How to Thrive Amid Disruption: Key Insights


 I had posted on a similar topic a couple of years back, but in a different context. It was based on an interaction I had with a participant in a workshop I had conducted then.

Winning in a Disruptive World

Interestingly, I was recently invited by the Goa Business School, Goa University to speak on the same topic.  What we were really looking at is succeeding in an environment that is constantly changing and being disrupted. By new technologies like AI, new competitors, new business processes. The question for us was, ‘So what does one do to win?’

I related a story from my own professional life.

In a past assignment, I was managing a Travel & Destination services t company. One of our major customer accounts was the national petroleum development organisation and because of the large business quantum, we had an implant operation with a dedicated team. Our service and response levels were appreciated by the client.

As our contract period was ending, the company released a tender for a subsequent period. Believing the client was happy with us, we submitted our competitive offer in line with what we had done during our last successful bid. When the tender was finalised, we were shocked to know that we had lost. When we asked the client’s commercial team, we were informed that we had not complied with the technical terms of the bid. Going back to the drawing board, we found that in the tender document, there had been a small section requiring development and implementation of a Travel management Services, TMS in short, software as part of the client’s intranet, which we had not responded to.

Soon, we had the opportunity to bid against a tender released by the National Gas Company. We noticed that in this tender document too, there was a requirement of implementing a TMS software. This time we were careful enough to comply with the requirement by indicating our willingness to develop. But we again lost the tender! The winner was a competitor who already possessed a fully developed TMS module and had provided a live demonstration of the same to the client.

We had been disrupted. By a new technology, a new competitor, which together had disrupted our traditional business mode, a model which had worked well all these years. The world had shifted, the business need in the environment had changed and the earlier alignment which our company’s competence set had with the environment, had been lost.

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In 1849, French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote, “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” which in English translates to “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

The above perspective is possibly at the heart of why we get disrupted. The human mind loves continuity and certainty. These allow us to make sense of what we see as stuff we are familiar with, which our brain does using mind models based on our past experiences. But what happens when we are faced with something we have never encountered before? Our brains somehow try to force fit these unknown inputs into one of our mind models. Even though we remain unaware, this ‘force fit’ sense making process leads to the observed inputs getting distorted, some parts get amplified while others which do not fit, get discarded. Thus, when we probabilistically try to predict, often we fail and get disrupted.

The disruptive world allows us to reside in a narrow band in the present with a hazy and uncertain future in front and the inability to take recourse of the past.  Thus to successfully negotiate we need to shift away from our usual probability-based mindset into a mindset of possibilities.

In the session I showcased certain action steps which would support us to do the shift.

I got around to explaining that the first Action step is to create a context for ourselves within our own domain through using hard trends in three areas viz. Demographics, Regulatory and Technology (DRT Context). The hard trends that we uncover become the framework of the context we are creating. Our context would allow us to view every situation in a particular manner.

At this juncture a participant asked for this step to be shown through a case study or live example. I elaborated using the example of the Aviation Industry.

Demographics: Major customer profile shift is occurring viz. growth of young budget traveller and the elderly. Communication technologies is leading to the decline of Business travel. Climate change is shifting the seasonality of leisure travel. Customer behavior is also changing, with short booking windows—often a week or two with fewer travelers making plans far in advance.

Regulatory: Climate change is leading to increased incidences of air borne diseases requiring changes in booking process e.g. Pre-flight testing, need for registration of previous and past travel etc. Technology is allowing airlines to have seamless connectivity within the travel ecosystem to increase demand + assist governments and regulators in creating worldwide / regional standards for hygiene as well as operations.

Technology: Integrated and contact less handling at the airport regarding access viz. boarding pass issual, traveller identification through eye scans, baggage check-in etc. Seat allotment keeping in mind traveler profile, past medical history etc.

Action Step 2 is about using our above created DRT context to make three lists. List of all that we are certain of, list of things we know, and list of things we can do. If we put in the requisite time to make the lists, new possibilities would start showing up for us, a reflection of our improved competence to shift into a possibility mindset.

Action Step 3 is about further sharpening the saw for possibility mindset creation. We do that by unplugging ourself from our present clutter and challenges, then plugging ourself into the future and then use the ‘hard trend’ context created in Step 1, the 3 lists of being certain, knowing and doing ability in Step 2 to do anticipatory & future back thinking through a structured enquiry.

Action Step 4 is about Relational Assimilation which is identifying and defining groups relevant to our business and optimising the group boundary level interactions to advance our own interests. It thus is all about addressing stakeholder concerns. So, who are these stakeholders? They are wide ranging entities. Starting from the company Owners. Employees, who are the internal stakeholders to Customers, suppliers, our banks and financiers- our external stakeholders. But we also have environmental stakeholders viz. local community, society at large and the Government and regulatory authorities. Each of the stakeholders impact the organisation and ourselves in some way, some directly, others indirectly. To ensure effective relational assimilation, we need to exhibit certain qualities in our interactions.

  •  Honouring or Integity of our word. Have we ever considered the fact that we are really equal to your word, nothing more , nothing less? We might see ourself as an individual with certain looks, qualifications, competencies etc. But to the outside world, we are perceived as our word. So, what is ‘Honouring our word’? This means keeping our word and as soon as we realize we are not able to do so, we need to inform all effected parties that we cannot keep our word within the time frame indicated earlier, offer a new time frame to do it and declare that we would take care of the consequences if any, of not keeping our word as per the earlier indicated time frame.

Can you see from what I just said that while it is not possible to keep our word under different situations, we can always ensure that we honour our word?

  • Being and acting consistent with who you are: This is all about being authentic. Bill George, former CEO, Medtronics and Professor of Leadership at Harvard Business School, concluded, “After years of studying leaders and their traits, I believe that Leadership begins and ends with authenticity.”

So how does one improve one’s own authenticity? Simply put, it is by being authentic about our inauthenticities’. We need to be publicly authentic about our inauthenticity with those around us for whom this inauthenticity matters.

  • Listening with no intention, no judgment, no Right or Wrong:. This is called Active Listening. A special kind of listening that we use to allow the speaker to articulate his or her own strongly held positions, views, rationalisations, justifications and unexamined beliefs. When we engage in active listening, we do it without colouring our own mind with our own intention, own judgments and our own views about what is being said being right or wrong. You could start with practicing active listening once a day and then slowly increasing the number till the trait becomes part of you.

As you make Integrity, Authenticity and Active Listening part of your repertoire for dealing with your stakeholders, you will see the significant upswing in empathy, respect and trust in your dealings. Action 4 is thus the catalyzing agent to ensure the achievement of the action steps you had created based on the first 3 actions.

With the participants

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In the ultimate analysis, Winning in a disruptive world is all about  that ability to See, Comprehend & therefore Interact with life (and situation) differently than most people do. ‘Winners of a disruptive world SEE….and come to live in a different world.

In Learning….. Shakti Ghosal

Mindful moments: Cultivating peace in a busy world


“The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence” – Jiddu Krishnamurti

Some years back, I did a course on Mindfulness. I did it more out of curiosity. The course turned out to be significantly experiential in nature, involving several practices.

So what is Mindfulness?  At its core it is the practice of paying attention to the present moment with openness, curiosity, and without judgment. It is about being ‘in the moment’ with awareness of where one is, what one is doing. As one practices this, one reduces one’s reactiveness or being overwhelmed by situations, circumstances, and people.

When I think back, I realise that my first exposure to and experience of Mindfulness and intervention based on it was more than20 years back.  I had participated in a week long  “Art of Living” program. The essence of the program was a routine which consisted of ‘Pranayam, Bhrastika and Kriya”.  All these practices were essentially breathing routines, heightened awareness of the flow of breath and culminating with a body scan. While it had not been mentioned then as being a Mindfulness practice, I realised subsequently that it was so.

After I started practicing Mindfulness through the Art of Living routine, I did start noticing a higher level of energy through the day as also being more at peace with my situation. By God’s grace, I have been able to avoid chronic health situations like hypertension, stress related ailments etc. I somehow sense that one of the contributing reasons for my being able to maintain good physical and mental health has been my continuing the practice of Mindfulness as elaborated above.

In a recent ‘Mindset Matters’ podcast, Executive Coach Frank Marinko and I had a lively conversation about what ‘Mindfulness’ is and its impact.

In Learning……… Shakti Ghosal

#Mindfulness #Artofliving #judgmentfree #awareness

Tomar and the legend of the Knights Templar


“Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed Nomini tuo da gloriam“ ( Latin). In English it translares to : Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to Thy name give the glory

Tomar in the heart of Portugal, is a town steeped in history, mystery, and legend. During our recent visit, it transported us back to the era of the Knights Templar, the Crusades, and the Church Order. 

The Convent of Christ, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a masterpiece of medieval architecture. A Templar stronghold, it was both a church and a fortress with a unique blend of Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance styles.

We entered the Convent and as we walked through the corridors, we could almost see in our mind’s eye the knights riding in. As the legend goes, the knights would even pray while on horseback as they chose never to be caught off guard and remained ever ready to fight on behalf of the church. This was the reason for the spectacular Templar’s round church with its high archways being built in the heart of the convent.

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The Convent of Christ and its structure was inspired by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The latter had been built at the traditional site of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial and thus it is no surprise that it was in this city that the legend of the Knights Templar started.

The Knights in their white mantles and a Red Cross emblazoned on the chest were arguably the best fighting units on the side of Christianity in the Crusades. For centuries they remained committed to defending Jerusalem as also offering safe passage to Christian pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land.

The Knight Templars achieved the zenith of their fame in the 12th century when in the Battle of Montgisard, six hundred odd knights beat the redoubtable Muslim general Saladin and his army numbering twenty-six thousand!

The other noteworthy aspect of the Templars Order was that it became the banker to Europe from a Papal sanction. Knights desirous of joining the order donated large amounts, nobles going to Crusades would place their wealth and businesses with the Templars for safe keeping. This huge aggrandizement of wealth though led to its eventual downfall. It is said that in the early fourteenth century, the French Monarch Philip IV, deeply indebted to the Templars and unable to pay back, started to arrest, torture, and execute the French knights.

After the dissolution of the Order, the Templars found refuge in Portugal under a new ‘Order of Christ.’ Our guide spoke of the secret knowledge the order brought in and how that influenced Portugal’s Age of Discoveries, including Vasco da Gama’s travel to India. Ostensibly, much of the so called ‘secret knowledge’ of the Templars had been acquired from Arabs during their travels to Jerusalem and beyond.

For us, Tomar wasn’t just about history; it was more about the Knights Templars’ valour and enduring legacy. Their closely guarded secrets included that of the Holy Grail which forms the basis of Dan Brown’s famed thriller ‘The Da Vinci Code’. In the book, the Knights Templar order is portrayed as the guardians of vital information relating to Christianity spanning over one millennia.

In learning…….                                                 Shakti Ghosal

#tomarvisit #traveldiaries2024 #davincicode #knightstemplar #DanBrown #portugaltravel #conventofchrist #crusades

Trust- A bulwark of relationships


Trust is a foundational element of relationships and interactions. My decades of working   in organisations and relating to people have made me realise that Trust flows out from three aspects of how we relate to people and how we interact with team members and others.

First and foremost is the Integrity of our word. We need to be clear to our own selves that the way others see us is how we ‘honour our word.’ Do we keep it and if we cannot, do we inform about that at the earliest opportunity and be willing to clear up any mess caused?

Second is the aspect of accountability. When we can own up to our own errors of judgement and take responsibility, we start creating an environment where others ‘feel safe’ to do the same.

And finally, is the aspect of transparency which builds credibility and shows others that we are willing to share information honestly, even when it is difficult.

What trust leads to is open communication and ‘risk taking’ initiatives with the potential to transform workplaces to becoming more supportive and innovative.

To showcase, how Trust works, I wish to relate the case of Johnson & Johnson and its Tylenol product crisis of 1982. The company faced a severe crisis when people in Chicago died after taking cyanide-laced capsules of Extra-Strength Tylenol, a top-selling, trusted pain reliever.

While Johnson & Johnson was not responsible for the tampering, it faced intense scrutiny and an immediate threat to the overall J & J brand.

The company made a series of bold decisions, guided by its corporate philosophy, which prioritized customers over all else. It immediately recalled over thirty million bottles of the product costing the company over $100 million. The company maintained open and honest communication with the public, issuing warnings and engaging with the media. This transparency helped rebuild public trust and showed they were prioritizing customer well-being.

 By placing consumer trust above profit and acting with integrity, Johnson & Johnson was able to rebuild and even strengthen their brand. In a matter of months, Tylenol regained a significant share of the pain-reliever market, and Johnson & Johnson became known as a company that values trust and ethics.

In a recent ‘Mindset Matters’ podcast, Executive Coach Frank Marinko and I deep dived into the fundamentals of what constitutes Trust and how what constitutes our word becomes so crucial in the matter.

In learning……….                                                Shakti Ghosal

How do we motivate our own self in the face of goal multiplicity and pathway uncertainty?


As I thought about this question, a workplace experience from the past showed up. In my first job, I was an Assistant Mechanical Engineer in an Electric Diesel Locomotive maintenance workshop of the Indian Railways. I seemed to be confronted with disparate and multiple problems like dirty work bays, breakdown of machines, the workers’ trade union raising different kinds of demands, and so on. As I tackled one issue, other workplace crises seemed to occur elsewhere. I was always firefighting with disparate problems with no overall improvements in terms of productivity and output.

 Over time, I became demotivated with ‘loser mindset’ thoughts which kept circling in my head. These thoughts were like ‘I am doing the best I can’, ‘No point in trying hard, nothing will change’, “I have a wrong boss, bad subordinates’… and so on. A kind of workplace lethargy set in, a laziness to try newer ways and the unwillingness to get out of the rut.

 My mind shifted during a footplate inspection when I experienced firsthand the problems faced by the travellers from locomotive failures. A context got created in my mind, ‘When we don’t operate timely schedules, people’s lives get effected’. As I brought this perspective as an overarching vision for myself, my day-to-day work focus, the language I would use, my handling of situations changed. I felt more energy flow, motivation, and excitement. What was more remarkable was that my team started aligning itself with the overarching vision. My passion seemed to be seeping into them as they perceived that the actions were also addressing their own concerns.

 As I think back, I can say that what can motivate us most is our ability to create an overarching vision which excites and pulls us towards goal achievement as more and more stakeholders start seeing the vision meaningful, relevant, and addressing their own concerns.

Recently, in a ‘Mindset Matters’ podcast, while discussing the above subject, we came to a counterintuitive and interesting perspective that the sheer act of encouraging someone else can lead to our own selves being encouraged and motivated to achieve our own goals.

Should you wish to listen to the podcast, do DM me and I would be happy to send the link.

In Learning……… Shakti Ghosal

Have you experienced the power of active listening?


Listening as an activity seems passive and an easy one. It is not. When someone speaks to us, we end up listening though a mesh of beliefs, prejudices, preconceived notions, and past relational baggage. What we end up really ‘hearing’ in our brains is a distorted version of what was communicated.

For listening to be effective, it needs to land for us with minimal distortion. To do that we need to master the art of Active Listening. Which is listening without intention, without judgment, without RIGHT or WRONG.

I would like to relate an incident of an irate customer from a previous assignment. He was a regular buyer of our services but on that day, he came to book a family holiday and said he would pay once he returned. Such credit to individuals was not allowed as per company policy. The counter supervisor tried to reason with him but he got even more upset and stormed into my office.

Customer: “I can’t believe this, the way I have been treated just now. After all these years, are you guys telling me you don’t trust me? I have tried to explain to your supervisor but he throws the rule book at me.”

Sensing the anger and upset, I decided against trying to explain and opted to listen empathetically. As the customer continued to rant, I maintained eye contact, nodded sympathetically, and made verbal assertions like, ‘I see’, ‘I understand’.

When the customer finally stopped, I said, “I heard what you said and realise how upset and unacknowledged you must be feeling. You mentioned that you wish to make the payment of your much awaited holiday package after your return. Have I understood you right?”

The customer for the first time cooled down. “Yes, that is correct. I find it demeaning that your company does not trust me.”

“Okay, this is what we could do,” I said. “You could give us a post-dated cheque and I will authorize its acceptance as a special case.”

Now, this was not at all an innovative solution and could have been offered earlier also. So what could have been the reason for this not happening? Clearly, the engagement had been more about protecting one’s own turf and resolution had not been part of the mindsets.

As I think back to that situation, I can see that the active listening demonstrated in that interaction is what resolved the situation. The eye contact and nods, the acknowledgement of emotions, the paraphrasing and the offer of a solution is what allowed the customer to be heard, valued and reassured and be willing to co-create a resolution with me.

In Learning……………….. Shakti Ghosal

Do your Leadership choices upset your stakeholders?


This was the question that was debated during a podcast which I did recently with Executive Coach Frank Marinko in Australia.

All of us know that leadership is all about making choices. It is about aligning the organisation and its underlying stakeholder relationships with an overarching vision and intrinsic values. However, the prism that each stakeholder uses to evaluate decisions and decide on a roadmap could be significantly different from one another. We might hold complete clarity, based on our own belief and experience-based prism, about what and how something needs to be done. This is where the pitfall of a ‘My way or highway’ mindset lies.

Based on market conditions and the need to do a strategic shift, you might need to cut costs by reducing the workforce. But this could lead to employee insecurity and negative publicity. You might decide to use certain material to improve product quality but that might bring a backlash from environmentalists. A tradeoff between shareholder profits and employee benefits might lead to morale drop and lower productivity. Such a list of potential pitfalls can be long.

So how could you as a leader successfully negotiate and mitigate the above risks?

In this context, you might wish to listen to the two podcasts which are in the laser coaching realm.

In Learning…….. Shakti Ghosal

The Mantra of Personal Mastery


Recently at an IIM Udaipur conducted Management Development Program (MDP) for Indus Towers managers, I anchored four sessions. We started with the overarching perspective of Leadership and personal mastery before drilling down to specifics of Power & influence in teams, Managing high performance teams and the Feedback & Delegation aspects in Team Dynamics. We ensured a surfeit of activities, Role Plays and Case Studies to deepen the learning through practice and Ideation.

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In one of the sessions, we were in discussion of the aspects of ‘Honouring one’s word’ and ‘Being Authentic’ as performance accelerators of a team. Several participants mentioned their reservations about this, as under:

“If we become authentic and honour our word and others in the team do not do it, we would be taken advantage of and would be forced to do the work of others”

“All this is good theory but just does not work in real life. The fact is the Management has perceptions of who are good versus who are bad and irrespective of whether we honour our word or not, the favoured ones would get rewarded in terms of promotions and bonus”

In life, we are conditioned to judge others on moral and ethical yardsticks but remain quick to rationalize our own failings against the same yardsticks. We look around to try and determine who all are ‘honouring their word’ and tell ourselves that we would wait for others to honour and keep their word before we keep our own. As Chris Argyris had said about self-deception, ‘Put simply, people consistently act inconsistently, unaware of the contradiction between the way they think they are acting and the way they really act.’

 To gain the ability to honour our own word, we should be prepared to deeply deliberate and answer the question, ‘Where is my word when it comes time for me to keep my own word?’  In the ultimate analysis, there is a simple but inviolable equation of workability which is YOU are equal to YOUR WORD.

As I explained to the participants, team performance has very little to do with peering over shoulders to ascertain who is doing what. It has almost everything to do with how we can create trust of others in us. And creating trust has everything to do about Integrity viz. honouring our word and being authentic about how we show up for others. While some may try and take advantage of your trust in the short term, the aura of trust leads to team members gravitating towards you, working with you as you shift into being a natural leader.

How might you incorporate ‘Honouring your word’ and ‘Being authentic’ as part of how you show up tomorrow with your stakeholders?

In Learning……. Shakti Ghosal

Further Reading: ‘Integrity is a matter of a person’s word- nothing more, nothing less’– Michael Jensen, Professor Emeritus, Harvard Business School. Revised March 28, 2014.

Note : Indus Towers is India’s largest mobile tower installation company.  In India, 3 out of every 5 calls made are through an Indus site. https://www.industowers.com/

Impact of AI on Ethics, Morality, epistemology, and ontology. The nature of human-AI relationships and the implications for our sense of Identity


First the aspect of impact of AI as a fledging technology on Ethics and Morality. This becomes important as the influence could span across various aspects of human life, society and a ‘code of conduct’ for responding to situations. Another impact could be certain unintended moral consequences arising out of AI, such as enhancing of social inequalities and taking away of human jobs.

 Secondly, the aspect of AI’s impact, or shall we say, its interrelationship with the concepts of Epistemology and Ontology. Epistemology is all about how our mind perceives reality. Our sense making of a situation provides us knowledge. AI algorithms are all about sense making and predictions. Deep Learning and neural networks might make a prediction, without any underlying explanations, which may be contrary to what we might be thinking. Ontology is the science of ‘Being’, of being something. As AI’s capability advances, it would show up as an entity with complex behaviours and responses. This prompts ontological questions about the nature of these behaviours and responses—how should we conceptualize AI’s ability to learn, reason, and interact with the world?

So, how do we determine the impact of AI on fundamental issues relating to Ethics and Morality? This aspect becomes particularly important because at the core of AI and its capabilities lies the requirement of enormous data streams. Since most of AI algorithm predictions relates to likely human behaviour and response, the data relates to humans. And this is where the fault line between usage of harvested data and the ethics and morality of using such data for AI based predictions, emerges. This is even beyond the realm of privacy laws. Fundamental questions about the consent, transparency, and control individuals have over their personal information remain.

AI, being a general-purpose technology, its use and spread is increasing exponentially in terms of organisations, individuals, and domains. This interaction of human-AI relationships is evolving rapidly, as AI technology evolves. These relationships are raising profound questions about our sense of self and identity. This becomes important aspects to deliberate upon.

Privacy Concerns: How AI systems handle personal data and influence decision-making processes can affect the consent, transparency, and control individuals have over their personal information.

Bias and Fairness: AI algorithms can perpetuate or amplify biases present in the data they are trained on, leading to unfair outcomes. Addressing bias in AI systems is crucial for upholding principles of fairness and equity, which are fundamental to moral frameworks.

Human jobs & Processes: AI technologies can disrupt job markets, potentially displacing human workers. Socio-economic considerations include ensuring a just transition for affected workers and promoting AI-driven benefits equitably.

Moral Principles & Decision Making: AI systems are increasingly being tasked with making decisions that have ethical implications, such as in healthcare (e.g., medical diagnostics and treatment recommendations) and autonomous vehicles (e.g., decisions in potentially fatal situations). Questions arise about their moral agency and whether they should be held responsible for their actions.

Epistemology and how knowledge shows up :  As has been mentioned above, AI systems increasingly play a role in decision-making processes across various domains, from medical diagnostics to legal judgments. This challenges traditional notions of epistemic authority—who or what can be considered a reliable source of knowledge and expertise.

AI’s form of existence: As AI technologies evolve, they exhibit increasingly complex behaviors and capabilities. This prompts ontological questions about AI’s nature of being —how should we conceptualize AI’s ability to learn, reason, and interact with the world?

In the above context, Executive Coach Frank Marinko and I discussed the pressing issues on the development of AI and what that means for society at large.

  • Does AI possess moral agency? 
  • How can you design AI systems to make ethical decisions?
  • Are there concepts such as moral reasoning and ethical behaviour in machines?

You can listen to our podcast on this link: https://audio.com/frank-marinko/audio/frank-and-shakti-podcast-2024-07-30-16-01-gmt-10

In Learning……. Shakti Ghosal

Unveiling The Essence of AI and Leadership in the Future


Frank Marinko and myself, both international Executive Coaches and Facilitators, grappled with this question using the critical thinking methodology, in a joint podcast. You might enjoy the discourse and the podcast link is given at the end.

If we are to deliberate on this question, we need to get to the essence of two aspects mentioned. First, AI or Artificial Intelligence as we call it. Second, ‘to lead’ which is all about Leading or Leadership.

So, what really is the essence of AI? That lies in its ability to mimic and augment human intelligence and decision-making processes using computational algorithms and data. At its core, AI systems can analyze vast amounts of data, recognize patterns, infer relationships, and make predictions or recommendations.

The important aspect to be kept in mind is AI’s ability to ‘learn’, its adaptability and the ability to improve over time. Machine learning algorithms, for example, can automatically adjust their behavior based on new data, allowing AI systems to become more accurate and effective with experience.

And when we think of the essence of Leadership, it is really all about envisioning a future which speaks to all stakeholders by addressing their concerns or satisfying some needs.  Leadership thus involves directing and coordinating the efforts so that the full potential and collective success can be realised.

With the dawn of computers seven decades back, Alan Turing had considered the question, ‘Can a machine think like a human?’ and came up with a test now known as the Turing Test. With the advent of AI, several Artificial Intelligence programs have already passed the test. The purpose of this question seems to be a deep-down threat to our unique ‘leadership ability’ that we see emanating from AI. There are concerns that AI will not only start doing complex and decision-making tasks replacing humans but in the long run go beyond human controls and frameworks.

This idea of technological obsolescence where technology renders humans obsolete, and takes over most of human jobs and work, is a concern that has been raised in discussions about AI and automation. However, we humans have creativity, empathy, intuition, adaptability, and the capacity for complex moral reasoning, which are integral to many aspects of work and life. These qualities enable humans to excel in areas such as innovation, problem-solving, interpersonal relationships, and above all Leadership.

The idea of AI achieving consciousness is another topic of much speculation and debate. Consciousness is a complex and still poorly understood phenomenon, and whether AI can truly achieve it is uncertain. Even if AI were to achieve consciousness, the process of its development would likely still involve human input and guidance. AI systems, as they exist today, are created, and trained by humans, and any future developments in AI consciousness would likely follow a similar path.

However, it is worth noting that AI can already exhibit forms of “thinking” and problem-solving that are quite different from human cognition. Machine learning algorithms, for example, can process vast amounts of data and recognize complex patterns in ways that humans cannot.

Whether AI should create its own thinking framework independent of human influence is a philosophical question with no easy answer. It raises issues of autonomy, control, and ethics. If AI were to develop its own thinking framework, it would still need to start and remain ‘biased’ by frameworks that align with human values and approach. It thus seems that in the foreseeable future, Humans would continue to lead AI, leaving aside the esoteric visions of the Matrix and Terminator movies.

To effectively lead AI development which would synergise with human development, adherence to principles such as transparency, fairness, accountability, and human-centered design would be needed. We would then be able to harness the full potential of AI while minimizing harm. These principles should serve as guardrails rather than roadblocks, helping to steer AI development in a direction that aligns with human values and promotes the common good.

Podcast link : https://audio.com/frank-marinko/audio/podcast-1

In Learning……. Shakti Ghosal