http://www.europeanbusinessreview.com 11- Organisationsmustdeveloptherelationaland
communicativeskillbaseoftheirtechnical
teammembers.Functioningcompetentlyin
a topmanagementteamorboardmeetingis
about much more than accurate reporting,
valid reasoning, ‘critical thinking’, ‘making
decisions’ and the production of proofs
of optimality or uniqueness of a solution.
It is about finding successful modes and
means of expression,choosing language
tomatchcontext,andproducingpatterns
of facial, vocal and gestural expression
that evince theright level of conviction,
responsivenessandtrustworthiness; - So-called‘soft skills’areamongthe hardest
to develop and wield. They are best
thoughtof as‘hotskills’:youneedtodeploy
theminemotionallyhotstatesandthey are
‘market-hot’. It is timeorganisations recog-
nisedthemforwhattheyareandtookonthe
challenge of developing theminthose that
havebeenrelegatedtothecategory– oris it a
dustbinof‘autistictechnicalexperts’?
TheReset.‘AIstrategies’failbecauseAIis a
means,notanend– whichis what‘AIstrategy’
misleadinglyimplies.Thedaftnessofthe‘Doyou
haveanAI strategy?’questionjumps outwhen
youask,“DoyouhaveanExcelstrategy?”Thisis
a dafterrorthatleadstohalf-bakedalgorithmic
solutions looking for real business problems,
inaccurately reported technical advances using
speciousexamples tomake exaggeratedclaims
aimedat garneringcorporateresourcesmanaged
by misinformed executives, and venture
capitalists and entrepreneurs slapping ‘AI’ on
theirfunds and products even when peddling
technology developed in the 1960’s to lower
theircostsofcapitalandattractnewfunds.
This is a degenerative state of affairs. It is
unfortunatelyfuelledbya coterieof AIpundits
andeconomiststhathaveneverwrittena lineof
commercialcode,designedanalgorithm,orbuilt
a platform that uses machine intelligence or a
businessthatsellsit. It is timeforCEO’sandCTO’s
totake control of the so-called‘AIagenda’ and
speakthistruthtotheirteams:“Wedonot– and
neverwill– have‘anAIstrategy’.Thatis as absurd
as havinga PowerPointstrategy.Wewillcomeup
withsolutionstobusinessproblemsusingmethods
congenialtocomputationalscientists, researchers
andcoders,andthusbringtheirskillstobearon
producingthebestproductsin theindustry.”
Thetoolsfordoingsoareathand.Andthe
resourcescurrentlybeingwastedon‘AIstrategies’
aremisspent.Letusreallocatethemsmartly.AbouttheAuthor
Mihnea Moldoveanu is Desautels
Professor of Integrative Thinking,
Professor of Economic Analysis and
Vice Dean of Learning, Innovation
and Executive Programs at the
Rotman School of Management, University of
Toronto, where he is also the Founding Director
of the Mind Brain Behavior Institute and the
Desautels Centre for Integrative Thinking. He is
the Founder of Rotman Digital, the Rotman Self
Development Laboratory and the Joe Weider
Foundation Leadership Development Laboratory.
He is past Founder, CEO and CTO of Hefaistos,
Inc. (designer manufacturer of ADSL modems)
and of Redline Communications, Inc. (TSX: RDL)
a leading manufacturer of cellular base stations and
broadband wireless networks. He is a Senior
Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group and a
member of the global advisory board of McKinsey
Academy. A Top 40 under 40 for his contributions
to business and academia, Moldoveanu is the chief
architect of 3 machine learning platforms for
increasing the effectiveness of skill development in
business and higher education.IT IS TIME FOR CEO’S AND CTO’S TO TAKE CONTROL OF THE
SO-CALLED ‘AI AGENDA’ AND SPEAK THIS TRUTH TO THEIR TEAMS:
“WE DO NOT – AND NEVER WILL - HAVE ‘AN AI STRATEGY’.