I was chatting to one of my closest friends today. He's a CEO in his 60s, leading a company on a Big Bold mission to improve Indoor Air Quality. We talked about how ChatGPT has been a game-changer. for him He’s dyslexic, and for him, AI is a brilliant thinking partner helping him to communicate better.
He’s spent decades sharpening his mental toolkit. He’s a very sharp thinker and problem solver. He already knows when something isn’t right and AI quite simply helps him accelerate what’s already strong.
But what about someone in early career?
Someone who hasn’t had years of deep thinking and problem solving skills in the working world.
MIT’s latest research published last month shines a light on this.
“Students using ChatGPT have an 83% failure rate when asked to recall what they just wrote.
This compares to an 11% failure rate when they research and write themselves.
When we rely too heavily on AI, the risk is we stop or dramatically reduce our thinking ability.
The neural pathways that cement knowledge through active processing never get built (note the book, The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle has a captivating description of a young girl learning the piano by trying and failing continuously).
The implications of the MIT study are self evident. Students can produce brilliant looking work, but can’t later remember it and are deprived of the value of the hard yards of mental processing skills that my CEO friend has spent a lifetime learning.
This matters because my personal obsession of going after Big Bold Goals is built on on clear thinking, teamwork, and the courage to wrestle with the hard stuff.
Using AI to support wisely is essential.
I loved the story this week of two 18 year olds who are raking in $2m a month through an app that analyses a photo of your meal and estimates your calorie intake (the previous competitors like MyFitness Pal required you to document what you’ve eaten to get the same results).
The path ahead needs to be navigates carefully.
Leaders of the future won’t be the ones who copy and paste the latest AI prompts.
They’ll be the ones who think best, grapple with hard problems and create cultures where thinking deeply is still the norm, not the exception.
It reminds of another story from this week of a friend who is selling his London home. The estate agent proudly shared how they are using AI and then sent him details of his listing which was full of incorrect information.
The risk is AI invites lazy thinking.
The opportunity is to think deeply and stretch yourself to levels way beyond what you ever imagined.
Use the tools. But never outsource the deep thinking work.
Set your imagination on fire and stretch your thinking.
The goal cannot simply to use AI to do what you do today. Whilst that may be a useful stepping stone to get to base camp, in the longer run most people will do that and I think there will be close to zero competitive advantage from that.
I think it invites the courage to go beyond and find ways to stretch your imagination.
Here’s 3 experiments to stretch your grey matter:
5-Minute Experiment: Curate One Bold Influence
What if most voices you hear and read on AI are the same recycled voices?
Why not seek out one or two voices who are doing some really ground breaking stuff on AI. I’m not talking about your average marketer sharing their latest AI prompts.
Dig deeper to find out who’s really doing ground breaking things. These are the things that are less obvious.
Note: I’m continually scouring for fresh thinking beyond the average and it will likely be the source of my sixth book (the fifth one launches later this year).
Would you be interested in getting the chapters and insights as I develop them? DM me and if enough people show interest I’ll open source them as I develop them.
⏱ 10 -Minute Experiment - The Friction Conversation
Bring a half-formed idea to someone you trust and say: “Challenge me on this. Tell me what I’m missing.” The goal isn’t agreement. It’s sharper thinking through tension.
No screens. No AI. Raw debate only will stretch your thinking together.
Note: If you’ve not read The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle - it’s a great read to refresh on what really matters.
20-Minute Experiment: Think Before You Ask
Clarity comes from wrestling with an idea yourself and not delegating it to AI.
Take a chunky problem you’re grappling with.
Set a timer for 20 minutes.
Just you armed only with pen and paper.
Let your mind do the heavy lifting.
Once you’ve thought deeply, write your thoughts down (it’s part of the reason I do this blog….I recall one famous writer who said “I don’t know what I think I’ve written it”.
Want a gentle reminder?
My music pairing this week to reflect on these ideas is by the brilliant Simple Minds and “Don’t you Forget About Me”. I’m hijacking the song and want you to imagine it’s your Mind saying don’t forget about me.
Here’s a Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/track/3fH4KjXFYMmljxrcGrbPj9