11 December 2023 / 6:00 PM / ATLAS Building, CU Boulder
Our meeting will feature discussions on adapting to the challenges of an AI-driven era, focusing on strategic time management, aligning business goals with user needs, and reimagining business strategies for future growth. Join us to gain insights into leveraging AI for organizational success and navigating the complexities of rapidly evolving technology landscapes.
Our first speaker, Brad Perkins is a seasoned professional in design thinking, digital product strategy, and organizational transformation. With over a decade of experience leading large digital experience improvements and organizational workflow optimization efforts, Bradley has excelled in creating clarity for leaders and execution teams by aligning end users’ fundamental needs and behaviors, with business goals, while emphasizing purpose driven design and implementation plans.
Brad will discuss adapting behaviors and business structures for success in the AI-driven world, emphasizing the importance of time management and strategic focus to harness AI’s potential while upholding human values. This talk aims to prepare us for the future by reorienting our focus and strategies in the context of AI’s growing influence.
Our second speaker, Bill Quinn, is a futurist with TCS. With more than 25 years of leadership experience in both venture-backed start-ups and large enterprise businesses – including innovation, strategy development, product management and marketing – he helps business leaders “connect the dots” to reimagine and navigate the future.
Bill will discuss how AI is accelerating already changing industry dynamics, science and technology advancements, emerging ecosystems, and increasingly complex customer and stakeholder expectations. He will make the case that enterprises must think differently and reimagine how they do business – to optimize performance today and create new future-forward growth opportunities. He will then provide a framework for thinking about the future in an AI-driven world to help unravel the complexity and provide an action-oriented path forward for businesses.
Notes
This meeting discussed the growing capabilities and impacts of artificial intelligence.
Brad Perkins (link to deck) began by talking about how AI will speed up existing problems in businesses and require companies to have clarity of purpose and vision. He provided a framework for creating clarity involving understanding why a project is being done, who it is for, mapping out the current and desired future states. Some of the Brad’s key takeaways included the following:
- AI will speed up existing problems in businesses if the underlying issues aren’t addressed
- Companies need clarity of purpose and vision to effectively leverage AI
- A framework for creating clarity:
- Understand why, who, current and future states
- Identify opportunities and define challenges
- Ideate solutions and map out workflows
- Consider MVP features and test concepts
- Clarity is needed to organize thinking and ensure the right problems are being solved before implementing AI tools
Bill Quinn (link to deck) then discussed how AI will accelerate changes in many industries and require new ways of thinking. He emphasized the need to rehearse future scenarios and ask “what if” questions. He outlined a model for considering how AI could both positively and negatively impact different areas like health, education, work and more. Some of Bill’s key takeaways include the following:
- AI will accelerate already changing industry dynamics across sectors
- Enterprises must think differently and reimagine how they do business to optimize performance and growth with AI
- A convergence model to consider how AI could impact and be impacted by various areas like the economy, environment, politics, etc.
- Examples of potential AI impacts included personal robots, crisis response systems, digital twins for modeling scenarios
- Companies should rehearse future scenarios by asking “what if” questions to avoid problems and leverage opportunities
- A maturity model was proposed comparing AI adoption to electricity in manufacturing, suggesting it may take decades to fully realize AI’s potential
There was discussion of how AI may disrupt jobs and careers but also create new opportunities. Speakers encouraged focusing on intangible skills like problem solving, collaboration and lifelong learning. Questions from attendees explored topics like adopting AI in conservative companies, potential guardrails as AI capabilities increase, and managing feelings of uncertainty or anger around technological changes.