The Power of the Force, Conviction and Curiousity

I remember standing at the edge of Town Lake in Austin, clutching a stick I found on the shoreline, about to learn a lesson that no Jedi master could teach.??

Pants rolled to my knees, I was deep in Jedi training. Star Wars had just hit theaters, and like every kid that summer, I believed I could master the Force if I focused hard enough. ????

The training was simple: throw the stick upstream and guide it back to me with "the Force." I was so moved and passionately believed in “the Force.” ??

After a few wins, I threw the stick again but this time it floated away. ??

?? I faced a choice: save my stick .. or give up the game!

?? Without hesitating, I jumped in to save it.

?? My father had been watching. He hit the water almost as fast as I did, moving with purpose I’d never seen.

?? That moment became one of his favorite stories, retold at birthdays and parties: “You should’ve seen those eyes—so determined. He didn’t even think twice.”

?? It took years to understand his pride. He wasn’t teasing me or celebrating recklessness—he was honoring what he understood as courage, conviction, and curiousity. Leadership sometimes means diving into challenges headfirst, and taking a chance in what you believe in.

? Much like Star Wars and “the Force” once sparked and fueled our imagination, I find myself mystified and drawn to the power of new advancements in technology, specifically with the power and capabilities of AI.

?? It's about diving in to meet new challenges, knowing that sometimes the most valuable lessons come when we're in over our heads.

? Recent research suggests that the average age of our earliest memories is around 2.5 years old, about a year sooner than previously thought.

? What is one of your first memories of believing in something so deeply that you jumped in and took a chance?

?? Comment, ??, connect or send a private message.

?? May the Force be with you.

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#AILearning #LearningAI #AILiteracy #Leadership #StayCurious #AIFIRST