The Top 2 Questions Companies Should Be Asking About AI

This transcript was created using AI tools and is not a verbatim, word-for-word transcript of the episode. Please forgive any errors or omissions from the finished product.

Courtney: Out of the hundreds, if not thousands of questions you could be asking about AI, what are the two foundational questions that executives should be thinking about to drive the most leverage in their business? Today, we’re going to answer that, and then I’m going to have David and Mohan join me to play a new game that we call in the news or not so much.

Let’s see how you stack up against our experts.

Courtney: Hi, I’m Courtney Baker, and this is the AI Knowhow podcast from Knownwell, helping you reimagine your business in the AI era. Today, I’m joined by Knownwell CEO, David DeWolf, and Chief Product Officer, Mohan Rao, to talk about the two foundational questions executives should be asking about AI. Our Chief Strategy Officer, Pete Buer, will also get insight into the same question from Andre Yee, the founder of Triblio and a former SVP of product at Eloqua. But first, the news.

As always, Knownwell’s Chief Strategy Officer, Pete Buer, joins us to break down some of this week’s biggest AI news in the business world and dissect what it means for executives.

Hey Pete, welcome to the show.

Pete: Hey, Courtney, how are you?

Courtney: I’m good.

So, first up, IBM put out a press release where they announced their commitment to train 2 million people globally on AI within the next 3 years, specifically with a focus on underrepresented communities. The press release says, among other things, that through IBM Skills Build, learners across the world can benefit from AI education developed by IBM experts to provide the latest in cutting-edge technology development.

Pete, if you’re an executive listening or watching, is this a big deal, or is training 2 million people on AI in a world of 8 billion people just a drop in the bucket?

Pete: Well, I applaud IBM for setting a target in the first place and giving themselves a timeline to get the job done. So, 2 million, 20 million, I don’t know what the right number is, but hats off for taking it on. If I’m an executive listening, the first thing I should do is go check out IBM Skills Build.

There’s great content on there, and so they’re gonna get to their 2 million number. One part by way of partnerships with universities and one part through the Skills Build platform. So take advantage of that. Practically speaking, I think this is a benefit for everybody involved, right? Society ultimately gets a gain in the form of free education and better education in schools.

IBM benefits because it’s…Brand as an AI expert is enhanced, and they probably guarantee themselves a stream of talent in the future. So, hats off. The last thought I’ll add on it is, I love that IBM is making a move in the space of responsibility. And if you’re an executive listening, you might not be a great big company like IBM, but there is something that you can be doing, you and your team, um, to make a difference.

Courtney: So well said, and I mean, it’s really why our company, Knownwell, exists, is because we want to have really great ethical voices speaking into this new transformational technology, and so IBM’s really giving us a good model of, you know, if all of our companies kind of take a step towards this. There can be a lot of good that comes from this tool, so hats off to IBM.

Okay, the next piece of news is from the UK. Their competition watchdog isn’t really down with ChatGPT, according to an article in The Guardian. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority said people should not assume a positive outcome from AI, especially if just a few players come to dominate the space.

Pete, what do you make of CMA’s warnings and its recommendations here?

Pete: I think the warnings are fair, and the concerns are real, and this isn’t the first place where we’ve, you know, read about them or heard about them. The notion of a small number of entrenched big companies, taking control of the AI market, ends up not being good for, uh, a lot of people; they’ll be able to set prices in a way that, uh, corporations and individuals won’t benefit from, and innovation doesn’t flourish.

And so, if I’m, uh, an executive wondering how I can make a difference here, I’d probably go in the same direction that this committee has gone, which is to take whatever steps I can to, encourage competition. So, cast your nets wide when you’re sourcing new product.

Courtney: So, Pete, the last piece of news feels like it could be a true or false here. I’ll just throw it your way; you tell me where it lands for you. This headline is, ‘Teachers are warned to stop attempting to root out AI homework cheats with software.’ Do you think that headline is real? Fake? Where you landing, Pete?

Pete: I assume it’s real. I think any new tool that shows up in the market and is used by education presents the same set of questions. And so I think the challenge is just figuring out how exactly are we going to use AI. It shouldn’t replace fundamental building block learning. But, it should be a tool to enhance a child or adult learner’s ability to get good homework done.

Uh, it’s ironic. We just talked about IBM training two million people in the next three years. And here we are asking the question of whether or not we should, you know, put our kids on it. I think that the final consideration, though, is just controlling how kids use AI, which, of course, uh, is the easiest thing in the world to do with kids.

Courtney: Absolutely, and I gotta imagine whenever the calculator was invented, which I don’t know, uh, when that was, that teachers also had the problem of, like, we’re not gonna let them, or are we gonna let them use this new technology in the classroom.

Pete: And now my, my kids are using the calculator, taking their SATs. So…

Courtney: Yes, yes, exactly. It’s a new day if we’re already talking about how do we teach our children in the classroom with AI. We’ve really got to figure out how are we teaching people within our companies to utilize this tool well and successfully and ethically. Pete, thank you for helping us translate the news that’s coming from the world of AI. Thanks for joining me today.

Pete: My pleasure. I love it.

Courtney: If you’re an executive, you likely can’t turn on the TV or check your email without hearing about the massive impact AI is going to have on your business. So, where do you even begin? I talked to Knownwell CEO, David DeWolf, and Chief Product Officer, Mohan Rao, about this very topic.

David, Mohan, welcome to the show.

David: It’s great to be here. Thanks for having us.

Mohan: Hello. Hey.

Courtney: On our last episode, kind of organically, y’all started naming out some things that need to be in place before an organization can really start building an AI-literate leadership team. So I’m going to just throw some questions at you that we kind of outlined last time and just get your feedback on how should they approach these types of questions.

So the first one, again we mentioned this on our last episode. When it comes to culture and leadership, the first question they need to be asking is, do they have the right culture and leadership in place to take full advantage of AI?

David: What comes to my mind is that there are different types of leaders, right? There are maintainers. There are folks that thrive in driving change in managing change. We’re at an interesting point where I fundamentally believe that the business of tomorrow is going to be fundamentally different from what it is today, right?

There’s a new operating system that’s going to exist within a modern business. 10 years from now. We need to step back and think about that leadership. Do we have the leadership that it takes to drive that type of change to make that happen? So we don’t get left behind. But then I think the other piece of it is the culture piece of it that you mentioned, Courtney, because leadership is one thing, and great leaders will drive culture and help to curate culture.

Courtney: David, isn’t that a little oxymoronic? I mean, you need to know who you are and still be driving change here.

David: Yeah, that’s a great point. Yeah. How are you grounded in who we are as an organization is a key question to me. It’s actually a fundamental question of culture.

Mohan: Yes, and of values as well. You know, you need to know who you are, what you stand for. And then have strong leadership to drive these changes.

David: I think people often mistake culture for the ping pong table, the free food, the whatever it is that’s tangible. To me, culture is actually an embodiment of our values. Do we live them? And I remember when I was building 3Pillar, um, that organization went from being six people in a room to 2,500 people around the globe.

One of our values was called open collaboration, right? We can imagine what it was. We can describe it. Here’s the key point: the way I lived that out, the way I lived that and let it in a six-person organization that all shared the same office was fundamentally different in the specifics, in the manifestation, than it was at 2000 people operating in 10 different countries.

Right? People get that when they hear it. It doesn’t mean the value changes, but the manifestation of the value changes. And I think abstracting the values to that point and really making that the foundation, the principle, the value, the being the essence of culture is really critical and can help you navigate change.

Mohan: Right. It’s about creating clarity and navigating the transformation that’s required.

David: Well said.

Courtney: So, as a leadership team, that’s a first question that you should be asking. Do you have the right culture and leadership in place to take full advantage? The second question, David, Mohan, that I want to talk about is the knowledge and strategy piece. What do they need to be thinking about when it comes to having those in place to really execute these AI initiatives that I’m sure are going to be coming more rapidly over time?

Mohan: The key aspect here is to understand what AI can do for you. Uh, right. So, it is ultimately a tool for productivity. It’s a human aid that makes everything go faster. Then the question becomes, how can you differentiate yourself from the competition better?

Right? That’s what really AI comes down to and understanding the value chain components and driving AI in each of those. What do you think, David?

David: I think you hit the nail on the head. Um, I think one of the big mistakes that organizations and leaders make is they actually don’t define what they mean by strategy. And in way too many organizations, I go in, and what they mean by strategy is a big, important decision. Well, that’s not strategy. You hit the nail on the head. Strategy is understanding how you compete.

What do we do better than anybody in the world? And how do we differentiate that from our competition so that we can win business, right? That’s the essence of strategy. And then everything else you do in an organization should reinforce that and monetize it. Okay, AI Is about the reinforcing of that and the monetizing of that.

How do we do that with this artificial aid that is taking and supercharging what we had to do? Manually or intellectually in the past, right? And so having that in mind and being super clear on that, I think, can help you to optimize and to transform your value streams so that you’re pushing value to the client faster and you’re actually reinforcing these strategic trade off decisions that you made.

If you don’t know what those strategic trade off decisions are, it’s going to be impossible to automate them and help that to go faster and be stronger.

Courtney: So I think this has been a really helpful conversation, and I just keep thinking over and over again about. It is basic. It’s not easy, and so for everybody listening, I think it would be helpful; what are their next steps? What would y’all recommend they do today, or this week, to really start making movement on these topics?

David: You know, Courtney, a practice that I have that I think is… Really helpful is to prioritize the dissemination of what our core DNA as an organization is. And there’s two components that I really focus on. The first one is our ideology. Our ideology is our purpose, our values, our vision. It’s who we are and where we’re going.

And we should be able to distill each one of those down to less than a page, right? Literally bullet points. Right? Number two is our strategy. How do we compete? And fundamentally asking the question, what is our unrivaled capability and what is our differentiation? What are those trade off decisions we’re making?

I think if leaders can step back and ask themselves, do I have that written down? Not, can I talk to it over 45 minutes? Do I have it written down where we are crisp and clear on who we are, where we’re going and how we compete? And do I? Beat the drum over and over and over again. Do I push it out? Do I put it in front of people?

Do I remind them? Do I praise people for living up to those ideals? Do I reinforce through my decisions and my actions, what those competitive trade offs are, do I say no to things that are outside of those trade offs? Going back all the time to those core fundamental documents that aren’t about marketing.

They’re not about fluff. It’s not about training materials. It is the core and is the essence. Do I have them boiled down and do I continually reinforce them? Do it. Do it tomorrow.

Mohan: You need to know that. But then you also need to understand the potential competitive advantage through AI that you can get and the risks of not doing it. Uh, from a disruption that you might face, uh, right? So that kind of puts a little bit of the scare, uh, right?

So and make it a little more grounded.

David: And I think the risks of it, right? The fundamental risk of we’re going through a period of uncertainty and change. And so being crystal clear on who we are, where we’re going, and how we compete is essential because what does AI do? AI, Artificial intelligence, isn’t coming up with brand new ideas. It is taking what exists in regurgitating it to us, right?

Fundamentally, this is programmatic. Now, it is the most complex programmatic mechanism we’ve ever seen, right? But it’s amplifying what already exists is what AI is fundamentally doing.

Mohan: I think it’s a fundamental shift more similar to browser technology. Uh, right, so it’s not going away.

Uh, right, the, but it doesn’t mean everything’s going to be 100 percent transformed in the next two years. Uh, right, so we want to say that it is a fundamental shift that’s going on here.

Courtney: You’re an executive in the pursuit of excellence, and you know leveraging AI is pivotal in your company’s future. We’ve created an exclusive AI readiness assessment that’s available right now at knownwell.com. Now, you may be asking yourself, why take this assessment? Two reasons. The first is strategic insight. You’re going to be able to discover the pivotal steps to catapult AI-driven growth in your business. The second is some customized analysis to help you uncover specific areas that need enhancement for optimal AI implementation.

The assessment is quick and insightful. In just 10 minutes, you’re going to be able to redefine your business trajectory when it comes to AI. You can access it now at Knownwell. We’ve talked about the most important questions executives should be asking about AI. Now, let’s hear from another successful tech entrepreneur and executive who’s working on an AI-powered B2B sales and marketing startup as we speak. Knownwell Chief Strategy Officer, Pete Buer, chatted with Andre Yee about how executives should educate themselves and their organizations in the AI space. Andre founded TripleO, which he sold in 2021, and has had successful leadership stints in a number of top technology companies, including Eloqua and Oracle.

Pete: Andre, welcome. We are so honored to have you join us.

Andre Yee: Thanks, Pete. Great to be here. Thanks for having me on.

Pete: So, as you’re aware, uh, the topic for today’s conversation is the top two foundational questions executives should be asking themselves about AI. What’s your take?

Andre Yee: Um, well, you know, as you say that, I think actually 3 questions come to…

Pete: Always breaking the rules. Go ahead.

Andre Yee: So I think the first, the first question is pretty obvious. How do I transform my business? Um, with, uh, AI. Now, AI has been around for a while. But, um, I think of late, most companies have started seeing the real potential, I think, with the emergence of large language models.

I think it’s sort of, brought a lot of tension back onto AI. And I, I would say this, you know, just, um…Think big, you know, it’s transformational, not incremental. And, um, what, what I think about is, um, it’s transformational in the way that, um, the PC was transformational, you know. Before the personal computer, computers existed only in the office in a cold room in the back of the office.

Right? And the only people that went in there went in with white coats and whatnot. So, uh, so it’s transformational. Like, like the PC was transformational. It’s transformational like the web and the Internet was transformational. You know, um, the, the Internet enabled us, uh, globally to be able to communicate and transact with anyone anywhere in the world.

Right? So it’s that kind of transformational. So. Yeah. I think the first thing before you think of all the, dangers, the ills, the, the challenges, but I think the first thing I would say is look at the opportunity because it’s transformational tech, not incremental tech.

And so, when you think of the web, you think of PC; there were hordes of companies that moved too slowly. To adopt those and they became irrelevant, uh, on the flip side and more positive side, there were companies that jumped on it early, transformed their business, and they became really, household names, you know, in, in, in the business landscape.

So I think that’s the first thing I’d say is, how do I transform my business? The second thing is, and I think this is the tricky one. Where do I start, or how do I get started? I think that’s something we’re all wrestling with, to be honest. Um, there’s a lot of hype. There’s a lot of, noise about this. I think the potential is great, but where do I get started?

You know, I, uh, and to that, and I, I love this phrase. I think, um, I read somewhere, you know, you know, shoot bullets, then cannonballs, you know, in other words, Take that little shot first, get a little bit of success, and then expand on that. So this, I think that’s the second question. And then the last one is, um, how do I learn?

And that’s more profound than you might imagine because, I think that, um, or maybe I should say, how do I find trusted partners to help me learn? Because I think things are changing really, really fast. There’s so much hype related to the expectation. Um, you know, I don’t know a single CEO that doesn’t go to a board meeting and have the board members say, you know, so what’s your AI strategy or, you know, what are you doing with AI? And so, with so much hype, and things changing very quickly, it’s easy to get lost in the mix. It’s easy to have paralysis by analysis. It’s easy to end up not doing anything and to so being, you know, learning and finding good partners to help you learn, I think, is the third thing you got to wrestle with.

Pete: So, how do I transform my business? Where do I start? And how do I learn? On the question of where do I start, Andre, is there a, I get, I get bullets before, before cannonballs, but, you know, you could be looking at the culture of your organization. Are we ready? You could be looking at your tech stack. Is there do you have the blueprint for the order of attack?

Andre Yee: I’m not sure I have the blueprint, but the first thing I want to say is there’s a very good chance you’re already using AI in the org, right? So I think, uh, to demystify this a little bit, AI recently had this iPhone moment with ChatGPT, but AI has been progressively, uh, been adopted by many applications, and it’s slowly, uh, found its way into different, uh, aspects of, uh, um, the enterprise.

Um, so I think the first thing to acknowledge is somewhere in some of the applications that I’m using, AI is already being used. But, um, I think, where you want to start is, is actually, I would ask where are your business pain points, right? Where are you? I think it’s driven not by how cool the tech is but which is easy to get lost in. But really, what are some of the problems that you’re experiencing? Is it on the sales side? Is it, um, is it on in marketing? Is it, is it a cost issue in my operations? Right? I think you want to actually understand the business problem and then look to see where AI or AI-specific tools can help make a difference to your business.

Pete: You know, for me, I think one of the areas where, you know, I can really make a difference is when I look at a B2B business. One of the most inefficient and expensive parts of a B2B business is scaling sales, right?

Andre Yee: And it’s still very human. Resource intensive, one would argue human resource constrained. So, in other words, if you want to grow your top line, it’s almost correlated to the size of your sales team, right? If you go from 1 million to 100 million, it’s basically how many quota-carrying salespeople do you have!

And, and, um, you, there’s so much more I could say about this, but wouldn’t it be great if we could? Make it much more scalable the way B2C e-commerce is scalable, right? And not that we’ll exactly work that way, but, but I think there’s an opportunity to, um, change the way B2B selling is done. And it’s not going to be like B2C because B2C is transactional in nature.

And I think B2B selling is conversational and it’s relational. So, our thesis, my thesis in, in sort of digging into that and, is that if you want to scale B2B selling, you have to scale conversations, you have to scale relationship building, right? But, but, so I think there’s a lot of opportunity there that I’ve been sort of noodling over for the last couple of years, so.

Pete: Thank you, Andre, so much for being here. We’re grateful for your time.

Andre Yee: Thanks, Pete. Thanks for having me.

Courtney: David, Mohan, this week to wrap, I want to play a little game. Are y’all up for a game?

David: I’ll do it. I don’t know what I’m getting into, but I’m ready. Let’s go.

Mohan: As ready as I can be.

Courtney: Here’s what I’ve got. I’ve got three headlines for you, and I want you to tell me if each headline is actually from the news or if it’s made up from ChatGPT. So yeah, in the news or not so much. So the first headline is, ‘The author embracing AI to help write novels and why he’s not worried about it taking his job.’

Is it in the news or not so much?

Mohan: I’d say, In the news.

David: Oh, we don’t get to hear the other ones first?

Courtney: Did you think I was gonna make this easy?

David: Uh, well, I, that’s definitely potentially in the news. I’m afraid it’s the, like, really easy, obvious one, though, that isn’t in the news because it should be, but I’m going in the news.

Courtney: Okay, in the news. Okay, next one. ‘Virtual reality AI tours let you explore Mars while sipping tea at home.’ In the news or not so much?

David: Oh, wow. Um, I’m going not in the news. There has to be one that’s not, and I haven’t heard the third. So, I’m picking this one. I mean, it’s possible, but I’m going not in the news.

Courtney: I love how competitive David is. Like, he really is trying hard to get it right. Uh, Mohan?

Mohan: it’s definitely not in the news.

Courtney: Not in the…

David: Look at that.

Courtney: Not so much.

David: Yeah. By the way, number four strengths finder competitive, Courtney. So, I’m going to win this.

Courtney: Yes, yes. Okay, last!

Mohan: Are we, are we playing each other? Okay.

David: I’m playing you. No doubt.

Courtney: ‘AI cannot taste the way a chef can. Are chatbots a threat to fine dining?’

David: What? Can you reread that?

Courtney: ‘AI cannot taste the way a chef can. Are chatbots a threat to fine dining?’

David: Yes, that’s in the news. No doubt about it.

Mohan: It’s in the news, and if it’s not, it should be.

David: Yeah, we’re writing it. If it’s not,

Courtney: in the news, in the news. Okay, so did y’all…

David: We agreed on all of those, Mohan.

Mohan: Oh, man. Um, Okay, maybe this should be a secret ballot. Um…

David: All right. We’re all or nothing like we’re; we’re a team here. Did we?

Courtney: Okay, did y’all guess all the same? Do y’all didn’t guess any weren’t in the news?

Mohan: No.

David: No. The second one we said wasn’t the news.

Courtney: Okay, so no one is going to win. You’re just going to tie. This is, this is soccer. Okay? I would like to congratulate you two on being wrong. No, you actually were right. Number two: Virtual reality AI tours let you explore Mars while sipping tea at home is fake. Good job! I mean, AI has nothing on you two.

David: Nope. We got it. We got it. Mohan, train the models on us.

Courtney: That’s it for today’s episode of the AI Knowhow podcast brought to you by Knownwell. Knownwell is an advisory company that helps organizations like yours use AI to drive profitability without compromising your people or values.

If you’re looking to get these concepts from this episode and more in your inbox each week, then make sure to subscribe to our newsletter at Knownwell.com. And, of course, please help us get the word out about the show. One of the best ways is just to share it with another executive. You can also let us know if you have any questions you would like our panelists to tackle or guest recommendations by emailing us at media@knownwell.com. For our final thought, we want to have AI weigh in on this topic.

So ChatGPT, ‘When it comes to AI, what are two foundational questions that executives should be asking?’

ChatGPT: Companies should consider whether they have the right culture and leadership to embrace AI and if they possess a clear strategy and knowledge to implement AI initiatives effectively.

Courtney: Thanks for that final thought, ChatGPT. We can always count on you. And we’ll be back next week with another episode. See you then.