This is Digital, Episode 15: How AI and the Next Generation of Employees are Shaping the Workplace

Q&A

Thinking about your passion for mentoring the next generation, how have companies been able to successfully create a culture that innovates?

I consider this new kind of culture “Culture 2.0.” Gone are the days of an Instagram workplace or a Disney workplace, where employees were rewarded with ice cream bars or nap pods. We are in an era now where people are looking for a more supportive work environment. I think of five things when I think of “Culture 2.0:”

1. The ability to support our whole selves, not just work selves
2. Psychological safety
3. Flexibility, which could be a hybrid workplace among many other things
4. Availability of right tools people actually need to do their jobs, and
5. Benefits that actually support people, be it a daycare, mental health support, or even executive coaching.

In your experience, how are Millennial and Gen Z workers looking at technology in the workplace? 

I posted a poll on Twitter and Instagram recently asking two questions on ChatGPT: 1) Has it become an essential part of your workflow? and 2) Would you work for a company that doesn’t allow you to use ChatGPT or similar AI tools? 70% of my followers, who are relatively technical people, indicated that they would not work for a company that did not allow any AI tools [editors’s note: the poll ended with 79% responding no]. It is an interesting phenomenon I call digital whiplash, which is when you’re able to use AI tools and enable yourself to be highly productive and creative in your personal life, but when you come into your workplace, you are using a spreadsheet which is not even connected to the Cloud. This poll indicated that companies that do not allow you to leverage tech to automate repetitive tasks are going to fall behind. I also think that this generation of AI is changing the way we think about time: the amount of time it takes us to complete a task, produce a product, or to scale something to 100 million users. 

Generative AI, while only a subset of AI, is reducing the effort it takes to execute in terms of time, people, money, and resources.

Can you explain the difference between AI and generative AI?

AI is just a system trying to do human-like tasks. For instance, whenever you use Google Photos or Amazon Photos and search for an image, the image being brought up is not generative AI, it is just computer vision. There are many kinds of AI: computer vision, natural language processing, linear regression like predicting house prices. However, it is not generative. It is looking at the past data and predicting the next thing. Generative AI, on the other hand, is about creating something net-new and is only a subset of AI.

Young workers increasingly expect flexible working hours and say that the ability to work remotely is important to them. We have seen companies use the phrase “cloud-based” workers or hubs. I know you recently landed in New York after 2.5 years of working remotely from 70 cities around the world. As technology, tools, mindsets, and working environments are evolving, what do you think about the future of the workplace? What will the future of work look like?

I think the five things I previously mentioned about Culture 2.0 will only grow. Companies will continue to be more flexible and supportive of our whole selves. Companies that take on the role of becoming more tech-focused will give themselves a competitive advantage moving forward.

I also see AI becoming more personalized. Right now, ChatGPT is being used on individuals. But over time, AI will be more verticalized and exposed to different industries, and then personalized to each person. I think then we will all have our own AI co-pilots and assistants in different industries.

What is your advice on hiring the best tech talent today?

It comes to three things:

1. Knowing what you need in the role. As AI gets more popular, I think there will be a lot of new roles created, and that’s where companies should know what they really want out of the role.
2. Meeting candidates where they are, engaging with them where they are and asking what they really want out of the role, knowing that it is a two-way street, and
3. Finding people on social media. People tend to get creative on social media, and that is where I have hired some of the best talent in the past.

You recently said that one of the biggest topics you are advising enterprises on right now is how to manage and involve your organization, business, and teams through rapid change. How are you advising them?

My initial go-to is always looking at the principles. I think a lot of companies today are trying to be more technology-led, but we should look at the basics first: What is the company doing? Who are the customers? What is the impact in mind? 

I also think we are in the era of the COO and so much operational activity, it’s important to think about scale. You have to start small, with perhaps one team or one project, but the vision should always be to scale it out.

What does being digital mean to you?

I focus more on when to be digital–I think becoming more digital is pointless without purpose. What is the North Star that teams or companies are working toward? From there, setting up goals where people are being led toward a purpose while getting more digital along the way.