Books, Knowledge, Data, Power and Influence

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one." George R.R. Martin

Personal Log: Next Generation Strategies

"What happens when Ai governs 90% of all retail transactions between retailers and consumers?" Inception Retail Group Inc.

I posed this question to my colleagues a few weeks ago. In fact, I have two other presentations where I will discuss why and how this will happen. It is a serious and provocative strategic problem to address. I've even analyzed different retail sectors and how they will be impacted at different stages. It's not a very pretty picture. E-commerce was the precursor to this; we should not be surprised.

Who will be the drivers behind all of this? Consumers. And it will be a very simple event that begins to accelerate this shift. Just like 苹果 Smartphones, Netflix , and Airbnb disrupted the market, so will this. Unfortunately, I will not let the cat out of the bag today; I promised I wouldn't. I am willing to say that Ai is no longer a what-if or when; it is happening right now. Because the right companies, retailers and brands have unbelievable access to data, those with the most authority and influence will win faster. Data is a kingmaker in any industry today. Look at who is growing their revenue and posting growth each quarter. They have powerful data and the Ai-Factory to deliver it continuously. Of course, they needed to achieve an equally powerful digital mastery before becoming Ai-Factories. And then it will be about who creates those next-generation strategies and how fast they can get to market. All of this is about winning in the marketplace. Those retailers with the greatest amount of data who can use it will have the greatest advantages and perhaps even dominate.

So, where does this leave everyone else? My advice is don't rush out to buy the next retail book with Ai on it. It's likely just trying to capture the wave, and like everything else today already outdated. That is the nasty nature of the fast-paced situation we are in. Buckle Up!

Knowledge is Power, Wealth, and Market share

When I was a kid, I kept having a recurring dream: I was in an old library filled with books, art, music, and statues. The only weird part about the dream was that the works in the library were from people who had passed away and never started or completed writing or drawing their works; in some ways, that began my quest for knowledge. My mother was never worried about me; I was either making money helping the elderly take their garbage out, or I was in the library exploring everything from history to science. As I got older, I knew that the knowledge we filled our minds with made us who we are and, in many ways, defined our futures. I have not stopped learning since.

As an executive, you learn that the more insights (knowledge) you look for and find on a business or industry, the more influential you can be in boardrooms and in operating and leading a business. Today, knowledge (data) of humans and Artificial intelligence is imperative in building a company's future.

So why read things like "Epic of Gilgamesh," which is the oldest literary work known? One might ask how this poem, written around 2100 B.C., helps an executive learn anything. It opens your mind to leadership, friendship, quest for knowledge and dealing with challenges. The point is that the humanities allow us to think beyond self-imposed barriers. I am convinced that hate, racism, and biases are from a lack of exposure to understanding humanity's journey to improve itself. The less new knowledge one acquires, the longer they are stuck in an old paradigm. That's what I think of some political parties and politicians as well.

I currently have eight books on the go, and I am about halfway through all of them. I am reading about Artificial Intelligence, Climate Change and Geopolitical Shifts. All three of these are going to redefine business, nations and societies.

Technology: Ai is not Dystopian or Utopian. It will be Protean and could save lives

Ai will be protean, like a genius composer or artist, enabling us to create more incredible things for ourselves and our health. We cannot ignore the important contributions of the thousands of people who have worked on Artificial Intelligence for over 80 years. With the exception of perhaps a few, most do not have sinister plans for Ai.

Where does Ai go from here? Don't worry about Hollywood-style dystopian fallouts or Ai taking over the Earth. AGI (artificial general intelligence) is considered to be 50-100 years away, and Super Ai perhaps never. Generative Ai, which is weak Ai is here, and it will continue to evolve. This is a very sophisticated technology; it can hold and retain far more knowledge than humans do. It can read and write faster, and over time, it will improve in its accuracy. Companies use it to improve the performance of their business. Yes, some 80% of Fortune 500 companies use Ai. Today, it has the capability to advance many industries, especially medicine and pharmaceuticals. One example is: "In February 2023, the FDA granted Insilico Medicine orphan drug designation for a small molecule inhibitor treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which was discovered and designed through the company’s generative AI platform, Pharma.Ai. " Read more. We should anticipate more breakthroughs as our vast global human knowledge gets collected and dissected for its advances. They will happen a lot faster. This technology will also improve diagnosis and potential treatments. What more do we want?

Society: Books and culture to the rescue?

Indigo Must Save Society From?TikTok?To Survive

A few weeks ago, I posted that?Indigo?should return to its roots, which are books, and it seems that is now the strategy. I would suggest to Heather Reisman that she takes the culture and creativity of literature even higher. Not to forget about music, art and even noble things like hobbies or reading and listening to intellectual thought leaders who will open the minds of many.

It must be like a renaissance for Indigo to survive. And her staff need to know not just where books are but more about the artists and authors behind them. Society needs to be saved from further degradation...Book chains like Indigo have been lost in the noise of social media. Social media has forced us to abandon intellectual curiosity in place of hope for instant stardom, news by pictures and superficiality. In fact, if you want to get a pulse of where society lives and what they think, watch TikTok for a few minutes. Those who work on data will tell you that society's communication is very telling. Even our radical politicians and their fringe followers have joined the ranks of?#TikTok?mania because rational media outlets ask too many essential and imposing questions, and then, of course, they are called fake news.

Indigo needs to get back its groove, and it is by finding ways to inspire humans to find themselves in the humanities of books, knowledge, gaining experience, music, and the arts and opening their minds again to intellect. Not social media derelicts. We have given up intellectual virtues for viral nonsense. I am pretty sure that the only ones learning anything on TikTok are data scientists and maybe Ai, which tracks you; if it were sentient, it might want to quit; I would!

Enough of my digression.

Indigo has a unique opportunity to save its business from extinction. Standing up for Humanity (Canadians in this particular case) from the madness we have lost and locked ourselves in. Blame the pandemic and social media if you want to. Humans have forgotten the importance of the arts and how each book, no matter how controversial or outlandish, opens our minds to logic, quests for more answers and just good old-fashioned human laughter and tears.

Perhaps the new marketing initiatives should communicate that all levels of intelligent humans are welcome at Indigo, and this is where you go to become smarter.

Thank you for reading this week's issue of The Business Brief

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