Key Takeaways

• Transitioning to an AI-first culture is essential for future success.
• Leaders must enforce change while supporting their teams through the transition.
• Adopting AI tools is becoming a necessary strategy for modern businesses.

Topics

• Leadership
• AI & Machine Learning
• Company Culture
• Digital Transformation

Transcript

I told my team they were probably going to hate me for what I was about to do. But sometimes being a leader means parental tough love. At a monthly All Hands back in February this year, I told the team that ScreenCloud was going to become an AI first culture and that I was going to enforce that. Now, most people don't like change to be enforced upon them, especially if it's something they're already nervous and agitated about. Most people are worried about what the future means with AI, and therefore that's part of the reason that they're not embracing it. I totally understand that. However, through my eyes, I don't think it's going to be possible to not be a technical company that has fully embraced AI imminently in the next six months, in the next 12 months. And so by forcing the agenda internally, but also trying to help people along the way, I think that we give people the best chance of their future career, both at ScreenCloud and wherever their career takes them afterwards. Here's a quick clip. I'm going to give you the best uplift in your career you'll ever get from me. I'm going to force you to become people that use AI. ScreenCloud is going to be a business where the people inside of ScreenCloud use AI. I don't expect you to be an expert today. And in every task I do, I will identify my ability to do that task with the addition of AI as a tool next to me. Now, when I delivered this, I was actually a little bit scared and I was not entirely sure how people would react, but it has been really promising and people did take it in the spirit in which it was meant. It's also been helpful that a few months later, people like Toby from Shopify have also said the same thing and even stated it more boldly than I did back then. So this is clearly a trend. CEOs need to really consider this as part of their strategy. And enforcing it is not straightforward. And it starts with telling people what you're going to do.