaptability,

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to be able to do that

and all this stuff's not perfect.

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That's why I say it's overhyped short term

on your hype long term, for example.

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I mean, I live in Austin, so it's awesome.

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You have self-driving Waymo cars here.

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Fantastic.

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But I was sitting there,

I got to go really early tomorrow, 3:00.

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I got to get up to go on a flight.

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And I'm very my golf clubs

and we live in a gated community also.

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And I realized, oh, wait, that thing's

gonna be able to open the gate.

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Who can punch in the number?

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So there's like little nuances like that.

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That's just fascinating to me.

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I was like, but it's fantastic for

we were talking before the show here,

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I've got eight, the ninth grade girls.

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Something that just dawned on me

this week.

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I'm like, oh my gosh,

that's such of a business case.

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There's not a

but and most drivers are fine,

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but there's not a driver

that I have to worry about.

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If I was going to put

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my eighth grade daughter in a car,

now they're just in a driverless car.

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So there's a lot of things

people don't see, including myself.

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But when you see it, you're like, whoa,

that's pretty cool.

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That's like a huge business case

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just for like tweens

and teens to be able to shell around.

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So it's it's really interesting

because I'm just trying to like,

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marry that in my mind

with the comment about emotional,

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emotional intelligence.

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Right.

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Like, well, the

the implication there is like and like,

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I don't know, drivers are a weird thing

with this, but when you're talking about

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your family, you're saying, like,

I would rather have no driver

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than like an unknown driver.

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Which is like,

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to me, one particular story

where it's, you know,

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technology

can potentially replace a human there.

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But in other cases, you know,

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it sounds like the human connection

is more important than ever.

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Is that are both of those true?

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And how do we distinguish

between those two different worlds?

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Both are true.

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I mean, it's the Flintstones

and Jetsons world, so it's not an or deal.

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So it's great.

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So to example,

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you probably want your nanny

to be a real person at this point in time.

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That might change a little bit.

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But I want a self-driving car

for my tweens.

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But I probably want

if I had a one year old,

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then I'd want probably the nanny

to be, the human.

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Yeah. Ideally. Ideally a human for you.

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Yeah. One year old, for sure.

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So emotional intelligence. Yeah.

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You know, one of the things

that we're hearing more about

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and I've talked to other guests

about is in some ways generative AI.

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I don't know if you'd call it augmenting

or replacing emotional intelligence,

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but you hear about,

you know, people who are dating

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and it's like, okay, well,

how can I just generate,

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you know, text or content

that's going to be most appealing

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to a date or,

you know, I'm in a management position

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and I'm going to have my emails

written by ChatGPT,

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like, what's is that net good?

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Is that net worrying

if you're a leader who's actually worried

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about their emotional intelligence

and about their human connection,

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is there still room for a tool like that?

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And what guardrails would you put around

that?

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You know, that use case?

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Yeah, I think that's the key term.

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There's guardrails.

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And so it's learning

to use this new technology.

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So anytime there's new technology

there's the good and the bad.

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And we're living through that right now.

We don't know the timeline.

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That's the thing.

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Anyone do the timeline.

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Be the richest person in the world

because you heard me

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say it's overhyped short term under hype

long term.

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It's like,

well Eric, what's the what's the term?

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I don't know, if you did,

you'd be the richest person around.

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So it's really about

leveraging this technology,

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both the good and the bad,

but it's really the guardrails.

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So we're living through it

with social media.

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So we don't have the technical.

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So you think about cars first come out,

we have a seatbelt.

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But all of a sudden probably good

to have a seatbelt in these things.

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And then you have kids

who like probably make it a law

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that if you're sitting in there

and they're

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14 in the backseat,

they have to wear the seatbelt.

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Okay.

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So there's always that progress

in that window.

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And we're living that right now

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with social media, teen suicide,

especially with girls way up.

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And so we're trying to figure out

what is the guardrail for that.

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That guardrail might be that you have to

be 16 before we go on social media.

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So another strong proponent of that,

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I think we're drinking a lot of the lot

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in the water,

and we're not helping anyone of

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any of these kids out,

just kind of like, here you go.

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Good luck.

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And so that happens all the time

with technology.

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That's another analogies

interesting to think about is with

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I also I teach a class at Northwestern

University master's level class.

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And the students are all

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really directors or executive vice

presidents of their companies.

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And so they what I learn I but originally

when I comes out northwestern immediately

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because it's change

says you can't teach AI.

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So then what you want to do

is look at history repeats itself

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because really,

no one listens the first time

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and it doesn't repeat itself.

It just kind of rhymes.

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But on those calls,

if you quickly look back,

00;12;00;03 - 00;12;03;03

I go, hey,

I'm teaching a digital leadership course.

00;12;03;03 - 00;12;04;16

These students need to learn it.

00;12;04;16 - 00;12;06;28

They're not coming,

not getting it here at northwestern.

00;12;06;28 - 00;12;08;23

They're going to get it somewhere else.

00;12;08;23 - 00;12;12;19

But also remember that

when calculators first came out,

00;12;13;13 - 00;12;16;11

let's go look at the newspaper, said

pull up newspaper clippings

00;12;16;11 - 00;12;19;14

and show them that

this should be banned in the classroom.

00;12;19;14 - 00;12;21;23

You can't use a calculator

in the classroom.

00;12;21;23 - 00;12;24;09

But then in time you realize, wait,

sometimes it's

00;12;24;09 - 00;12;26;10

good to have a calculator in class

that is good.

00;12;26;10 - 00;12;30;17

Even use the calculator for test and then

other times you're not allowed to use it.

00;12;31;01 - 00;12;34;15

So it's really always goes back

to the Flintstones and Jetsons piece.

00;12;35;01 - 00;12;38;01

A lot of the stuff that we wrestle with

00;12;38;09 - 00;12;41;06

is new from a standpoint of the technology

00;12;41;06 - 00;12;44;18

new, but, the constructs are the same.

00;12;45;20 - 00;12;47;08

So what's the

00;12;47;08 - 00;12;51;10

what's the case for not having AI?

00;12;51;17 - 00;12;54;04

You're not teaching AI,

not using AI in the classroom.

00;12;54;04 - 00;12;56;09

And, you know,

do you buy that case or what?

00;12;56;09 - 00;12;58;18

Where do you stand on it as a teacher?

00;12;58;18 - 00;12;58;27

Yeah.

00;12;58;27 - 00;13;02;20

I mean, it's quickly changed that the

now they're teaching it immediately.

00;13;02;28 - 00;13;04;24

So you don't even have

to have that case anymore.

00;13;04;24 - 00;13;07;24

But if you had to argue for keep it, well,

there's

00;13;07;24 - 00;13;11;03

sometimes to keep it off the classroom

because there's some studies at MIT

00;13;11;09 - 00;13;13;00

that if you only use generative AI,

00;13;13;00 - 00;13;15;04

then there's a part of your brain

that doesn't get developed.

00;13;15;04 - 00;13;18;07

So if you're a journalist,

you have to learn to write.

00;13;18;07 - 00;13;20;05

So there's gotta be instances where,

00;13;20;05 - 00;13;23;05

hey, this assignment,

you cannot use any of this generative AI.

00;13;23;06 - 00;13;24;26

Next assignment, knock yourself out.

00;13;24;26 - 00;13;26;16

You can use any tool you want

00;13;26;16 - 00;13;29;28

and so it's important to be able

to develop those pieces of the brain.

00;13;29;28 - 00;13;33;21

So, this interesting case study

that they came out with at MIT.

00;13;34;17 - 00;13;38;10

So again, sometimes it's like, hey guys,

it's all Flintstones right now, you know?

00;13;38;10 - 00;13;41;18

No, I for this assignment,

got to write on your own, go for it.

00;13;42;06 - 00;13;45;29

And then like a hot knife through butter

once you let them use the AI.

00;13;45;29 - 00;13;47;11

Also, it's a lot easier.

00;13;47;11 - 00;13;49;11

When they're in the classroom to me.

00;13;49;11 - 00;13;51;06

And this is one of the things

I was excited to talk about

00;13;51;06 - 00;13;54;26

is the classroom

to me is a really interesting case study

00;13;55;06 - 00;13;58;09

of AI of of this new technology

00;13;58;09 - 00;14;01;17

and not just AI, but just it feels like.

00;14;01;17 - 00;14;03;16

And I'm curious

on your perspective that just,

00;14;04;22 - 00;14;05;19

technology

00;14;05;19 - 00;14;08;21

has entered the classroom

in a really big way in the last

00;14;08;21 - 00;14;12;20

handful of years, like call it since

2020, like, you know, this,

00;14;12;25 - 00;14;15;25

this decade kind of post-pandemic,

you know,

00;14;16;24 - 00;14;18;11

virtual classroom.

00;14;18;11 - 00;14;21;07

I'm curious from your perspective,

how is teaching

00;14;21;07 - 00;14;24;01

changed in that time?

00;14;24;01 - 00;14;27;02

And, you know, is it better or worse?

00;14;27;02 - 00;14;28;03

And and what kind of lessons

00;14;28;03 - 00;14;32;14

have you taken away and around how you,

how you teach now versus ten years ago?

00;14;32;16 - 00;14;33;24

I think it's a lot better.

00;14;33;24 - 00;14;38;06

I think that I mean, the old joke was it's

still somewhat true today

00;14;38;06 - 00;14;42;23

that the only thing that hasn't changed

is the teaching approach,

00;14;42;23 - 00;14;45;23

that if you went back 100 years ago,

you walked in the classroom.

00;14;46;02 - 00;14;49;11

There's a professor in front of the room

giving a lecture.

00;14;50;05 - 00;14;53;17

And so I think it's dramatically improved

00;14;53;19 - 00;14;56;20

just in the short time the last ten years.

00;14;56;20 - 00;15;00;20

I mean, I've got on I'm asking students

all the time, hey, look that up.

00;15;00;20 - 00;15;02;25

That's a good question. I'm

not sure the answer.

00;15;02;25 - 00;15;04;27

So then it's more peer to peer learning.

00;15;04;27 - 00;15;07;27

Now at the same time, what's interesting

00;15;08;14 - 00;15;11;14

is we crave that human connection,

that face to face.

00;15;12;03 - 00;15;15;00

So for the class that I teach

at northwestern,

00;15;15;00 - 00;15;17;26

most of the students are flying in

from around the world for a week.

00;15;17;26 - 00;15;21;16

They get a 15 week credit

because it's 8 to 6 now.

00;15;21;16 - 00;15;23;00

The feedback that we received

00;15;23;00 - 00;15;26;00

was, hey, be great

if you could use the city as a classroom.

00;15;26;04 - 00;15;29;03

So historically we'd bring in like simos

00;15;29;03 - 00;15;32;15

to to speak or CTOs to speak in the class.

00;15;32;29 - 00;15;36;25

And so what that now looks like,

like this year, what we did is we went

00;15;37;04 - 00;15;38;11

because I have a kid,

00;15;38;11 - 00;15;42;25

it's the person that runs all the Cubs

marketing and PR is a connection.

00;15;42;25 - 00;15;46;21

So she was kind enough to have her team

sit down with all her students.

00;15;46;21 - 00;15;48;00

And we visited Wrigley Field.

00;15;48;00 - 00;15;50;26

They walked us through

how they use data, AI, analytics,

00;15;50;26 - 00;15;53;00

and then we got to do a tour of Wrigley

Field.

00;15;53;00 - 00;15;54;03

Go touch the Ivy.

00;15;54;03 - 00;15;55;06

So it was awesome.

00;15;55;06 - 00;15;57;27

A couple days later,

former student had us the Shedd Aquarium.

00;15;57;27 - 00;15;59;22

If you've ever been to Chicago

amazing aquarium.

00;15;59;22 - 00;16;04;06

So they show us how do they attract people

to the aquarium using digital analytics?

00;16;04;06 - 00;16;06;15

How they how are they using AI?

00;16;06;15 - 00;16;08;19

For the animals IT cells.

00;16;08;19 - 00;16;13;20

And then you get a tour with jazz

being played in the aquarium.

00;16;14;00 - 00;16;16;29

And so that's that yin yang

that Flintstones, Jetsons.

00;16;16;29 - 00;16;20;23

So from a teaching perspective,

I think that's the right approach.

00;16;22;00 - 00;16;24;05

Is that and we always

00;16;24;05 - 00;16;27;07

have them do a project that they're going

to implement in their companies.

00;16;27;07 - 00;16;30;07

I hate dealing with hypotheticals.

00;16;30;09 - 00;16;33;02

And so it's like,

this is what you're going to do.

00;16;33;02 - 00;16;35;08

You there's an you gotta identify

an opportunity

00;16;35;08 - 00;16;38;20

where there's friction for your customer

or for your teammates.

00;16;39;05 - 00;16;41;00

And this is a safe place.

00;16;41;00 - 00;16;42;21

At the end of the week,

you're going to present,

00;16;42;21 - 00;16;45;19

and it's your first presentation

that we're going to poke holes in

00;16;45;19 - 00;16;49;04

so that you're more prepared

to go and implement that within your

00;16;49;04 - 00;16;52;03

organization, whether it's a big company

or whether you're an entrepreneur

00;16;52;20 - 00;16;55;09

is real world experience.

00;16;55;09 - 00;16;59;24

And so that's I think, in my mind,

not everyone's shifted that way,

00;16;59;24 - 00;17;01;05

but that's the way that we teach.

00;17;01;05 - 00;17;03;14

And I think it's a way,

a better way to do it.

00;17;03;14 - 00;17;06;12

I know I love that,

and I mean, in some ways it's

00;17;06;12 - 00;17;08;01

a very different answer

than what I expected,

00;17;08;01 - 00;17;11;00

because it's not like it's

a low tech answer. Right.

00;17;11;00 - 00;17;13;13

As you said, it's

more it's more Flintstones than Jetsons.

00;17;13;13 - 00;17;14;14

It's not.

00;17;14;14 - 00;17;17;23

Hey everybody, let's,

you know, cram into a zoom call.

00;17;17;23 - 00;17;18;24

It's like,

00;17;18;24 - 00;17;23;08

I don't know, it's like more magic school

bus than, you know, than Jetsons there.

00;17;23;08 - 00;17;23;14

Right?

00;17;23;14 - 00;17;27;28

It's it's getting out into the world

and, you know, trip oriented.

00;17;27;29 - 00;17;29;05

The Jetsons could go on.

00;17;29;05 - 00;17;31;25

And as all of a sudden, as soon

this happened, this

00;17;31;25 - 00;17;34;11

this semester was, hey, I figured out,

00;17;34;11 - 00;17;38;05

you know, Professor Quam and I figured out

how to make those gorillas.

00;17;38;05 - 00;17;40;17

I've animated them. They're talking.

00;17;40;17 - 00;17;45;03

He worked at a barbecue company,

so he had, two gorillas.

00;17;45;03 - 00;17;47;10

Just. He'd made it within an hour.

00;17;47;10 - 00;17;51;15

Two gorillas, Hawaiian shirts

with the rub from their barbecue company.

00;17;51;23 - 00;17;53;17

Oh, you can put this rub on it. Anything.

00;17;53;17 - 00;17;56;01

And then he started.

Just put it on everything on the grill.

00;17;56;01 - 00;17;57;09

And so it went viral.

00;17;57;09 - 00;17;58;24

But that happened in the classroom.

00;17;58;24 - 00;18;02;10

And so the he raised his hand,

I go, come on up here like plug in your

00;18;02;28 - 00;18;04;12

computer up here on the monitor.

00;18;04;12 - 00;18;06;10

Just walk us through what you're doing.

00;18;06;10 - 00;18;08;20

And so that's the major shift

00;18;08;20 - 00;18;13;10

is that literally every year

my class is like 70% different.

00;18;13;10 - 00;18;15;06

But then there's a 30% that's like core.

00;18;15;06 - 00;18;18;04

Like I said, technology changes

every second. Human nature never does.

00;18;18;04 - 00;18;21;04

So that 30% never

is never going to change.

00;18;21;10 - 00;18;24;06

And then the 70% ever changes every year.

00;18;24;06 - 00;18;27;06

So it's kind of hard as a teacher,

but you have to be that adaptable.

00;18;27;19 - 00;18;28;08

Yeah.

00;18;28;08 - 00;18;32;26

So, you know, I'm

I'm going to try not to necessarily boil

00;18;32;26 - 00;18;36;12

your entire curriculum down

to a few sentences, but, you know,

00;18;36;19 - 00;18;40;02

as you've been teaching that class

for a number of years, is there like,

00;18;40;25 - 00;18;43;12

you know, a main piece of advice

you've been giving students

00;18;43;12 - 00;18;45;21

that stays the same year after year?

00;18;45;21 - 00;18;51;00

And is there a piece of advice

that you're finding you're giving in 2025?

00;18;51;00 - 00;18;54;27

That's like something has changed now

that you weren't talking about last year?

00;18;55;20 - 00;18;56;24

Yeah, it's a good question.

00;18;56;24 - 00;18;58;06

Definitely the same piece of advice.

00;18;58;06 - 00;18;59;21

Most of the time

00;18;59;21 - 00;19;03;03

these are very successful people,

but most of the time who are doing

00;19;03;03 - 00;19;05;12

these things are going

to implement their company.

00;19;05;12 - 00;19;07;07

I go, that's great.

00;19;07;07 - 00;19;08;27

You gotta think bigger.

00;19;08;27 - 00;19;10;10

This could be bigger.

00;19;10;10 - 00;19;12;15

And I'll give you an example. I like.

00;19;12;15 - 00;19;14;02

That's a good idea,

but it could be bigger.

00;19;14;02 - 00;19;16;18

You got to get people

excited. It's got to be bigger.

00;19;17;22 - 00;19;19;03

Other advice is,

00;19;19;03 - 00;19;21;22

yeah, you're busy,

but you're not producing anything.

00;19;21;22 - 00;19;24;22

You do a lot of throughput,

but you're not getting the output.

00;19;24;23 - 00;19;27;09

And so it's what are you producing?

00;19;27;09 - 00;19;30;09

So someone might ask me,

how do I ascend the ladder in my career

00;19;30;17 - 00;19;31;25

where you got to be marking down,

00;19;31;25 - 00;19;35;01

what are you producing

that's helping that organization?

00;19;35;19 - 00;19;38;03

And so you should be writing those downs

throughout the time.

00;19;38;03 - 00;19;39;19

You should be checking with your boss

a lot.

00;19;39;19 - 00;19;41;29

What what success looks like for them.

00;19;41;29 - 00;19;45;25

But those are the two pieces of advice

I find that are standing the test of time.

00;19;46;09 - 00;19;48;09

Your second question

is a little more difficult.

00;19;48;09 - 00;19;51;09

I'm trying to think, what's new?

00;19;51;13 - 00;19;53;22

Without just being the bits and the bytes.

00;19;53;22 - 00;19;53;26

Yeah.

00;19;53;26 - 00;19;59;08

So try to think because, I mean, it's all

it's specific to artificial intelligence.

00;19;59;08 - 00;20;02;16

Last year's all metaverse,

the year before that was all social media.

00;20;02;27 - 00;20;05;22

So these things shift so fast.

00;20;07;06 - 00;20;09;21

The other piece of advice is, hey,

00;20;09;21 - 00;20;13;22

you know, be just test out the 20%,

don't go all in on this stuff,

00;20;13;22 - 00;20;16;04

figure out what's going to work,

what's not going to work,

00;20;16;04 - 00;20;18;12

and and go from there

like clubhouse. Right?

00;20;18;12 - 00;20;19;26

I was like, man, am I missing the boat?

00;20;19;26 - 00;20;22;12

Why is everyone

so fired up on this clubhouse thing?

00;20;22;12 - 00;20;25;12

Oh my gosh,

if that fit on all this time in clubhouse

00;20;26;01 - 00;20;27;24

well lasted like a month, right?

00;20;27;24 - 00;20;28;05

Yeah.

00;20;28;05 - 00;20;31;19

Or these glasses or Google

Plus whatever that was called.

00;20;31;20 - 00;20;33;24

Guy. Cause hockey.

You wrote a book. I'm like, what?

00;20;33;24 - 00;20;34;06

I guess

00;20;34;06 - 00;20;37;06

maybe this is a bigger than I think it's

gonna be of guys writing a book on this.

00;20;37;07 - 00;20;38;23

And it petered out. Right.

00;20;38;23 - 00;20;43;01

So it's important to kind of see

what's like a flash in the pan,

00;20;44;04 - 00;20;45;26

and what's

going to stand the test of time.

00;20;45;26 - 00;20;46;24

That's really hard to do.

00;20;46;24 - 00;20;50;10

So it's try to be as nimble as possible,

keep it light so that you're ready

00;20;50;19 - 00;20;53;18

when that domino falls, when QR codes

00;20;53;18 - 00;20;56;18

become pervasive,

even though they're made in 94,

00;20;57;08 - 00;21;01;03

a lot of us like yourself, myself,

people listening this 2003,

00;21;01;03 - 00;21;02;18

we think everyone's going to use them.

00;21;02;18 - 00;21;04;18

QR codes are great.

00;21;04;18 - 00;21;07;07

No one use

them. World wasn't ready for it.

00;21;07;07 - 00;21;09;20

All sudden pandemic hits 2020. Boom.

00;21;09;20 - 00;21;11;18

So things are slow to the really fast.

00;21;11;18 - 00;21;13;11

That's why you need to be in this stuff.

00;21;13;11 - 00;21;15;08

And so you're ready to go fast

when it's there.

00;21;15;08 - 00;21;18;08

But don't over invest, right?

00;21;18;14 - 00;21;22;02

Right now it makes sense

and just the value it sounds like of like

00;21;22;09 - 00;21;25;29

dipping a toe in seeing

if something's really working

00;21;25;29 - 00;21;28;27

rather than going all in on,

you know, the latest thing.

00;21;28;27 - 00;21;29;08

Yeah.

00;21;30;11 - 00;21;31;29

Yeah.

00;21;31;29 - 00;21;34;04

Yeah. Go ahead.

00;21;34;04 - 00;21;35;24

No, it's going to is interesting.

00;21;35;24 - 00;21;38;20

A lot of times too, whether it's

00;21;38;20 - 00;21;41;03

when I'm brought in a companies,

00;21;41;03 - 00;21;44;04

it's a lot easier as an outsider

to see the bigger picture.

00;21;44;23 - 00;21;48;15

So it's hard to read the prescription

when you're inside the bottle.

00;21;49;22 - 00;21;51;18

So Montblanc they make these fancy

00;21;51;18 - 00;21;55;15

watches and pens and they bring me in

because this is a while ago.

00;21;55;21 - 00;21;57;22

But social media is exploding.

00;21;57;22 - 00;21;59;09

So this is a long time ago.

00;21;59;09 - 00;22;02;11

So I wrote a book, social Nomics

social media is exploding.

00;22;02;24 - 00;22;03;19

All right.

00;22;03;19 - 00;22;04;19

We need to do social media.

00;22;04;19 - 00;22;06;27

So ring me. And I'm like all right, cool.

00;22;06;27 - 00;22;09;27

Where are we sending them on Blogger.com.

00;22;10;08 - 00;22;11;27

Oh, yeah. We don't have a website now.

00;22;11;27 - 00;22;15;11

We only sell through the retailers,

the Masons, as they say in France.

00;22;16;08 - 00;22;19;14

I'm like,

all right, well, hold on, that's where

00;22;20;02 - 00;22;22;20

that's why I wrote the second book,

Digital Leadership, because I was going

00;22;22;20 - 00;22;25;20

these companies, I'm like,

oh, these folks don't even have a clue.

00;22;26;04 - 00;22;29;07

The bigger picture landscape

when it comes to digital,

00;22;29;18 - 00;22;30;26

this is not digital specific.

00;22;30;26 - 00;22;33;18

The good thing about digital pokes

holes in your whole strategy.

00;22;33;18 - 00;22;36;21

So you think about search like what

search word should we be number one for?

00;22;37;12 - 00;22;41;11

Well, if your travel is a cheap airfare,

is it airfare?

00;22;42;00 - 00;22;44;08

Is it travel deals.

00;22;45;10 - 00;22;47;06

So that really sets your strategy.

00;22;47;06 - 00;22;49;15

It really pokes holes

in your whole organization.

00;22;49;15 - 00;22;51;17

You can't stand for everything.

00;22;51;17 - 00;22;55;25

So anyways, going back

a little bit to the Mont Blanc example,

00;22;56;01 - 00;23;00;29

this is like, okay guys,

we got us develop a website first.

00;23;01;07 - 00;23;02;20

And this is going to be painful

00;23;02;20 - 00;23;03;01

because you're going

00;23;03;01 - 00;23;07;01

to tell your retailers that now you're

going to sell directly to the customer.

00;23;07;22 - 00;23;12;12

And then they think you're crazy because

who's going to buy a $20,000 watch online?

00;23;12;12 - 00;23;14;26

I go, trust me, they will.

00;23;14;26 - 00;23;16;08

That's coming.

00;23;16;08 - 00;23;18;10

So we got to adjust these things.

00;23;18;10 - 00;23;22;24

So more times than that, it's really hard

to see that stuff if you're inside.

00;23;23;21 - 00;23;26;01

And so that's what's been fascinating.

00;23;26;01 - 00;23;27;26

My career, just being able to

00;23;27;26 - 00;23;31;04

kind of come in and be able to work

with these amazing companies

00;23;31;04 - 00;23;36;15

and be able to see something

that's kind of too big to see for them.

00;23;36;15 - 00;23;38;08

If you're sitting there.

00;23;38;08 - 00;23;42;13

Well and you're, you know, it

ties back to you saying, think bigger.

00;23;42;13 - 00;23;46;09

But what we've kind of backed into this

question around, you know,

00;23;49;02 - 00;23;51;21

basically

digital strategy, digital transformation,

00;23;51;21 - 00;23;54;23

I mean, those have both kind

of become buzzwords by this point.

00;23;54;23 - 00;23;59;01

But yeah, I don't want to dismiss them

because they're really, really important.

00;23;59;01 - 00;24;02;02

And it sounds like,

you know, what you're saying is

00;24;02;02 - 00;24;04;11

your digital strategy

is just your strategy.

00;24;04;11 - 00;24;05;20

They're the same thing.

00;24;05;20 - 00;24;07;26

It's just kind of

a, you know, dimension to it.

00;24;07;26 - 00;24;09;13

Is it is that true?

00;24;09;13 - 00;24;12;23

And if that is true,

how do you typically recommend

00;24;12;23 - 00;24;16;07

that organizations tackle

what who who needs to be at the table?

00;24;16;07 - 00;24;17;25

What are the big questions. Need to ask?

00;24;17;25 - 00;24;20;14

And how do you make sure that it's

successful?

00;24;20;14 - 00;24;22;20

Yeah, no, it's 100% true.

00;24;22;20 - 00;24;24;14

And who needs to be at the table.

00;24;24;14 - 00;24;26;12

You need to start at the top.

00;24;26;12 - 00;24;28;21

So that doesn't mean

that your CEO needs to be

00;24;28;21 - 00;24;32;02

programing your social media strategy

or AI strategy.

00;24;32;02 - 00;24;36;26

What that means is you're not saying

a question like, what's our AI strategy?

00;24;38;05 - 00;24;41;07

The question is, what is our strategy

00;24;42;23 - 00;24;45;22

and how do we help our customer?

00;24;45;29 - 00;24;48;10

Let's say it's a B2C company.

00;24;48;10 - 00;24;50;16

Well, our customer, how do we move?

00;24;50;16 - 00;24;51;06

How do we create it?

00;24;51;06 - 00;24;55;08

So basically let's start first principle

instead of going from A

00;24;55;08 - 00;24;58;12

to Z, A to Z

come in and say like, okay, I,

00;24;59;15 - 00;25;00;15

how are we going to implement it?

00;25;00;15 - 00;25;02;18

Because the board saying,

what's our AI strategy?

00;25;02;18 - 00;25;05;25

So then the CEO comes down to the CTO

and goes, what's our AI strategy?

00;25;05;25 - 00;25;07;13

That it funnels down?

00;25;07;13 - 00;25;08;12

And then they're

00;25;08;12 - 00;25;12;09

trying to come up with something like,

this is what we're doing for AI rather

00;25;12;09 - 00;25;17;07

than the good companies would ask the

they'd flip instead of going from A to Z,

00;25;17;27 - 00;25;21;02

they have a challenge

or a new opportunity, they flip and go to

00;25;21;02 - 00;25;24;24

Z, which for every company is going

to be create and smile for that customer.

00;25;25;09 - 00;25;25;18

All right.

00;25;25;18 - 00;25;29;02

So how do I create that smile

for the customer then walk our way back.

00;25;29;12 - 00;25;30;29

And along that line,

00;25;30;29 - 00;25;33;29

there's probably some technology

that'll help remove any friction.

00;25;33;29 - 00;25;36;13

They'll help create that smile.

00;25;36;13 - 00;25;38;26

And so that's a better approach.

00;25;38;26 - 00;25;41;02

And it needs to come from the top down.

00;25;41;02 - 00;25;45;00

It needs to be for throughout the company

the culture meaning it's about fail fast,

00;25;45;00 - 00;25;47;04

fail forward,

feel better. We're going to fail.

00;25;47;04 - 00;25;52;00

So we're gonna fail is to have fast

and let's fail forward.

00;25;52;00 - 00;25;55;00

That means we're gonna actually

have hard conversations, what didn't work.

00;25;55;01 - 00;25;58;16

And that allows us to not repeat the same

mistake twice, allows the fail better.

00;25;58;27 - 00;26;02;15

So that's the companies that that'll win.

00;26;02;29 - 00;26;04;00

A good example of that is

00;26;05;03 - 00;26;07;17

I own an

animation studio, so we're doing some work

00;26;07;17 - 00;26;11;03

with Disney, which at the time, like why

why do you call it us?

00;26;11;03 - 00;26;14;01

You know, what issues the Pixar guys.

00;26;14;01 - 00;26;17;26

And so Bob Iger wanted a he wanted a video

that show that they were digital.

00;26;17;26 - 00;26;19;29

Like they just weren't Disney.

00;26;19;29 - 00;26;22;29

They're actually

a digitally forward company.

00;26;23;03 - 00;26;24;29

They're about to launch Disney+.

00;26;24;29 - 00;26;27;10

So they hadn't launched it yet.

00;26;27;10 - 00;26;29;18

They're thinking it through.

00;26;29;18 - 00;26;32;05

And so I happened to be there

doing this animation project

00;26;32;05 - 00;26;34;18

just to showcase, hey, this is Disney.

00;26;34;18 - 00;26;36;25

He's actually

like a digital first company.

00;26;36;25 - 00;26;38;02

And so help them

00;26;38;02 - 00;26;41;06

develop the script and then we

we animate it and gave them that thing.

00;26;41;14 - 00;26;46;02

But what I was sitting there in Orlando,

they had an issue.

00;26;46;02 - 00;26;46;18

So they said,

00;26;46;18 - 00;26;49;22

hey, I know this has nothing to do

with what you're doing with our animation,

00;26;49;22 - 00;26;53;11

but it'd be helpful if you came down

and kind of join this meeting.

00;26;53;27 - 00;26;56;16

So I go down there

and they're having a big debate about

00;26;56;16 - 00;26;59;16

whether you should have

selfie sticks in the park or not.

00;26;59;22 - 00;27;03;14

So this big debate about selfie

sticks in the park, I go, this is awesome.

00;27;03;14 - 00;27;04;03

Like I'm sitting there.

00;27;04;03 - 00;27;06;19

My girls were young at the time

to say this.

00;27;06;19 - 00;27;07;12

This is amazing.

00;27;08;11 - 00;27;08;19

There's

00;27;08;19 - 00;27;11;22

some good arguments like, do

these things could be dangerous.

00;27;11;22 - 00;27;15;02

They're just

they're just visually not pleasing.

00;27;15;02 - 00;27;16;11

They're blocking stuff.

00;27;16;11 - 00;27;18;26

It's just not the experience we want.

00;27;18;26 - 00;27;21;27

And so they quickly

figure out a selfie stick.

00;27;21;27 - 00;27;24;26

All right. So then I move on to Instagram,

00;27;24;28 - 00;27;27;20

like taking photos

in front of Cinderella's castle.

00;27;27;20 - 00;27;30;20

So they make a lot of money taking photos

with professional photographers.

00;27;30;24 - 00;27;35;05

A lot of us, by listening, have paid 40

bucks to get that picture with the family.

00;27;35;05 - 00;27;38;05

I've got my hand

raised, you know, got that picture.

00;27;38;08 - 00;27;41;24

So then the question is, hey,

all of these people, all these phones, now

00;27;41;24 - 00;27;43;03

they want to take a picture

00;27;43;03 - 00;27;45;23

in front of the castle,

which is based in the same location

00;27;45;23 - 00;27;48;23

that we're doing

our professional photography.

00;27;49;03 - 00;27;50;24

Should we allow it to happen?

00;27;51;27 - 00;27;53;14

I'm like, all right, it's a good question.

00;27;53;14 - 00;27;55;22

I go, well, let's just pause.

00;27;55;22 - 00;27;57;18

Like, how many of you have kids?

What are their ages?

00;27;57;18 - 00;27;59;25

So most of them had young kids

00;27;59;25 - 00;28;02;20

like, oh, you're in the park,

you're not working for Disney.

00;28;02;20 - 00;28;03;27

You're at the park.

00;28;03;27 - 00;28;05;23

How many of you want to pitch

in front of Cinderella's guest?

00;28;05;23 - 00;28;08;23

Every hand goes up. All right.

00;28;09;00 - 00;28;10;01

How many you want to pay for it?

00;28;10;01 - 00;28;12;06

So half the room they want to pay for,

the one gets professional one.

00;28;12;06 - 00;28;15;24

I go, but how many of you want to take it

with your phone?

00;28;16;21 - 00;28;18;29

Several raises their hand.

00;28;18;29 - 00;28;20;05

Like, how many of you?

00;28;20;05 - 00;28;23;04

So then they're like, okay, okay,

I see where you going with this?

00;28;23;16 - 00;28;23;23

Like,

00;28;23;23 - 00;28;26;14

what would the expectation be

if someone came up and said,

00;28;26;14 - 00;28;28;16

you can't take a picture

in front of the castle?

00;28;28;16 - 00;28;32;12

You got to go to those professional

photographers that that the Disney way.

00;28;33;03 - 00;28;34;24

Obviously

everyone's shaking their head. No.

00;28;35;25 - 00;28;38;23

Then then the question becomes,

can they take it in the same location

00;28;38;23 - 00;28;40;15

or is that going to cause issues

for the profession?

00;28;40;15 - 00;28;44;17

Like, so what would you expect as

a parent, as Disney, what your expectation

00;28;44;17 - 00;28;47;17

is that they go you could probably take

in the same location.

00;28;47;24 - 00;28;48;27

Okay.

00;28;48;27 - 00;28;52;13

Then what would your expectation be if

you asked the professional photographer,

00;28;52;23 - 00;28;55;02

do you mind taking it with our phone?

00;28;55;02 - 00;28;58;02

What do you expectation

be for the brand you built that Disney?

00;28;58;06 - 00;29;01;08

Did the photographer be nice and smile

and take a picture of the phone

00;29;01;11 - 00;29;02;27

so then a couple lawyers. Piper, go.

00;29;02;27 - 00;29;05;03

You can't do that

because they could drop the phone.

00;29;05;03 - 00;29;06;02

They drop the phone.

00;29;06;02 - 00;29;08;28

It's not only paying for the phone,

but it might have erased all the pictures.

00;29;08;28 - 00;29;11;26

I that's a good argument to remember.

00;29;11;26 - 00;29;15;04

What do you think that mom and dad from

Nebraska are thinking

00;29;15;14 - 00;29;17;09

when your photographer says no?

00;29;19;19 - 00;29;21;24

Okay, what's the cost of that?

00;29;21;24 - 00;29;23;03

That's a big cost, right?

00;29;23;03 - 00;29;24;29

It's bad for your reputation.

00;29;24;29 - 00;29;27;20

So when you look at it through that lens,

all of us.

00;29;27;20 - 00;29;28;21

No pun intended.

00;29;28;21 - 00;29;31;23

So all of a sudden it's

a different approach, right?

00;29;32;05 - 00;29;34;17

So then they go, okay.

00;29;34;17 - 00;29;36;24

And then they see the game.

00;29;36;24 - 00;29;39;29

The happiest place on Earth became

the most Instagrammed place on Earth,

00;29;40;13 - 00;29;42;11

just with the change of policy.

00;29;42;11 - 00;29;43;12

But if you walk into that meeting,

00;29;43;12 - 00;29;46;16

which that was like

the third week of that meeting,

00;29;47;08 - 00;29;50;07

that could have gone for months

and they probably would have

00;29;50;16 - 00;29;53;14

gone with what the lawyers were saying,

rather than actually getting

00;29;53;14 - 00;29;56;14

your feet on the ground,

thinking about it from the customer's lens

00;29;57;11 - 00;29;59;20

and and going from there.

00;29;59;20 - 00;30;01;27

It's I love that story.

00;30;01;27 - 00;30;04;27

And one of the reasons I love it

is because I've been in some version

00;30;04;27 - 00;30;07;17

of that meeting many times,

and I'm sure you have to.

00;30;07;17 - 00;30;11;17

And you know, you, you kind of gloss

over it and you make it sound so simple.

00;30;11;17 - 00;30;14;17

Oh, I just asked a few questions

and they got to the right conclusion.

00;30;14;18 - 00;30;15;23

But, you know,

00;30;15;23 - 00;30;18;27

I'm sure you've also been in meetings

where they get to the wrong conclusion.

00;30;19;11 - 00;30;21;04

As a participant in some sort.

00;30;22;23 - 00;30;23;08

And so

00;30;23;08 - 00;30;26;08

I wanted to ask you that the approach

that you took there

00;30;26;09 - 00;30;28;28

when I was just kind of processing

what you were asking you

00;30;28;28 - 00;30;30;21

you talked about this earlier,

but it sounds like there's

00;30;30;21 - 00;30;31;24

some sort of, like, implicit,

00;30;31;24 - 00;30;36;04

like almost like a smile test, like,

is this going to make my customers smile?

00;30;36;10 - 00;30;37;12

Is, is that right?

00;30;37;12 - 00;30;40;29

Or like, what's your sort of methodology

for coming up with the decision

00;30;40;29 - 00;30;44;00

that isn't just like,

don't use AI in the classroom

00;30;44;00 - 00;30;47;00

or isn't the classically backwards

decision?

00;30;47;19 - 00;30;48;24

Yeah, it's two things.

00;30;48;24 - 00;30;51;02

It's it's

why I discussed a little bit earlier.

00;30;51;02 - 00;30;53;20

It's looking for history for a guide.

00;30;53;20 - 00;30;56;28

Because again, a lot of this stuff,

it's similar construct

00;30;56;28 - 00;30;59;28

just new technology.

00;30;59;29 - 00;31;01;06

Remember MTV is good, right?

00;31;01;06 - 00;31;05;05

Everyone's kids brain and social media is

going to be the death of all our tweens.

00;31;05;19 - 00;31;08;06

And so it's really about knowing

this has happened before.

00;31;08;06 - 00;31;10;05

So using history as a guide.

00;31;10;05 - 00;31;11;12

So that's super super helpful.

00;31;11;12 - 00;31;13;21

And also to get over humps right.

00;31;13;21 - 00;31;17;10

So people can identify

that especially executives.

00;31;17;10 - 00;31;21;08

You can distill it down to that movie

trailer example to where

00;31;21;08 - 00;31;23;05

it's like,

remember when calculators first came out?

00;31;23;05 - 00;31;24;14

No one want to use in the classroom.

00;31;24;14 - 00;31;27;11

Everyone uses them today in the classroom.

It's a good thing, right?

00;31;27;11 - 00;31;30;13

So all of a sudden

that quickly distills thing down.

00;31;30;29 - 00;31;36;14

Or if it's in the moment,

I remember late 90s what,

00;31;36;16 - 00;31;40;26

no one's going to give their credit card

online or buy something that's crazy,

00;31;41;26 - 00;31;43;23

like go, what

do you do when you go to rush right now?

00;31;43;23 - 00;31;45;07

Who do you give that credit card to?

00;31;45;07 - 00;31;47;24

You give it to a person.

They take it back to the machine.

00;31;47;24 - 00;31;50;07

What you think they're doing back there

with their credit card.

00;31;50;07 - 00;31;51;18

They do anything they want.

00;31;51;18 - 00;31;53;29

This is a lot more secure than that. Also.

00;31;53;29 - 00;31;59;08

And you use those kind of examples,

that's in a moment in the moment example.

00;31;59;25 - 00;32;02;27

Then they can kind of

see it a little better. So

00;32;03;09 - 00;32;06;15

that's what I found really helpful

with working with any folks

00;32;06;15 - 00;32;10;09

is trying to figure out a common sense

approach these things.

00;32;10;09 - 00;32;13;25

And one of the common sense approaches is

what's at the end of the line.

00;32;13;25 - 00;32;17;22

And then the line is always a smile,

otherwise you're gonna be in business.

00;32;17;22 - 00;32;20;24

The reason you're in business

is you're creating a smile.

00;32;21;07 - 00;32;21;21

Yeah.

00;32;21;21 - 00;32;25;08

Even if you're a tax accountant,

you're my tax accountant.

00;32;26;08 - 00;32;27;16

I smile because I want to

00;32;27;16 - 00;32;31;22

spend 50 hours doing my taxes

for my small businesses.

00;32;32;07 - 00;32;32;26

They do it.

00;32;32;26 - 00;32;37;19

So they're removing that friction and God

bless them if they use technology

00;32;38;10 - 00;32;40;23

to make it easier and faster,

because that eventually

00;32;40;23 - 00;32;43;23

is going to make it cheaper and faster

for me as well.

00;32;45;11 - 00;32;48;09

So there's one more nuance

that I want to talk through,

00;32;48;09 - 00;32;52;10

because I think it like it

can be a sticking point for some people.

00;32;52;16 - 00;32;55;16

You mentioned earlier,

like the importance of boldness.

00;32;55;18 - 00;32;57;14

And I don't want to

I don't want to lose sight of the fact

00;32;57;14 - 00;33;00;23

that there's some level of boldness

required in this decision because, yeah,

00;33;00;24 - 00;33;03;07

I mean,

you talked about that, the lawyers.

00;33;03;07 - 00;33;06;03

But there's another angle here,

and we've talked about it

00;33;06;03 - 00;33;10;11

a few times already today,

which is there's somebody in this room

00;33;10;29 - 00;33;17;02

who's doing the math on the 40

bucks per photo and they're saying, whoa,

00;33;17;03 - 00;33;20;09

whoa, like, we're going to start

losing 40 bucks per photo.

00;33;20;09 - 00;33;22;11

Or if it's more blank,

they're saying, we've got

00;33;22;11 - 00;33;25;13

we've got there's somebody losing money

if we go digital.

00;33;25;13 - 00;33;28;00

And I'm like, I'm

categorizing all this as digital.

00;33;28;00 - 00;33;29;25

So you know, it,

00;33;29;25 - 00;33;33;15

it would be so easy if everything digital

or everything with new tech

00;33;33;22 - 00;33;37;11

didn't have any sort of disruption

or especially no financial disruption.

00;33;37;15 - 00;33;39;20

Yeah,

but there's always somebody left kind of,

00;33;39;20 - 00;33;43;02

you know, holding the bag of like,

well, I was the, you know,

00;33;43;17 - 00;33;48;10

I was the photographer leader and suddenly

over a year like that's got it's Disney.

00;33;48;10 - 00;33;51;21

It's got to be probably like, you know,

over a million bucks just for that one.

00;33;51;21 - 00;33;53;03

Castle. Yeah, yeah.

00;33;53;03 - 00;33;55;04

What do you need. What do you need

from a leadership perspective?

00;33;55;04 - 00;33;55;18

What do you need

00;33;55;18 - 00;34;00;04

organizationally to get people

to the right decision to cut through the.

00;34;00;11 - 00;34;02;29

But not every single person can win.

00;34;02;29 - 00;34;05;10

And yet somehow, we all win together.

00;34;05;10 - 00;34;06;03

Yeah, exactly.

00;34;06;03 - 00;34;09;03

Know that in that room

was the person exactly right.

00;34;09;17 - 00;34;11;19

The title is similar to what you said,

but it's just

00;34;11;19 - 00;34;12;26

one piece of the revenue stream.

00;34;12;26 - 00;34;13;12

But it was

00;34;13;12 - 00;34;18;22

it was those sizable double figures

in the billions from from the photography.

00;34;19;03 - 00;34;19;10

Yeah.

00;34;19;10 - 00;34;23;19

So then it became tricky

because you're trying to guess

00;34;23;22 - 00;34;26;24

what the return is for being

00;34;26;24 - 00;34;29;27

the most Instagram place on the planet.

00;34;30;24 - 00;34;33;11

So in those instances, I don't know.

00;34;33;11 - 00;34;35;17

I was only in that meeting,

so I don't know.

00;34;35;17 - 00;34;37;18

They eventually went with it. Yeah.

00;34;37;18 - 00;34;42;06

But let's say in that example

it could be I'm a big fan of beta tests.

00;34;42;06 - 00;34;43;28

So you know, you got to go into these.

00;34;43;28 - 00;34;46;00

That's what we teach at northwestern

as well.

00;34;46;00 - 00;34;48;18

Who's going to be the person

that's against you in that room.

00;34;48;18 - 00;34;50;27

And you need to meet with everyone

in that room before you get in there.

00;34;50;27 - 00;34;52;23

So you're not surprised,

like you already have

00;34;52;23 - 00;34;54;29

people forward against you

before you get in that meeting.

00;34;54;29 - 00;34;57;13

So you want to meet with all the people

before you get.

00;34;57;13 - 00;34;58;10

You don't want to be surprised.

00;34;58;10 - 00;34;59;15

Or in that meeting,

00;34;59;15 - 00;35;03;03

and so you want to get their advice

and attack it and even flip it on them.

00;35;03;03 - 00;35;06;03

The person that's giving the most

cantankerous, hey, can you argue

00;35;06;03 - 00;35;07;20

the point on the other side?

00;35;07;20 - 00;35;08;21

I'll defend it.

00;35;08;21 - 00;35;10;24

So that's a good thing that you get them

on the same page.

00;35;10;24 - 00;35;12;00

You can see both sides,

00;35;13;01 - 00;35;13;13

of that

00;35;13;13 - 00;35;17;10

argument, but a lot of times

for going into situations.

00;35;17;10 - 00;35;21;04

So if I were to use the Disney example,

is that you'd say, hey,

00;35;21;04 - 00;35;24;04

we're going to test

in our least popular park,

00;35;24;05 - 00;35;25;11

so let's do it.

00;35;25;11 - 00;35;27;28

For example,

it might be Paris, I don't know.

00;35;27;28 - 00;35;29;26

Sorry for Paris. Yeah.

00;35;29;26 - 00;35;31;28

We'll test out of the Paris Disney.

00;35;31;28 - 00;35;34;04

So you want to beta test this stuff?

00;35;34;04 - 00;35;36;15

That's a way to get approval, essentially.

00;35;36;15 - 00;35;38;25

Hey, we're just beta testing

in this market.

00;35;38;25 - 00;35;42;11

A lot of times it's like, hey, I was going

to beta test on this product line.

00;35;43;23 - 00;35;45;15

But in the instance

00;35;45;15 - 00;35;48;19

once it's this term

and then it's like, you have to agree.

00;35;48;19 - 00;35;50;25

That's why you need that culture of trust.

00;35;50;25 - 00;35;53;13

So the person that's going to lose,

I'm not going to say

00;35;53;13 - 00;35;56;13

the number, the millions of dollars

on the photography.

00;35;57;03 - 00;36;00;04

They've got to understand

that their goal gets reset.

00;36;00;04 - 00;36;03;03

Hey, this marketing is going to benefit

00;36;03;11 - 00;36;06;28

or the turnstile is going to benefit

because you're more visitors,

00;36;06;28 - 00;36;08;06

because people are exposed to it

00;36;08;06 - 00;36;11;09

via Instagram and see how exciting

the new Star Wars right is.

00;36;11;09 - 00;36;17;06

I was going to go because of Instagram

and so that department going to benefit.

00;36;17;06 - 00;36;20;26

But my department which had this

all this revenue from the photos

00;36;20;26 - 00;36;22;16

is going to take a hit.

00;36;22;16 - 00;36;25;16

So we've got to reset the goals

and be fair about this stuff.

00;36;26;08 - 00;36;27;23

That makes it makes complete sense.

00;36;27;23 - 00;36;29;25

So yeah, now

I love the beta testing approach.

00;36;29;25 - 00;36;30;14

I love the idea

00;36;30;14 - 00;36;34;09

of like actually supporting it

with data versus just a bunch of people

00;36;34;09 - 00;36;38;08

arguing in a room about what might happen,

makes, makes complete sense.

00;36;38;14 - 00;36;42;20

You know, you know, I'm curious again,

we've talked about new tech

00;36;42;20 - 00;36;45;29

and what it can do and what it can't do,

and some of the changing trends

00;36;47;01 - 00;36;47;22

as you think about the

00;36;47;22 - 00;36;52;13

impact on on leaders and on organizations,

what are you hearing

00;36;52;13 - 00;36;54;00

any bad advice right now

00;36;54;00 - 00;36;55;16

like are you seeing anything in the news

or is there

00;36;55;16 - 00;36;59;05

anything people are talking about that

you're like, yeah, that sounds trendy.

00;36;59;05 - 00;37;02;07

But like, I don't really think

that's going to take off.

00;37;03;29 - 00;37;04;24

I would say people

00;37;04;24 - 00;37;07;24

just say, hey,

these jobs are really taken right now.

00;37;08;09 - 00;37;12;03

Most of the time that change

is evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

00;37;12;03 - 00;37;13;02

It's going to change.

00;37;13;02 - 00;37;16;25

We don't have a person in the elevator

pushing buttons for us anymore,

00;37;17;13 - 00;37;18;24

and so those jobs change.

00;37;18;24 - 00;37;21;24

But now you have people

that are working on the elevators.

00;37;21;24 - 00;37;24;24

They'd like to learn how to work them,

then fix them.

00;37;25;23 - 00;37;28;22

Or if you ever see the movie

Hidden Figures, great movie.

00;37;29;07 - 00;37;30;17

So great movie.

00;37;30;17 - 00;37;34;25

It really showcases three women,

00;37;35;09 - 00;37;38;00

African-American women

that helped us get on the moon.

00;37;39;00 - 00;37;39;20

And during

00;37;39;20 - 00;37;42;26

that time when they're trying

to get on the moon, literally.

00;37;42;26 - 00;37;45;23

Most people don't know this,

but computers, the reason, are called

00;37;45;23 - 00;37;46;11

computers.

00;37;46;11 - 00;37;49;15

You had people that were doing

the computations of that math.

00;37;50;01 - 00;37;55;14

So in this movie they have paper

and pencil doing these long computations,

00;37;55;14 - 00;37;58;27

like putting just a bunch of people power

to these computations.

00;37;58;27 - 00;38;03;12

But obviously then IBM comes along and

they can start doing these computations.

00;38;03;12 - 00;38;06;12

So then those jobs do eventually go away.

00;38;06;17 - 00;38;10;10

But then the heroes in the story,

they actually get much better jobs

00;38;10;11 - 00;38;13;01

because one, for example, is now

00;38;13;01 - 00;38;16;00

these to train everyone

how to use this IBM computer.

00;38;16;18 - 00;38;20;01

And so they become much better

job positions.

00;38;20;01 - 00;38;23;14

So it's gets back to that

flexibility adoption.

00;38;23;14 - 00;38;25;00

Some of the winners right now

00;38;25;00 - 00;38;28;27

if if you want to change your career,

I always tell people, look,

00;38;29;14 - 00;38;32;14

you could become an expert on AI

because this stuff's so new.

00;38;32;23 - 00;38;33;23

If you dig into it

00;38;33;23 - 00;38;37;27

24 seven, you're going to know

more than 99% of the people in the world.

00;38;38;13 - 00;38;41;20

And so if it's an interest to you,

this is your moment

00;38;41;20 - 00;38;44;16

in time when these shifts happened

and it happened.

00;38;44;16 - 00;38;46;00

We think about social media.

00;38;46;00 - 00;38;47;12

You have all these social media

influences,

00;38;47;12 - 00;38;50;12

you have people, social media coaches,

all this stuff that occurs.

00;38;50;12 - 00;38;52;08

Social media photographers

00;38;52;08 - 00;38;55;12

is that when these shifts happen,

if you want to change your career

00;38;55;12 - 00;38;59;27

and your passion about this stuff, then,

then those are the winners as well. So

00;39;00;29 - 00;39;02;13

I there's not going to take

00;39;02;13 - 00;39;05;12

your job, but some of the knows how to use

AI, it's going to take your job.

00;39;05;14 - 00;39;08;08

Well, it sounds like you're pretty bullish

in general about,

00;39;08;08 - 00;39;12;08

you know, the impact on jobs that like

maybe I will take your job description,

00;39;12;19 - 00;39;15;23

but it's not going to take your job

or the, you know, the net number of jobs

00;39;15;23 - 00;39;18;05

is going to increase

or the the value of jobs.

00;39;18;05 - 00;39;19;25

Yeah, they're going to change.

00;39;19;25 - 00;39;23;26

I mean, all these things that change,

I mean, part of the reason it's so slow,

00;39;23;26 - 00;39;28;18

the self driving is the number one job in

America is drivers and God bless them.

00;39;28;18 - 00;39;33;17

But I mean little if you

in my personal opinion, I think that

00;39;33;18 - 00;39;36;13

if you just went to self driving,

I was hoping Singapore just does it.

00;39;36;13 - 00;39;39;03

Like that would be the beta to us.

Like Singapore just mandates everything.

00;39;39;03 - 00;39;42;22

Self-drive is like oh my gosh,

accidents went down 95%.

00;39;42;22 - 00;39;44;23

What happened? Oh,

because they're all self-driving.

00;39;44;23 - 00;39;46;15

They all talk to each other.

00;39;46;15 - 00;39;47;26

Yeah, there's a little bit of a learning

00;39;47;26 - 00;39;50;17

curve and stuff

and accidents still happen.

00;39;50;17 - 00;39;51;09

There's still death.

00;39;51;09 - 00;39;55;03

But it's that's but it's been

reduced to 90, 95% reduction.

00;39;56;06 - 00;39;58;08

So it'll be fascinating to see how.

00;39;58;08 - 00;40;01;16

So sometimes as things move slow because

00;40;01;23 - 00;40;04;24

whether it's governmental red tape,

whether it's just we're not ready for it,

00;40;05;21 - 00;40;07;18

the technology might be there,

but you have to wait.

00;40;07;18 - 00;40;09;24

Like the QR codes, you had to wait

00;40;09;24 - 00;40;12;20

since 94

to have them come out another pervasive.

00;40;12;20 - 00;40;14;23

And they're not perfect like

00;40;14;23 - 00;40;16;02

the key is the Flintstones.

00;40;16;02 - 00;40;18;26

Jetsons, right. The perfect worlds.

You go to the restaurant.

00;40;18;26 - 00;40;20;26

If I want a paper menu,

there's a paper menu.

00;40;20;26 - 00;40;24;04

If I want to use a QR code menu

to blow it up so I can see it better,

00;40;24;20 - 00;40;29;11

then I use the QR code menu

so that that's 1000 Jetsons.

00;40;30;01 - 00;40;32;05

Yeah, it,

00;40;32;05 - 00;40;33;09

it makes complete sense.

00;40;33;09 - 00;40;37;09

And, yeah, I like the

I like the framing of it.

00;40;37;09 - 00;40;38;13

And you know, if

00;40;38;13 - 00;40;39;16

if it's something that's valuable

00;40;39;16 - 00;40;41;19

to people, then,

you know, we're going to keep doing it

00;40;41;19 - 00;40;43;17

and we're going to make

a conscious decision to keep doing it.

00;40;43;17 - 00;40;48;01

But, you know, if the driver is you said

if you're not even looking for a driver,

00;40;48;01 - 00;40;51;11

you're just looking for your daughters

to get driven from point

00;40;51;11 - 00;40;54;11

A to point B, then you know,

what's the point?

00;40;54;20 - 00;40;56;27

Where like email or chat

bots have a bad name

00;40;56;27 - 00;40;59;07

because they're not used correctly?

Email is great if you use it.

00;40;59;07 - 00;41;02;24

Well, just like chat

bots are great if you use them well.

00;41;02;24 - 00;41;06;27

So for example, if I have an AI chat bot

at my hotel, things amazing.

00;41;06;27 - 00;41;10;13

If it's executing properly,

you're still going to have the concierge.

00;41;10;13 - 00;41;13;04

But if I just want to know what times

the gym open, it's 5 or 7.

00;41;13;04 - 00;41;14;00

Great.

00;41;14;00 - 00;41;16;06

Or can you book a just typing in?

00;41;16;06 - 00;41;19;10

If you book, the reservation

at the restaurant for me?

00;41;19;10 - 00;41;20;11

Absolutely.

00;41;20;11 - 00;41;21;12

Here you go.

00;41;21;12 - 00;41;23;25

Or what floor's the grand ballroom on?

00;41;23;25 - 00;41;26;07

Oh, it's on the third floor. Here's

how you get there.

00;41;26;07 - 00;41;28;28

Then there's other people that want

to use the concierge or it's not.

00;41;28;28 - 00;41;32;04

Give me the right answer,

but it's really bots are great

00;41;32;04 - 00;41;35;04

if they're used well, if you do them well,

00;41;35;11 - 00;41;38;04

then they're actually super helpful

and that ever wants to use it.

00;41;38;04 - 00;41;41;20

So you got to understand that there's

still that concierge probably there.

00;41;41;27 - 00;41;47;01

They might not have five concierge

because now you've given them scale

00;41;47;01 - 00;41;51;02

with, a chatbot concierge

that hopefully is functioning well.

00;41;52;12 - 00;41;52;26

That's funny.

00;41;52;26 - 00;41;56;18

I wanted to know their examples,

and I was been to Seattle and Georgia.

00;41;56;18 - 00;41;57;25

There's a lot of speaking events there.

00;41;57;25 - 00;42;02;03

So speaking there and at the cloisters,

and I would just need to know

00;42;02;03 - 00;42;03;22

what time the gym was open.

00;42;03;22 - 00;42;08;02

And so they had a chat bot and I texted it

and told me I was at seven.

00;42;08;02 - 00;42;12;05

Then I talked to a person at the front

desk that said, opens at eight.

00;42;12;05 - 00;42;15;05

So like, ooh,

which one's going to be right?

00;42;15;11 - 00;42;18;20

And it turned out the human was right.

00;42;18;20 - 00;42;21;08

I thought for sure

it'd be the chat bot there was. Right.

00;42;21;08 - 00;42;23;03

And then so

00;42;23;03 - 00;42;26;01

there's still some stuff, like anyone

that's used any of these tools,

00;42;26;01 - 00;42;30;10

it still misses some simple things,

but that one's just a programing error.

00;42;30;10 - 00;42;33;24

That's like ridiculous that it doesn't

know that answer because that's just

00;42;34;03 - 00;42;36;02

it was programed incorrectly.

00;42;36;02 - 00;42;36;19

Yeah.

00;42;36;19 - 00;42;42;02

But it speaks to it speaks to what

you value, I guess for your customers.

00;42;42;02 - 00;42;42;13

Right.

00;42;42;13 - 00;42;46;05

Do you value having a hotel

where you can have an always

00;42;46;05 - 00;42;49;10

on, always get a quick answer,

you know, reliably

00;42;49;10 - 00;42;53;05

that's extended service or do you value

that, you know, human connection.

00;42;53;14 - 00;42;53;21

Yeah.

00;42;53;21 - 00;42;58;23

And it's it's interesting because I don't

know, I'm maybe I'll be proven wrong.

00;42;58;23 - 00;43;02;28

Like maybe every single hotel in the world

will move to just like that

00;43;02;28 - 00;43;07;00

concierge model, but like, yeah, yeah,

that that case is a perfect case. Why?

00;43;07;00 - 00;43;10;25

You still may want to have a human

you talk to right now.

00;43;10;25 - 00;43;15;24

You want both, I mean, and so that's

not to your increasing the cost.

00;43;15;24 - 00;43;20;00

Like I said, it's

probably reduces the concierge staff down.

00;43;20;10 - 00;43;22;03

Right. And so it's trying to figure out

00;43;23;09 - 00;43;25;05

what's most of us want

00;43;25;05 - 00;43;28;05

in most instances kind of both

00;43;29;07 - 00;43;30;12

the of the optionality.

00;43;30;12 - 00;43;32;27

Like if I can get a quick answer,

these phone trees are terrible.

00;43;32;27 - 00;43;34;17

No one likes them

because they're design horribly.

00;43;34;17 - 00;43;35;18

I push like 20 buttons.

00;43;35;18 - 00;43;37;19

That goes to different departments.

00;43;37;19 - 00;43;40;22

But if, like Tony Shea before he passed

away, his thing was all about

00;43;41;05 - 00;43;45;20

while sitting there talking with them

like, what's the key to Zappos success?

00;43;45;20 - 00;43;48;02

You know,

you sold it for $1 billion to Amazon.

00;43;48;02 - 00;43;49;03

What what was the key?

00;43;49;03 - 00;43;51;28

Because I learned early on,

we don't sell shoes.

00;43;51;28 - 00;43;54;14

We sell customer service.

00;43;54;14 - 00;43;57;14

There were in the business and not shoes

were in the business of customer service.

00;43;57;14 - 00;43;58;23

Like what do you mean by that?

00;43;58;23 - 00;44;02;11

You goes, well, I looked at our marketing

budget is 40 million.

00;44;02;16 - 00;44;07;02

I go, what would happen if I move that

40 million over to customer service?

00;44;08;19 - 00;44;08;29

And so

00;44;08;29 - 00;44;12;22

what would happen is that now

I'm not judging my Net Promoter score,

00;44;12;22 - 00;44;15;08

which those listeners that don't know what

that is, it really judges.

00;44;15;08 - 00;44;19;22

It's a it's a universal tool,

allows you to compare yourself

00;44;20;05 - 00;44;23;11

what your customer service levels

are to other people,

00;44;23;12 - 00;44;26;05

not only in your market,

other people that sell shoes.

00;44;26;05 - 00;44;28;13

So or

00;44;28;13 - 00;44;31;15

in other markets,

like cruise lines, for example.

00;44;32;09 - 00;44;35;20

And so he goes, oh, allowed me to say

instead of most companies

00;44;35;20 - 00;44;38;15

would badger their customer service

to get off the phone

00;44;38;15 - 00;44;41;15

as quickly as possible

because that costs money.

00;44;41;24 - 00;44;45;04

Once I move that $40 million over, I go.

00;44;45;04 - 00;44;46;14

If they want to talk to you on the phone

00;44;46;14 - 00;44;48;24

about where's the best place

to get pizza and Vegas,

00;44;48;24 - 00;44;51;29

because that's where Zappos

was headquartered, then stay on the phone

00;44;52;04 - 00;44;55;09

with that person

because I know that's my new marketing.

00;44;55;10 - 00;44;59;12

It's going to be that word of mouth that

we go above and beyond for the customer.

00;44;59;12 - 00;45;01;20

And that's better money

spent than the 40 million

00;45;01;20 - 00;45;03;07

I was going to spend on

traditional marketing.

00;45;03;07 - 00;45;04;18

Digital marketing

00;45;04;18 - 00;45;07;12

is that I moved that over

because I think that's the new marketing.

00;45;07;12 - 00;45;10;08

That's his.

I'm speaking what he was saying.

00;45;10;08 - 00;45;11;09

That's the new marketing.

00;45;11;09 - 00;45;14;05

So that's why they became so successful.

00;45;14;05 - 00;45;17;07

So sometimes it's

just thinking differently,

00;45;17;07 - 00;45;20;04

but it's always about thinking

about your customer first.

00;45;21;03 - 00;45;21;23

It's thinking

00;45;21;23 - 00;45;24;29

outside in versus inside out one.

00;45;24;29 - 00;45;28;29

It's, I really like that example

because it highlights like the power

00;45;28;29 - 00;45;30;16

and the tyranny of metrics. Right.

00;45;30;16 - 00;45;32;01

Like what are you actually measuring?

00;45;32;01 - 00;45;35;16

And if you're measuring, you know,

how many of these things can,

00;45;36;01 - 00;45;37;21

customer service agent resolve?

00;45;37;21 - 00;45;38;05

Yeah, sure.

00;45;38;05 - 00;45;39;24

I mean,

you can send that through the roof,

00;45;39;24 - 00;45;41;17

but one of the trade offs, like, once

00;45;41;17 - 00;45;44;17

you flip that on its head and say, like,

how happy are the people like

00;45;44;19 - 00;45;48;20

and and by the way, I, I'm a huge advocate

of just, like, happy customers.

00;45;48;20 - 00;45;52;14

Like how happy stakeholders like,

I feel like that's a good measure.

00;45;52;14 - 00;45;54;00

So that's it's really interesting.

00;45;54;00 - 00;45;56;05

I really like that example.

00;45;56;05 - 00;45;57;28

That is crazy

because you're in their office

00;45;57;28 - 00;45;58;24

and that's what they

00;45;58;24 - 00;46;02;02

they are just a whiteboard

and they erase the Net Promoter score

00;46;02;02 - 00;46;05;07

every day just to see what the number was

handwritten like.

00;46;05;19 - 00;46;06;16

There's other stuff on there.

00;46;06;16 - 00;46;08;24

I was like, crazy dude,

I you're let me in here.

00;46;08;24 - 00;46;11;18

Like, I can see all that stuff.

I won't say anything. I'm.

00;46;11;18 - 00;46;13;01

I was reading a book at the time.

00;46;13;01 - 00;46;16;18

I go, well, unless you say I was okay

for you to put what's on that board.

00;46;16;18 - 00;46;17;27

And then it went to a party later

that night.

00;46;17;27 - 00;46;20;07

I was like,

this is nuts, what's happening here?

00;46;20;07 - 00;46;21;12

But I'll keep it off the record.

00;46;23;01 - 00;46;24;04

That's so cool.

00;46;24;04 - 00;46;24;29

So I want to,

00;46;24;29 - 00;46;27;03

Eric, I do want to come back to something

we were talking about at that,

00;46;27;03 - 00;46;30;03

the beginning of this conversation,

which is,

00;46;30;26 - 00;46;35;01

the fact that I may be kind of undervalued

short term, but.

00;46;35;10 - 00;46;38;16

Or. Sorry, it's overvalued, short

term, undervalued, long term.

00;46;39;23 - 00;46;44;03

When we look at the long term, call it

like 2030 or beyond, you know what?

00;46;44;05 - 00;46;47;16

What's kind of the Eric Coleman

version of what the future looks like?

00;46;47;16 - 00;46;50;20

Like what are the big things long term

that you think we're going

00;46;50;20 - 00;46;54;02

to see that are different from, you know,

how things are running right now.

00;46;57;15 - 00;46;59;17

I mean, you're going to have basically

00;46;59;17 - 00;47;02;25

your agent, for lack of a better term,

00;47;03;21 - 00;47;06;19

doing proactive stuff for you

so you don't have to do it.

00;47;08;11 - 00;47;11;11

It, it's,

it's a long term because honestly,

00;47;12;07 - 00;47;15;09

20 years ago I was at these things

called Google Dances.

00;47;15;23 - 00;47;19;13

It's a total nerd thing, but it's like all

00;47;19;13 - 00;47;23;00

the people are in search because search

was the cat's meow at the time.

00;47;23;00 - 00;47;24;15

Like organic paid search.

00;47;24;15 - 00;47;26;02

How do you show up high in the rankings?

00;47;26;02 - 00;47;30;11

So it have these Google dances,

where they give you a little inside

00;47;30;11 - 00;47;33;18

baseball sometimes not too much about

how you can show up higher.

00;47;33;24 - 00;47;36;11

But they had this

big party dance at the end.

00;47;36;11 - 00;47;40;11

But I bring that up because at the time

they still haven't done this,

00;47;40;11 - 00;47;43;17

which is shocking to me

because they can flip a switch.

00;47;43;17 - 00;47;45;11

Right now

00;47;45;11 - 00;47;47;23

I basically use Google Calendar.

00;47;47;23 - 00;47;50;19

You know, I use Google Maps,

like all of us.

00;47;50;19 - 00;47;54;03

We're using all these tools

that are in their family, in their house.

00;47;55;05 - 00;47;57;16

And it still doesn't tell me, hey,

you got to leave

00;47;57;16 - 00;48;00;18

five minutes or you gotta leave now, Eric,

because there's traffic.

00;48;00;19 - 00;48;02;12

Google maps knows there's traffic.

00;48;02;12 - 00;48;04;21

It's talking to Google Calendar.

00;48;04;21 - 00;48;07;03

You've got a 2:00 appointment.

00;48;07;03 - 00;48;08;29

You need to leave now.

00;48;08;29 - 00;48;10;15

You know, you probably were going to leave

00;48;10;15 - 00;48;12;04

ten minutes

like you normally do to get there.

00;48;12;04 - 00;48;14;09

That's not the case. Things just shifted.

00;48;14;09 - 00;48;17;00

So that's just an example of what I like.

00;48;17;00 - 00;48;18;05

Why isn't that here?

00;48;18;05 - 00;48;20;01

So for someone like me and probably you

00;48;20;01 - 00;48;22;00

and our listeners,

it gets a little frustrating.

00;48;22;00 - 00;48;23;25

Like why is that so slow?

00;48;23;25 - 00;48;26;22

They can turn that on right now,

but looking out

00;48;26;22 - 00;48;29;28

ahead, it's really getting back

to what I mentioned, which I call.

00;48;29;28 - 00;48;32;28

So, you know, individual redundancy.

00;48;33;00 - 00;48;39;11

So removing multiple individual

redundancies so that if I have a kid

00;48;40;11 - 00;48;41;01

and I also

00;48;41;01 - 00;48;44;04

need this will and testament

before is just me, I didn't care.

00;48;44;04 - 00;48;46;11

But now it's like, whoa,

I actually need to put out this.

00;48;46;11 - 00;48;49;09

Well, who is this going to go to

00;48;49;09 - 00;48;53;03

now I'm just starting from point

A zero, ground zero.

00;48;53;03 - 00;48;53;25

I don't know anything about it.

00;48;53;25 - 00;48;55;25

Well, I got to figure out,

is there a lawyer that's going to help me?

00;48;55;25 - 00;48;57;10

We can do it through a legal zoom. What?

00;48;57;10 - 00;48;59;03

What's how do I do this?

00;48;59;03 - 00;49;02;08

But again, proactively, your agent's

going to be able to do that for you.

00;49;02;22 - 00;49;05;08

They'll be able to look to see

what's been done before.

00;49;05;08 - 00;49;06;18

Quickly do it.

00;49;06;18 - 00;49;10;05

Eric, do you want me to get your will

and to submit written?

00;49;10;08 - 00;49;12;11

Yes, please.

00;49;12;11 - 00;49;13;06

Here's your options.

00;49;13;06 - 00;49;16;15

We recommend this one is going to cost

this if it costs anything at all.

00;49;16;22 - 00;49;18;11

So a lot of that

underwriting is going away.

00;49;18;11 - 00;49;20;01

Those are some of the losers right now

00;49;20;01 - 00;49;22;02

a lot of that simple

underwriting is going away.

00;49;23;02 - 00;49;27;07

And so that's what gets me excited or

00;49;28;24 - 00;49;31;10

let's say about your smart home

00;49;31;10 - 00;49;33;25

half pipe just burst.

00;49;33;25 - 00;49;36;25

We're just

we've got a plumber on the way to fix it.

00;49;37;23 - 00;49;41;18

So that agent's already doing that for,

you know, the house already recognized

00;49;41;18 - 00;49;42;19

something went awry.

00;49;42;19 - 00;49;46;05

Or hopefully it notices

that things about to break before it does.

00;49;47;15 - 00;49;50;29

And that's already here, like drones

and AI sensors are being used

00;49;50;29 - 00;49;53;26

on these pipelines to indicate

that's worn out before you to have, like,

00;49;53;26 - 00;49;55;07

a manual

00;49;55;07 - 00;49;58;12

person kind of go along the Alaskan

pipeline to figure out where it's weak.

00;49;58;12 - 00;50;01;12

Now it's got technology

that can do that for you with AI.

00;50;02;06 - 00;50;06;27

So that's what I see out there,

just us having it's the greatest time.

00;50;07;05 - 00;50;08;20

This is the best time to ever live.

00;50;08;20 - 00;50;11;05

Amazing, right? So good.

00;50;11;05 - 00;50;11;12

Yeah.

00;50;11;12 - 00;50;14;09

There's complications,

but it's only get better and better

00;50;14;09 - 00;50;16;11

the stuff that we go through,

these complications.

00;50;16;11 - 00;50;20;14

But, gosh, imagine just having to pull out

your paper map again.

00;50;20;22 - 00;50;21;29

Get lost.

00;50;21;29 - 00;50;24;12

So that's great I.

00;50;24;12 - 00;50;25;27

I love that optimism.

00;50;25;27 - 00;50;28;07

And it's, it's a really compelling vision.

00;50;28;07 - 00;50;30;08

Eric, I want to say a big

thank you for joining today.

00;50;30;08 - 00;50;33;08

It's been a really great conversation

and I appreciate your insights.

00;50;33;18 - 00;50;34;11

No, I love it.

00;50;34;11 - 00;50;35;06

I'll do it again, sir.

00;50;35;06 - 00;50;37;18

That's fantastic.

Thank you to all your listeners. Love it.