It could be today
Motorised scooters have invaded our cities (well, Melbourne certainly) in the past three years, but here’s a fascinating photo of an autoped: precisely the same concept, but from 1916. The same, perhaps, except for the headgear.
The rider is Priscilla Norman and the scooter was a birthday present from her husband, the journalist and UK Liberal politician Sir Henry Norman. Priscilla was also ahead of her time in other ways: like her mother before her, she was Treasurer of the Liberal Women's Suffrage Union, a cause that her husband also promoted as an MP, and she was a pioneer of modern approaches to humane care of people with intellectual disabilities, as a board member of Royal Earlswood Hospital.
Question: What ideas do you hold that are considered ‘radical’ today but you suspect will be entirely within the norm in 50 years?
The machines are thinking for us
When I was a kid, we weren’t allowed to take calculators into maths exams, in a belief that manual calculation was the point of the task. (I remember we even had printed books with logarithmic tables in the back — and I swear this was the 20th, not the 19th, century!). 40 years later, my 13yo son is not only allowed a calculator but also uses tools like Grammarly when he’s writing (or, more usually, typing).
If you don’t know it, Grammarly is an artificial intelligence engine that, in real-time, as you write, corrects your spelling (I’m using it as I write this and it told me that ‘real-time’ is hyphenated). That’s the minimal version; it also will identify incorrect grammar (quite well, I must add). And, something my son commented on: it even gives you feedback about your writing style.
During the school year, Jasper wrote an email to one of his teachers, asking for an extension on a project owing to illness, and Grammarly rated it as ‘optimistic’ and ‘confident’. He was delighted, and came to show me. I’m optimistic and confident this little ‘nudge’ makes him more likely to pen a letter on his own initiative next time he has to ask for a favour or special dispensation of some sort.
Question: What AI innovations can you use in your business not only to reduce effort and improve quality, but to heighten motivation at the same time?
Connecting better
Australians are known for bluntness. But, then, so are many other nationalities: Americans (at least, those from New York), Israelis, Dutch, Russians. It doesn’t mean we’re rude, but we believe in being ‘authentic’, or at least not sugarcoat or dissemble.
It’s why a heartfelt apology in customer service goes a long way (“Sorry, we stuffed up”) and also why, when I was buying cold-weather gear ahead of my trip to New Zealand this winter, I was delighted when a sales assistant told me, “Actually, don’t buy one of those. They’re crap. Go to [he named another store] and buy one there”. I’d already piled up several hundred dollars of gear on his counter, so he was assured of a decent sale, but I was grateful.
Sometimes bluntness even goes viral: take a look at this hilarious Craigslist ad for a beaten-up Toyota Corolla. I’ve rarely read such great copy in an advertisement - it’s pure marketing genius that absolutely connects with its intended audience.
Question: On what issues can you afford to be more blunt than you are?
I’m on holidays until late January, so the above are a ‘summer edition’ of past 5 Minute Strategic Mindset segments that have been popular with readers. I look forward to being back with you shortly, however, if you’ve enjoyed reading, please click the ‘heart’ so it keeps the 5MSM pulse beating.
See you next Friday morning,
Andrew
Thanks for another thought-provoking weekly edition. The piece on AI raises another interesting question: what processes do we have in place to check that the AI-generated advice is *correct*?
As a case in point, you write that Grammarly "told me that ‘real-time’ is hyphenated". Well, that's correct when the term is used as an adjective (e.g. "this is a real-time emergency" – where "real-time" modifies the noun "emergency"). However, you weren't using it that way; your first instinct was correct, and Grammarly gave you the bum steer. In your sentence, "time" is simply an ordinary noun modified by the adjective "real". Try substituting a similarly constructed noun phrase – e.g. "clever unison" or "actual fact" – and you'll see that hyphenating it is clearly wrong. Or do a quick check with your favourite online dictionary: Collins, Merriam Webster and Cambridge all differentiate between the noun phrase and the hyphenated adjective.
I've worked as a writer and editor for a major UK company creating online content for international brands. The company recommends Grammarly to its writers, but I stopped using the tool because it was wrong far too often.
Which brings me back to your piece. AI is without doubt a great asset for businesses, but it's not foolproof, despite what a HAL 9000 might proudly boast. ;-)