April 3, 2025 • 53 mins
AI, digital strategy, and customer experience are changing everything—but how do business owners and leaders stay ahead?
In this episode of From Crisis to Justice, Parag Amin sits down with Chris Hood, a digital strategy expert and former Google executive, to explore how technology, storytelling, and AI are transforming business.
With over 35 years of experience working with global brands like Disney, Universal, and Intel, Chris shares powerful insights on leveraging AI without losing the human connection.
Key takeaways include:
- The Future of Storytelling – How technology and AI are shaping the way we communicate and market.
- AI in Business – What it can and can’t do (and why most businesses are using it wrong).
- Customer-Driven Growth – Why focusing on your audience’s experience is the key to long-term success.
- The Digital Strategy Playbook – How to use AI, branding, and customer insights to gain a competitive edge.
- The Power of Choice in Business – Why customers expect control and how forcing AI on them could backfire.
Chris has helped some of the world’s biggest brands align their digital strategies with real customer needs, and in this episode, he breaks down exactly how entrepreneurs, executives, and business owners can do the same.
If you want to future-proof your business and make AI work for you—without losing what makes your brand human—this episode is a must-watch.
Learn more about Chris Hood:
Website: https://chrishood.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrishood
Learn more about Parag Amin:
Business Law Firm: https://lawpla.com
Personal Website: https://paraglamin.com
Follow Parag:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paragaminesq
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi, I'm Parag Amin.
Welcome to my podcast.
From Crisis to Justice.
As a lawyer and entrepreneur, I'mpassionate about helping small business
owners successfully navigate situationsthat can kill a business.
As a kid, I watched my dad's dreamsof being an entrepreneur were destroyed
by an unethical businessman, and I don'twant that to happen to you or your family.
(00:22):
That's why I started my law firm.
I want to protect and defend businessowners and their legacies from crisis.
Welcome to From Crisis to Justice.
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to.
From Crisis to Justice.
I am your host, Parag Amin.
(00:43):
And I am joinedby a very special guest today, Chris Hood.
Chris is a leading expert
in digital strategycustomer experience and A.I.
innovation.
With over 35 years of experience
driving transformationin business and technology.
As a former Google executive,Chris led digital transformation
(01:04):
transformation initiativesfor Fortune 500 companies
focusing on enhancingcustomer success and engagement.
He's worked with globalbrands like Disney, Universal, Fox,
Domino's and Intel, and he's pioneered new
storytelling technologiesand digital solutions.
He's also the author of Customer
(01:25):
Transformation and End, available
to books that provide deep insightsinto aligning business strategy
with evolving customer expectationsin the digital era.
Chris,thank you so much for joining me today.
Absolutely.
Looking forward to this at me too.
So can you talk a little bitabout your experience with
(01:50):
this story telling
and how storytellinghas maybe transformed over the years?
Like what parts do you think have stayedvery similar and what parts do
you think have changed over the years?
Yeah, I think the
what has stayed the same is basicallyour desires to hear new and interesting
(02:12):
stories, as well as the generalstorytelling process
really hasn'tchanged in thousands of years.
But the mechanisms and channels
by which we consume those storieshave have definitely changed.
And I think technologyobviously is a huge part of it.
I think some other areas,such as even like COVID, has changed
(02:34):
how we engage more openlyand in public settings.
We've seen the decline of movietheaters over the course of the last
five years, with most movie theatersstarting to go out of businesses.
The technology is up to aa satisfying action level
that we can do the exact same experiencein the comfort of our own home.
(02:56):
Obviously, then when we start
to look at other types of channelsand mechanisms by which we engage.
We've got our phones and our devicesthat are constantly in our hands
that we can go and look at contentand get clips of stories
shared with us on a minuteby minute basis.
I also think because of that,
(03:17):
the way we think about storieshas changed.
For example, instead of, say, a two hoursit down and watch a movie,
we want that movie experience in 2 minutes
and I think our attention span
and our desirefor a lot of different types of content
(03:39):
has also really changed how
we are listening to stories.
And then on top of all of that,we have also addressed tech increase of
of opportunity to share our opinions
and whether those opinions are goodor bad.
We will flock to social media, sharethose.
(04:02):
Our belief in what is real versus
fake are geo and political belief systems.
In terms of I agree with itor I don't agree with that.
All of that is really changinghow we think about storytelling broadly
and how we consume dataon our daily basis.
Yeah.
And so what are your thoughtson the components of great storytelling
(04:29):
are beginning, middle and end?
I you know what's hard right now
and I think we're in a we're experiencingthis is that,
you know, there's there's a verylimited subset of stories to begin with.
And so a lot of what we seenow is been retold.
If we look over the course of the last50 years,
(04:51):
it used to cost a lot of money to producea story or a movie or a TV show.
It still does today.
But the difference is,is somebody with a mobile phone
can go out and filma movie of their choosing.
And so we're getting a lot more content,a lot cheaper content.
And so the retelling of these storiesis creating,
(05:14):
you know, it's like the superhero movies.
You know, every yearthere's, you know, a slew of super hero
moviesand people will still go and see them.
But can we argue they are good?
You know, do we argue that they're bador do we argue that they're repetitive?
Jurassic Park is getting ready to come outwith the ninth version
(05:35):
of a drastic park movie.
And I was listeningto somebody on the radio and they're like,
okay, let me get this straight.
There's an island, there's dinosaurs,and then everybody gets killed.
Okay, I got the movie, right?
And so I think trying to breakfree of that stereotype,
those tropes, those storiesto create original and interesting,
(05:58):
compellingstories is very challenging today.
But that's you know,that's part of what makes
storytelling and a movie,you know, experiences interesting is when
we can actually go and capture somethingunique and different that entertains us.
Right. Yeah.
And you know, I'man avid proponent that storytelling is
(06:23):
it's one of the oldest things and methods
of passing on informationeven from from our ancestors.
And so I think there's something
innate and hardwired in usthat connects with stories.
I think that's also why we resonatewith certain movies or even certain
characters in movies or even advertising.
If you look at some of the bestadvertising, it tells a story.
(06:44):
Even if it's only in 30 secondsor a minute.
It makes you feel certainkinds of emotions and it makes you feel
a certain kind of connectionwith characters you've never met before.
And so the ability to convey that emotion
throughthe screen is so incredibly important.
And the nice thing is with with increasingtechnology, we see increasing abilities
(07:07):
or methods to be able to tell storiesin different creative ways.
I mean, even even Pixar, for example,you know, you take cartoon
type characters, fake characters,and somehow
when we watch a Pixar movie,at least many of them, you feel
some kind of emotional draw to to thiscompletely made up fictional character.
(07:28):
It doesn't look human at all, but somehowhas these human characteristics.
You know, how do you think A.I.
is is going to change that, if at all?
Do you think it's going to help it?Do you think it's going to hurt it?
Well, you're also touching on somethingthat is interesting
in terms of how entertainment storytellinghas shifted.
(07:50):
Storytellinghas always been a community event.
You would sit around a campfireand tell a story.
You would go to a movie theater
and engage in that storytellingwith other people around you.
And now we have our devicesand our phones.
And even though you might have multiple
and millions of peoplewatching the same content,
(08:11):
you're doing it in a singular,you know, personal way of of viewing.
And so when we start thinking aboutAI and it's impact
on that type of experience,we're further pushing
a singular individual
type of experienceas opposed to that community style
(08:32):
of sharing togetherin whatever the story is.
And what AI is is doing really more
broadly is it's reducing the need
to experience things with other people.
For example, even communicationor collaboration, teamwork.
You know, the human
(08:52):
emotions that we generally would getfrom listening or watching something
when that is one sided, it becomesa completely different experience.
A good example ofthis is if you've ever talked
with, say, your homedevice, Alexa or Google Home,
and you've asked it like,tell me what the weather is.
(09:15):
One way to kind of judgethis community type of experiences.
Do you respond back to your homeassistant and say, Well, thank you.
Right.
Like,are you having that two way collaboration
or communicate passion in the process?
And when that startsto get removed from the equation,
(09:35):
then we are further
removing those human elements,whether there are emotional elements
or or the uniquely human capacity
for entertainment, humor, irony,you know, all of those things that
we can understand because we're humans,we start to lose that because of the AI.
(09:58):
Yeah.
And so, you know, when it relates to A.I.
and storytelling in the business world,
what do you think that business ownersshould be doing,
maybe to incorporate storytelling or
AI into their respective businesses?
Yeah, I mean, storytelling in terms
(10:20):
of just business practices broadly.
You all should be doingI mean, storytelling is not just once
upon a time, it's in your brandingand your messaging
and how you want to come acrossto potential clients and consumers.
It's about the experience.
It's about the breadth of what you wantto present out there to the world,
(10:42):
about who you areand what you're trying to accomplish,
or share with those individualswho become your customers.
That's natural. It's going to happen.
I mean, there's very few companiesprobably out there that just pop up
a brand don'treally think about the message, right.
And the messagingand then just start selling something.
(11:03):
There's always some other thing behind it.
Most specifically is
you are trying to solve a problem,and so you have to communicate
what is the problemand how are you solving that?
And that all comes fromyou said it earlier, advertising,
marketing and storytelling.
From an AI perspective, I think whatpeople have to start to think about is
(11:27):
what is the actual benefits of
AI when it comes to that experience
you are trying to presentto your customers and in a lot of cases
it is very sterile, it is very dry,it is not emotional.
And so I think businesses have to do
(11:48):
a little better job right nowin terms of learning
what the capabilities of AI
actually are so that they canthen figure out
how are they goingto leverage this technology
along with those humanemotional components
so that you can enhance that experiencefurther?
Yeah. And so when it comes to
(12:12):
elevating or
connecting with certain types of
just human experienceor human emotion in general,
how does a business ownergo about deciding which emotions or which
which emotions to evokeand therefore which stories to tell?
Yeah,it's going to be based on your product.
(12:32):
You know, a sports product like Nikeobviously has
a completely different tone and contextof what they're trying to promote
versus somebody like,you know, say at Taco Bell, right,
where even Taco Bell, like, look,you want to be a part of the in crowd.
And the only way you can be a part of thatin crowd is by eating more tacos.
(12:53):
Right.
So there is some interesting thingslike you can you can compare brands
like Apple versus Samsung or,you know, Ferrari, you know, versus Ford.
Those are all part of that equation.
And depending upon what your productor the experience
that that emotional connectionthat you want to generate,
(13:17):
you're going to have to figure out howdo you present that in compelling ways?
You know,I can help you try to figure that out.
Like you could gointo Chachi and you can say,
you know, we want to have a high energybrand message
that is, you know, geared towardspeople who like to run
(13:37):
and listen to music at the same time,you know, whatever the case might be.
And Chachi will probably output
some ideas, you know,here are some marketing options for you.
Here'skind of a storyline that you can present.
You know, imagine yourselfrunning early in the morning and listening
to your favorite tune.
Like, all of that can be supportedthrough the use of
(14:00):
AI to help you further generate ideas,but you're still going to need to kind of
go through it and fine tune itand make sure that that's on your brand.
It's on point.
It makes sense to you.
It resonates with your customers,and for a lot of those types of elements,
the AI is not going to be ableto support it.
(14:21):
Right.
And, you know, there's there's elementsof of marketing or storytelling
that there really are shockingor surprising meaning
like I'd read this study about Google.
And so even the shade of bluethat Google uses in its advertising,
it went with a slightly darkershade of blue,
and somehow that increased sales by over$200 million annually.
(14:45):
And so it's just shocking in multiplelevels, right,
Because on the one hand, onemight not even think to change the color,
but then two, to think that that color,
the shade of
blue, could have that much of a differencewhen we're not selling.
If we're selling the color blue
and we want the right shade of blue, sure,that seems like it would make sense.
(15:08):
But if we're just sellinga generic product or service or whatever,
the idea that the shade of bluewould make a difference,
you know, it seems like you couldalmost second guess or change
any and everything,and it would lead to endless experiments.
So what do you think?
Yeah, possible.
But as you're talking, I'm noticingthe color of the wall behind you.
It's. It's not quite blue.
(15:29):
It's more of a teal.
But, you know, the first brandthat comes to mind when I look at that,
it's Tiffany's, right?
And so if you can build that connection,the correlation between a color
and instantly say, who is,
you know, that brand,then you're on to something.
You know, if I was to say red and yellow,you know what brands come to mind?
(15:55):
I'm pretty sure instantlymost people are thinking McDonald's.
Right? Right.
If I then said, you know, something like
red and white,
you know, you're probably thinking target.
So these companies have really invested
into understanding the,
(16:18):
you know, the emotionaland mental connections
between a colors and brand identityand that storytelling.
And so yeah, it seems like it's,you know, something that,
hey, I could just pick a colorand we'd be good, but,
but there could be a lot, a lot more to itthan, you know, just a color palette.
(16:39):
Mm hmm. Right.
And so,you know, in terms of your experience, it
transcends multiple
industries, from entertainmentto gaming to big tech.
And now digital strategy.
What's been your biggest lessonabout business across
these various industries?
It's what I talk about often.
(17:01):
It's that at the end of the day,you have to appease a customer, a person.
You have to solve their problems.
You know, we we've talked before
in in terms of business more broadly,the customer's always right.
I'm sure there's a lot of people out there
that have mixed feelingsabout that particular statement.
But at the end of the day,if you don't have a customer,
(17:22):
you do not have a business.
So on some level you have to ensurethat you are meeting the needs and and
and expectations of your customersin order to grow your business.
And those businessesthat can go beyond that.
Right.
We say needs and expectations.
(17:42):
Well, that gives us a certain connotation.
But if I also said can you meet
the aspirations of your customers?
Well, now we're getting into a wholenother area.
And so this constant understandingof who your customer is and
what they would like to receive from you
and how you will deliver that to them.
(18:05):
More broadly,when we say the customer's always right,
your customers who are coming to you
as a complete entity is always right.
And if you ignore that, then most likely
you're going to lose a lot ofbusiness and potentially even
go out of business,
(18:26):
right? Yeah.
And so, you know, I have the saying that,you know, I don't know that I agree
that the customer is always rightsingularly.
But I will say that customers on averageare right
because everybody's got the one offor the two off customers
who want somethingthat's completely unusual or crazy.
And but if you've got a consensusthat this is what clients are saying
(18:49):
or eithercomplimenting or complaining about,
it's time it one should listenand make those adjustments.
Yeah.
And that percentage is a good wayto look at it.
Like, you know, let's say20% of your customers come to you
and say, you know, they want some change.
Well, that means 80% don't. Right?
And so if you go down the process of,well,
(19:12):
we're going to deliver to this 20%,
you risk alienating,if not the entire other 80%.
What if you then alienate 20%, Right.
And you lose that 20%?
But but what is that, you know, number?
You know, is it 40%?
And then you start to really considera change.
(19:32):
Is it 50%?
And you say, well, this is a coin flip,and I still risk,
you know, alienating the other half,You know, but if you're sitting at
like 80% or 90% of the people are saying,you know, you should
you should consider this change,then it probably is worth considering.
Right.
And so what are your thoughts on
(19:55):
businesses trying to stay ahead on ondigital trends while continuing
to innovate, but avoiding alienating
their core customers or clients?
Yeah, well, we're seeing that right nowwith artificial intelligence.
And we'll go back to Taco Bellas a great example of this right now.
If you go into a Taco Bell,you are pretty much presented
(20:17):
with a kiosk to do your ordering.
They have removed all kind ofwalk up to the counter
and talk to a person and make your order.
So you've got a kiosk for ordering.
And if you go through the drive through,they've got a virtual assistant
that is taking your orders nowas opposed to somebody on the intercom.
(20:37):
Now, in all of these different cases,you could argue, well, look,
you know, it's
sort of like self-checkout, butI get to go up, I get to make my order.
I don't have to worry about trying toconfuse them with something customizable.
I get to order it exactly howI want to do it in my own time, my own way
in the drive thru,
they're going to be more accuratebecause as I'm going through that, it's
(21:00):
a virtual assistant voice recognitioncan understand what I'm asking for.
They can do upsells without havingto worry about somebody saying, Well,
I don't really like doing upsells. Right?
So you can look at itfrom that perspective.
But on the flip side of this isyou're not giving me a choice.
Like, I don't want to I don't want to talkto a virtual assistant,
(21:21):
I don't want to go up to a kioskand have to place my order.
I want to talk to somebodyin this process.
And so by forcing aI onto their consumers,
which by the way, will add that
in doing so, they're reducingthe amount of staff that they have to hire
(21:42):
or have working at any one locationat any one time,
while also increasing the prices
of their products in their menu items.
So what am I getting out of this?
I'm not talking to anybody.
I'm paying more for that experience.
And the food isn't necessarilyimproving either.
(22:04):
So I feel as if in general,
when you as a consumerare being forced into a scenario
where you will have to use a I,we go back to self-checkout,
like in most locations,I have a choice self-checkout.
Or I could go to a laneand you know, and have somebody help me.
(22:25):
But if that's not the case,
then the ultimate option
for me is to go to your competitor,is to go get tacos somewhere else
where I can actually talk to somebody,socialize, pay less
and not be forced in using a technologythat I don't want to use.
(22:45):
And all companiesshould be thinking about this.
How do we provide that choiceand how do we prevent that
imposing technology in places
where we know the consumers don't want it?
Right?
And, you know, it's interestingbecause I think there's there's something
about human nature that craves choice,regardless of what the choice might be.
(23:09):
You know, an interestinglittle anecdote is lobster today.
We know it is is is somethingthat's supposed to be delectable
and tendsto be a little bit pricier on the menu.
But I don't know if you knew this, Chris,but previously in places
like Massachusetts, Maine, they would feedthe prisoners lobster every day.
And because it was an abundant resource
(23:30):
for them and it was cheap for themto be able to provide it to prisoners.
And so they petitioned to say, look,it's cruel and unusual punishment
to make us eat lobsters every day,and we'd like some sort of choice.
And so, you know, what are your thoughtson that in terms of like,
how important is it that that customers,clients, people get a choice?
(23:52):
And why do you think that's so importantto us?
Well, we'llwe'll bring it back to your specialty.
If if if you if you hadthe choice of a judge, would you take it?
Sure, Of course.
If if I am looking for an attorney,you know,
what is it beneficial to me to choosewhich attorney I would pick?
(24:14):
Right.
You know,
if you specialize in one area of the law,why would you force
somebody,you know, like you're a divorce attorney
and I'm being charged with murder,
but I have to use the divorce divorceattorney, you know, to for my case.
Like, of course, we want choice.
(24:38):
Obviously, those are extreme situations.
But I would even argue, you know,there's there's some really interesting
kind of complexphilosophical questions to ask.
You know, I've I've done it insort of health care, like,
you know, say you you're getting ready
to have brain surgeryand you had the choice,
(25:01):
a neurosurgeon who has done this procedurethousands of times,
but maybe has a 95% success rate,or we've got this new guy
that can do it, 99% success rate,but has only done it a couple of times.
Like,
yeah, I want that choice.
(25:21):
And when I ask this question,
most people will say, Well,I want the human to do the surgery.
I don't want the guy to do the surgery.
We could apply the same practice in lawif you've been,
you know, charged with murderand you're about to
you know, be in front of a judge,do you want a real person
who's the judge or do you want an AI who'ssitting up there judging the case?
(25:45):
Again, I think most people would pickthe real person
because even based on time of day,hey, they're having a good day today.
They're letting a lot of things off,right?
Like, that's great where the eye is goingto sit there and say,
look, I'm being logical, completely 5050.
No, you know, no bias, no partial opinionshere.
It's simply, you know, I'mgoing to give you my decision.
(26:09):
Now, some of us might argue that that'sprobably
a good thing in the court systemsright now.
But these choice lawsand the impacts of of how
AI is being replaced
and preventing peoplefrom having the choice
is the area of concernthat we should be focused on.
(26:30):
Because without that choice,without that inherent desire as humans
to be able to pick our favorite flavor
of ice cream versus, you know, who to
represent us in court,
if that all goes away, because we're
just going to allowAI to make the choice for us,
(26:51):
then we lose a substantial part of our ofwhat makes us human.
I agree with that.
You know, it's interesting, Chris,because on some of these choices,
I completely agree with you.
For example,which lawyer you want to hire.
And if we've got a choice on a judge,of course, you know,
let's go with the judge has ruledmore favorably in our type of case
(27:12):
than the one who hasn't, or a doctor,you know,
let's let's go with the one who we thinkis going to do the best job.
But I will say, if let's say I'm going in
for a surgery and the doctor says, look,you've got the choice of scalpel.
Should I use this one or this one?
That question is going to make mea little nervous, you know?
Yeah, Yeah, that's a great point.
(27:33):
So, you know, there are limits.
And I think part of it is it's onsome of the soft factors.
We feel a little bit more comfortable,meaning like if it's like an air choice
versus a human, you know, I'd like tomaybe be able to make that choice.
Or for example,if I can get a live operator
when I make a phone call versussome kind of call tree or press
(27:53):
one for this, press two for that.
And zero is not an option andit just resets the whole thing for you.
You know,and some of those I think it's better.
And but on some of the more technical,harder issues, I think it's just easier
and it feels better to to be ableto trust an expert to say, look,
there isn't a choice on this one.
This is the right decision.This is what we're going with.
(28:14):
And many times it's not even asked.
You just assume that it's being handled.
Do you have any thoughts on onthat distinction and maybe why it is that
that we feel that way?
Well, we we again, as as humans,we want to place our
our trustand, you know, our faith in the experts.
(28:35):
If I was to hire you,I'm not going to sit there and say,
although I'msure you've experienced this before.
Well, you know, I read on the Internetthat if we plead this way,
we'll we'll havea better chance of winning.
No, you are the expert.
I'm hiring you to represent me.
So I'm going to trust youto make the right decisions.
The problem that we are starting to haveand the you know, I kind of joke about,
(28:59):
you know, I can log on to Googleand learn to be a lawyer.
The amount of informationthat is available to us is astronomical.
And now even more so if I go into chat.
You bet.
And I say pretend you're a lawyerand here's the situation
and here's the contract and I want toget out of it, how would you argue this?
And now I'm like, Well,
(29:21):
I don't need a law degree.
I can do this on my own, right?
So wewe do want to put our trust and faith
into the experts, into the people,and that they are ultimately
making the correct decision on our behalf,which gets into the ethical
and the moral dilemmasof what it takes to be human.
(29:42):
But that's a critical componentthat we always have to consider.
I had a really interesting exchangeon LinkedIn a couple of days ago
where you know, somebody was talking about
leveraging AI for,
you know,I can't remember exactly what it was, but,
you know, my response was, yeah, but
(30:04):
I could be wrong right now.
You know, AI is not 100% correct.
And so we have to recognize that.
And his response was, well,imagine a world where
we don't have to worry about thatbecause AI is 100%.
And my response was pretty simple.
I said, Well, yeah, but then
(30:28):
where is the human right like that?
That there is some
interesting correlation with saying
even though AI is not 100%factually right, neither are we.
And so to be able to make that correlationand recognize
when I could be used in
(30:49):
appropriate situationsfor recommendations,
you still have to come back with thatand say,
you know, what, am I okay with this?
Do I accept this is this somethingthat I'm comfortable with?
And if the answer is yes, then great.
Keep doing it right.
You know, And speaking of AI, in business,you know, what are some thoughts on
(31:14):
how people can leverage
AI for their businesses better?
For example, even, you know, chat GPT
or whatever other AI toolsyou might recommend or suggest,
What are some better ways we could all beleveraging them for our businesses?
Yeah, so there's two core pieces to this.
(31:35):
The first oneis, is that you have to understand
what AI is capable of doingand what it's not capable of doing.
And I think a lot of what we areseeing out there right now
is, is an overly hyped technologythat is, you know, clean.
It's like it can do everything for you,It can revolutionize your life and
(31:57):
and understandingthose capabilities is a big part of it.
That way when you are reading,you know, like sales pitches or stuff
that is out there on the Internet
and you're trying to make decisionsabout how to use AI,
you don't getcaught up in the marketing pitch
and hype versus the reality,because I've heard of a lot of businesses
(32:18):
who say,
Oh, this is going to completely changehow we do business,
and then they go invest in it,they bring it in,
they try to implement it,and then they realize, wait a second,
this doesn't do anything that we thoughtit was going to do.
And in most cases it doesn't.
You know,you're spending off of that hype.
So educate yourself.
Be aware of what the capabilities are.
(32:40):
That's the first step.
The second step is if you just accept itas kind of a collaboration tool,
as a way of increase resourcingprocesses, of streamlining things,
awareness, you
know, supporting of like your brandingand storytelling,
providing you with, with, you know, oftenthink of it like a menu.
(33:01):
You go into the restaurant, here'sa bunch of menu items, you pick what menu
item you want.
You know, you order it,you eat it, and it is very similar.
Like they provide mewith a whole bunch of options
for improving my brand.
Great.
Here's a bunch of options go through.
Pick the one that makes sense, you know?
(33:22):
But again, this goes into what it iscapable of versus what it's not capable
to understand, like purely from a business
strategy or a marketing strategy.
If I went into chat and asked itto provide me with a marketing strategy
every single thingthat it's going to list out
as an option for you,somebody else has already done right.
(33:45):
It's not going to create some magicor new thing
that innovates on an ideathat has never been heard of before.
It can't do thatbecause the root of it's learning
is existing materials.
And so this gives you
an example of why you need to learnwhat the real capabilities are
and then figure out how you want to applythose to your business, right? Yes.
(34:11):
You know,and that's that's very interesting point
because that generally is how we use itin my law firm.
You know, we don'twe don't outsource thinking,
but we will use it for iterativethinking or thinking deeper.
And, you know, it's interesting because
one of one of the issues I personally had
with with just school in general,despite all the time I've spent in school,
(34:32):
and therefore maybe that makes mea better, more able critic in that in that
regard is just the extra amount of timeI've spent there.
But, you know, big thing is a lot ofclasses were about memorizing things.
And so at the end of ityou've got this memory test,
but real life isn't really like that.
I mean, certainly you've got some basicthings you got to remember and memorize,
but the reality of it is the human brainis much better at thinking through issues,
(34:57):
but it can only hold
so many pieces of informationat one time to be able to think through.
So I think a lot of times it's much
easier to think on paper than it isjust mentally because you can
physically put more things down or thinkthrough more things on a piece of paper.
And you can naturally, I think, holdin memory and I think maybe one of the
(35:20):
the issues with the
way some people use AI, you know, is that
instead oflike the more collaborative approach
is the better approach of,hey, help me think through this.
Can you research this issue?Can you tell me about this?
And you ask it better questionsto be able to get better answers.
But that's really the key, I think isis just the asking of better questions.
(35:41):
Do you think that's right? Andcan you elaborate on that a little bit?
Like if you have any thoughts on that?
Oh, 100%, Absolutely true.
And again, there'sI think there's multiple ways
to kind of think about this
in termsof being able to ask the right question
and kind of iterate on ideas.
(36:02):
It's a it's a great tool, right,because you don't know everything
and it could present
a brainstorm that really kick starts
the right direction for you, right?
So even if you don't use it as an answer,you just use it
as a catalyst for what's next.
(36:25):
That's exactly the purpose
of catch up, in all honesty.
Now, the flip side of thisand what you're also touching on
is that through the use of somethinglike a chat
and definitely when we start to thinkabout in the educational environment
(36:46):
or the capacity,because people don't really understand
how to benefit from, you know,
AI or generativeAI or large language models,
they're asking at questions,they're getting responses back,
they're cutting and pastingthose responses into documents.
(37:06):
And what we are really jeopardizingis our overall critical thinking skills.
And so I've seen firsthand,even in the college courses that I teach,
where critical thinking is going down,because as you start to use AI,
you have a natural beliefthat it's correct.
(37:27):
Right?
But we know that even if you dida Google search, you could find a website
and the information on the websiteis incorrect.
We have some innate you know,
this is why I called my book infallible,because we have this belief system
in artificial intelligencethat it is infallible
(37:48):
and that whatever I get out of itmust be correct.
Because why?
You know, it's smart, it's A.I.,and that's not the case.
And so we we are losing
the basic criticalthinking process of that iteration
of being able to ask smarter questions
or being able to collaborate with theAI in real time to say,
(38:11):
I like what you said here,but I still have some questions.
Or how about if we change that to,you know, look at it
this way, that skill set
of critical thinking,asking the right questions.
We are quickly losing because of AI.
And there was a reportI haven't read it yet, but it just
(38:33):
came out like this week or last week,which basically shows that critical
thinking skills are going downdue to generative AI.
Our ability to create to tell stories,to think more logically.
All of that is deteriorating, primarilybecause we're trusting
AI to have that infallible output.
(38:56):
Yeah, that's right.
And it's ironicbecause in that sense we're expecting A.I.
to be more humanand have those critical thinking
and judgment skills,which it does not have.
And ironically, humans, therefore,by using AI in that manner,
kind of outsource their humanityand become more robotic of
you give me this and I'll take itand I'll just put it here.
(39:18):
Well, robots can do that.
There's really no sense of a humanbeing involved in that aspect of things.
But, you know,I completely agree with you that
I think that the people
and the businesses that continue toinnovate over the years and will succeed
with AI are the ones who understandwhere it fits into that puzzle
and really understand that
(39:39):
it's it's the abilityto gather the information, look at it
using their critical thinking skills,
but then just be able to iteratefaster with it.
But then you've still got to be ableto think about how you best apply it
and experiment with itand look at the various pieces to see
how they fit together.
Yeah, you look,you can ask it a question in
(40:02):
and get a response, but it still requires
the thinking beyond that output.
Right?
We go back to how we started storytelling.
Like I can ask ChadDjibouti to write me a story and it's
going to write you some random storyand it's probably pretty decent.
It's probably a story that's been retold.
(40:24):
But when we start to dive into itlike that character,
you know, I would really like thatcharacter to have the persona of,
you know,you know, the color blue or whatever.
And I need that the character to talk
as if it's mopey and, you know,we go back to Disney like,
(40:45):
you know, the robot recent robot movieas well as
like the Inside out, too,with the emotions like that type of depth
and understanding of the emotional contextcatchy
beauty can replicate,
but you have to know to ask itto do that replication
(41:05):
and how to kind of simulate that response
because it's not going to be able to do iton its own, Right?
Yeah.
And so, you know, as it relates to kind of
entrepreneurial leadership
and whether it's through AIor other tools, do you have any thoughts
on how an entrepreneur staysahead of the curve or ahead of the pack?
(41:31):
Any kind of best tips or tricks,especially over
the various industriesyou've you've been a thought leader in?
And what Yeah, I mean, I will still goback to ask your customers.
You know,
your customers are,you know, your lifeblood.
They're going to be the ones.
And so now let's sayyou're an entrepreneur and you're
(41:52):
trying to figure out what new businessthat you want to create.
And even, hey,I want to create an AI business.
Well, just so that you're aware,there's about 5000 new AI companies
being built every month, it'sreally unsustainable at this point.
I don't know where we're going to headlater in this year, but, you know,
(42:13):
we're we're close to say a dotcom bubble burst of 2000.
Right.
And like I just the amount of investmentand the amount of new companies
that are in this space,I don't think we can sustain it
but it kind of walking through this
every company starts with a problem.
(42:34):
You have to have a problemthat you are trying to solve
and then you have to figure outif you can solve that problem.
And if there are people out therethat have that problem
and are looking for a solutionthat's 100% of every company,
there is no other kind of,
(42:55):
you know, way of going about this.
And so what I thinkwhat I'm seeing a lot of
is organizations that start with, well,
I want to build something with AI,
and then they start to build something.
They come up with some cool idea for AI
and then they start to figure outnow, okay, who am I going to sell this to?
(43:17):
Who are my customers?
That is backwards.
It sounds like a hobby. Yeah.
And so if you go through the motionsand you come up with the problem,
you figure out who your customers areand how you're going
to solve their problemswith your solution,
then you can figure out, okay,now that I've got that,
(43:38):
what technology can I use to build that?
And I can almost guarantee you right nowthat most of them
don't require AI to accomplish.
If you are leading with a AI,if you are saying
I must build an AI company,
then you are building a companyfor the wrong reasons.
(43:59):
If you start withI have a problem and I have some customers
and I'm going to solve this problem,you know, and here's my solution.
It may have AI in it
and maybe after the factyou can start to figure out
how you can leverageAI to be incorporated into that solution.
But there are so many technologiesout there that, you know,
(44:22):
we talk about like contact.
There's so many companies out therethat have claimed
they have perfected the ability
for automation of lead
generation.
I I've got a I've got a, you know,
Google Forms document with some,you know, scripting on it.
(44:46):
And that does exactly the same thing
as your AI tool does for free.
Right?
Like you can't possibly argue with methat your
AI tool is going to be more perfect,perfect
than existing MailChimp
which and do it without a AI.
(45:07):
And so this goes back to this concept of
I understand what it can do,but start with your customer
figure out what the problem is, solve it,then figure out what the technology is.
And in that same processas you're iterating and growing
and scaling and expandingand moving towards the next thing,
start asking your customers,how would you like to engage with us?
(45:30):
What ways,what technologies are you using?
What are some of the cool technologiesthat you really like right now?
What are some of the technologiesthat you don't like right now?
There was a research paperthat was done towards the end of last year
that basically said
they presented consumers with a listof different products, and some products
(45:50):
were, you know, like a vacuum cleanerand then
they also presented the same productlike vacuum cleaner powered by AI
in pretty much every single scenariowhere they presented the same product
as powered by AI,the consumers were turned off
and chose the productthat did not have AI in it.
(46:11):
And so I think about that.
Like you, if you ask and talkwith your consumers about what they want,
you will have a clear path in termsof what technologies
to start were, you know, thinking aboutand investing in as you move forward.
Yeah, I love that.
And that is very insightful,Chris, you know, because I think
a lot of times
(46:33):
people don't really focus on the problemand the solution or what what problem
it is they're trying to solve, and insteadthey start thinking about strategies
to try to solve and undefined problemand run in circles.
They think, okay, well, AI's in right now,I want to use that.
A year or two agoit was the blockchain and so anything
with blockchain, every, any and everythingseemingly had blockchain involved in it
(46:57):
from tokens to like loaves of bread,you know, it's just ridiculous.
So the metaverse. Yeah, right. Yes. Yeah.
And I don't knowwhat exactly happened with that,
but we're not hearing about thattoo much these days.
But yes, it's just the the word of the dayor the word of the month,
maybe the word of the year,and then it goes on to something else.
And that is interestingthat that consumers have kind of gotten
(47:19):
savvy of that fact.
You know, I don't know that investorsnecessarily have because seemingly
there seems to be a multiple applied to
whatever is hot in the moment,whether it's it's blockchain or AI.
Now, I think that they're they're
they're adding multiplesin terms of the valuation of a company
for that very reason.
Yeah I, I hadsomebody are also on LinkedIn
(47:41):
you know claim you knowsome revolutionary thing of the future
with AI and I said well you knownone of that is reality like that.
That's not going to happen.
And his response was a question back to methat said,
so are you saying thatall of the investors, all of the big tech
firms, all of the big corporations,they're all wrong?
(48:06):
And I said
it's not that they're wrong,but ask yourself the question,
why do you thinkthe investors are promoting it?
And if you can answer that question,you better understand the situation.
We're well, why is it three x ten x4x?
You know, that they andwhy are they out there claiming everything
(48:27):
they're invested in this.
They want it to sellbecause if it sells, they make money.
You know, you touched on solving problemsthat don't exist.
There is a Salesforcecommercial out there.
I'm sure you've seen itwith Matthew McConaughey.
He's sitting in the rain at a restaurantand then Woody Harrelson
(48:49):
over, you know, across the streetin a dry restaurant.
And the whole conversation is about,you know, if I had an agent,
I would have not been stuck outin the rain.
Well, what is the problem here like?
Well, you're trying to,
you know, paint the
picture of a problem that needs an agent
(49:10):
for somethingthat would never actually happen.
Are you saying that we are too stupidas a society to recognize that
it's raining or that the restaurantwould still seat us outside at a table
when it is pouring down rainlike these things don't exist?
(49:30):
Now, we could argue, Well, look,they're just trying to make fun of it
because it's a commercial,but they are driving a narrative of that.
You cannot possibly survive in this worldwithout our AI tool.
And when youwhen you kind of sort through all of hype
and the marketing slogans and agendas
(49:52):
and realize that the emphasis on
is for them to make more money,then you start to realize
that we are trying to forceAI down people's throats
for problems
that simply don't don't even exist.
Right? Yeah. Yeah.
You know, I agree with that.
(50:13):
You know, it's like, what's the answerto 99 out of 100 questions?
It's it's usually money.
So, Chris,what if you could offer one piece
of advice to the listeners out therethat you think would really benefit them?
What would it be and why?
I mean, I guessit depends on what they want to hear you.
(50:35):
No, it's about what you want to say.
I mean, right nowwe've we've touched on some of these.
Like the first one is just as regards to
I go and do a little research,
educate yourself onwhat is AI and what is not.
I'll give you anotherreally quick example of this.
Autonomous vehicles,
(50:56):
autonomous drones, the word autonomous,
and everybody outthere is going to be selling you
some sort of,hey, we've got this autonomous process
that's going to revolutionize everythingfor you.
As of today,there is no such thing as autonomous.
It doesn't exist.
(51:17):
It's a theoretical achievementthat we have not reached yet.
Autonomous vehicles is a marketing term.
It's no vehicle is actually autonomous AI.
The best way to explainthis is if you're driving in your car,
the V, and you're about to run out of gasor say your battery is,
(51:39):
you know, is draining, there'sno car on the planet that decides to self
preserve itself and automatically changecourse and go to the local gas station
and connect to the pump and fills it upand then and pays for it.
Like the cars can't do that, right?
They might ask you like, Hey,I noticed that the battery's running low.
(51:59):
Would you like to change course and goto the gas station or a charging station,
in which case user input says yes,and then you change course.
Autonomy says that the carcould make that decision itself.
There is nothing on this planetthat is autonomous and yet
watch closely as you look acrossthe Internet, how many people are claiming
(52:22):
they've solved autonomy in some formor another with their AI products?
The more you can understand this
and the moreyou can recognize those differences and
and fact versus fiction, the better off
you're going to be in making thosedecisions for your business.
That's a great point, Chris.
(52:43):
If if the listeners want to find youor find out more about you,
where would you recommend they go?
The best place to go is my website.
You can reach me at Chris Hood ecom.
Chris Cody Ecom,
and on my websiteyou can find my social media profiles.
You can connect with me on LinkedIn,you can find my blog,
(53:04):
you can find my book,you can go find that on Amazon and buy it.
Yeah, but everything is right there.
Chris Packham
Love it.
Well, Chris, thank you so muchfor joining me today and sharing
these amazing insights about AI in lifeand the storytelling journey.
It's it's it's been great in a very muchappreciate you joining
(53:25):
appreciate it as well And to the listenersthank you all so much for joining.
Hopefully you got somesome value out of this time.
I know I have.
And if you enjoyed this podcast, pleasemake sure you like and subscribe and
I'll see you in the next.
Hi, I'm Parag Amin.
Welcome to my podcast.
From Crisis to Justice.
As a lawyer and entrepreneur, I'mpassionate about helping small business
owners successfully navigate situationsthat can kill a business.
As a kid, I watched my dad's dreamsof being an entrepreneur were destroyed
by an unethical businessman, and I don'twant that to happen to you or your family.
(00:22):
That's why I started my law firm.
I want to protect and defend businessowners and their legacies from crisis.
Welcome to From Crisis to Justice.
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to.
From Crisis to Justice.
I am your host, Parag Amin.
(00:43):
And I am joinedby a very special guest today, Chris Hood.
Chris is a leading expert
in digital strategycustomer experience and A.I.
innovation.
With over 35 years of experience
driving transformationin business and technology.
As a former Google executive,Chris led digital transformation
(01:04):
transformation initiativesfor Fortune 500 companies
focusing on enhancingcustomer success and engagement.
He's worked with globalbrands like Disney, Universal, Fox,
Domino's and Intel, and he's pioneered new
storytelling technologiesand digital solutions.
He's also the author of Customer
(01:25):
Transformation and End, available
to books that provide deep insightsinto aligning business strategy
with evolving customer expectationsin the digital era.
Chris,thank you so much for joining me today.
Absolutely.
Looking forward to this at me too.
So can you talk a little bitabout your experience with
(01:50):
this story telling
and how storytellinghas maybe transformed over the years?
Like what parts do you think have stayedvery similar and what parts do
you think have changed over the years?
Yeah, I think the
what has stayed the same is basicallyour desires to hear new and interesting
(02:12):
stories, as well as the generalstorytelling process
really hasn'tchanged in thousands of years.
But the mechanisms and channels
by which we consume those storieshave have definitely changed.
And I think technologyobviously is a huge part of it.
I think some other areas,such as even like COVID, has changed
(02:34):
how we engage more openlyand in public settings.
We've seen the decline of movietheaters over the course of the last
five years, with most movie theatersstarting to go out of businesses.
The technology is up to aa satisfying action level
that we can do the exact same experiencein the comfort of our own home.
(02:56):
Obviously, then when we start
to look at other types of channelsand mechanisms by which we engage.
We've got our phones and our devicesthat are constantly in our hands
that we can go and look at contentand get clips of stories
shared with us on a minuteby minute basis.
I also think because of that,
(03:17):
the way we think about storieshas changed.
For example, instead of, say, a two hoursit down and watch a movie,
we want that movie experience in 2 minutes
and I think our attention span
and our desirefor a lot of different types of content
(03:39):
has also really changed how
we are listening to stories.
And then on top of all of that,we have also addressed tech increase of
of opportunity to share our opinions
and whether those opinions are goodor bad.
We will flock to social media, sharethose.
(04:02):
Our belief in what is real versus
fake are geo and political belief systems.
In terms of I agree with itor I don't agree with that.
All of that is really changinghow we think about storytelling broadly
and how we consume dataon our daily basis.
Yeah.
And so what are your thoughtson the components of great storytelling
(04:29):
are beginning, middle and end?
I you know what's hard right now
and I think we're in a we're experiencingthis is that,
you know, there's there's a verylimited subset of stories to begin with.
And so a lot of what we seenow is been retold.
If we look over the course of the last50 years,
(04:51):
it used to cost a lot of money to producea story or a movie or a TV show.
It still does today.
But the difference is,is somebody with a mobile phone
can go out and filma movie of their choosing.
And so we're getting a lot more content,a lot cheaper content.
And so the retelling of these storiesis creating,
(05:14):
you know, it's like the superhero movies.
You know, every yearthere's, you know, a slew of super hero
moviesand people will still go and see them.
But can we argue they are good?
You know, do we argue that they're bador do we argue that they're repetitive?
Jurassic Park is getting ready to come outwith the ninth version
(05:35):
of a drastic park movie.
And I was listeningto somebody on the radio and they're like,
okay, let me get this straight.
There's an island, there's dinosaurs,and then everybody gets killed.
Okay, I got the movie, right?
And so I think trying to breakfree of that stereotype,
those tropes, those storiesto create original and interesting,
(05:58):
compellingstories is very challenging today.
But that's you know,that's part of what makes
storytelling and a movie,you know, experiences interesting is when
we can actually go and capture somethingunique and different that entertains us.
Right. Yeah.
And you know, I'man avid proponent that storytelling is
(06:23):
it's one of the oldest things and methods
of passing on informationeven from from our ancestors.
And so I think there's something
innate and hardwired in usthat connects with stories.
I think that's also why we resonatewith certain movies or even certain
characters in movies or even advertising.
If you look at some of the bestadvertising, it tells a story.
(06:44):
Even if it's only in 30 secondsor a minute.
It makes you feel certainkinds of emotions and it makes you feel
a certain kind of connectionwith characters you've never met before.
And so the ability to convey that emotion
throughthe screen is so incredibly important.
And the nice thing is with with increasingtechnology, we see increasing abilities
(07:07):
or methods to be able to tell storiesin different creative ways.
I mean, even even Pixar, for example,you know, you take cartoon
type characters, fake characters,and somehow
when we watch a Pixar movie,at least many of them, you feel
some kind of emotional draw to to thiscompletely made up fictional character.
(07:28):
It doesn't look human at all, but somehowhas these human characteristics.
You know, how do you think A.I.
is is going to change that, if at all?
Do you think it's going to help it?Do you think it's going to hurt it?
Well, you're also touching on somethingthat is interesting
in terms of how entertainment storytellinghas shifted.
(07:50):
Storytellinghas always been a community event.
You would sit around a campfireand tell a story.
You would go to a movie theater
and engage in that storytellingwith other people around you.
And now we have our devicesand our phones.
And even though you might have multiple
and millions of peoplewatching the same content,
(08:11):
you're doing it in a singular,you know, personal way of of viewing.
And so when we start thinking aboutAI and it's impact
on that type of experience,we're further pushing
a singular individual
type of experienceas opposed to that community style
(08:32):
of sharing togetherin whatever the story is.
And what AI is is doing really more
broadly is it's reducing the need
to experience things with other people.
For example, even communicationor collaboration, teamwork.
You know, the human
(08:52):
emotions that we generally would getfrom listening or watching something
when that is one sided, it becomesa completely different experience.
A good example ofthis is if you've ever talked
with, say, your homedevice, Alexa or Google Home,
and you've asked it like,tell me what the weather is.
(09:15):
One way to kind of judgethis community type of experiences.
Do you respond back to your homeassistant and say, Well, thank you.
Right.
Like,are you having that two way collaboration
or communicate passion in the process?
And when that startsto get removed from the equation,
(09:35):
then we are further
removing those human elements,whether there are emotional elements
or or the uniquely human capacity
for entertainment, humor, irony,you know, all of those things that
we can understand because we're humans,we start to lose that because of the AI.
(09:58):
Yeah.
And so, you know, when it relates to A.I.
and storytelling in the business world,
what do you think that business ownersshould be doing,
maybe to incorporate storytelling or
AI into their respective businesses?
Yeah, I mean, storytelling in terms
(10:20):
of just business practices broadly.
You all should be doingI mean, storytelling is not just once
upon a time, it's in your brandingand your messaging
and how you want to come acrossto potential clients and consumers.
It's about the experience.
It's about the breadth of what you wantto present out there to the world,
(10:42):
about who you areand what you're trying to accomplish,
or share with those individualswho become your customers.
That's natural. It's going to happen.
I mean, there's very few companiesprobably out there that just pop up
a brand don'treally think about the message, right.
And the messagingand then just start selling something.
(11:03):
There's always some other thing behind it.
Most specifically is
you are trying to solve a problem,and so you have to communicate
what is the problemand how are you solving that?
And that all comes fromyou said it earlier, advertising,
marketing and storytelling.
From an AI perspective, I think whatpeople have to start to think about is
(11:27):
what is the actual benefits of
AI when it comes to that experience
you are trying to presentto your customers and in a lot of cases
it is very sterile, it is very dry,it is not emotional.
And so I think businesses have to do
(11:48):
a little better job right nowin terms of learning
what the capabilities of AI
actually are so that they canthen figure out
how are they goingto leverage this technology
along with those humanemotional components
so that you can enhance that experiencefurther?
Yeah. And so when it comes to
(12:12):
elevating or
connecting with certain types of
just human experienceor human emotion in general,
how does a business ownergo about deciding which emotions or which
which emotions to evokeand therefore which stories to tell?
Yeah,it's going to be based on your product.
(12:32):
You know, a sports product like Nikeobviously has
a completely different tone and contextof what they're trying to promote
versus somebody like,you know, say at Taco Bell, right,
where even Taco Bell, like, look,you want to be a part of the in crowd.
And the only way you can be a part of thatin crowd is by eating more tacos.
(12:53):
Right.
So there is some interesting thingslike you can you can compare brands
like Apple versus Samsung or,you know, Ferrari, you know, versus Ford.
Those are all part of that equation.
And depending upon what your productor the experience
that that emotional connectionthat you want to generate,
(13:17):
you're going to have to figure out howdo you present that in compelling ways?
You know,I can help you try to figure that out.
Like you could gointo Chachi and you can say,
you know, we want to have a high energybrand message
that is, you know, geared towardspeople who like to run
(13:37):
and listen to music at the same time,you know, whatever the case might be.
And Chachi will probably output
some ideas, you know,here are some marketing options for you.
Here'skind of a storyline that you can present.
You know, imagine yourselfrunning early in the morning and listening
to your favorite tune.
Like, all of that can be supportedthrough the use of
(14:00):
AI to help you further generate ideas,but you're still going to need to kind of
go through it and fine tune itand make sure that that's on your brand.
It's on point.
It makes sense to you.
It resonates with your customers,and for a lot of those types of elements,
the AI is not going to be ableto support it.
(14:21):
Right.
And, you know, there's there's elementsof of marketing or storytelling
that there really are shockingor surprising meaning
like I'd read this study about Google.
And so even the shade of bluethat Google uses in its advertising,
it went with a slightly darkershade of blue,
and somehow that increased sales by over$200 million annually.
(14:45):
And so it's just shocking in multiplelevels, right,
Because on the one hand, onemight not even think to change the color,
but then two, to think that that color,
the shade of
blue, could have that much of a differencewhen we're not selling.
If we're selling the color blue
and we want the right shade of blue, sure,that seems like it would make sense.
(15:08):
But if we're just sellinga generic product or service or whatever,
the idea that the shade of bluewould make a difference,
you know, it seems like you couldalmost second guess or change
any and everything,and it would lead to endless experiments.
So what do you think?
Yeah, possible.
But as you're talking, I'm noticingthe color of the wall behind you.
It's. It's not quite blue.
(15:29):
It's more of a teal.
But, you know, the first brandthat comes to mind when I look at that,
it's Tiffany's, right?
And so if you can build that connection,the correlation between a color
and instantly say, who is,
you know, that brand,then you're on to something.
You know, if I was to say red and yellow,you know what brands come to mind?
(15:55):
I'm pretty sure instantlymost people are thinking McDonald's.
Right? Right.
If I then said, you know, something like
red and white,
you know, you're probably thinking target.
So these companies have really invested
into understanding the,
(16:18):
you know, the emotionaland mental connections
between a colors and brand identityand that storytelling.
And so yeah, it seems like it's,you know, something that,
hey, I could just pick a colorand we'd be good, but,
but there could be a lot, a lot more to itthan, you know, just a color palette.
(16:39):
Mm hmm. Right.
And so,you know, in terms of your experience, it
transcends multiple
industries, from entertainmentto gaming to big tech.
And now digital strategy.
What's been your biggest lessonabout business across
these various industries?
It's what I talk about often.
(17:01):
It's that at the end of the day,you have to appease a customer, a person.
You have to solve their problems.
You know, we we've talked before
in in terms of business more broadly,the customer's always right.
I'm sure there's a lot of people out there
that have mixed feelingsabout that particular statement.
But at the end of the day,if you don't have a customer,
(17:22):
you do not have a business.
So on some level you have to ensurethat you are meeting the needs and and
and expectations of your customersin order to grow your business.
And those businessesthat can go beyond that.
Right.
We say needs and expectations.
(17:42):
Well, that gives us a certain connotation.
But if I also said can you meet
the aspirations of your customers?
Well, now we're getting into a wholenother area.
And so this constant understandingof who your customer is and
what they would like to receive from you
and how you will deliver that to them.
(18:05):
More broadly,when we say the customer's always right,
your customers who are coming to you
as a complete entity is always right.
And if you ignore that, then most likely
you're going to lose a lot ofbusiness and potentially even
go out of business,
(18:26):
right? Yeah.
And so, you know, I have the saying that,you know, I don't know that I agree
that the customer is always rightsingularly.
But I will say that customers on averageare right
because everybody's got the one offor the two off customers
who want somethingthat's completely unusual or crazy.
And but if you've got a consensusthat this is what clients are saying
(18:49):
or eithercomplimenting or complaining about,
it's time it one should listenand make those adjustments.
Yeah.
And that percentage is a good wayto look at it.
Like, you know, let's say20% of your customers come to you
and say, you know, they want some change.
Well, that means 80% don't. Right?
And so if you go down the process of,well,
(19:12):
we're going to deliver to this 20%,
you risk alienating,if not the entire other 80%.
What if you then alienate 20%, Right.
And you lose that 20%?
But but what is that, you know, number?
You know, is it 40%?
And then you start to really considera change.
(19:32):
Is it 50%?
And you say, well, this is a coin flip,and I still risk,
you know, alienating the other half,You know, but if you're sitting at
like 80% or 90% of the people are saying,you know, you should
you should consider this change,then it probably is worth considering.
Right.
And so what are your thoughts on
(19:55):
businesses trying to stay ahead on ondigital trends while continuing
to innovate, but avoiding alienating
their core customers or clients?
Yeah, well, we're seeing that right nowwith artificial intelligence.
And we'll go back to Taco Bellas a great example of this right now.
If you go into a Taco Bell,you are pretty much presented
(20:17):
with a kiosk to do your ordering.
They have removed all kind ofwalk up to the counter
and talk to a person and make your order.
So you've got a kiosk for ordering.
And if you go through the drive through,they've got a virtual assistant
that is taking your orders nowas opposed to somebody on the intercom.
(20:37):
Now, in all of these different cases,you could argue, well, look,
you know, it's
sort of like self-checkout, butI get to go up, I get to make my order.
I don't have to worry about trying toconfuse them with something customizable.
I get to order it exactly howI want to do it in my own time, my own way
in the drive thru,
they're going to be more accuratebecause as I'm going through that, it's
(21:00):
a virtual assistant voice recognitioncan understand what I'm asking for.
They can do upsells without havingto worry about somebody saying, Well,
I don't really like doing upsells. Right?
So you can look at itfrom that perspective.
But on the flip side of this isyou're not giving me a choice.
Like, I don't want to I don't want to talkto a virtual assistant,
(21:21):
I don't want to go up to a kioskand have to place my order.
I want to talk to somebodyin this process.
And so by forcing aI onto their consumers,
which by the way, will add that
in doing so, they're reducingthe amount of staff that they have to hire
(21:42):
or have working at any one locationat any one time,
while also increasing the prices
of their products in their menu items.
So what am I getting out of this?
I'm not talking to anybody.
I'm paying more for that experience.
And the food isn't necessarilyimproving either.
(22:04):
So I feel as if in general,
when you as a consumerare being forced into a scenario
where you will have to use a I,we go back to self-checkout,
like in most locations,I have a choice self-checkout.
Or I could go to a laneand you know, and have somebody help me.
(22:25):
But if that's not the case,
then the ultimate option
for me is to go to your competitor,is to go get tacos somewhere else
where I can actually talk to somebody,socialize, pay less
and not be forced in using a technologythat I don't want to use.
(22:45):
And all companiesshould be thinking about this.
How do we provide that choiceand how do we prevent that
imposing technology in places
where we know the consumers don't want it?
Right?
And, you know, it's interestingbecause I think there's there's something
about human nature that craves choice,regardless of what the choice might be.
(23:09):
You know, an interestinglittle anecdote is lobster today.
We know it is is is somethingthat's supposed to be delectable
and tendsto be a little bit pricier on the menu.
But I don't know if you knew this, Chris,but previously in places
like Massachusetts, Maine, they would feedthe prisoners lobster every day.
And because it was an abundant resource
(23:30):
for them and it was cheap for themto be able to provide it to prisoners.
And so they petitioned to say, look,it's cruel and unusual punishment
to make us eat lobsters every day,and we'd like some sort of choice.
And so, you know, what are your thoughtson that in terms of like,
how important is it that that customers,clients, people get a choice?
(23:52):
And why do you think that's so importantto us?
Well, we'llwe'll bring it back to your specialty.
If if if you if you hadthe choice of a judge, would you take it?
Sure, Of course.
If if I am looking for an attorney,you know,
what is it beneficial to me to choosewhich attorney I would pick?
(24:14):
Right.
You know,
if you specialize in one area of the law,why would you force
somebody,you know, like you're a divorce attorney
and I'm being charged with murder,
but I have to use the divorce divorceattorney, you know, to for my case.
Like, of course, we want choice.
(24:38):
Obviously, those are extreme situations.
But I would even argue, you know,there's there's some really interesting
kind of complexphilosophical questions to ask.
You know, I've I've done it insort of health care, like,
you know, say you you're getting ready
to have brain surgeryand you had the choice,
(25:01):
a neurosurgeon who has done this procedurethousands of times,
but maybe has a 95% success rate,or we've got this new guy
that can do it, 99% success rate,but has only done it a couple of times.
Like,
yeah, I want that choice.
(25:21):
And when I ask this question,
most people will say, Well,I want the human to do the surgery.
I don't want the guy to do the surgery.
We could apply the same practice in lawif you've been,
you know, charged with murderand you're about to
you know, be in front of a judge,do you want a real person
who's the judge or do you want an AI who'ssitting up there judging the case?
(25:45):
Again, I think most people would pickthe real person
because even based on time of day,hey, they're having a good day today.
They're letting a lot of things off,right?
Like, that's great where the eye is goingto sit there and say,
look, I'm being logical, completely 5050.
No, you know, no bias, no partial opinionshere.
It's simply, you know, I'mgoing to give you my decision.
(26:09):
Now, some of us might argue that that'sprobably
a good thing in the court systemsright now.
But these choice lawsand the impacts of of how
AI is being replaced
and preventing peoplefrom having the choice
is the area of concernthat we should be focused on.
(26:30):
Because without that choice,without that inherent desire as humans
to be able to pick our favorite flavor
of ice cream versus, you know, who to
represent us in court,
if that all goes away, because we're
just going to allowAI to make the choice for us,
(26:51):
then we lose a substantial part of our ofwhat makes us human.
I agree with that.
You know, it's interesting, Chris,because on some of these choices,
I completely agree with you.
For example,which lawyer you want to hire.
And if we've got a choice on a judge,of course, you know,
let's go with the judge has ruledmore favorably in our type of case
(27:12):
than the one who hasn't, or a doctor,you know,
let's let's go with the one who we thinkis going to do the best job.
But I will say, if let's say I'm going in
for a surgery and the doctor says, look,you've got the choice of scalpel.
Should I use this one or this one?
That question is going to make mea little nervous, you know?
Yeah, Yeah, that's a great point.
(27:33):
So, you know, there are limits.
And I think part of it is it's onsome of the soft factors.
We feel a little bit more comfortable,meaning like if it's like an air choice
versus a human, you know, I'd like tomaybe be able to make that choice.
Or for example,if I can get a live operator
when I make a phone call versussome kind of call tree or press
(27:53):
one for this, press two for that.
And zero is not an option andit just resets the whole thing for you.
You know,and some of those I think it's better.
And but on some of the more technical,harder issues, I think it's just easier
and it feels better to to be ableto trust an expert to say, look,
there isn't a choice on this one.
This is the right decision.This is what we're going with.
(28:14):
And many times it's not even asked.
You just assume that it's being handled.
Do you have any thoughts on onthat distinction and maybe why it is that
that we feel that way?
Well, we we again, as as humans,we want to place our
our trustand, you know, our faith in the experts.
(28:35):
If I was to hire you,I'm not going to sit there and say,
although I'msure you've experienced this before.
Well, you know, I read on the Internetthat if we plead this way,
we'll we'll havea better chance of winning.
No, you are the expert.
I'm hiring you to represent me.
So I'm going to trust youto make the right decisions.
The problem that we are starting to haveand the you know, I kind of joke about,
(28:59):
you know, I can log on to Googleand learn to be a lawyer.
The amount of informationthat is available to us is astronomical.
And now even more so if I go into chat.
You bet.
And I say pretend you're a lawyerand here's the situation
and here's the contract and I want toget out of it, how would you argue this?
And now I'm like, Well,
(29:21):
I don't need a law degree.
I can do this on my own, right?
So wewe do want to put our trust and faith
into the experts, into the people,and that they are ultimately
making the correct decision on our behalf,which gets into the ethical
and the moral dilemmasof what it takes to be human.
(29:42):
But that's a critical componentthat we always have to consider.
I had a really interesting exchangeon LinkedIn a couple of days ago
where you know, somebody was talking about
leveraging AI for,
you know,I can't remember exactly what it was, but,
you know, my response was, yeah, but
(30:04):
I could be wrong right now.
You know, AI is not 100% correct.
And so we have to recognize that.
And his response was, well,imagine a world where
we don't have to worry about thatbecause AI is 100%.
And my response was pretty simple.
I said, Well, yeah, but then
(30:28):
where is the human right like that?
That there is some
interesting correlation with saying
even though AI is not 100%factually right, neither are we.
And so to be able to make that correlationand recognize
when I could be used in
(30:49):
appropriate situationsfor recommendations,
you still have to come back with thatand say,
you know, what, am I okay with this?
Do I accept this is this somethingthat I'm comfortable with?
And if the answer is yes, then great.
Keep doing it right.
You know, And speaking of AI, in business,you know, what are some thoughts on
(31:14):
how people can leverage
AI for their businesses better?
For example, even, you know, chat GPT
or whatever other AI toolsyou might recommend or suggest,
What are some better ways we could all beleveraging them for our businesses?
Yeah, so there's two core pieces to this.
(31:35):
The first oneis, is that you have to understand
what AI is capable of doingand what it's not capable of doing.
And I think a lot of what we areseeing out there right now
is, is an overly hyped technologythat is, you know, clean.
It's like it can do everything for you,It can revolutionize your life and
(31:57):
and understandingthose capabilities is a big part of it.
That way when you are reading,you know, like sales pitches or stuff
that is out there on the Internet
and you're trying to make decisionsabout how to use AI,
you don't getcaught up in the marketing pitch
and hype versus the reality,because I've heard of a lot of businesses
(32:18):
who say,
Oh, this is going to completely changehow we do business,
and then they go invest in it,they bring it in,
they try to implement it,and then they realize, wait a second,
this doesn't do anything that we thoughtit was going to do.
And in most cases it doesn't.
You know,you're spending off of that hype.
So educate yourself.
Be aware of what the capabilities are.
(32:40):
That's the first step.
The second step is if you just accept itas kind of a collaboration tool,
as a way of increase resourcingprocesses, of streamlining things,
awareness, you
know, supporting of like your brandingand storytelling,
providing you with, with, you know, oftenthink of it like a menu.
(33:01):
You go into the restaurant, here'sa bunch of menu items, you pick what menu
item you want.
You know, you order it,you eat it, and it is very similar.
Like they provide mewith a whole bunch of options
for improving my brand.
Great.
Here's a bunch of options go through.
Pick the one that makes sense, you know?
(33:22):
But again, this goes into what it iscapable of versus what it's not capable
to understand, like purely from a business
strategy or a marketing strategy.
If I went into chat and asked itto provide me with a marketing strategy
every single thingthat it's going to list out
as an option for you,somebody else has already done right.
(33:45):
It's not going to create some magicor new thing
that innovates on an ideathat has never been heard of before.
It can't do thatbecause the root of it's learning
is existing materials.
And so this gives you
an example of why you need to learnwhat the real capabilities are
and then figure out how you want to applythose to your business, right? Yes.
(34:11):
You know,and that's that's very interesting point
because that generally is how we use itin my law firm.
You know, we don'twe don't outsource thinking,
but we will use it for iterativethinking or thinking deeper.
And, you know, it's interesting because
one of one of the issues I personally had
with with just school in general,despite all the time I've spent in school,
(34:32):
and therefore maybe that makes mea better, more able critic in that in that
regard is just the extra amount of timeI've spent there.
But, you know, big thing is a lot ofclasses were about memorizing things.
And so at the end of ityou've got this memory test,
but real life isn't really like that.
I mean, certainly you've got some basicthings you got to remember and memorize,
but the reality of it is the human brainis much better at thinking through issues,
(34:57):
but it can only hold
so many pieces of informationat one time to be able to think through.
So I think a lot of times it's much
easier to think on paper than it isjust mentally because you can
physically put more things down or thinkthrough more things on a piece of paper.
And you can naturally, I think, holdin memory and I think maybe one of the
(35:20):
the issues with the
way some people use AI, you know, is that
instead oflike the more collaborative approach
is the better approach of,hey, help me think through this.
Can you research this issue?Can you tell me about this?
And you ask it better questionsto be able to get better answers.
But that's really the key, I think isis just the asking of better questions.
(35:41):
Do you think that's right? Andcan you elaborate on that a little bit?
Like if you have any thoughts on that?
Oh, 100%, Absolutely true.
And again, there'sI think there's multiple ways
to kind of think about this
in termsof being able to ask the right question
and kind of iterate on ideas.
(36:02):
It's a it's a great tool, right,because you don't know everything
and it could present
a brainstorm that really kick starts
the right direction for you, right?
So even if you don't use it as an answer,you just use it
as a catalyst for what's next.
(36:25):
That's exactly the purpose
of catch up, in all honesty.
Now, the flip side of thisand what you're also touching on
is that through the use of somethinglike a chat
and definitely when we start to thinkabout in the educational environment
(36:46):
or the capacity,because people don't really understand
how to benefit from, you know,
AI or generativeAI or large language models,
they're asking at questions,they're getting responses back,
they're cutting and pastingthose responses into documents.
(37:06):
And what we are really jeopardizingis our overall critical thinking skills.
And so I've seen firsthand,even in the college courses that I teach,
where critical thinking is going down,because as you start to use AI,
you have a natural beliefthat it's correct.
(37:27):
Right?
But we know that even if you dida Google search, you could find a website
and the information on the websiteis incorrect.
We have some innate you know,
this is why I called my book infallible,because we have this belief system
in artificial intelligencethat it is infallible
(37:48):
and that whatever I get out of itmust be correct.
Because why?
You know, it's smart, it's A.I.,and that's not the case.
And so we we are losing
the basic criticalthinking process of that iteration
of being able to ask smarter questions
or being able to collaborate with theAI in real time to say,
(38:11):
I like what you said here,but I still have some questions.
Or how about if we change that to,you know, look at it
this way, that skill set
of critical thinking,asking the right questions.
We are quickly losing because of AI.
And there was a reportI haven't read it yet, but it just
(38:33):
came out like this week or last week,which basically shows that critical
thinking skills are going downdue to generative AI.
Our ability to create to tell stories,to think more logically.
All of that is deteriorating, primarilybecause we're trusting
AI to have that infallible output.
(38:56):
Yeah, that's right.
And it's ironicbecause in that sense we're expecting A.I.
to be more humanand have those critical thinking
and judgment skills,which it does not have.
And ironically, humans, therefore,by using AI in that manner,
kind of outsource their humanityand become more robotic of
you give me this and I'll take itand I'll just put it here.
(39:18):
Well, robots can do that.
There's really no sense of a humanbeing involved in that aspect of things.
But, you know,I completely agree with you that
I think that the people
and the businesses that continue toinnovate over the years and will succeed
with AI are the ones who understandwhere it fits into that puzzle
and really understand that
(39:39):
it's it's the abilityto gather the information, look at it
using their critical thinking skills,
but then just be able to iteratefaster with it.
But then you've still got to be ableto think about how you best apply it
and experiment with itand look at the various pieces to see
how they fit together.
Yeah, you look,you can ask it a question in
(40:02):
and get a response, but it still requires
the thinking beyond that output.
Right?
We go back to how we started storytelling.
Like I can ask ChadDjibouti to write me a story and it's
going to write you some random storyand it's probably pretty decent.
It's probably a story that's been retold.
(40:24):
But when we start to dive into itlike that character,
you know, I would really like thatcharacter to have the persona of,
you know,you know, the color blue or whatever.
And I need that the character to talk
as if it's mopey and, you know,we go back to Disney like,
(40:45):
you know, the robot recent robot movieas well as
like the Inside out, too,with the emotions like that type of depth
and understanding of the emotional contextcatchy
beauty can replicate,
but you have to know to ask itto do that replication
(41:05):
and how to kind of simulate that response
because it's not going to be able to do iton its own, Right?
Yeah.
And so, you know, as it relates to kind of
entrepreneurial leadership
and whether it's through AIor other tools, do you have any thoughts
on how an entrepreneur staysahead of the curve or ahead of the pack?
(41:31):
Any kind of best tips or tricks,especially over
the various industriesyou've you've been a thought leader in?
And what Yeah, I mean, I will still goback to ask your customers.
You know,
your customers are,you know, your lifeblood.
They're going to be the ones.
And so now let's sayyou're an entrepreneur and you're
(41:52):
trying to figure out what new businessthat you want to create.
And even, hey,I want to create an AI business.
Well, just so that you're aware,there's about 5000 new AI companies
being built every month, it'sreally unsustainable at this point.
I don't know where we're going to headlater in this year, but, you know,
(42:13):
we're we're close to say a dotcom bubble burst of 2000.
Right.
And like I just the amount of investmentand the amount of new companies
that are in this space,I don't think we can sustain it
but it kind of walking through this
every company starts with a problem.
(42:34):
You have to have a problemthat you are trying to solve
and then you have to figure outif you can solve that problem.
And if there are people out therethat have that problem
and are looking for a solutionthat's 100% of every company,
there is no other kind of,
(42:55):
you know, way of going about this.
And so what I thinkwhat I'm seeing a lot of
is organizations that start with, well,
I want to build something with AI,
and then they start to build something.
They come up with some cool idea for AI
and then they start to figure outnow, okay, who am I going to sell this to?
(43:17):
Who are my customers?
That is backwards.
It sounds like a hobby. Yeah.
And so if you go through the motionsand you come up with the problem,
you figure out who your customers areand how you're going
to solve their problemswith your solution,
then you can figure out, okay,now that I've got that,
(43:38):
what technology can I use to build that?
And I can almost guarantee you right nowthat most of them
don't require AI to accomplish.
If you are leading with a AI,if you are saying
I must build an AI company,
then you are building a companyfor the wrong reasons.
(43:59):
If you start withI have a problem and I have some customers
and I'm going to solve this problem,you know, and here's my solution.
It may have AI in it
and maybe after the factyou can start to figure out
how you can leverageAI to be incorporated into that solution.
But there are so many technologiesout there that, you know,
(44:22):
we talk about like contact.
There's so many companies out therethat have claimed
they have perfected the ability
for automation of lead
generation.
I I've got a I've got a, you know,
Google Forms document with some,you know, scripting on it.
(44:46):
And that does exactly the same thing
as your AI tool does for free.
Right?
Like you can't possibly argue with methat your
AI tool is going to be more perfect,perfect
than existing MailChimp
which and do it without a AI.
(45:07):
And so this goes back to this concept of
I understand what it can do,but start with your customer
figure out what the problem is, solve it,then figure out what the technology is.
And in that same processas you're iterating and growing
and scaling and expandingand moving towards the next thing,
start asking your customers,how would you like to engage with us?
(45:30):
What ways,what technologies are you using?
What are some of the cool technologiesthat you really like right now?
What are some of the technologiesthat you don't like right now?
There was a research paperthat was done towards the end of last year
that basically said
they presented consumers with a listof different products, and some products
(45:50):
were, you know, like a vacuum cleanerand then
they also presented the same productlike vacuum cleaner powered by AI
in pretty much every single scenariowhere they presented the same product
as powered by AI,the consumers were turned off
and chose the productthat did not have AI in it.
(46:11):
And so I think about that.
Like you, if you ask and talkwith your consumers about what they want,
you will have a clear path in termsof what technologies
to start were, you know, thinking aboutand investing in as you move forward.
Yeah, I love that.
And that is very insightful,Chris, you know, because I think
a lot of times
(46:33):
people don't really focus on the problemand the solution or what what problem
it is they're trying to solve, and insteadthey start thinking about strategies
to try to solve and undefined problemand run in circles.
They think, okay, well, AI's in right now,I want to use that.
A year or two agoit was the blockchain and so anything
with blockchain, every, any and everythingseemingly had blockchain involved in it
(46:57):
from tokens to like loaves of bread,you know, it's just ridiculous.
So the metaverse. Yeah, right. Yes. Yeah.
And I don't knowwhat exactly happened with that,
but we're not hearing about thattoo much these days.
But yes, it's just the the word of the dayor the word of the month,
maybe the word of the year,and then it goes on to something else.
And that is interestingthat that consumers have kind of gotten
(47:19):
savvy of that fact.
You know, I don't know that investorsnecessarily have because seemingly
there seems to be a multiple applied to
whatever is hot in the moment,whether it's it's blockchain or AI.
Now, I think that they're they're
they're adding multiplesin terms of the valuation of a company
for that very reason.
Yeah I, I hadsomebody are also on LinkedIn
(47:41):
you know claim you knowsome revolutionary thing of the future
with AI and I said well you knownone of that is reality like that.
That's not going to happen.
And his response was a question back to methat said,
so are you saying thatall of the investors, all of the big tech
firms, all of the big corporations,they're all wrong?
(48:06):
And I said
it's not that they're wrong,but ask yourself the question,
why do you thinkthe investors are promoting it?
And if you can answer that question,you better understand the situation.
We're well, why is it three x ten x4x?
You know, that they andwhy are they out there claiming everything
(48:27):
they're invested in this.
They want it to sellbecause if it sells, they make money.
You know, you touched on solving problemsthat don't exist.
There is a Salesforcecommercial out there.
I'm sure you've seen itwith Matthew McConaughey.
He's sitting in the rain at a restaurantand then Woody Harrelson
(48:49):
over, you know, across the streetin a dry restaurant.
And the whole conversation is about,you know, if I had an agent,
I would have not been stuck outin the rain.
Well, what is the problem here like?
Well, you're trying to,
you know, paint the
picture of a problem that needs an agent
(49:10):
for somethingthat would never actually happen.
Are you saying that we are too stupidas a society to recognize that
it's raining or that the restaurantwould still seat us outside at a table
when it is pouring down rainlike these things don't exist?
(49:30):
Now, we could argue, Well, look,they're just trying to make fun of it
because it's a commercial,but they are driving a narrative of that.
You cannot possibly survive in this worldwithout our AI tool.
And when youwhen you kind of sort through all of hype
and the marketing slogans and agendas
(49:52):
and realize that the emphasis on
is for them to make more money,then you start to realize
that we are trying to forceAI down people's throats
for problems
that simply don't don't even exist.
Right? Yeah. Yeah.
You know, I agree with that.
(50:13):
You know, it's like, what's the answerto 99 out of 100 questions?
It's it's usually money.
So, Chris,what if you could offer one piece
of advice to the listeners out therethat you think would really benefit them?
What would it be and why?
I mean, I guessit depends on what they want to hear you.
(50:35):
No, it's about what you want to say.
I mean, right nowwe've we've touched on some of these.
Like the first one is just as regards to
I go and do a little research,
educate yourself onwhat is AI and what is not.
I'll give you anotherreally quick example of this.
Autonomous vehicles,
(50:56):
autonomous drones, the word autonomous,
and everybody outthere is going to be selling you
some sort of,hey, we've got this autonomous process
that's going to revolutionize everythingfor you.
As of today,there is no such thing as autonomous.
It doesn't exist.
(51:17):
It's a theoretical achievementthat we have not reached yet.
Autonomous vehicles is a marketing term.
It's no vehicle is actually autonomous AI.
The best way to explainthis is if you're driving in your car,
the V, and you're about to run out of gasor say your battery is,
(51:39):
you know, is draining, there'sno car on the planet that decides to self
preserve itself and automatically changecourse and go to the local gas station
and connect to the pump and fills it upand then and pays for it.
Like the cars can't do that, right?
They might ask you like, Hey,I noticed that the battery's running low.
(51:59):
Would you like to change course and goto the gas station or a charging station,
in which case user input says yes,and then you change course.
Autonomy says that the carcould make that decision itself.
There is nothing on this planetthat is autonomous and yet
watch closely as you look acrossthe Internet, how many people are claiming
(52:22):
they've solved autonomy in some formor another with their AI products?
The more you can understand this
and the moreyou can recognize those differences and
and fact versus fiction, the better off
you're going to be in making thosedecisions for your business.
That's a great point, Chris.
(52:43):
If if the listeners want to find youor find out more about you,
where would you recommend they go?
The best place to go is my website.
You can reach me at Chris Hood ecom.
Chris Cody Ecom,
and on my websiteyou can find my social media profiles.
You can connect with me on LinkedIn,you can find my blog,
(53:04):
you can find my book,you can go find that on Amazon and buy it.
Yeah, but everything is right there.
Chris Packham
Love it.
Well, Chris, thank you so muchfor joining me today and sharing
these amazing insights about AI in lifeand the storytelling journey.
It's it's it's been great in a very muchappreciate you joining
(53:25):
appreciate it as well And to the listenersthank you all so much for joining.
Hopefully you got somesome value out of this time.
I know I have.
And if you enjoyed this podcast, pleasemake sure you like and subscribe and
I'll see you in the next.
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