Truthfully, I’m not a fan of social media, but I understand
that it’s inescapable. I’m okay with
admitting that I look everybody up (and I expect the same). I’m also judgy as
hell (again, I expect the same). It
seems like it would be easy to skirt obvious… complications. We’re all
prone to cognitive bias—even the best-intentioned post or innocuous “like”
could be misconstrued.
The fourth chapter of Todd Kelsey’s Surfing the Tsunami discusses the first level of responding to artificial intelligence. Adapting, while a passive exercise, acts as a first step with the hope that it may stir the observer towards action. Kelsey explains that, at the very least, “trying to grow and learn and respond is better than nothing.”
Kelsey also suggests books like Ford’s Rise of the Robots, Domingos’s The Master Algorithm, and McAfee and Brynjolfsson’s The Second Machine Age as stepping off points for people interested in adapting to artificial intelligence. While books are excellent sources, for those that don’t consider themselves “book types,” Martin Ford, Erik Brynjolfsson, Andrew McAfee, and Pedro Domingos are engaged experts and frequent commentators with active presences on social media.
While Kelsey encourages indulging your curiosity in AI, he does
suggest restraint. The depth of information pertaining to artificial intelligence
and machine learning can be formidable, but it’s not necessary to know
everything. Instead, Kelsey suggests
taking in enough information to provide a “fair mix of various viewpoints” and
to consider graduating to the adopt stage.
Go from Market to Scale Camp, the fourth chapter of Helen Yu’s Ascend Your Start-Up: Conquer the 5 Disconnects to Accelerate Growth, discusses the “product/ market fit disconnect.” Ensuring product/ market fit, the marketability of a product, is a critical step towards long-term success.
According to Yu, at this stage in an entrepreneur’s start-up
focus should be on calculating a “distribution channel strategy and scaling
your customer.” Yu explains that, when
leveraged optimally, a distribution channel strategy serves as a “force
multiplier” that can be used to accelerate revenue. In Go from Market to Scale
Camp, Yu offers three more micro-decisions to consider.
Decision #10: What
distribution channel will you build as a pathway to customers?
Decision #11: What is your pricing strategy?
Decision #12: How
will you help your customer’s customer scale and grow?
As explained by Yu, customer-centricity not only prioritizes
the “direct customer,” but also accounts for the “customer’s customer.” Creating relationships that are mutually
reliant puts an entrepreneur in the position to be an “essential solution
provider.” Through thoughtful
intertwining with a customer, an entrepreneur can expand their customer-base
through “upselling and cross-selling,” raising the potential for growth through
momentum.
Todd Kelsey’s Let’s Avoid the Digital Dark Ages, with Non-Toxic Social Media offers considerations for managing “personal and private
notes, diaries and digital albums of pictures, [and] video and audio recordings”
that are at risk of disappearing as digital media evolves leaving behind
antiquated, unusable or inaccessible formats. I’ve wondered what future archaeologists will make of the millions of AOL
trial software discs buried in our landfills (according to Vox, AOL sent over 1
billion CDs over the mid-90s to early 00s).
Will those glossy, scuffed rings bring a similar mystique as the
purported Dropa stones?
&ehk=eXM1hG5%2bZNhC8KgYKZBBZOaG6uAsWlsBCHAaxkSyxoY%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0)
Digital scrapbooking has a future. I have not used Facebook or other social media
platforms for the expressed purpose of curating my life, but I’ve experimented
with programs like Evernote and OneNote that offer multi-media integration (I
have not tried a purpose-built digital scrapbooking solution). Of course, the obvious caveat to using these
services (platform or program) is the risk that they could be
discontinued.
Another issue is the lack of tangibility of digital media. While
digital copies offer “permanent” preservation, the “weight” of actual relics is
different. Pictures of my dad as a pre-teen
in the “old country” were carried by my grandparents as they fled the West Bank for
Amman during the first salvos of the Six-Day War. Pictures of my mom’s dad (on the left) while he was at
Stalag II-A survived a Nazi Arbeitslager, his prisoner of war identity card made
the transatlantic journey when he (and my grandmother) abandoned Germany for
the US. For me, digital copies of tickets
to punk shows stored in my iPhone’s wallet don’t have the same cache as the dog-eared,
sweat-stained tickets from the shows I saw as a teen.
The third chapter of Helen Yu’s Ascend Your Start-Up: Conquer the 5 Disconnects to Accelerate Growth tackles the next two micro-decisions in scaling your business. First, finding “what product category [you are] really in.” Second, “who will be by your side” and “who will leave.”
Decision #8: What Product Category Are You Really In?
According to Yu, to create a product category (or to prove
yourself as a leader in an established product category) requires a
comprehensive knowledge of “the market, customer segmentation, competitive
landscape, distribution channels, market trends” and perhaps most critically, how,
and where “your solution fits in.”
Yu explains that while an organization may offer its customers a product or service, a leader must also understand
Decision #9: Who Will
Be By Your Side, and Who Will Leave?
As climbers rely on skilled sherpa for support from setting
up camp to preparing to summit, emerging entrepreneurs “cannot do everything
alone.” According to Yu, a founder must
have someone they can rely on “with complementary expertise” to help and
support scaling their business.
Yu details that different types of leaders are needed to “formulate a minimum viable team to scale.” The four types are thought leader, challenger, collaborator, and operator. Each type of leader plays a special role,
Just as climbers aspiring to summit Mt Everest, some
inevitably turn back. As Yu explains, not everyone at the start of journey will
be there at the end of the journey. This should not necessarily mean failure or
seen as disappointment, but an opportunity to search out talented support with
new skills and knowledge to build the team.
In Guerilla Marketing; Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits From Your Small Business, Levinson offers sixteen concepts at
the foundation of successful marketing. Outlined by Levinson, these precepts can be summarized in sixteen
words plus one: commitment, investment, consistent, confident,
patient, assortment, subsequent, convenient, amazement,
measurement, involvement, dependent, armament, consent,
content, and augment. The “plus one,” as critical as the preceding
sixteen, implement.
According to Levinson, following these concepts all but
guarantees (as Levinson states, about 90%) a step in the right direction towards
a successful marketing strategy. And while
realize the impact may take time, Levinson cites his experience with a marketing
campaign for Marlboro that took years to bear results, the sixteen concepts
(plus one) will have an effect.
A second concept that
stands out on Levinson’s list is investment.
Levinson emphasizes that marketing should be understood as a “conservative”
investment.
Like investing in an
established stock, results are not (usually) instantaneous. Rather, like a conservative investment, the
value will fluctuate over time, but growth (typically) is slow and steady.
Another of Levinson’s concepts that’s notable is consistency. While Levinson is okay with changing offers, headlines and prices, it’s critical to maintain a consistent identity. Being a consistent marketer means keeping a consistent media presence, messages, and “graphic format.” According to Levinson, consistent marketing “breeds familiarity, familiarity breeds confidence, and confidence breeds sales.”
The final stand-out concept is confidence. According to Levinson, being confident trumps quality, selection, price, and service. While confidence is a key trait of the guerrilla marketer, it is also important to maintain a confident, strong media presence regardless of channel, and to instill confidence in your customers or clients through your products or services.
In the third chapter of his book, Surfing the Tsunami: An Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Options for Responding, Kelsey frames three perspectives for weighing the influence of artificial intelligence on the present and future job market. Independent of whether you view AI positively or cynically, Kelsey argues that “no one should be passive.”
According to Kelsey, the impact of AI can be seen with optimism,
pessimism, or realism or, for some, an aggregate of or progression through all
three points of view.
For the optimist, Kelsey suggests a few questions when
approaching data. For example, do you think that the integration of artificial intelligence
will have immediate or delayed? While the workplace has steadily adopted distinct
types of technology over time, in recent years the pace of adoption of
technologies like the inclusion of cloud computing or the use of
Along with Kelsey’s considerations for optimists, he also
offers points for pessimists to ponder. For example, can the growing role of artificial
intelligence and automation lead to the creation of more jobs for jobseekers. Like
government and private sector initiatives to drive the creation of green jobs at
the turn of the 21st century, can a similar push be made for “[investments]
in workforce redevelopment [and] infrastructure” that nurtures a robust job
market?
Ultimately, Kelsey advocates for a measured, realistic
response to the mushrooming of artificial intelligence. Rather than being overly hopeful or cynical about
the potential outcome of AI’s influence, Kelsey suggests a less reactionary
response. For example, “’adapting’ and learning more” about artificial intelligence,
“adopting AI” when the opportunity arises, and becoming “adept” in AI.
“Turn Idea Into Product Camp,” the second chapter of Helen
Yu’s Ascend Your Start-Up, outlines the initial steps of taking an idea to a
tangible product. In the early stages, bringing an idea to
fruition is a gradual process that demands focus on troubleshooting basic features.
These initial steps involve decisions 6 and 7 of Yu’s 26 micro-decisions. Decision #6 requires determining the product’s “minimal viable product (MVP).”
Who cares about the problem you are trying to solve?
Is there anyone else solving the same problem?
What type of team do you need to have in place to achieve your vision?
Decision #7 involves determining how the MVP will be piloted. Yu suggests creating an “ideal customer profile (ICP)” to test product ideas. With each round of product testing, the MVP can be refined based on insights provided by customer.
Each subsequent release and redesign cycle is expected to elicit new questions and feedback. According to Yu, like scaling Mt Everest, the preparations at "base camp" are as much about testing the product as it is about testing yourself and your team.
In his essay, My College Students Are Not Okay, Jonathan Malesic discusses his disheartening experiences as an instructor as his students became increasingly disengaged during the pandemic. I don’t know how well I would have performed in an online environment in my late teens/ early twenties. I am a much better, more disciplined, more focused student now than I was then.
I think the internet has provided overwhelming numbers of opportunities for formal and informal students interested in learning. Since the pandemic I’ve managed to rack up almost 1,000,000 meaningless internet points on Khan Academy working my way through math classes, my local library offers free access to The Great Courses which has been more mentally nutritious than binging true crime podcasts, and YouTube has been very helpful for home repairs (in the last six months I learned how to diagnose and swap out a failed-out capacitor on a ceiling fan, replace a faulty actuator on a dishwasher, and do an IoT retrofit of our overhead garage door). And of course, earning my MBA at BenU. By comparison, when I was an undergraduate, Blackboard (an email-based discussion/ chat platform) and LISTSERV were available, but only used by a handful of my professors, usually in a very limited, supplementary capacity.
While it’s not out of the question that I could have
attended classes in-person at a university in either Chicago or its suburbs, I
think the stresses of commuting and being “on” (even a couple of days a week)
would be taxing enough to be discouraging.
The online learning environment, although a very different experience
than the traditional learning environment, does have shortcomings including
unique stressors. However, the
opportunities provided by an online learning environment are its strongest advantage.
I had the opportunity to share a dining room table with my fiancĂ©, a high school chemistry teacher, during the lockdown. Along with learning more about stoichiometry than I could ever hope, I also learned how challenging her job could be even in optimal conditions. While I’m sure her advanced work in curriculum and instruction and educational technology were invaluable assets, I think the basics of teaching and learning still applied-- the instructors and students have to be active and engaged. She still held lectures, discussions, and office hours (over Google Hangouts and through chat) and she still demonstrated examples (replacing her whiteboard with an iPad). From speaking with her, it seems like usually strong instructors were still strong instructors and usually strong students were still strong students. I think this held until the school district relaxed grading standards and attendance rules.
After spending over 160 hours watching Sal Khan’s math
videos, I feel an uncanny bond with him. I’ve had a similar experience during
my time at BenU—hearing and seeing an instructor seems to create a more
meaningful experience for me than exclusively reading text (but that’s not to
say that the “text” experience can’t be engaging— especially skilled
communicators are just as engaging through print as they are “live”). I feel a greater sense of commitment to a
course where the instructor posts an occasional vlog or hosts a live lecture/
discussion. And I look forward to
meaningful insight to forum posts or in response to papers (“copypasta”
comments and critiques are not helpful).
I think the political and social climate in the US has added
unparalleled levels of stress and distractions that have permeated nearly every
aspect of life. I am not sure if it’s
necessarily accurate to base the success or lack of success of remote learning
(or work) based exclusively on the last two or so years. Like Malesic points out, I think instructors,
especially at the primary and secondary levels, will continue to see the
ripples of the pandemic on students.
In Levinson's Guerilla Marketing; Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits From Your Small Business, the author suggests two tenets to guide marketing strategy. First, relying on applying theory and taking action. Second, consider your options. Granted, these ideas may not seem novel, but Levinson stresses these mindsets as necessary to remain dexterous in a fluctuating business environment that relies on nimbleness to be successful.
Another difference cited by the authors is determining
metrics for success. The focus of
traditional marketing has been on metrics like sales/ revenue or store/ website
traffic. Guerilla marketing demands marketing
to be viewed as a business. Ultimately,
the most important metric is profitability.
At the heart of developing a guerilla marketing strategy is
understanding how an arsenal of weapons is better suited for the current business
battlefield than over reliance on
“radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, direct
mail, and the internet,” the “heavy weapons of [conventional] marketing.” Instead, Levinson, advocates for
cleverly leveraging diverse, demonstrably effective tools as a force-multiplier
to achieve business goals.
When Facebook launched its IPO in 2012, it’s trading volume was the largest for a technology company and notched the third largest trading volume for an IPO behind GM and Visa. While the longevity and profitability of the social media site divided investors’ opinions, pundits, bearish or bullish, could agree that to validate its unprecedented valuation, Facebook would need to tap “bold, new revenue streams” to drive growth. For Facebook and other social media sites, digital ad spending was crucial to profit generation.
As much as social media sites rely on ad generated revenue, businesses rely on social media sites to generate brand exposure. As social media users have increased over the last 10 years, so has spending on social media sites. Between 2016 and 2022, ad spending on social network platforms increased from $15.63 billion to $56.85 billion, an increase of more than 250%.
While “traditional” digital advertising, like sponsored ads, are most familiar, brand sponsorship of influencers is becoming more popular. Social media personalities, like Gohar Khan, have pivoted their online presence to create mutually successful brand deals. However, sponsorships with social media stars are not without risk. Some influencers are known for courting controversy that can negatively impact sponsors.
Even though brand sponsorship of influencers is likely to become more common, “sponsored advertisements” have been shown to be “more effective in generating post engagements” when compared to “influencer marketing posts.” According to at least one study, sponsored advertisements can achieve a greater reach and more engagement when compared to influencer marketing posts. However, influencer marketing posts are more likely to lead to sales. Despite larger audiences, sponsored advertisements do not carry the same “level of credibility” that influencer marketing can convey.
In his introduction to Surfing the Tsunami: An Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Options for Responding, Kelsey suggests three
mindsets for acclimating to the impact of artificial intelligence on the job
market: adapt, adopt, or adept.
The first chapter of Yu’s Ascend Your Start-Up discusses the “strategy-to-execution disconnects” that are common to start-up entrepreneurs. Using her experiences facing the challenges in preparing for and ascending Mt Everest as metaphor, she compares the “product/market fit disconnect” as base camp, where, like the climber, the “product must prove itself” as “marketable in order to be minimally viable.” This is an early intersection where a climber’s mettle is first tested; deciding whether the entrepreneur’s strength and resilience, excitement and thrill are enough to overcome the risk and danger of the venture.
According to Yu, there are 26 “micro-decisions” that an entrepreneur will encounter as they “scale” their business. At the earliest stage, basecamp, those decisions include:
Why are you on this journey?
What problems are you solving?
What does success look like to you?
How will you honor your brand?
How will you prepare for the climb?
While each micro-decision is distinct, they look to help the climber, the entrepreneur, to not only establish their summit, but to develop a deeper, greater understanding of their “purpose and intention.”
Hello! My name is AM. I am a supply chain and logistics professional with close to 20 years of experience in the industry. While I had my start in operations, including stints in accounting, customs compliance, and entry writing, I currently work in customer/ sales support and business development.
I’m an alumnus of Illinois-Chicago, where I earned my BA,
majoring in Political Science (International Relations and Comparative Politics) and English (American
Lit). I am currently working towards an MBA at
Benedictine University.
I have a lot of interests and many hobbies. I’m a lifelong fan of punk rock, horror films,
and modern folklore. I enjoy reading comic
books and collecting LEGO. I also enjoy cooking
and baking (I was making sourdough bread from scratch before it became a fad
during the COVID-19 pandemic).
My fiancé and I live in Elgin, IL, a city about 40 miles northwest
of Chicago. We share our home with two Dobermans,
Cardea and Freyja.
Thank you for reading!
AM
I’ve always had an interest in technology. I was fortunate to have a hand-me-down computer in the late 1980s and “modern” computer in the e...
