Episode #455: A Cautionary Tale about AI & Obviousity

This week Ron and Ed return to the work of literature for some inspiration. They delve into the pages of the Roald Dahl short story, "The Great Automatic Grammatizator" and Robert R. Updegraff's, “Obvious Adams: The Story of a Successful Businessman”. Both are available on the website that rhymes with Shamazon if you want to read them prior to listening.

The Great Automatic Grammatizator

By Dahl, Roald

Buy on Amazon

Obvious Adams: The Story of a Successful Businessman

By Updegraff, Robert R

Buy on Amazon

Use these show notes to follow along with audio…

Segment One:

• The Great Automatic Grammatizator is a story written by Roald Dahl in 1954 about an ingenious engineer who creates a machine called the Great Automatic Grammatizator that can write stories and novels in just minutes

• 1/4 Story summary: 📝 Lex is a struggling writer 🤔🖋️ who meets the eccentric inventor Max 🤪🔬. Max creates a machine 🤖💻 that writes perfect stories in seconds! 😱📚

• 2/4 📈 Lex sees the potential for profit 💰💡 and convinces Max to mass-produce the machine. They become wealthy 🤑💸, but creativity suffers 📉🤷‍♂️.

• 3/4 🖋️📜 Traditional writers lose jobs 🙅‍♂️📝, and stories lack heart ❤️🧡. Lex realizes the damage done and destroys the machine 🚫🤖.

• 4/4 Sound familiar? By the way, the tweets in this series were all written by ChatGPT.

Segment Two:

• Here is a significant sentence about an author’s perspective from Roald Dahl’s short story, The Great Automatic Grammitizator: “Because she saw the machines made stuff that was better than her own”

• Rory Sutherland has been encouraging people to read the superb business book, “Obvious Adams” for many years now. We found this tweet from 2016. https://twitter.com/rorysutherland/status/693412082876825601 

• Obvious Adams is about Adam, a simple, insightful man who sees solutions where others don't. He uses common sense to solve business problems (which can be a bit of a lost art). https://www.amazon.com/dp/0990790916?tag=verainst-20 

• Did you know that our Patreon.com/TSOE is sponsored by @90Minds? Need a mind? Find one at 90minds.com

Segment Three:

• The "Five Tests of Obviousness" are a concept outlined in the book Ed and Ron are discussing today: "Obvious Adams" by Robert R. Updegraff https://www.amazon.com/dp/0990790916?tag=verainst-20 

• The “Five Tests of Obviousness” encourage you to approach problem-solving with simplicity and common sense. Remember, sometimes the most effective solutions are the ones that are right in front of us.

• Have you heard this in a business context? “We tried it before and it didn’t work.” Based on the “Five Test of Obviousness”, maybe the timing wasn’t right???

• “Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious” —George Orwell.

Segment Four:

• “If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong.” —Charles Kettering

• Related to the “Five Tests of Obviousness”, Ron and Ed talked about the “5 Creative Approaches To The Obvious” on segment four of the show. Here is a quick link: https://marketinghuddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Obvious-Adams-The-Lost-Sections.pdf 

• This link has a PDF of the 5 creative approaches to the obvious https://marketinghuddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Obvious-Adams-The-Lost-Sections.pdf 

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #454: Interview with ChatGPeterD — an AI conversation with Peter Drucker

This week Ron and Ed literally explore the boundaries of AI by conducting an "interview" with an AI incarnation of Peter Drucker. Using ChatGPT and Speech Synthesis from ElevenLabs, Ron and Ed ask the questions and ChatGPeterD provides the answers. Topic range from knowledge workers, to annual appraisals, to AARs, to consulting in a hot tub.

What would be more fitting than AI generated show notes?

• Peter’s legacy in the business world.
  Peter reflects on the impact his ideas have had on the business world and the global reach of his principles.
  Peter shares some of his thoughts on the future of leadership.
  The notion of social responsibility of business and the concept of management as a liberal arts education.
  The idea of planned abandonment and how it can help organizations maintain a competitive edge.

• The social responsibility of business and profits.
  Milton friedman's argument that the social responsibility of businesses to increase profits is not the primary purpose of a business.
  The debate between shareholder value and social responsibility is not an either or proposition.
  The challenge lies in aligning these dual objectives in a way that leads to sustainable and responsible business practices.
  Profitability and social responsibility can coexist and reinforce each other.
  Vivek Ramaswamy and others have raised concerns about the manipulation of societal concerns and the phenomenon of greenwashing.
  Businesses should approach social responsibility with a genuine and sincere commitment to social responsibility.

• How are the knowledge economy and knowledge workers different from the previous models?
  How the knowledge economy and knowledge workers are different than those that preceded them, and how they are different from the earlier economies.
  A word from the sponsors, soul of enterprise.
  Knowledge workers rely on their expertise, problem solving skills and ability to think critically and adapt to changing circumstances.
  Innovation and creative problem solving become essential for staying competitive.
  A holistic approach to management is required, encompassing factors such as meaningful work autonomy, professional development, work-life balance and recognition.
  Why he chose to call himself a social ecologist rather than a management thinker.

• Does one learn more from success vs. failure?
  Success and failure offer distinct and valuable learning experiences, and the true wisdom lies in embracing and extracting insights from both outcomes, success and failure.
  Peter explains why he believes that success is often more readily transferable to different situations due to the identification of principles applied in diverse scenarios.
  Efficiency refers to the ability to accomplish a task or produce an output with the least amount of resources, time or effort. effectiveness is about doing the right things.
  A word from

• Why are you critical of annual performance appraisals?
  Critical of knowledge workers performing tasks that distract from their real work, such as nurses filling out paperwork or accountants and lawyers filling out timesheets.
  Critical of annual performance appraisals.
  Performance appraisals were initially introduced with the intention of evaluating and improving employee performance, but there are several limitations associated with the traditional annual appraisal process.
  The importance of frequent and informal feedback mechanisms.
  The evolution of performance appraisal systems has been a topic of ongoing debate and refinement in the management field.
  The theory of the business, the mental model that guides an organization's actions, choices and priorities.

• Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
  Innovation and entrepreneurship are closely related concepts, but they have distinct meanings and implications within the realm of business and management.
  You suggest that leaders should spend the majority of their time pursuing opportunities rather than solely focusing on solving problems, based on his belief in proactive and strategic management.
  Peter wrote a book in 1993 called the post-capitalist society, which aims to provide insights into the evolving nature of society and the potential shifts in society.

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #453: Interview with Seth David from Nerd Enterprises

Ron and Ed welcome Seth David from Nerd Enterprises, Inc to talk about his work with accounting professionals and customers. Seth's superpower is communicating complex financial concepts in easy-to-understand terms. Going beyond accounting, he delves into the intersection of business and technology, recently authoring a piece on why the internet browser experience is long overdue for an overhaul.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio…

Segment one:

• Seth has a reputation for being at the forefront of technology. He wrote a blog post a few months ago about the lack of innovation in the internet browser experience. Check it out here: https://www.nerdenterprises.com/blog/the-internet-browser-experience-is-long-overdue-for-an-overhaul 

• More recently, Seth wrote an article called “Living on the Edge” about his switch to Microsoft Edge. He doesn’t advocate for all Microsoft products but enjoys using the Edge browser. https://www.nerdenterprises.com/blog/living-on-the-edge 

• TIL that Microsoft Edge saves your tabs even when you close the application. I have personally closed Chrome by accident and cursed under my breath because it doesn’t remember all of your tabs 🤣 🤣 🤣

• What are people missing about AI beyond ChatGPT? Seth has a great opinion on this as an example. Think about eCommerce data and imagine if you, as an accountant, could provide competitive pricing information to your customers. 

• With respect to Artificial Intelligence, Seth says, “People who avoid it will be forced to use it or just get left behind.” 

Segment two:

• Anyone who knew Seth in high school would never have guessed that he would have gone into accounting. He was much more of a creative than anything else. You can clearly see the intersection today in his work.

• Seth’s backstory takes several unexpected turns during segment two of the show today. Folks….I can’t do this stuff justice in a tweet. You should listen to Seth describe his path to California from New York via Wall Street and a drug addiction.

• Seth seems to give away his intellectual capital much like Ron and Ed. It forces you to replenish it and keeps you on the bleeding edge. The Nerd Enterprises blog is just one example https://www.nerdenterprises.com/blog/ 

Segment three:

• Seth recently bifurcated his business. He sold his bookkeeping clients to a long time associate and focuses on training now. “Better Tools. Better Training. Bulletproof Results!” https://www.nerdenterprises.com/ 

• “If you make me Google something to understand what you are saying, you have failed at Communications 101.” —Seth David

• When Seth thinks about accounting services and how compliance based it is, it seems difficult to scale because you will most commonly trade your time for money.

Segment four:

• Agility trumps ability. I don’t have to be the most skilled person on the planet. “The agility refers to your ability to have a bunch of tools in your toolbox.” —Seth David 

• “When you drop a rock into a lake, the lake receives that rock. It takes it all in.” —Seth David …That’s what Seth does when learning about new tools to help him and his customers do a better job.

• A big THANK YOU to Seth David for joining us today. Folks, he likes it when you talk nerdy to him. Check out more of his work at https://www.nerdenterprises.com 

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #452: Business Models of the Future Knowledge Worker with Hector Garcia

Ron and Ed usually wait six months before having a previous Guest reappear on the show. This is one of the exceptions. Our conversation for this show focused on a new conference that Hector and his team are developing, Business Models of the Future Knowledge Worker. Hector shared his thoughts and we had a live brainstorming event around topic for conversation at the conference.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio…

Segment one:

• Will accountants be displaced by AI? Well, yes. Those that do not use AI tools to help themselves will be replaced. Hector has been doing a large amount of experimentation here and talked about it today.

• Will AI continue to advance at a rapid rate? Of course it will. Look at something as simple as nails. They’ve been around for about 100 years and CONTINUE to show even tiny advances. And that’s just a simple metal nail.

• ChatGPT has opened Hector’s mind to the creative possibilities and the things he can do as an accountant and leader of the profession. He experiments with these tools because he wants to stay at the forefront and be a part of the movement.

• It’s time for “self disruption”. Creation…preservation…and destruction . Hector studied Hinduism in college and draws a strong parallel to his desire for “self disruption” in the accounting profession.

Segment two:

• Hector was very kind to give Ron Baker a shout out today for his work around Time’s Up. Check out more information at this link if you are curious or interested https://timesupclub.com/ 

• Hector is REALLY excited about a conference on October 25-27th in Miami called Creative Business Models for Accountants. Here is the link for the FINAL 22 tickets! https://altaccountant.com/creative/ 

• Subscription is the easiest, most friction free way to collect revenue from customers but THEN it allows us as accountants to focus on important things like the delivery platform and overall customer experience

• Hey! Did you know that our Patreon channel at Patreon.com/TSOE is sponsored by @90Minds? Need a mind? Find one at 90Minds.com

Segment three:

• Alan asked a great question today about changing the business model of his industry. Ron, Hector, and Ed all had some great thoughts that are DIFFICULT to capture in 140 (280? 5,000?) characters. Check it out in segment three.

• In wealth management, customers have been taught that paying a finance professional is only a function of how much money is being moved around. But the real advice has almost nothing to do with just moving money around.

• The customer of the future will buy from firms that provide two things: 1) to feel good/secure about who they are interacting with and 2) to work with the company providing the least amount of friction when working towards a goal

• “The best products in the world offer some sort of lifetime guarantee and that’s what people buy.” —Hector Garcia

• Hector recently made the shift to subscription and had this short, INSIGHTFUL statement to share: “You transform your firm one customer at a time.”

Segment four:

• For rising seniors in high school, Ed is not convinced that the job they will do even exists yet. In fact, he’s not even sure their final major in college exists….just FOUR YEARS from now. How’s that for a rate of change?

• “If we are professionals understand that communication is about translation — reframing a problem — you can move much faster.” —Hector Garcia

• A big THANK YOU to Hector Garcia for joining us today. There are only 22 TICKETS left (as of this tweet….er….”X”) for his conference in October in Miami. Check our more info at this link https://altaccountant.com/creative/ 

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #451: Mishmash

In keeping with our tradition of Bric-a-brac, Grab-bag, Potpurri, and Miscellany, Ron and Ed present their thoughts on some articles and posts on varied topics that require more than just a cursory conversation, but not quite a full episode.

Ron’s links mentioned during the show:

• Happy Birthday Milton Friedman!
  https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/07/milton-friedman-still-winning-the-argument/

•  The Modern Quest For Immortality
  https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2023/07/10/the-modern-quest-for-immortality/

•  The Question
  https://www.dissentmagazine.org/wp-content/files_mf/1353953160genovesethequestion.pdf

• Rightsizing China
  https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2023/06/12/chinas-coming-decline/

•  A difficult new world, Special Report: The Car Industry, The Economist, April 22, 2023
  https://www.economist.com/special-report/2023-04-22

• Psychologically Safe Work Environment
  https://businessbreakthrough.online/report/build-psychological-safety-in-your-firm/

Use these AI generated show notes to follow along with the audio.

School vouchers.

• Happy birthday to Milton Friedman!

• Friedman made the case for school vouchers in the 1955 essay, and that idea found its way into capitalism and freedom.

• The number of earnings calls where executives mention environmental initiatives is declining.

They don't want to reform school they want to end school.

• Nobody wants to reform school. Nobody wants to end schooling. What parent wants to do this?

• Moving to a voucher system or an educational savings account program, or an esa program in Arizona, gives a lot more flexibility in terms of finances and makes so much sense.

• State after state after state is rolling out this program across all political sectors.

• The modern quest for immortality, by lionel shriver, a novelist and columnist for British Spectator magazine.

• With eternity at stake, with that at stake who would be voluntary for the military?

• The burden of finding purpose and meaning could grow unbearable, she says.

What is the quality of the extra time?

• Concerns about the quality of that extra time, and how it would impact the social security system from an economic standpoint.

• The knowledge problem of a shrinking worldwide population and the need for more knowledge, learning, growth and innovation.

• The summer of 1994, the book, well it's called the question, by Eugene Jenna Basie, a historian.

• We broke all records for mass slaughter piling up 10s of millions of corpses in less than three quarters of a century when the asian figures are properly calculated.

• The importance of subjecting basic premises to stern review and own up to all that has gone wrong and take the measures necessary to guarantee against the next round of the same old story.

• The turning point that shifted Jonah's mind from supporting the collapse of the Soviet Union to questioning it.

How hard is it to change a culture of denial?

• The soviet union has not accounted for its past. The soviet union has done nothing to rectify the wrongs of the Soviet Union.

• It is hard to change a culture, which is why theories work so well, because it is just the language and the persuasion.

• China under the communist party is a nation in long-term decline, weaker than it wants the world to believe.

• More than half of china's middle school age students are unable to advance to high school or choose not to complete junior high, some 400 million future working age chinese may be classified as cognitively handicapped.

• Unemployment rate in china is 20% higher than the general population, and they are dependent on Russia for natural resources.

• China is no longer the low cost producer.

Corruption in the car industry.

• The two party system in China is better than a one party system, for sure, but they still have a lot of issues that nobody talks about.

• The economist's special report on the car industry is one of their special reports from April 22, 22, this year.

• Global car production peaked at 73 million passenger vehicles in 2017, but is expected to drop to 62 million by 2022, according to mckinsey.

• Legacy carmakers are facing a big challenge.

• By the end of this decade, the sticker price of most evs will be equal to that of an internal combustion engine.

• By 2020, charging could go from 66 billion in 2023 to 300 billion by 2020. Most of it will go to tesla because they get the half.

Subscription model for cars.

• The electric engine is a very basic concept. The basic concept is unchanged completely, and it is just as simple to produce. It feels like driving a slot racer.

• The emerging subscription model for cars is easier for a tech firm to make cars than it is for a carmaker.

• Only about 8% of petrol heads are real car buyers, and only 1% of new cars are bought by people under the age of 24, according to mckinsey.

• Sony and Honda are teaming up with software companies to make evs and alibaba, huawei, tencent and zami.

• I have a business breakthrough. Paul shrimpbling, humanize the numbers. Book. The fearless organization creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation and growth. By amy edmondson.

• Project aristotle, a multi-year study of 100 Navy teams at Google that looked at their composition, educational backgrounds, skills, personality traits.

The importance of building trust in an organization.

• There has been an uptick in conversation about sage on the sage thought leadership podcast and other psychological safety podcasts.

• After action reviews are a perpetual tool for psychological safety.

• The importance of the debrief of course in the air force and the importance of rapid decision making under uncertainty.

• The book is one of his top books of the year.

“Time sheets are not evil though what we do with them sometimes is”

• 75% of revenue in a professional still generated by the billable hour.

• Time tracking is the tool, but it is the ideology around the timesheet that is the problem, not the idea of who is implementing it. No good way to implement a crappy idea.

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits.