Episode 887: Integrating AI into Your Company

Summary

The Official BNI Podcast: Episode 887 - Integrating AI into Your Company

Release Date: November 20, 2024
Host: Dr. Ivan Misner
Guest: Kian Gohar, AI Researcher, Bestselling Author, CEO of Geolab, Former Executive Director of the X Prize

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Introduction

In Episode 887 of The Official BNI Podcast, Dr. Ivan Misner delves into the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in modern businesses. Joining him is returning guest Kian Gohar, an esteemed AI researcher and CEO of Geolab, whose expertise provides invaluable insights into leveraging AI for business growth.

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Recap of the Previous Episode

The episode kicks off with a brief overview of the previous discussion:

Kian Gohar (01:08):
"We talked a little bit about what are the fundamentals of AI, what I call the ABCs of AI and how do you learn to hack some of your workflow and behaviors to be able to get more creative answers with AI to solving some of your business problems."

This foundation set the stage for a deeper exploration into practical AI applications within businesses.

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The Impact of AI on Business

Dr. Misner highlights the dual sentiments among BNI members regarding AI:

Dr. Ivan Misner (02:11):
"I think more and more BNI members are very concerned about how AI is going to impact their business. And in some cases I've seen excited about what AI can do and they're also confused by it."

He shares an anecdote illustrating common challenges:

Dr. Ivan Misner (02:50):
"I was talking about that with a BNI member who was a sedan service and they were driving me home and he said, you know what, I have no idea what my power teams are in BNI now."

To address such concerns, Dr. Misner utilized ChatGPT to redefine "power teams," expanding the member's network with professions he hadn't previously considered. This practical example underscores AI's potential to enhance networking strategies effectively.

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Practical Steps for AI Integration

Kian Gohar offers a structured approach to integrating AI into businesses:

1. Holistic Assessment:
   Begin by identifying various domains within your company where AI can be applied, such as sales, customer service, or marketing.

2. Change Management Program:
   Implement a robust change management strategy that includes:

   • Leadership Role Modeling:
     Kian Gohar (06:11):
     "You as the leader, want to role model the behavior to your teams that you're using AI as well, so that gives them permission to use it."

   • Upskilling and Training:
     Conduct workshops to educate teams on AI applications relevant to their roles.

3. Pilot Projects:
   Start with one or two specific use cases, run pilot programs, and measure their success. Encourage team members to become AI champions who can lead by example and facilitate knowledge sharing.

4. Gradual Integration:
   Expand AI applications progressively, ensuring each new integration builds upon the successes and lessons learned from previous implementations.

Kian emphasizes the importance of patience and consistency:

Kian Gohar (09:24):
"We're not going to make your company AI ready overnight. It's going to be a process."

He also advises starting AI integration on a personal level to build enthusiasm:

Kian Gohar (10:24):
"Start on a personal level. Find something that you love researching or thinking about or doing, and see how AI can spark your imagination around that topic."

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Key Insights and Quotes

• AI as a People-Centric Tool:
  Dr. Ivan Misner (07:42):
  "AI integration in your company isn't about IT. It's really a people issue. We do not believe that AI will displace human work. However, humans with AI skills will displace humans who don't have AI skills."

• Expanding Network Through AI:
  Dr. Ivan Misner (03:22):
  "By having this conversation with AI, with ChatGPT, I was able to give him professions that he could then work with to increase his referrals."

• Encouraging Creative Problem-Solving:
  Kian Gohar (04:35):
  "Think about pretending like you're the world's expert in marketing or sales or negotiation or networking. That's one of the beauties of AI can help us get out of our head and really come up with creative solutions."

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Conclusion

Episode 887 offers a comprehensive guide to integrating AI into businesses, emphasizing that successful adoption hinges on human-centric strategies rather than purely technical implementations. By fostering a culture of continuous learning and leveraging AI to enhance networking and operational efficiencies, businesses can unlock unprecedented growth and innovation.

Dr. Ivan Misner (11:39):
"Thank you so much for being on two episodes back to back, and you are welcome anytime you've got some great ideas on AI, I'd love to have you back."

As AI continues to evolve, episodes like this provide essential frameworks for businesses aiming to stay ahead in an increasingly digital landscape.

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Note: This summary excludes advertisements, introductions, and outros as per the podcast guidelines.

Transcript

[Priscilla Rice]

Episode 887, Integrating AI into youo Company.

[Kian Gohar]

You're listening to the official BI podcast with BI founder and chief visionary officer Dr. Ivan Meisner. Stay tuned for networking and referral marketing tips from the man who's been called the father of modern networking, along with suggestions and insights into getting the most.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

From your membership in the world's largest networking organization, bni.

[Priscilla Rice]

Hello, everybody. Hello everybody, and welcome back to the official BNI Podcast. I'm Priscilla Rice and I'm coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. And I'm joined on the phone today by the founder and the Chief visionary officer of BNI, Dr. Ivan Mizner. Hello, Ivan, how are you and where are you?

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

I am on vacation in Hawaii in a secret, secret location. And my wife doesn't know that I've slipped away to do this podcast. So let's keep it just between us if we can.

[Priscilla Rice]

Okay, that sounds great. And who do you have with us today?

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

I have my friend Kian Gohar back on today and we hadn't actually planned on doing two podcasts back to back, but his content is so amazing I asked him if he could come back. He is an AI researcher, bestselling author and CEO of geolab. He's a former executive Director of the X Prize. You can hear more about him in my previous podcast, the Last Podcast. And also he was on podcast number 750, competing in the New world. Keon, welcome back to the BNI Podcast.

[Kian Gohar]

Hey Ivan, good to be back with you again.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

You want to give a just a quick 30 second overview of what we talked about last week and then I have a quick story I'm going to tell and then I have a couple of questions for you.

[Kian Gohar]

Yeah, we talked a little bit about what are the fundamentals of AI, what I call the ABCs of AI and how do you learn to hack some of your workflow and behaviors to be able to get more creative answers with AI to solving some of your business problems?

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

Yeah, and, and I think more and more BNI members are very concerned about how AI is going to impact their business. And in some cases I've seen excited about what AI can do and they're also confused by it. And I'll give you a great example. It was literally on the ride back from the time that you and I, and we go back to the last podcast, everyone, if you're listening to this and I talk about how Ken and I did a, a discussion about marketing book and, and the AI gave me an idea that I never thought of. And so I was talking about that with a B and I member who was a sedan service and they were driving me home and he said, you know what, I have no idea what my power teams are in BNI now. Just so you know, Keanu power team is a group of, they stem from context fears. They're a group of business professionals who have a symbiotic relationship. They're incompatible non competitive professions like a caterer, a florist, a photographer, a travel agent. I call that the wedding mafia. You know, once they bring you in, they don't let you out. Right. So he's just a dancer because he said I don't know what all my, my people would be. So I, I took my definition of what a context sphere and a power team. A power team is a group of context for people that are actually working together. They're not just in symbiotic professions. They're actually referring each other is. And I put a definition in and I asked the, I asked ChatGPT what would be some good power team members and it gave me a great list and it gave me a list of people that I hadn't thought of. And when I talked to him, he said, oh my goodness, I never thought of them. Like event planners, wedding planners, hotel resorts, travel agencies, concierge services. These are a number of things where he hadn't thought of. But by having this conversation with AI, with ChatGPT, I was able to give him professions that he could then work with to increase his referrals. And that's the beauty of what I think. That's one of the beautiful things that I think we can do with AI. What do you think of that?

[Kian Gohar]

I love that. Ivan and I have an idea now from this conversation that we're having right now is I'm going to go into ChatGPT and ask it. I have this dilemma around creating partnerships for my own company here at Geolab. How would Ivan Meisner think about who my power teams are?

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

Oh yeah, I gotta, I gotta hear the answer to that. I will tell you. Okay, so this is a secret. I can't believe I'm saying this. I did did ask ChatGPT a few months back. You describe give me the definition of networking by one of the world's leading experts on the topic. And I had like my fingers crossed and it punched out my definition with my name and I'm like, all right, I feel pretty good. This is great.

[Kian Gohar]

That's awesome. I mean that's also one of the hacks that, that your listeners can think about is like pretend your expert XYZ on this topic. Let's say you want to create a new product or service and you give that context to AI about your new product or service. Then you can ask, how would Steve Jobs, the world's greatest innovator, think about this new product idea that I'm having? What are some of the assumptions he might make and some ways he would go around it? So think about pretending like you're the world's expert in marketing or sales or negotiation or networking, like I'm at Meiser. That's one of the beauties of AI can help us get out of our head and really come up with creative solutions.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

I love this. And listen, if you're listening to this, it's this isn't about him. This is about Ken. It's not about me. It's not about Steve Jobs. It's about you. Take the ideas that he's talking about and apply it to you. Now you might ask, you know, what would this person say or do but use your needs in the discussion with the AI? Well, look, I don't want to kill the whole time on this story. You have. There are a couple more things that we didn't get to in the last podcast. One is that AI is not the domain of it.

[Kian Gohar]

We.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

What does that mean?

[Kian Gohar]

You know, we think of AI as like a technical thing, but the reality is we interact with generative AI in the workplace in a non technical manner. And a lot of people think that they have to be real technical to use AI. Or maybe their head of technology at their company or their IT director is responsible for integrating AI. But the truth is AI integration in your company isn't about it. It's really a people issue. We do not believe that AI will displace human work. However, humans with AI skills will displace humans who don't have AI skills. So it's critical that you don't approach this like technology adoption, like upgrading your servers or whatever system you have or your software. That's not what AI adoption is about. It's about human behavior change. It's a people issue. It's a change management issue. How do you think about learning and training your teams, changing their workflow, integrating AI into their work stack? All of this is about humans and it's critical that your listeners think about who's involved in designing AI experiments and leading that change. And it should be a mix of people and definitely not just in the domain of it.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

Yeah, you know, last week I said that paralegal is, is in trouble. And I, I think I, I misspoke to some extent. I think paralegal without a implementation is in trouble. I think paralegal will be around, but it'll be the people who understand how to utilize a I that will continue to have a career in paralegal. And, and I think that that'll end up applying to a lot of professions would.

[Kian Gohar]

Absolutely. And I think, you know, your listeners are probably thinking, okay, I buy into the top level hypothesis of AI can help me, but really what can it do for me? Maybe how can it impact my sales or how could it improve my customer service or improve my marketing? There are a bunch of domains that you can apply AI in your company to make it more effective and there's tons of low hanging productivity gains you can have. One of the things I'd recommend is I want you to think holistically about what use cases you're going to start tackling first. You're not going to make your company AI ready overnight. It's going to be a process. So you want to have a change management program in place. And what that means is you as the leader, want to role model the behavior to your teams that you're using AI as well, so that gives them permission to use it. You want to have some upskilling training workshops to help your team also understand how AI can be used in different elements. And then you want to pick maybe one or two use cases, narrow it down and then run a pilot and then measure the success of that pilot. Have some early adopters on your team who can be AI champions, who can experiment and then share this feedback in a casual environment like a lunch, and learn so that they can help others on the team learn about what they experimented with. And then over time you'll see that this use case has been integrated and now you can work on another use case and another use case. I want to just maybe sow this idea for your listeners. We're going to be using AI forever on end in our work replaces and so we don't need to solve everything urgently in the next six months. But I want you to begin and start with one use case. And then within 12 to 18 months you will have been able to transform a bunch of your functions with AI. And you'll look back on the last 18 months and you'll say, wow, I can't believe I did all that work before without AI.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

Well, any last thoughts? And while you're thinking about that, I forgot to mention your website on the last podcast Your website is Learn abc. That's Learn L, E, A, R, N, A, B, C, A, I. Learn A, B, C, A, I. Any last thoughts before we wrap up?

[Kian Gohar]

I would just say have fun with it. You know, when we think about AI, we think, oh, my God, it's going to solve some of these business problems. But I would also say start personally and start interacting with it about a personal dilemma or something that you're really curious about, like travel or cooking or reading or whatever. And the reason I suggest this is because I want to get you excited about using AI. And until you get excited about how it can make you more intrigued about something you care about, you're not going to really integrate it into your workflow, because then it'll be like, work. So start on a personal level. Find something that you love researching or thinking about or doing, and see how AI can spark your imagination around that topic. And then you'll have an aha. And be like, oh, if it can do this, I wonder if it can do that for me at work. So start personal.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

Keon, my friend, thank you so much for being on two episodes back to back, and you are welcome anytime you've got some great ideas on AI, I'd love to have you back.

[Kian Gohar]

Oh, my God, what an honor. Thank you so much, Ivan.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

All right, over to you, Priscilla.

[Priscilla Rice]

Okay, perfect. That's it for this week. Thank you both so much for the great information. This podcast is sponsored by MeisnerAudioProGrams.com these audio programs will provide you with the tools and the inspiration to powerfully enhance your BNI experience. So check out the great material that's available to [e-mail] and use the promo code IVAN5O for 50% off of everything. All of the proceeds go to the B and I Foundation. Thank you so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we look forward to having you join us again next week for another exciting episode of the official B and I Podcast.