Johann Van Tonder
@jvt
20 years in ecommerce, now CEO of a CRO agency. Probably doing analysis in R or building stuff with AI. Or walking on the beach. Yeah, probably that.
Johann Van Tonder
In a situation like this, there are two general pieces of advice one can give: keep your options open, and pay close attention to what's happening. Then if you can't predict the changes AI will cause, you'll at least be able to react quickly to them.
Paul Grahamx.comAlmost everyone I’ve ever met would be well-served by spending more time thinking about what to focus on. —Sam Altman
A business, by definition, exists to make a profit and the world’s best corporate storytellers acknowledge as much. What sets them apart is what they do next. They wrap their product, service, company, or cause with a vision and a purpose that goes well beyond making money.
Carmine Gallo • The Storyteller's Secret: From TED Speakers to Business Legends, Why Some Ideas Catch On and Others Don't
Everything is hard, everything is risky and nothing is guaranteed. So going after something big enough to matter makes sense
Five Insights From Investing in Prolific Machines - Mayfield
Whether it’s articulated or not, every business is driven by one of two philosophies. A company is either competition-driven or story-driven.
Bernadette Jiwa • Story Driven: You don't need to compete when you know who you are
We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten.
Bill Gates, The Road Ahead
Bill Gates, The Road Ahead
Skills you need in the age of AI: You’ll need critical thinking skills and emotional intelligence. Some technical skills e.g. understand the AI capabilities, some data literacy, cyber threats etc.
But mostly, you’ll need truly human soft skills:
- ability to make complex decisions
- ability to have creative problem solving
All skills that will enable
“First the people running the old system don’t notice the change. When they do, they assume it’s minor. Then it’s a niche, then a fad. And by the time they understand that the world has actually changed, they’ve squandered most of the time they had to adapt.”
Daniel Goleman • Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence
Original quote is by Clay Shirky
“Relentless execution without knowing what to execute is a crime.”
Steve Blank