You’re in marketing for one reason: Grow. Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here. -Mark Schaefer
The other day, I caught myself saying something that is a sure sign I am failing as a business leader.
I was conversing with friends about yet another breathtaking tech advance when I suddenly felt overwhelmed by AI exhaustion. “I don’t want to try any more apps,” I said. “I just want somebody to do this for me.”
As I thought about this statement later, I realized I had put myself on a path of irrelevance.
Here’s why …
Asking the right questions
One of the most powerful pieces of advice I’ve received came from the legendary Peter Drucker when I was his student at Claremont Graduate University. He said that great leaders don’t need to have all the right answers, but they need to ask all the right questions.
Especially today, we can’t have all the answers. The world is changing too fast. But to have the right questions, we have to know what is possible. And you can’t know what’s possible if you’re hiding under a blanket, hoping the AI revolution goes away.
By abdicating my responsibility to try new AI apps, I was jeopardizing my effectiveness as a teacher, a consultant, and a person who is trying to show up as a marketing thought leader. I will fail to have “leading thoughts” if I let other people do the work.
I’ve been speaking around the world about AI and business, and I implore my audiences to spend time experimenting with AI every day. I need to follow my own advice, and I will.
Moving to the new AI groove takes time. And that’s painful. But we need to do the work right now. You can’t be halfway relevant.
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