Insight #370:
Is your organization one of the many now on the new weight-loss drug? Actually, although this is a new drug, organizations seem to go on diets regularly. And as with most diets, they end up adding more weight when the diet fails.
But for now, corporations are happy to have access to the trendy weight-loss drug to binge on. Yes, you guessed it. Artificial Intelligence. Or, as we know it in its lite form, AI.
Although AI promises to be a new and easy way for executives to shed ‘unwanted’ employees, the key side effect is the same as with previous diets. When a corporation sheds people, it also loses some of its memory.
This memory loss could be bad. Or possibly beneficial. Like all drug-induced side effects, some are bad and some are not so bad.
But what is corporate memory? It is the collective body of knowledge of how-we-do-what-we-do. It is the accumulation of corporate know-how gained over years in business. We risk trivializing it by calling it experience. Because it is so much more than experience. It is what experience delivers. Namely, that something which differentiates you from other organizations in the quest for higher profits.
Corporate memory comes with a catch. Too much dependence on it can discourage original thinkers who bring new ideas. And not enough corporate memory can cause the wheel to be reinvented… again and again. When people leave, they take knowledge and experience with them. This can cause those left behind, who have less memory and experience, to make mistakes and be less productive. But it can also create the opportunity for new hires to bring innovative ideas.
The trick, whether people stay or leave, is to make sure that your corporate memory never becomes ‘but we’ve always done it this way.’ If it does, you have stopped learning. And then, whatever you actually remember, will soon be out of date. And so will your experience.
Ah, you say, that’s where AI comes in. AI never stops learning and so will never be out of date. That sounds too good to be true. Because surely, when every corporation uses AI, every corporation will, sooner or later, learn the same things.
Who creates sustainable differentiation? Humans. Because humans asked why. Specifically, humans ask, “Why are we doing this?” AI, always in a great hurry to answer quickly, does not care for the human why. Specifically, not the slow, thoughtful human why that leads to differentiation.
But, unlike AI, allegedly, I could be wrong.
Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.
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Quote of the Moment:
“Expect nonsense when people can’t remember why we’ve-always-done-it-this-way.” The Chief Nonsense Officer.
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