Human in an AI Age: Voice

The Future Does Not Fit in the Containers of the Past.Edition 257.

This is the second of a series in how to thrive as a human in an AI Age.

While AI is deeply significant, doubling in capability every seven months, and changing and impacting every industry and human it’s future contours are still uncertain.

However, a case may be made that while AI itself will be essential to compete just like electricity has been necessary to compete, like electricity it will not provide a competitive advantage. Everybody today has access to electricity and so will we to AI.

The difference will come from how companies and individuals use AI not just to become more efficient and effective but also to re-imagine their businesses and much more. This competitive difference will come from Humans combining with AI.

Last week’s post of Roots and Wings explained one way to find leverage human imagination, human inspiration, human inventiveness, human instinct and human intuitiveness.

Today’s piece is on another key edge:

Voice.

What is Voice?

I once wrote a piece on how to future proof ourselves by listing 6C’s.

These were Cognition ( the ability to learn), Curiosity , Creativity, Convincing (ability to persuade) Communication and Collaboration.

Most of these 6c’s are a subset of Voice.

Anthropic’s Claude defines Voice in many ways but this piece will focus on are these:

Communication: Voice represents your ability to express thoughts, feelings, and ideas through speech. It's your personal way of communicating - the tone, pitch, rhythm, and style that makes your spoken communication unique.

Metaphorical/Social: Having a "voice" means having the power or opportunity to express your opinions and influence decisions. When people talk about "giving voice to the voiceless," they mean providing platforms for those who lack power or representation.

Literary/Artistic: In writing and storytelling, voice refers to the distinctive style, tone, and perspective of a narrator or author. It's what makes one writer's work recognizable from another's.

We often hear about the importance of curation, of taste, of story-telling, of creativity and inspiring in what humans will bring to the mix in an AI Age.

All of these are about our voice.

Creativity as an expression of self….voice

Curation is how one uniquely filters and selects from a cornucopia of information….voice

Taste…is a an expression of our individuality…voice

Convincing and persuading is about what one brings to a world where everyone has same knowledge when knowledge is free…voice

Inspiring people to do things that facts alone may not be enough is to utter the unsayable, urge the impossible…voice

Communication is about how you write and present and its built around voice

Each one of us are special and in today’s AI age we need to find, hone, architect and sculpt our voice in addition to embracing, adapting and complementing AI.

Four Ways to bring our Voice to an AI Age.

Step 1: Upgrade AI skills.

First to thrive as a human in an AI Age it is critical to upgrade our AI quotient. Below is a piece I wrote about how to do it ( no need for consultants, schools, conferences or anything else…just yourself and 20 to 100 dollars a month depending on what you can afford)

Start with following the recommendations from Upgrading our AI Quotient.

Step 2: Hone the 4P’s: Perspective. Point of View. Provocation. Plan of Action.

Everybody will have access to the same knowledge in a world where knowledge will be free.

No one will care that we have data bases, decks, charts and graphs all dressed up in color with moving videos. Chump change anybody can develop once we upgrade our AI skills ( thus Step 1)

The questions that will bring our voice to the data will be the following:

1. What is our Perspective about all this information? How does it fit with what has come before, come after, our competitors businesses etc. We need to learn to put everything we do in context.

2. What is our Point of View on everything. What do we believe. What do we agree with and what do we not agree with.

3. What Provocation do we bring. Can we challenge the data or look at in a different way that maybe even rejects it all.

4. What is the Plan of Action we recommend. Yes the AI may suggest plans of action. Are they right? Should they be combined? Can we build on what is recommended.

Every single meeting, every single conversation think of bringing one or more P’s to the data or to the output of AI.

Any meeting that is just about sharing information is worthless without one of the 4P’s.

Perspective. Point of View. Provocation. Plan of Action.

Step 3: Open Many Portals to Many Worlds.

To curate, select with taste, express self, and learn to inspire we need to marinate in the works and learn from people who have great voices whether it be scientists, business people, teachers, musician, authors, painters, film makers and story tellers.

It is important to expose ourselves to a range of inputs and stimuli. From reading to listening to music to traveling to watching movies to visiting museums to helping people to going back to school to concerts to sporting events the more varied and different experiences the more dots we have to connect and work with.

The more stuff we interact with including opposing points of view the better.

The more portals we open the more we have to curate, grow our taste, use in our communication, align and find our voice.

Embrace life.

Step out of the stream and search results

Follow the path less taken.

Open the portals.

Step 4: Aesthetics

Aesthetics is defined by Leonard Koren as “ a cognitive mode in which you are aware and think about the sensory and emotive qualities of phenomena and things”.

A simple way build such one’s aesthetic sense is to observe.

To pay attention. Not just to things but to people.

To do things that move you or move others.

David Foster Wallace wrote

“The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.”

No AI will ever do that.

Or just look and feel since all humans choose with our hearts and then use numbers to justify what we just did…

A Day of Fun, Impact, and Sisterhood!

My long time boss and mentor Jack Klues who was on the Directoire of Publicis Groupe and was the CEO of Publicis Media and many others including myself have been involved in an amazing endeavor called Off The Street Club.

25 years ago, we dreamed up a women -only charity golf outing to primarily benefit the girls programming of the Off The Street Club ( OTSC). For those not familiar, For the last 125 years, the Club acts as a "safe haven"; allowing kids just to be kids who live in Chicago's highly dangerous West Side.

The event is called Swing For the Kids and has grown into what we believe is the largest and longest running women's charity golf AND pickleball event in the country.

More than just a day of sport, Swing For The Kids is a powerful gathering of professional women from across Chicago's Advertising, Media, Financial, and Corporate worlds - Entry Level to C Suite Officers from companies like Publicis Groupe, Netflix, Google, NBC Universal, Heinz/Kraft, and JP Morgan Chase . Over 200 participants coming together to make a real difference in these kids lives.

As former Kraft CEO and current OTSC Board President, Betsy Holden, says it's "an amazing , inspirational day of sisterhood".

Whether you are golfing, playing pickleball, or just soaking up the energy, food, and prizes, you will leave with more than you came for- new connections, memorable stories, and the satisfaction of supporting kids who really need it and our worth it.

Tell your friends. Ask your employer. We want and need you to join us.

Experience the magic that happens at Swing.

- September 8th

- Twin Orchards Country Club in Long Grove, Illinois

- Call 312-315-2917 or visit otscswing.com to learn more or signup.

Photography by Rishad Tobaccowala