Education is agency.

If you missed my last newsletter, you can find it here .

Today, I am covering a few different topics. As always, I’d love to hear what’s on your mind. Feel free to DM me at [email protected]

?Human Learning via Machine Learning

Around 4 years ago, pre GPT, this was actually our company vision. It was and still is an accurate description of what’s happening when our AI is at work. On multiple levels. The applicant learns who they are - their DNA, strengths and how to articulate those strengths and what they need to work on career-wise. In real time.

The decision–maker learns whether the applicant is going to be right for the role, the team, the culture and organisation. They learn a heap - whether the profile of people being hired is predictive of success, whether they are attracting and hiring their fair share of talent, and if not, which team/geo is letting the team down.

If you have not yet entered the world of GenAI, you must, really, really must.

Try out all of them.

And please do more than ask it to write a job description for you.

Naturally I used one of them to provide guidance here with the prompt : what are the strengths and weaknesses of the different genai tools and which ones work the best for different HR applications.

All good technology should give you the human leverage. GenAI is no different.

If I was still a CHRO, here is how I would be leveraging this tool.

Let's say I wanted to know what tools work best for my hiring needs.

As with any brief to a co-worker, it’s all in the context. Invest in that. AKA – prompting:

I lead a team of 20 recruiters and they are facing into an intense hiring period as we get ready for festive. Every year we have to hire in some temps to cope with the workload, which is scrolling through endless resumes and then managing the scheduling of interviews so we can hit our target. We see high drop out as a result of the manual process. Hiring managers are frustrated at being ghosted – candidates just don’t show up to interviews. What automation is out there that does the interviewing for us and doesn’t rely on a resume that we can leverage to transform the experience for our candidates and our team

?Insert that prompt into any one of those tools (I recommend GPT for this one) and see how it summarises the tools for you. This is not to say you make a decision off this one view but its a damn good starting point.

Sidenote:

As anyone who has been on the vendor side knows, he who has the biggest wallet has the highest ranking on google.? The blue links on google are entirely driven by advertising spend not on what is actually the best ice cream shop in your suburb, best smart phone, best interview technology.

This makes GenAI for now at least the purest form of a recommendation engine because it hasn’t yet been corrupted by the SEO world.

Do share the ways you are giving yourself leverage via GenAI in the notes.

??

Scaling through AI

When I was a CHRO, my then boss, the CEO would often talk to me about the need to help her DR’s scale their leadership.?

I didn’t really know what she meant to be honest.

We were a company operating across many countries and time zones. Did she mean that we needed to create communication channels and forums that would allow the leader to reach their whole team, even if synchronously, to communicate important strategic topics as org re-structures, strategy changes, engagement results?

Does it just mean be a better leader? Build better leadership in the teams and leaders beneath you?

So, I turned to Claude ...

It said this about scaling leadership -

Delegation and Empowerment:

• Learn to delegate tasks and responsibilities effectively. Trust your team and empower them to make decisions. This allows you to focus on higher-level strategic issues.
• Develop your team's skills and capabilities so they can take on more responsibilities.

Building Strong Teams:

• Invest time in building and nurturing strong, cohesive teams. Hire the right people, ensure they are well-trained, and create an environment where they can thrive.
• Focus on team dynamics, collaboration, and clear communication.

Strategic Thinking:

• Shift from a hands-on, operational role to a more strategic one. This means focusing on long-term goals, vision, and planning for future growth.
• Stay informed about industry trends, market changes, and competitive dynamics to make informed strategic decisions.

Effective Communication:

• Enhance your communication skills to ensure that your vision, goals, and expectations are clearly conveyed to your team.
• Develop channels for feedback and ensure open lines of communication throughout the organization.

Processes and Systems:

• Implement scalable processes and systems that can handle increased complexity and volume. This includes everything from project management tools to performance evaluation systems.
• Streamline operations to improve efficiency and productivity.

Adaptability and Innovation:

• Be open to change and willing to adapt your leadership style as the organization grows. Encourage innovation and be receptive to new ideas from your team.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement and learning.

Leadership Development:

• Invest in your own personal and professional development. Seek out mentorship, training, and resources that can help you grow as a leader.
• Develop future leaders within your organization to ensure a pipeline of talent that can support the organization’s growth.

Vision and Culture:

• Articulate a clear vision for the future of the organization and inspire your team to work towards that vision.
• Cultivate a strong organizational culture that aligns with your values and supports your strategic goals.

Did you find this useful? Actionable?

Somewhat -would be my answer.

It’s like most hard problems…the WHAT is often obvious. E.g., “Develop future leaders within your organization to ensure a pipeline of talent that can support the organization’s growth.”

It’s the HOW that is so damn hard.

For me, using GenAI to discover the ‘what’ e.g., find me tools that solve this problem is a higher ROI use case than the ‘how’. There is a lot of context embedded in the HOW.

Whilst AI is truly a general-purpose technology, which can be applied in a very large number of business use cases, it is still ‘learning’ how to be a real coach.

Our Sapia labs team has been experimenting with this very challenge -building a smart coach that can help every human being on the planet to discover their potential.

Just because I studied law does not mean I am suited to being a lawyer. So what could I do with the skills I have built as a lawyer ? pilot? engineer ? retail sales assistant ?

How many people do you know who have gone down a career path where you think ‘Now, why didn’t they become an ‘x’?’.

The underlying and BIG problem is that most people don't know how to do this. ie translate their preferences and skills into potential jobs pathways. This means there is assymetry of information. If you don't know what you are brilliant at, or how to articulate your strengths or your manage your gaps, then you can't possibly make an informed smart decision about which job to go for.

Consider this...

Jobs today are more transparent than ever. There are a gazillion job boards out there. Specialist job boards, generalist ones like Indeed. Yet survey after survey shows employees are dissatisfied with their job. Why don't they switch jobs more ? Maybe it's because people don;t know what job to switch to that's not similar to the one they hold today. There is so much undiscovered talent out there because of people don't have this personalised talent intelligence.

It’s a bit like the proliferation of dating sites. ‘Dating talent’ is way more transparent than it has ever been. Our kids have more choice than ever, at their fingertips, to find their ideal partner. Has this led to more successful enduring partnerships? less divorces?

No - because of information asymmetry.

The billions of dollars being invested in internal talent marketplaces? ?

More asymmetry. ?A waste of money if you think that’s going to move the needle on internal job applicants.

We don’t know ourselves well enough to make good decisions. If everyone had their own personalised career coach in their back pocket, you truly unleash potential.

What if a GenAI-enabled career coach became as valued by employees as health benefits? Imagine what that would do to society?? Livelihoods would be elevated for all who had access.

As the Israeli historian and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari says -

‘The best way to retain agency in a world of AI is to know yourself’.

Until next time...