Commission A Personal AI Project
“When people aren't having any fun, they seldom produce good work.”
— David Ogilvy
I was reminded of this classic quip while interviewing Russ Somers, Chief Marketing Officer at Quantified.ai, on Beyond the Prompt. His credibility implementing AI is unquestionable — tripling his department’s effectiveness through cleverly deploying a “GPTeam” of collaborators is quite an accomplishment, for sure — but what really struck me most were his insights on the personal aspects of getting started. I’ve argued for the importance of using AI for oneself, but Russ shed fresh light on the question of where to start.
Rather than diving straight into work applications, Russ emphasized the importance of play, discovery, and starting from a place of personal intrigue. This approach is often overlooked, to the detriment of the explorer, and the organization.
Many organizations are asking their people, “What can GenAI do for our business?” This is the wrong question! Not because GenAI is irrelevant to the business, but because most employees don’t even know what GenAI can do, period. The necessary first step is to open their minds to the power of the technology, in a way that sparks their imaginations.
One of Russ's key insights was the importance of avoiding complacency in building confidence in the power of these tools. If a suboptimal outcome is acceptable for your chosen point of focus, it shouldn’t be a candidate for GPT-powered exploration. True innovation demands iteration and refinement borne of a restless longing for more. With routine work, it’s sometimes easy to get comfortable and settle into the groove, but that’s not where significant gains will be made.
Because innovation is accompanied by many false starts and frustrating dead ends, I’ve often told teams this sense of mattering is the essential prerequisite to undertaking a new project — if you don’t care, don’t bother.
For whatever reason — unless you’re in a start-up environment with tightly aligned incentives — folks tend to demand more excellence from solutions to personal concerns than to work-imposed ones.
To discover the value of GenAI, start personal. Having observed countless professionals attempt to incorporate this technology into their lives, I can tell you that your biggest barrier is likely going to be summoning your own activation energy. You’ve got to find a project where you’ll be willing to push beyond mediocre outcomes.
Starting with a personal project is an exceptional hack to invoke care.
Related: Start Using AI for Yourself
Related: Allow Folks to Play
Related: Iterate to Innovate
Related: Drive Innovation Through Care
Related: Have Fun
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The quality of our thinking is deeply influenced by the diversity of the inputs we collect. Implementing practices like Brian Grazer’s “Curiosity Conversations” ensures innovators are well-equipped with a variety of high-quality raw material for problem-solving.