181: Your attention, please; and a fundamental misunderstanding
Two observations and ChatGPT helps with expense reporting
Your attention is invaluable.
That’s how I sign off each of these newsletters, right above the Subscribe button.
Because your attention is, I’d argue, perhaps the single most valuable resource you control. So much so, books have been written about it.
I’m holding the 2015 original printing of one such example. The good news is there’s an updated second edition, which you should definitely own. As its author, the ebullient
writes,“Ideas grow, thrive and effect change in proportion to the amount of attention allocated to them.”
And Faris goes about deconstructing this elusive thing, attention, in ways that will help you develop keener strategies and remarkable ideas. This is one of those books I return to, and can vouch for its positive impact on my career.
“The complexity and varying modalities of how we allocate attention and how that impacts decisions, is why advertising works in mysterious ways.”
So it was with great joy that I stumbled across Faris appearing on Adam Morgan’s Let’s Make This More Interesting podcast (Apple, Spotify). Speaking of memorable books, Adam co-wrote A Beautiful Constraint, another must-read; especially for the concept of “Can-If” which I’ve written about several times.
This conversation between Adam and Faris is 57 minutes very well spent.
The fundamental misunderstanding of AI
At least, as it’s applied to the practice of brand strategy.
I’m also a fan of Adrian Barrow’s newsletter—specifically his observations on how AI is Rewriting the Rules of Brand Strategy. To wit,
“The most valuable insights come from reimagining what we need to know rather than processing what we already know.”
Which is all well and fine; a keen, timeless perspective.
But then we feather in the capabilities of AI. And an easy misunderstanding is assuming the AI will just solve all the messy nuance of identifying the most useful insight. No. No, you still have a role to play, dear human.
“As AI improves exponentially at climbing strategic mountains, human wisdom becomes increasingly valuable in deciding which mountains to climb in the first place.”
Increasingly, our role becomes that of editor, of producer, of general—observing the fast, wide spread capability of our AI(s) and encouraging its/their direction of focus.
And finally,
Word is a million new users have been joining ChatGPT every hour.
Creativity is endless, as one TikTok user has noted. (The math is a little off, but the percentage is accurate.)
