Thought-provoking Things Worth Sharing - Issue #146
Going to #ILTACON2024 in a few weeks? Let's meet.
I shared this on LinkedIn recently. I’m speaking at the annual ILTA Conference this year. Tuesday, Aug 13 at 11 AM as part of a panel on Setting the Stage - Navigating the Complexities of MS Teams.
You can check out the agenda here.
Welcome to this week’s collection of thought-provoking things. For each issue, 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.
There are a bunch of sessions that I’m lloking forward to in the M365, AI and other areas. There are even some good ones at the same time as ours, so I’ll forgive you for not being in the audience for ours. Maybe.
Even if you’re not able to hit our session, find me around the conference center during the week. I’d love to see old friends and make a few new ones while we’re together.
If you’re going, what sessions are you most excited about?
Careers and the Workplace
Linked - As If the Job Market Wasn’t Bad Enough, Intuit Makes Things Exponentially Worse
Most managers and even former peers are under strict orders never to say anything, positive or negative, when contacted as a reference for a former coworker.
To paraphrase, HR and legal folks know that if the former employee doesn't get that position, everything they say will be used against them in a future legal claim that they harmed the job prospects of a former employee unfairly.
So it was somewhat shocking to see the CEO of Intuit not only say this but put it in writing:
I’ve seen many a mentorship program die out because no one knew what it meant to mentor someone. Maybe give this a listen and see if it helps - Finding and Being an Exceptional Mentor with Lauren Roso and Stellar Women
I keep seeing these experiments, and I keep seeing similar results. And yet, most businesses scoff at the idea. - Largest UK public sector trial of four-day week sees huge benefits, research finds.
Speaking of the four-day work week, and as we slide into the AI section, here’s a thought - Is AI the secret sauce for the four-day workweek?
Artificial Intelligence
The fine folks at Goldman Sachs are raising some red flags about Generative AI:
Report - Gen AI: Too Much Spend, Too Little Benefit?
Tech giants and beyond are set to spend over $1tn on AI capex in coming years, with so far little to show for it. So, will this large spend ever pay off? MIT’s Daron Acemoglu and GS’ Jim Covello are skeptical, with Acemoglu seeing only limited US economic upside from AI over the next decade and Covello arguing that the technology isn’t designed to solve the complex problems that would justify the costs, which may not decline as many expect. But GS’ Joseph Briggs, Kash Rangan, and Eric Sheridan remain more optimistic about AI’s economic potential and its ability to ultimately generate returns beyond the current “picks and shovels” phase, even if AI’s “killer application” has yet to emerge. And even if it does, we explore whether the current chips shortage (with GS’ Toshiya Hari) and looming power shortage (with Cloverleaf Infrastructure’s Brian Janous) will constrain AI growth. But despite these concerns and constraints, we still see room for the AI theme to run, either because AI starts to deliver on its promise, or because bubbles take a long time to burst.
Cloudflare Enters the AI Data-scraping Fray
As I read the post, I found it most interesting that so many customers have made it clear to Cloudflare that they have no interest in letting AI tools use their website content to train large language models.
This is interesting - New Report Highlights GenAI Adoption Trends in Law
But, here’s a good question - Linked - AI Will Save Lawyers Time – But Does Anyone Want That?
AI creates a challenge for anyone with billable hour requirements. For lawyers, it's really a question of whether AI takes off because I don't believe it is compatible with the current business model. You can't invest tens of thousands of dollars in AI tools, which also causes the firm to make less money.
Related and worth spending some time thinking about in light of what AI might do with billable hours:
Training and Development
This is one of the biggest challenges many orgs are going to face. How do we train folks to use AI when we barely know ourselves, and how do we encourage them to learn? - How To Get More People Adopting AI at Work To Build Modern Skills.
Also - When implementing AI, first train your managers.
Linked - Junior tech workers can’t find jobs. Are coding boot camps in trouble?
Remember when the typical response to anyone being laid off or struggling to find a job was the dismissive "learn to code?"
Those days have been over for a while, but I think the Launch Academy's decision to pause future enrollment in its boot camps is a pretty good sign that they're over for anyone who doubted that.
So, now the mantra will be "learn AI," at least until that market isn't everything companies are currently promising and we go through this whole thing again.
It's best not to get comfortable with anything in the current tech marketplace. The skills in high demand today won't be those in high demand five years from now. If you're entering college and embarking on a technology major, the tech will be changed by the time you graduate.
Mental Health in the Workplace
Speaking of AI, this is an interesting two-part series:
Is AI bad for your mental health? Spoiler - it could well be...
AI and mental health - what employers need to do to protect their employees
What do employees expect, and how do you provide it? - Experts offer guidance on promoting mental well-being at work
I’m just going to put this here for you to watch - If You Suddenly Feel Like You Have ADD, You're Right
Privacy, Security, and Legal Tech
Welp - AT&T says criminals stole phone records of 'nearly all' customers in new data breach. Shall we just assume that who we communicate with is open information now? Surely that won’t cause problems, right? Sheesh.
Yet another reason to remain vigilant - Costs associated with ransomware attacks are skyrocketing.
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.