Thriving in the Age of AI with Filip Drimalka

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Nigel Rawlins (00:00):
Filip Dramalka is a leading expert in AI driven

(00:03):
productivity and digitaltransformation, with nearly two
decades of experience helpingorganisations and professionals
embrace technology to worksmarter, not harder.
As the author of The Future ofNo Work, Filip challenges the
myth that AI is replacing jobs.
Instead, he reveals how AI isreshaping work, unlocking new

(00:25):
opportunities for efficiency,creativity and entrepreneurship.
In this episode, Filip sharespractical AI strategies for
enhancing productivity,streamlining workflows, and
staying competitive in a veryrapidly evolving digital
landscape.
If you are ready to futureproofyour work, leverage AI as a
collaborator and rethinkproductivity, it's time to dive

(00:48):
into the AI powered future ofwork with Filip Drimalka.
Phillip, welcome to theWisepreneurs podcast.
Could you tell us somethingabout yourself and where you're
from?

Filip Drimalka (01:03):
Nigel.
My name is Filip Drimalka.
Sometimes it's hard topronounce.
But I'm from the Czech Republic.
And a little bit about myself.
I love digital innovation.
For the last 15 or almost 20years, I've been helping
organizations to adopt newtechnologies and new ways of
working.

(01:23):
Actually, I'm a lawyer.
I studied law, but neverpracticed because I got
interested in improvingworkflows and improving how
people work very soon.
So even though I finishedschool, I fell in love with all
stuff digital.
So this is what I'm doing now.

Okay.
And at the moment, are youtraveling?

Yeah, I'm on a workation, which is part of work
and part of vacation.
And I'm traveling, I'm now inSri Lanka, and then I will
travel to Australia, NewZealand, Hawaii, and I will end
end my trip in South bySouthwest in Austin Texas.

Okay.
What made you do the trip?

Okay so this is special occasion I do this.
vacation every year for at leastfour to five weeks, but this
time is different because I haveI have a 17 years old daughter
and next year she will finishhigh school.
So I took it as opportunity tospend some quality time with
her.
So we are here with the wholefamily, but the next week my

(02:25):
wife and my baby boy will comeback to the Czech Republic and
then I will have almost fiveweeks with my daughter.

Oh, lovely.
So where in the Czech Republicdo you actually live?

In Brno in a city called Brno.
And the whole region issometimes called the South or
Central European Silicon Valley,because there are many tech
companies and startups and thewhole city is buzzing.
Yeah, I love Brno and the wholearea.
It's close to Vienna.
It's close to Prague.
So basically everything inEurope is pretty close, but I

(02:56):
think Brno is in the middle ofeverything.

I think some of the people from the Czech
Republic I've spoken to from thearea.
I came across your book throughThomas Baranek I think it is.
Your book was The Future Of NoWork and I read it and I'm
thinking, wow, it was it was,put it this way, it had a lot of
depth so it took a lot ofreading, but I found that as I
was reading it, I was clickingon all these different sites and

(03:23):
spending lots of money on littleprograms that you mentioned, but
we did talk about believe it ornot, one of the books that I
read many years ago TimFerriss's The 4 Hour Week, which
was published in 2007.
And his idea was to create moretime for activities that matter.
And your book about The FutureOf No Work, because when I read

(03:46):
Tim Ferriss's book, I thought,how can you, cause he talked
about doing everything in fourhours.
And I'm thinking that'simpossible because at that time,
which was many years ago,actually I was running a
probably a larger marketingservices company.
It's down to me now.
And I was thinking how can Isuddenly get my business down to
running in four hours?
I can't even do the accounts infour hours, but I think your

(04:11):
book can actually make thathappen.
So let's talk a little bit aboutThe Future Of No Work, your book
that was published last year.
How did that come about?

Okay.
I founded two companies and bothare related to digital skills
and technology adoption.
And what I see, is that peoplehave all these amazing apps and
softwares and all thistechnology around themselves,
but they are not using them andthey are using just like
fraction of what it is capableof doing.

(04:43):
And I was influenced by TimFerriss a lot and I love his
podcast and everything.
And I think there are twodifferences.
The one is that he's talkingabout escaping.
And I'm talking about doingbetter work, and I think what AI
does is enabling us to, to worksmarter and faster, but to do
better work and with betteroutputs and create more value.

(05:07):
And the second difference isthat I think it's, yeah, it is
not maybe about working fourhours because I found it
impossible as well.
But about increasing the valuewe create in those hours we
spent working.
And I think with AI you canreally create enormous value in
a couple of minutes, actually.

(05:27):
So now all those ideas from FourHour Work Week are even, easier
to implement with the help ofAI.
But what is I important to tonotice or to say is that,
sometimes it's not about AI atall.
It's about maybe doing less ormaybe maybe not doing at all.
So I think that, how I came upwith this idea is that when I

(05:48):
tried ChatGPT for the firsttime, it was one day, it was the
very first day actually, when itwas published.
So I did two things.
I purchased some NVIDIA stocks,because I knew that this would
change everything.
And I also purchased thefutureofnowork.
com domain because I realizedthat this is how work will look

(06:10):
like in a couple of years, thatwe will be just orchestrating AI
that will do most of the work.
So this is how I came up withthe whole No Work Movement and I
needed to write this bookimmediately because I knew that
it would change everything.

I think it is going to, and the most amazing
thing is we connected up today,and within a couple of hours,
we're on the podcast, and I wasable to use my AI.
Luckily, I had read your bookand taken lots of notes, but I
was able to use ChatGPT tocreate some summaries and create

(06:44):
some talking points and alsohelp me with The Four Hour Work
Week from Tim Ferris and blendthose together and think about
this conference you're headingoff to.
And that helped me.
So you're right.
There's an interesting chapcalled, I don't know if you've
come across him, Ethan Mollick.
And he talks about centaurs andcyborgs, about people who use AI

(07:09):
or Chat GPT.
Cyborgs blend the machine andthe person, so they're on and
using AI all the time.
And centaurs, they do theirlittle bit, and occasionally
they'll do some AI.
And that's what I think you're,that's what got me about your
work is, yeah, let's just divein and use this.
So let's go through a little bitabout what do you think work

(07:32):
means nowadays, in that regard.

Before I start, I think it's not only about AI
that helped you to prepare forthis session, but also, I booked
this session through SavvyCal,your smart link that, allow me
to check your calendar and soon.
You will do a summary after.
So I think we can now usetechnology in almost every step

(07:55):
of any process.
And this is amazing.
So I think that the when peopleare able to connect all these
apps and smart servicestogether.
Then, the magic happens.
And sorry, what was thequestion?
Because I was, I was just soamazed by this, I know Ethan
Mollick and I think yeah, Iremember now.
So I think the what we see inour programs, there are people

(08:20):
and there's just I think, acouple of people that really get
into the symbiosis with AI.
I call it symbiosis with AI.
That means that I'm not thinkingif to use it or not.
I'm just using that in everysingle step of the process.
I have linked to my favorite AIapps in my browser, so I just
click and I just use it andbasically it is something like

(08:44):
extension of my brain of mymind.
And I think those people whenyou watch how they work, this is
the future for the rest of usbecause in the future where when
AI will be present everywhere inevery single device it will be
part of our smartphones.
You won't need to think if touse your, or you will just talk

(09:07):
to your device.
Now it still requires a coupleof steps, go to the website and
then type.
I dictate a lot.
Basically, there are somebarriers.
They're small.
But I think if you watchinnovators, people like these
cyborgs as Ethan Mollick namesit, or people that live and work

(09:28):
in symbiosis with AI when youwatch startups, what they work
on agents and so on.
So I think this helps you tounderstand how the future of
work will look like.
And I, we can talk about manyconcrete examples that basically
show us where the world of workis heading, especially knowledge
work.

Oh, definitely.
That, that's an area where I'mvery interested in.
Look, I'll give you an exampleof how I use ChatTP the other
day.
I look after 18 websites for myclients because I run a
marketing services company.
But my Wisepreneur's work is alittle bit different.
I've got a marketing servicescompany and I write a lot of
specialised or expert articlesand I put them on their websites

(10:10):
and I do all the SEO.
So I do the research and I useAI to help me a lot with that.
I write all their articles, butwithout AI, I couldn't do that.

No, but this is the extension.
This is the extension, not onlyof our brain, but also about the
topics that you can tacklesomehow.
And I think it is also reflectedin my book when I talk about
generalists, because I think theprocess and workflows are very
similar, no matter what companydo you work for.

(10:41):
So when we talk about knowledgework, basically.
SEO and customer or clientcommunication.
Everything is just play withinformation, right?
It's just, you createinformation, you absorb it, you
learn, you somehow transform itfrom text to a different text or
to voice or video.

(11:02):
So basically everything is aboutinformation.
That's why it's information orknowledge workers.
And I think this is one of thefields where AI will hit, or it
already hit very hard.

Yes, I was going to say, and one of the things I
had to do is we had a problemwith a domain name.
We weren't allowed to continueusing the old domain name, so we
had to create a new domain name.
And I had to redirect everythingfrom the old one.
to a new one.
And now this is going to confusepeople.
I had to technically figure outhow to redirect the old site to

(11:39):
the new site from cloudflarethen do all the other technical
work so that it doesn't get lostto the search engines.
ChatGPT guided me the whole waythrough.
Normally, I would have had topay hundreds of US dollars to
get a technical expert to do allthat.
And I would have been up for alot of money.
So Yeah, in that respect, thedanger though for knowledge work

(12:01):
is if you have expertise, you'vespent a lot of time learning
your deep knowledge andobviously using it the danger
is, yeah, you can be ageneralist and use ChatGPT to
solve those sorts of problems.
I may never have to solve thoseproblems again.
But if you're an expert, and ageneralist can do your job, what

(12:24):
happens to work?
And what happens to expertise?

I think this is one of the most important
questions we need to ask,because what happens, what will
happen if the price ofintelligence will go to almost
zero, right?
So there will be people whowon't get over it because they
even like they will feel thatthey are not bringing value and

(12:52):
they have new bunch ofcompetitors from those
generalities who are not afraidto promote their services, even
though they are executed by AIbut also I think people with
entrepreneurial mind will comeup with new services.
They will serve those customerswith the help of AI.
So I believe in market.
I believe in market and I thinkthis will, bring so many new

(13:16):
opportunities, but I think italso brings another question and
I one of the most importanttakeaway from my book is that,
nowadays, and I believe that ina couple of years, maybe three,
five, seven years, AI will besuper useful in not through the

(13:37):
whole process.
So you said, okay, so I need tofind out how to redirect
hundreds of sites or maybe bypages and so on.
So nowadays, you brainstorm withAI, then you maybe build some
automation, how to createdifferent links for each of the
previous web pages and so on.
So again, you use AI within thisprocess, but AI doesn't, doesn't

(14:00):
do the whole work.
So sometimes people expect thatAI will do the whole work like,
okay, so I have this old websiteand new website do the redirect.
Maybe in five years it will becapable of doing that, but still
you're the one who isorchestrating that and it brings
you the opportunity to do morework yourself.

(14:21):
So again, you could offer it asa service to new clients.
You don't have to pay forexperts or maybe pay just for
consultation or advisory.
So I think the work itself willnot disappear, but people who
will learn how to use AI withinthe process and, that it will be
not scared or afraid to use itit will have so many new options

(14:44):
and opportunities.
This is amazing.

That's the point.
As I mentioned that I'm turning69 this year.
Wisepreneurs is aimed at theolder professional who wants to
work for themselves.
And this is where I think yourbook comes into itself, is one,
one of the issues, obviously,for probably my age group, is
that we were born in an analogage.
As young kids we had a black andwhite TV and I cannot remember

(15:10):
if we had a phone in the house.
Now everyone's got a phone andthey carry it with them and they
look at it all the time.
So my generation has grown intoa digital world.
And for some it's overwhelming,but for others it's really
exciting.
And one of the things that youmentioned there was really
important is brainstorming withChat GPT or AI or talking to it

(15:34):
or discussing what you're doing.
Which is what I do a lot now.

Yeah.
I think the thinking, not onlybrainstorming, but the thinking
as we know it has ended.
And I give you one example.
One of my teams is working on aproject called Amy.
Amy is an AI consultant.

(15:58):
So basically what we do is thatwe do analysis of digital
opportunities before ourconsultants sat down with our
clients, talked about how theywork, what they do.
What holds them back and so on.
And then we prepared thepresentation.
How can we, improve the work?
What can be automated and so on.
Now we replace the first part ofthe process, the discussion with

(16:21):
our clients with AI.
And we needed to improve the wayAI is asking questions because
some people responded, Okay, soI spent, I spent hours creating
presentation.
But what does it mean?
Is it like every single week oris it for clients?
Is it for internal purpose andso on?
We needed to improve the way AIis asking.
And my colleagues werediscussing this during internal

(16:44):
workshop.
And when I came in, I found outthat they discussed it for two
hours.
And what I did, I uploaded likehundreds of pages of this, of
all conversations with one ofour clients team to NotebookLM
it's brilliant tool from Google.
And basically I asked, okay,analyze those conversations and

(17:06):
give us some tips and hints howwe could improve them.
And in 15 seconds, NotebookLMcame up with much better ideas
than my whole team in two hours.
And I realized that reallythinking as we know it has ended
because now I know that evenwhat you think, let's compare

(17:28):
The future Of No Work and FourHour Work Week.
Now you can upload both books toNotebook LM and talk about the
differences.
It will still be you who will beorchestrating the discussion,
but I think, the AI is sopowerful nowadays that we really
need to get used to it asextension of our brain and
extension of our capabilities.

Now that's a very interesting point.
Because one of the reasons we'rereading stuff is because
obviously if we're discerningand one of the, again, problems
of my age group is that we'rerunning out of time.
I don't know when my use bydate's coming up.
At my age, I could still bedoing this at 80 or 90, or I

(18:09):
could be gone tomorrow for all Iknow.
So we've got a finite use oftime.
So it's really important what weread and what we do for my
particular age group.
Now, obviously if somebody isonly 20 or 30 and they're
listening to this, they'rethinking, what the hell is he
talking about?
Our time is really important.
So what are we going to read?
And if AI can help us with that,but again, in terms of knowledge

(18:32):
work, it is having some sort ofexpertise, but maybe what you're
saying is have some sort ofexpertise and an ability to
recognize when discussions arenot going to be useful.
You mentioned Notebook LLM whatdid you do with it once you got
that knowledge.

That was interesting because we needed to
change the system prompt of Amy,of that of that AI assistant.
So what we did is that we wentthrough the ideas, we uploaded
the old system prompt, And wesaid, based on those findings,
improve the system prompts.

Okay, yeah.

So again, what would take weeks now to a couple
of seconds, and then the wholeproblem was improved.
And now Amy is much better.
But I need to stress out onething, Nigel, you said you are
69.
And I think you are a greatexample that It is really about
mindset because I know peoplewho are in their thirties who

(19:32):
are not using that at all andthey feel that it doesn't work
and if they feel threatened andso on.
And I believe really 90 maybe 95percent of AI skill or the whole
AI skills topic is about havingthe right mindset and when you
combine your life experience andyou are good at what you do.

(19:59):
And when you combine it with AI,this is where the magic happens.
But it also brings some issues.
For example, junior employees.
They have much lessopportunities to learn and gain
this experience because managersare turning to AI instead of
junior people, right and internsand so on.

(20:21):
So I think we that there aremany more questions that we need
to find answers for.
But I think it's really aboutmindset.
And it's about using AI for yourown expertise.
This is, this is very important

Now that's a very interesting point you made
there, because my mother was atypist, using a typewriter,
years and years ago.
And then we got computers, soyou lost all the typists, so you
had to end up doing the typingyourself, as a manager or a
worker.
Now what you're saying is,you're not going to have
interns, and you're not going tohave junior staff, you've now

(20:57):
got a computer keyboard, or amicrophone.
And AI.
That's narrowing, we're notusing as many people.
And the other thing, interestingthing about that, with working
from home, a lot of people arenot, unless they're using it at
home, not getting that workenvironment where that sort of
stuff gets spread around.
The nature of work is reallychanging, but yeah I agree what

(21:20):
you're saying there.
So let's talk a little bit moreabout mindset there because
that's part of your book.
If they haven't got a mindsettowards that, what are they
missing out on?

That is an interesting question.
I think maybe I would firstdescribe what I mean by AI
mindset.
So it starts with acknowledgingthat there is an AI for almost
everything, right?
In 2009 Apple registered atrademark'There's An App For
That' in what it was 15 yearsago.
And there were, thousands ofapps.

(21:50):
But now AI there, there is awebsite called'There Is An AI
For That'.
It's a catalog of 20,000 appswith AI.
So now it starts withunderstanding that I should try
AI no matter what I do.
If I need to brainstorm or if Ineed to create a video avatar of
myself, there is a highprobability, maybe 99 percent

(22:13):
chance that there is an app orAI for that.
The second is, it all startswith small tasks.
Part of this mindset is tryingto use AI here and there.
Not for the whole word orprocess or workflow, but really
for specific part of theprocess.
And then I don't have to think.

(22:34):
I can outsource part of thethinking to, to AI.
So sometimes people ask me howto prompt properly.
So I tell them, okay, so whatdid not work?
And when they explain, they say,okay, so you need to explain
that to AI.
And this is what I call thesymbiosis with AI.

(22:54):
So you need to learn how to getinto the symbiosis because it's
not that complicated.
And there are more parts of thewhole AI mindset.
I would expand that chapterafter one year or maybe even
more that the book is on themarket.
I would expand the chapterbecause I see that during our
programs where hundreds andthousands of employees

(23:16):
participate, that when youcombine all these little things,
this is when AI starts workingproperly, it's not about
spending four hours at aworkshop and learning like Excel
formulas.
It's really getting to thissymbiosis and learning how to
co- live or co- work with AI.
And if you miss that, then youare still asking the same

(23:40):
questions like where to start orhow to prompt or what people ask
me, is there an app for this?
Or is AI capable of doing that?
And you know what I respond?
I tell them, why do you ask me?
Just go and give it a try.
So you are basically withoutthis mindset you are missing the

(24:03):
whole thing.
And the last last thing is thatI received feedback after one of
my webinars from a guy and hesaid, I'm 77 and now I just want
to work more because this is soamazing.
So it's not about the age is notabout the gender is really about
curiosity and willingness tolearn new things and maybe even

(24:25):
unlearning the old ways ofworking.

I think what you just said is don't use ChatGPT
as a Google.

Yes.
You can and in the future Ithink many people will use it.
But now I think this is one ofthe worst one of the worst
examples how to use AI.
And to be honest I'm big fan ofClaude and I use Claude for 95
percent of the time when I useAI.
And I think it has a differentpersonality.

(24:54):
So this is also interestingtopic that you need to choose
AI, maybe try different AI toolsfor the very same prompt or very
same task.
And then based on the output andhow you like it, how you like
the tone of voice and so on.
You should pick the right tool.

A prompt generator one of our guests
provides and it's quite adetailed prompt and I'll use it
for editing general stuff, orI'll use one for editing my
Wisepreneurs topics.
I discuss the prompt with theprompt generator and say it
didn't kick out three examples,so it rewrites it.
And then I try that.
So it's like a work in process.

(25:32):
So yeah, I think that's thesecret of it.
It is not to be used to, Oh,tell me how to do this.
And even though I had have doneit like that, but when I'm doing
my creative work or my writingwork, or in the case of putting
together questionnaires that Imight like to ask people to work
with I'll refine it throughhaving conversations with

(25:53):
ChatGPT and say, Okay that's notreally that simple, could you
simplify it?
Could you help me work out, forexample, with knowledge work,
I'm looking at a lot ofinformation about how we can be
more meta effective, so usingthe information that we get, and
how can we be better at usingthat information.
So I discuss for example, I'mreally getting stuck into, what

(26:17):
should I be eating and what sortof exercise should I do, I be
doing, which I've been doing formany years and I'm clarifying it
and so I'm saying, look, this isthis and this is this and I'm
taking these things, how can Ijust be sensible about all this?
And again, because I do read alot and take a lot of notes, I'm
able to feed my notes in and saylook, here's the latest

(26:37):
information.
And that's what I think isreally exciting about your book
and what you're saying is, Hey,you can refine stuff.
All right, in one of yourchapters, you said upgrade your
potential.

Yeah, this is, no, you're right.
And I think.
Most people like what mostpeople like about the book is
that it's really about themindset, not about the tools
because the tools change, right?
The Microsoft loves renaming alltheir tools like once per couple
of years.
But it's really about mindsetand may give you three tips

(27:09):
based on what you just saidabout working with AI.
The first one is you can have AIwriting prompts for you.
So what I do sometimes I said,okay, create assignment for my
colleague whose task will bethis and that.
And AI creates the assignmentand I use it as a prompt.

(27:30):
So this is like a promptgenerator.
So this is amazing that youdon't have to think about prompt
crafting anymore.
The second is what really helpsme is to combine dictating, that
means that I talk to AI, so Iuse the, I use iPhone and
MacBook but there is a featurefor Windows as well.
I sometimes use advanced voicemode that AI talks, but I found

(27:53):
it slow and I like when I talk,and AI just, writes it down.
I dictate, sometimes I dictatemore.
I talk about the context and soon.
And I think the answers arebetter afterwards.
And the second one is that I useexternal data.
This is exactly what you saidand mentioned, like provide
examples.

(28:14):
What I can do, I can go to awebsite, I just select all the
text, copy paste it, and sayokay get inspiration from this,
or basically I take a screenshotput it to AI.
And these three little things,like use AI for writing prompts,
dictate, and use external data,this is something that you know,
really helps to get the most ofout of AI.

Oh, I totally agree.
I've been taking screenshots andfeeding it and it just reads
them perfectly.
And I'm going, this is amazingbecause I'll just say every
month I do a SEO report for myclients.
I just take all the screenshots,feed it in and give me a report
and it does it beautifully andit'll point out things that you

(28:58):
can overlook.
That's amazing.

And maybe imagine one more thing, and this
is a great example.
You said you are doing SEOreports, and this is exactly
the, let's say, the moment whereAI helps you not only to make
your work easier, but to providebetter service for your clients.
And I think sometimes we forgetabout this.

(29:22):
Sometimes we talk a lot aboutautomating the boring stuff and
so on.
I don't think, I don't careabout boring stuff.
I care about my clients and theservice I provide.
So this is exactly that now youcan take a couple of screenshots
feed it to AI, include some ofyour ideas, and it just creates

(29:43):
beautiful report for yourclient, which means better
service.
And I think this is, why I loveAI so much.

It used to take me a couple of days to do those
reports.
I can kick the whole lot out ina day.
Now I did do some automationwith Google, but it's just not
as good as running it through AInow.
Yeah, so I wasted a lot of moneyspending it on getting somebody
to automate stuff when I couldreally do it myself, but that's
what you have to learn.

(30:11):
In your book again, one of yourtopics was new reality, new
mindset, new superpowers, and weare talking about a superpower
here, which is the power oftech.
Now, it's really interesting,people are spending lots of
money to go to universities andstuff like that.
You've got a 17 year olddaughter, so what skills do you
think she needs, her cohort,now, these people are 50 years

(30:34):
younger than me, or more than 50years.
Can you imagine your daughter,70, in 60 years time?

Nigel, I cannot imagine her like in 10 years.
So I think the whole imaginationand the gap where we can imagine
is just shortening.
I would start with the strengthsand talent.
So I know that she's better atmath, right?
And, whole STEM, but she's verygood in languages.

(31:08):
She's very good in psychology.
She likes talking aboutpsychology.
I think this is where she shouldfocus.
And basically she should studythat.
But I also let her facilitatesome of our events, because I
believe these skills to, to beable to present, give a
presentation and be a moderator,and so on.
So this will be valuable.
But yesterday I I posted a newpositions on LinkedIn and when I

(31:32):
was thinking what skills I wantfrom people, I realized that
digital skills are not thatimportant anymore for me.
For me, there are three veryimportant skills.
The first one is agency orownership or this ability of
getting things done because somany people, they don't have it.

(31:54):
When I talk to people like,okay, so what about this
customer?
I'm waiting for his response forhow long, like three weeks.
So I want people that just pickup the phone and do the thing,
right?
Or that come up with idea andthen next day start to implement
it.
So ownership and agency, highagency people, this is, this is

(32:15):
a must.
Then the second iscommunication.
And communication is being ableto express yourself to formulate
ideas, communicate clearly andbeing able to communicate for
some people like writtencommunication is far more
important, for some people it'svideo communication being able

(32:36):
to present when you are in theroom with the customer and so
on.
But also what I foundinteresting is, ability to flirt
because flirting is aboutsocial.
It's about empathy.
It's about verbal communicationand also about self confidence.
So I wrote to that posting thatI want people who are able to

(32:56):
flirt.
Because communication with AI isalso flirting like, dude, show
your hand, this is perfect,let's move on, and so on.
And the last is ability tolearn.
One of the things that reallyworks in my companies is that we
call it AI Check- In, and whatwe do is that every week we

(33:17):
meet, and people show how theywork and how they used AI.
And then we roast each other.
So we said, hey why you did itthis way?
So there is much better way.
But some people are not able toget this, to receive this
feedback.
Because we don't show each otherhow we work.

(33:38):
We show the output and so on.
But I think the way we work isgetting more and more important.
So this ability to learn,ability to improve almost
anything and being able to learnon the go.
That's what I call, I didn'tinvent it, but'Just In Time
Learning' that with the help ofAI, you can learn anything like

(33:59):
redirecting websites and writingreport and so on.
So drive and ownership.
Communication and ability tolearn.
I think these are the mostimportant skills of the future.
And then, of course, ability tobuild systems and all the things
I write about in the book.
But these are the soft skillsthat are getting more and more

(34:19):
important in the age of AI.

oh, I think they're critical ones.
And it, look it's veryinteresting.
I'm not too sure where you findpeople like that.
But what I do know, because I'veI have, spoken on on the podcast
with four of your colleaguesfrom the Czech Republic, every
one of them has those abilities,the ability to talk, be warm to

(34:44):
be empathetic and communicateand.
I'm thinking about my wife'sfour year old grandchild and
what does she learn?
And will she learn throughschool?
Are our schools going to allowthese kids?
And I must admit, more than 25years ago, I was an elementary
school teacher, a primary schoolteacher, and I taught kids.
But the sort of teaching I didwas basically sit down and do

(35:09):
this work.
Don't necessarily think foryourself.
And some kids, no matter what,if you shut them up, would still
burst out with their personalityand they'll come through.
But I'm glad I'm not teachinganymore.
And I just hope that teaching isnot like that anymore, but You
know, to find those sort ofcapabilities that you're talking
about, those people are outthere, but maybe they've had a

(35:32):
different upbringing or adifferent cultural upbringing,
like you're having in the CzechRepublic, because those and
yourself you blow me away withyou, the smarts and the
intelligence and the ability tocommunicate and be really clear,
and, do things.
You guys have all doneinteresting things, at a world

(35:53):
level and in a little tinycountry.

Thank you, appreciate it.
I want to be a teacher in thefuture.
I thought for a year, it's justlike one subject.
I think, it's my plan B or maybeplan A to spend, some time in
the future.
But when I think about my kidsand about school, my strategy is

(36:23):
that basically what they learnat school, it's a bonus.
And that is my responsibility tonot teach them but prepare them
somehow, not to be supersuccessful entrepreneurs and so
on, but basically find their wayhow to be happy and live
fulfilling life.
So this is why I take them fromschool every year for a couple

(36:45):
of weeks because I think thatwhat we experience, and the
conversations we have, it'smaybe even more important than
the rest of the school year.
But still, I think it'simportant to have some, let's
say, broader knowledge.
And being able to connect thedots.
And I wrote about this in thebook as well, that if you want

(37:08):
AI to write in the tone of voiceof someone who wrote a book, you
need to first know that person,right?
If I love art.
So when I want to create adesign the cover of the book I
get inspiration from a Basquiat.
So if I want AI to createsomething in the combination of
Basquiat and someone else.
First, I need to know whoBasquiat was.

(37:31):
So I think that the education isimportant.
I don't like the whole idea ofdropout thing, but I think there
are valuable lessons in theworld out there, and I think
it's important to combine formaleducation with all those
activities outside the school.

Oh yeah, I think so.
And look, I think for youngpeople, I think one of the best
things to do is to before theygo to university, get out and do
some work.
Now I, I have two, I have threegrown up children and two of my
boys, because I was a primaryschool teacher.
One thing I did notice was thatthe fathers of the children, who

(38:12):
were tradespeople, were happier.
They'd come to all the workingbees and work all day.
And I said to my boys, don't goto uni, become a tradesperson
and they're both tradies andthey're living a really good
life.
They've got money, they travelthey're practical they learn on
the job and that's aninteresting thing to do.

(38:32):
I left high school.
I went straight into teacher'scollege to become a teacher.
So I never left and got out.
So it was only when I quit 25years ago to start this business
that I've had to learn stuff.
And that's what I think theyoung people have got to do.
They've got to get out and dosomething out of the education
system before they choose to goback in.

(38:52):
But the biggest danger today isthe cost.
If you've got a a universitydebt of several hundred thousand
dollars that's not a good futurefor them.

We don't have that in the Czech Republic.
Our system of education is free.
I know that some people saidthere is no such thing as a free
lunch.
But you can apply to universityand get the best universities
for free.
So I think there is a hugedifference.
But also, I also believe that,and I tell my kids do as many
things as possible, because thenyou find out, what is the one

(39:25):
thing that you really feel thatthis is the thing that I should
do.
And also, I think we need to getmore flexible, not only in terms
of studying, but also living.
And we travel a lot and thereare differences and now you can
get amazing life in differentparts of Europe where, for
example, real estate.
Is maybe even 10 times lessexpensive than in the States.

(39:50):
And I think this is also what Itook away from Tim Ferriss book
is that you can really, I thinkhe said that the best thing you
can do is earn money in dollars,you invoice earning dollars, you
spend in rupees, right?
And I think you can do that now.
That you can travel, you canwork from anywhere and then we

(40:11):
might get more flexible in termsof where we study, where we live
and how we work.
There are some professions thatare basically you need to do
that in person in the office andso on.
But I think what I really likeabout my work that I can do
these workations and work fromanywhere because this opens up
so many new opportunities andyou can really live life that

(40:34):
was unimaginable before.
And one last note is that when Iwas writing the book The Future
of No Work, I left and I spentone month or five weeks in in
Spain, in Canary Island, and Iwas just writing and surfing.
And it was almost two years agonow, but I met so many people

(40:55):
that were working forcorporations.
And those corporations allowthem to spend four to five weeks
abroad working from abroad,which is amazing because before
this Tim Ferriss spoke aboutfreelancers.
Escape.
And now I think people workingfor corporations, in large

(41:17):
organizations can do the same.
Of course not all of them, but Ithink this changed a lot.
So no matter what company youwork for, you can leave for a
couple of weeks, and work fromanywhere.
I think

Age group, because they have retired from
work.
You know, If they've gotvaluable skills as a
professional and they're keepingthemselves up to date, there's
no reason why they can't go andlive in Bali for four months.
And in the nicer weather, thatis.
Because there's fabulousworkplaces there now that you
can work out of or Thailand orVietnam, which are all

(41:54):
wonderful.
Canary Islands a fair way awayfrom Australia.
I mean I can only wish if I waspaid in American dollars.
Australian dollar is not worth avery lot compared to the
American dollar.
All the apps that I buy are inAmerican dollars.
So it costs me twice as muchwhich is really annoying.
So one of the things I want totalk to you is, we've been
talking about the challenges forthe younger people, for their

(42:16):
futures and all that.
What do you see happening now?
Now, Obviously, since you wrotethe book, AI has improved
probably 10 times over and evenmore.
We've got the Google LLM, whichI haven't really got into yet.
I use just OpenAI's stuff at themoment.

(42:37):
What are the challenges do youthink that are coming for the
future?
What's happening in the natureof work do you think that, are
going to be challenging people?

Even though the capabilities of AI improved a
lot, I think people still workthe same.
So I think the biggest shiftwill come with advanced AI that
will be part of the processeswithin larger corporations and
larger organizations, becausethen I think we will see two
extremes.

(43:05):
The first will be the situationwhere very small amount of
people will create enormousvalue.
Sam Altman, the founder ofOpenAI, he says that they have
this closed WhatsApp chat andthey are betting when there will
be one person company, you knowearning$1 billion or making$1

(43:27):
billion turnover.
So small group of people will doamazing startups and will build
amazing companies.
And on the other hand, therewill be the whole departments
like Klarna.
One of the FinTech startups,they said that with the
implementation of AI, they wereable to replace the equivalent
of 700 FTEs, full-timeemployees.

(43:50):
And, of course, those areextremes, right?
The rarity will be in themiddle.
And we will see that someprofessions, they will be
replaced for sure.
The typewriting profession doesnot exist anymore, but there are
so many professions or maybepeople that do just copy paste

(44:11):
work and they are hiding fromthis whole automation and they
will not be able to hideanymore.
And they will need to find newjob, new way of working and
living.
And it will be tough.
On the other hand, I think whatwe see already, and they're
smart people who just create anew startups, offer new new

(44:33):
services for their clients.
And when we talked about theskills, you said it's super
valuable and it's very hard tofind those people.
And I think that sometimes weneed this external push like, I
was going around my clients for15 years telling them you need
to allow your people to workfrom home.

(44:55):
And then when COVID came inthree days, all organizations
allowed it.
So I think that we don't see theimpact of AI yet.
So we are at the beginning.
What do we now use as A.
I.
Tools is this is the dumbest isthe is let's say the stupidest

(45:15):
version of A.
I.
And I think what we will see notthis year, but next year, and
let's say in two years is thatthere will be really huge
changes in this workforce whenthe whole departments will
shrink by the 20, 30, 40%.
And then the big question iswhat will those people do?

(45:37):
Especially knowledge workers,like call centers and not only
call centers accountants and soon.
So I think, I don't have answersfor that But I think we don't
see it.
We don't see but we will see itin the next two years.
But the good thing is that wecan prepare because all those
predictions they basically arefar away from what we can

(46:00):
influence, but what we caninfluence and what we, everybody
can control is what I learn, howI learn, how to work with AI.
What skill, what skills do Ineed in order to be valuable in
the job market and we still havetime?
So I always tell my clients likewhat you can do is create AI

(46:23):
vision.
Imagine that you have the bestAI you have it available It
learns from you.
You can just tell what you wantand it does that.
How will your work look like inthree years?
What will you do?
What will AI do?
And then if you do this AIvision, then you can prepare

(46:44):
because this is basically theNorth Star where your life
should, aim at.
So this is I think the biggestimpact will come.
And I think it will reallychange the way we work and how
we work.
And now is the best time to toget prepared.

Oh, I totally agree.
And the thing that keeps hittingme.
And I talk about metaeffectiveness is being our best
selves.
If we're not healthy, if we'renot fit and we're on
medications, we're not going tobe able to cope with this.
So we've got to look afterourselves, emotionally and
physically to start with.
And I keep saying these arefundamentals.

(47:20):
If you're going to survive andbe open to these things you've
obviously got to look afteryourself to start with.
If you're stressing and notsleeping and you're drinking too
much, you're already in trouble.

Absolutely.
And what I really recommend isto once per a while, change the
perspective.
Leave the office for a week, fora couple of days, just change
the perspective because itreally helps.
And, I'm really digital, but Istill take my Moleskin(notebook)
with myself.
And, the why I love traveling isthat this perspective thing, it

(47:57):
really helps you to look at yourwork from above, right?
And then you see that things arereally different than when you
are at the office, like chasingall the busy work and all the
to- do lists, because if youthink about your future, you
really need to think not aboutthe tasks, but about the bigger

(48:17):
picture.
And this is where traveling andnot only traveling, just go to
your nearest coworking space.
And work from there and you, youwill start seeing those little
things and opportunities, andyou will also become less
stressed, because there is ahuge difference when you change
the community.
And I think that changing theperspective and joining

(48:38):
communities is something thatreally helps, no matter what you
do.

You're going to laugh.
I'm heading off to Japan in acouple of weeks, but I'm doing a
cruise to get there for threeweeks.
So I'll be on a boat.

This is what I'm talking about.

But, I had to pay a fortune for the internet.
It was AUD$800 for three weeksof internet on the ship, and
then I've got a week travellingin Japan, so I'll have to buy
another internet device there.
Because I'll still need to do mywork, but hopefully not too
much.

Nigel so we talked about this, so I know
that you will use Starlink, ifit's okay that I say, but 10
years ago, you would need to pay1000 maybe for a day.
Yeah.
And now you can buy StarlinkMini.
And many of my friends arebuying them when they are
traveling.
And then you can just have thefast internet everywhere for a
couple of hundreds of bucks.

(49:31):
So it's amazing.

Yeah, it's still it's about AUD$137 a month here
to get the Starlink.
And I'm paying about 90 a monthfor not the best internet.
I'd rather have Starlink, butthe extra$50 starts to get to be
expensive I think.
We haven't got the best internetin Australia yet, unfortunately.
It's sad, really because there'sthese small countries like yours

(49:53):
that are doing amazing things.
And we're just a little bitslow, I think, even though we've
got an amazing country.
You'll love it.
So you're coming to Australiasoon, so where are you visiting?

I'm going to Sydney and Melbourne.
And also maybe I will haveanother because I always have a
presentation or workshop there.
Maybe I will have two there.
And then we are heading to NewZealand.
And then to Hawaii and thenfinally to Austin.
And I think Hawaii is the onlyplace where I will just, you
know, surf and hike and so on.

(50:25):
But we have I have fans andpeople who are really interested
in the whole No Work Movement.
So we use, the location wherethey are.
And they are inviting theircustomers and their friends.
If you are interested and youwant to organize a No Work
Workshop, or a presentation, orjust a meetup, just let us know,

(50:47):
because we organize so many ofinteresting events.
And it's really amazing to meetpeople who are interested in
this new ways of working andusing AI because it's so fresh
and they also tell this thatthey also say in my work,
everybody is just so closeminded and they don't see the

(51:08):
opportunities.
So it's really different whenyou meet people like yourself
that are open and that you cantalk about how to use it even
and how to move this evenfurther.
So this is so refreshing.

So what dates will you be in Sydney?

I will be there from, I think, the 14th to 22, I
think it's two days 20 to 23,and then we'll move to Melbourne
for three days, and then twodays are without any plan.
Actually, I don't have, I justhave a date of the presentation
and then I don't have even thehotel.

(51:42):
We always, book the hotel likeone or two days in advance,
which is also a great thingabout about having all these
apps in your mobile.

That's the day I fly to Sydney on the 20th.
So I don't know if we'll get achance to catch up because the
next day I've got to get on theboat in the morning.
Is there anything else you'dlike to mention?

Okay, so sorry.
So yeah, so I've got thepresentation in Sydney, the
19th.

Oh, okay.
That's the day before I getthere.
That sounds fantastic.
You're going to be in Sydney andMelbourne, so what's the best
way for people to contact youthen?

Okay, I use LinkedIn a lot.
I'm also active on Twitter, notthat much.
So LinkedIn, Twitter, or on mywebsite https://drimalka.com/.
I'm also writing a newsletter.
I wrote it in Czech, but now I'mI've started an English one so
you can sign up.
And I think, drimalka.com ornowork.ai So this is I think,

(52:34):
the easiest way is to go tonowork.
ai and sign up for my newsletterand also connect with me on
LinkedIn.

We'll do that.
I get Eliska Sestakova'snewsletter in Czech and Google,
Gmail translates into Englishfor me.
So it doesn't matter whatlanguage you send it at it
anymore.
I think we can still read it,which is really good.
Thank you very much Filip forjoining me, this has been
fantastic.
You're part of the new world ofwork that's occurring, and

(53:03):
you're going to stimulate awhole range of people to think
differently.
And what I'm hoping is thatpeople my age are going to get
excited about this and realizethey can do so much more too.
And obviously, if we do havesome young people listening to
this they can see a future aswell, and as I say to young
people, you're going to bearound for next 30, 40, 50

(53:26):
years.

Yeah.
And you are a great inspiration,Nigel, really.
And thank you for everything youdo.
And of course, thank you forhaving me.
And I think what I like is thewhole midlife movement.
Because I'm 41 but even if youare 50, you still have 20 years
of work ahead.
And I think, I don't want tostop working, because I think,

(53:48):
it's part of me and what I justlove doing things.
And I think people need tounderstand this, that even they
are in their 50s.
They still have plenty of timeahead and they really need to
learn not only, how to be fitand so on, but how to work with
AI.
So it's really important foreverybody.

Oh, totally agree.
It, it is for the long run.
So thanks Filip for joining me.

Thank you.
Thank you so much.

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