Welcome to this week’s collection of thought-provoking things. I write this weekly newsletter so subscribers can see some of the things I’m writing and sharing without depending on social media algorithms to show them to you. Each week I’ll share information about careers and workplace culture, mental health in the workplace, talent development, and important information about privacy, security, and legal tech.
You can find out all about me here - Mike McBride Online.
I know, many of you are expecting me to talk about the effort and man-hours required and the threat of burnout. That’s real, but there’s another way of looking at the energy required for our always-on, AI-turbocharged world.
Microsoft Needs So Much Power to Train AI That It's Considering Small Nuclear Reactors
From a climate change perspective, this is better than Microsoft burning fossil fuels to power all of this stuff. (The fear of nuclear meltdowns notwithstanding). It still raises some interesting questions that we’re not hearing much about in the AI hype cycle that we’re all living in. The amount of energy, and cost of that energy, means that energy demand is climbing at a time when the cost of energy is already getting to be a problem for non-wealthy people.
There’s also the reality that many (most?) companies developing AI tools will have to make money quickly to cover the energy costs. We could see a very quick hollowing out of the AI market into just a few players who can afford the costs and bring in immediate cash to cover them.
Or maybe I’m wrong and funders will keep dumping cash into AI businesses even as those energy costs keep eating away at that investment. We’ve seen it with Silicon Valley startups before, but I like to think that they’ve maybe learned some lessons from that.
Maybe.
What do you think?
Careers and the Workplace
“Our team is like a family” = Red Flag:
On the heels of last week’s discussion on working as our identity, there’s this:
There is definitely a shortage when it comes to good managers and there are some basic things managers could get better at that could help- New Research: 3 in 4 Employees Say Their Managers Are Ineffective. Here's How to Fix the Problem
I wrote this last year, in the midst of the “quiet-quitting” hype and I stand by it - Quick Thought – Work Culture is So Bad that We Use the Word Quitting to Describe Setting Boundaries
Training and Development
Linked - Tell Me Seven Times. No – Make that Three.
Trainers, repeat your messages. Take any opportunity you can get to reinforce what you've taught your students.
Managers, do not assume that people heard your message the one time you mentioned it in a staff meeting. Repeat it, reinforce it. Use different tactics to remind folks.
Because your trainer can’t possibly know everything - Peer-to-Peer Learning: A Force Multiplier
Mental Health in the Workplace
This does not surprise me - Workplace absences soar to highest level in decade as ‘stress’ found to be major factor
A helpful conversation for any profession - Mehlhorn, Buchanan, and Cumello on Breaking the Stigma: Fostering Wellbeing in the Legal Profession
Privacy, Security, and Legal Tech
Consumer Reports Has an App To Help with Privacy
As many of us know, new privacy laws in some US states have required companies that store personal data to allow people to demand it be deleted. The law, however, didn't say that companies had to make it very easy to make that request. In many cases, there's a lot of paperwork. This app seems to be trying to cut through the bureaucracy. The author claims it saved him 76 hours of work, though I'm not sure exactly how he counted that. What we do know is trying to get all the companies who have our data to delete it is time-consuming enough that most of us don't bother.
Now that I’m back working in a law firm, this is good to know - ILTA's blockbuster technology survey for 2023 reveals all on collaboration tool adoption & governance, and plenty on gen AI
Cybersecurity Awareness Month – Top 10 Tips
Political Disinformation and AI - This is already such a huge mess, and it’s only going to get worse.
Microsoft has a couple of updates:
Microsoft Lists Task Manager Is Now Available for Everyone - "Microsoft offers 10 distinct products with task management capabilities" - That’s not confusing at all. And people wonder why being in the Microsoft muck day in and day out causes headaches. ;-)
Announcing general availability of the new Microsoft Teams app for Windows and Mac - I flipped over to the “New” Teams yesterday and it does seem much more responsive and just faster all the way around. But please, who designed this “NEW” sticker to put over the icon when using the new version?
That’s all folks. If you found something interesting in this week’s newsletter, please share it with your friends. It’s the best way to help support the effort I put in each week to share this with you.