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AI is causing tremendous amounts of uncertainty and anxiety among business leaders as well as their workforces. It reminds me of the near-panic leading up to Y2K on January 1, 2000, when the world worried that computers would malfunction, causing widespread chaos and disruption to power grids, transportation networks, financial systems and medical equipment.
At the time, many computer systems were using two digits to represent the year, leading to fears that they might interpret the year 2000 as 1900. I spent much of 1999 flying to as many as three cities a day to reassure healthcare clients that my company’s clinical and care delivery software would continue working as I also re-installed what felt like millions of floppy disk upgrades.
We may never truly understand how or if a real crisis was averted because so many organizations made significant investments updating their software, hardware, and databases to correctly handle the year 2000. It was a rapid fire plan, met with every hand on deck, supported with special budgets devoted to resolving Y2K problems. The pivot of all pivots, I would contend.
The Y2K scare required resilience, which the American Psychological Association defines as the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences. Luckily, resilience is a skill that can be developed and strengthened over time.
In business, resilience is the key to innovation and growth. Which makes it absolutely necessary for navigating this evolving age of AI, where the future is cloudy and intimidating, to say the least. It will be pure will and determination that will drive us through the pioneering days of AI.
Sooner and later, AI is going to upend much of business as we now know it. But how it will do so is far from clear. And for good or for bad, we may not know yet. With such uncertainty, how can a company and management team cultivate resilience to meet this challenge?
1. Start by asking the right strategic question.
Which is: Where do I want my business to be in three to five years? Grounding the future in this framework underscores that any technology including AI, no matter how revolutionary, is a tool, not a strategy.
2. Build the right leadership team.
You need an effective blend of experience, capabilities and behavior, including the ability to not only embrace change but normalize change, perform as team players and model the organization’s cultural values.
3. Resist reacting in the moment.
Determine a best plan, seek progress over perfection and press ahead by gathering and evaluating information and then making iterative adjustments based on what you know.
4. Pick the best partners.
Few companies have the required AI specialists on staff, making it imperative to forgo trying to do everything AI in-house. Leverage outside products, applications and experts to accelerate your enterprise’s glidepath to AI ROI.
5. Invest for success.
Just as with Y2K or transformational technology moments, AI opportunities and risks demand sponsorship by senior leadership and dedicated resources.
6. Plan on getting some of it wrong.
Adopt fast failing. Experiment with different applications, possibly two or more for some of the same operations. Cut your losses within a reasonable timeframe and adjust as needed. The team will thank you and the innovation advantages you gain will be worth the iterations.
7. Think through and prepare to address any impact on your workforce, processes, technology and collaborations.
AI is likely to bring more efficiency and automation, but it won’t replace humans instantly. You can ask: Do I stop hiring for certain roles? Or wait to hire for new roles? Will I need to communicate this automation transformation? Who needs retraining/reskilling? Think through how you will bring the company on the journey to AI – no one should feel left behind.
AI is driving a step change in business, much like the advent of the Internet. If you aren’t pioneering the use of AI to drive your strategic goals, then you better be a fast follower. To survive and even thrive in the age AI, organizations and their leadership teams need to move forward deliberately but swiftly. AI’s own ‘Y2K’ disruption is here, so let’s go.
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