How to not end up with yet another AI company

The internet connects us - all the time. So, there are always a few big stories out there, that we are exposed to. Whether we like it or not.

I don’t think it is too far-fetched to say that the AI revolution is one of those big stories right now. And with it, comes the fear of getting behind this revolution.

If you consume all the content produced by the drivers of this revolution, you just naturally become part of it. There is so much content out there that tells us exactly what to do. If you lead a company this way, you will make yet another AI company, indistinguishable from all the other ones.

Will you make some money this way? Probably, because there is enough momentum, and people are going the same way.

Will you recognize yourself, or what you have created when you look back? Unlikely.

I, myself, am waking up to such a reality. Over the last ten years, I had the privilege to work for companies that started out with big visions (“saving billions of dollars of gas every year”, and “making development of secure software fun and easy”), but these visions did not survive after financial pressure rose, and decisions became centered around answers to the question “what is everyone else who makes money doing right now?”. In the end both of these companies were not financially successful, and I am grateful for it. Success might have just hidden the fact that the work I did became more hollow and generic, and was bound to be destroyed by one of the stories of the “next big thing”.

Yet, it is a humbling experience waking up from this, and looking at myself: What did I do, such that I ended up in this situation? Who am I now? What do I stand for? Am I in the software business, and what does that even mean? The definition of that changed all the time… Did I change the same way?

Recently, I got a hint from a friend, what I might have missed: He lived with the Masai in Tanzania some decades ago. Like many other indigenous tribes, the Masai’s nomadic way of life is threatened by Western colonization, a global financial system that does not have a concept for living off the land, but introduces concepts of land ownership and tourism, encroaching on these lands.

During the time my friend lived with the Masai, the tribe was very aware of the conundrum they faced. And they already tried two options: (1) violent resistance defending their lands and (2) sending their children to school so that they could survive in this new world.

The lessons from these attempts: Both approaches would have led to the eradication of the Masai’s way of living.

The violent resistance was futile as the Masai were outnumbered. They learned this very quickly.

Sending their children to school created a different problem: The parents noted that - after learning to read - the children did not remember the old stories anymore. The stories that captured the ancient wisdom of the tribe, their identity.

So, what was their solution?

It surprised me, but it also made sense: The tribe decided that the ideal family structure now had at least four children, so that two of them could go to school, and two of them could learn the old ways.

They safeguarded their vision and mission, but also adapted to the new influences. The Masai’s way of life is still threatened, but the tribe’s leaders clearly showed responsibility for the situation:

• They embraced the new realities and worked with them, having children who can make a living with and from tourism, engage with conservation efforts and become part of it.
• But more importantly: They are still in charge of telling their own story.

And that inspires me: This is one of the reasons why I write a journal every week. To stay in charge of my own story, which has to be rewritten all the time.

And as far as this relates to companies: Eric Ries just wrote a book called Incorruptible, about how companies with successful long-term growth safeguard themselves, at the core of it: he argues that they need to safeguard their mission from external forces. He suggests some legal methods, putting up some walls against outside influences, especially “financial gravity”.

Know your mission and vision, become a steward of it, and don’t forget retelling the story about it.

I don’t know if the Masai tribe will outlive the forces of tourism and land ownership, but considering that these are arguably dependent on the extraction of limited resources, the objective chances are in the Masai’s favor.

I will continue to re-write my story: Over the next weeks, I am writing more about strategies to safe-guard attention and increase the capacity to process.

With care,

Martin