A Zen Perspective on AI

A koan is a story or riddle used in Zen Buddhism to force you to abandon logic and reasoning, so you can arrive at deeper knowing. For example, “Who am I?” is a koan. (Koans often make your brain skip a beat, because they defy logic.)

I’m telling you this because last week a friend forwarded me a newsletter from Soren Gordhamer, co-host at Inner MBA. In it, he wrote, “People at times ask me if I think AI is good or bad, and I tend to see it more as a koan: What if AI is an invitation? That is, an invitation to nurture all the skills that not only make us better leaders and entrepreneurs, but also better humans.”

That idea strikes a chord with me. I love to think of AI as an invitation to orient ourselves toward being more present, empowering, and imaginative.

For example, it encourages us to consider: “What question do I want to ask?”

As you probably already know, many of our best insights come from asking the right question. Especially if it is a novel question that leads us to questioning our assumptions.

Again and again, I encounter examples of leaders whose empathy and willingness to empower others elevates the performance of their team members.

Rather than worry about whether AI will displace human jobs, they double-down on believing in the people around them, encouraging them to use initiative and creativity to accomplish great things.

WHAT IF AI IS AN INVITATION? What skills are AI inviting us to develop, use and embrace? What elements of human nature is it inviting us to further develop?

There are no right or wrong answers. This will be a journey for us all.

Amanda

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I help successful leaders and their teams agree on what needs to change and how to make it happen. I am the author of?Fearless?Growth and?The Agility Advantage.?

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