Tell us a little bit more about what you think is actually happening with AI, what it is and what it isn't.

Yeah, sure.

So, I mean, if you look at some of these big companies and you're seeing the quote unquote mass layoffs or the excuses that AI is taking care of, whatever, my opinion is that's complete BS.

It might've impacted some of that, but you can't convince me that you found a way to eliminate 20,000 roles or 40,000 roles or whatever.

based off what I know that I'm doing with AI today or what I've seen a business do with AI.

It's just not to that level yet.

I think that there are some other things going on.

I don't think anybody knows that yet, do they? But what would your final call to action be for our listeners who are sat there thinking they've either had a light bulb about why it's not working or they're looking at, you know, how they can actually intellectually, they get it, of course, but how they can start that process?

You understand? So yeah, tell me more about it.

Yeah, I think normally what I do right now, especially when I'm mentoring others, is I'm like, don't try to replicate it.

It's crazy.

It's not really sustainable.

You know, it's not the advice that I normally give.

And it's really just because I didn't necessarily have the best, you know, mentor or any mentor.

And I kind of had to figure out and navigate some of this as I went along.

In your opinion, what does Sussex actually mean? Has your definition changed over the years?

You're the expert.

Yeah, no, I think some of that makes a lot of sense, honestly.

Um, you know, AI right now is an interesting time and place, and I think they've done a marvelous job with marketing because there is such a misinformation out there about.

you know, the AI is doing amazing.

And the answer is, it's not true.

You know, more than 80% of AI projects at businesses right now are failures.

Billions of dollars has been lost in investment into AI right now.

Why do so many organizations struggle to execute?

So what do you think is the deeper pattern right now?

Yeah, I think there's a lot of pressure, especially with AI or some of these other business tactics going on, because the biggest one, obviously, is AI.

It's everywhere.

And a lot of companies think that they need to actually get AI into everything they're getting left behind so with that comes pressure to do that and they're forgetting some of the things that got them there there's some things that every company goes through when they're taking on a new project or making a new commitment or a new projection and that's just the basics and some of the basics is the proper planning and the proper oversight the proper governance to all of these things the proper security and It's almost like with AI, they've forgotten how to do all of those things and they're just walking through the room with just, yep, let's just take on the AI and we'll figure it out.

And that's quite honestly one of the worst things that you can do and why we're seeing a lot of that data come out right now.

And it's forcing all of these leaders to the point you may be more reactive instead of proactive.

What they needed to do was kind of think about what are the challenges that they're facing in the actual industry or their business in particular? What are the things that they need to solve there? What are the proficiencies they'd like to gain? Like actually work on the challenges and the problems, and then maybe you can add AI to those things and make those situations either get solved or be more proficient.

So in a real working, on a real working day, Ryan, how, what does a calmer, smarter decision actually look like in practice?

So when you look at AI adoption inside a company, Where is leadership getting some of those things right and maybe some things that might still be a gap?

Yeah, I mean, there are some leaders that absolutely understand that.

The answer is they can't automate every single thing.

We're not replacing full staffs of people and they pay attention to the individuals who have tried that and what it actually did to that particular business because there isn't very many success stories of replacing whole divisions and working out okay at the moment.

Uh, so those, those companies, uh, are in better shape.

They might need a couple of things pointed out or, uh, you know, question, like, why are you doing these things still? And it does help from an outside perspective.

I have no attachment to the business.

So when it comes to the AI readiness component, do you meet with maybe stakeholders and then other folks come into the conversation and they're surprised at some of the steps that they need to take?

If you're a young professional, small business owner, what should you actually be paying attention to?

Yeah, that's a great question.

And yeah, obviously, we can't look anywhere these days without AI something.

I mean, AI has done very well from a marketing standpoint.

Um, but especially from a small business, medium sized business, you know, something in that range, it's, it's really critical because we've seen all of the bad stories, right? I mean, it seems at this point, almost every day, every week, at least that we can read another horror, bad situation of story with AI.

And I use those as an example to businesses because those are preventable issues.

Those were all situations that didn't need to happen.

I have to ask, why so many? And is that a party that I should recommend for young professionals of today?

So what separates strong technology leadership from basic IT management?

Yeah.

So, I mean, I hear that question more as like, you know, what's the difference between a leader and a title? And those things absolutely exist.

I call individuals who hold titles but aren't leaders title holders, more or less.

And They're not actually leading anything.

They're just the individual who makes that particular salary and has that particular title.

But if you're an actual leader, it doesn't matter what your title is.

IT,

So when you talk about the extrovert, uh, you know, IT guy, what, what, what do you mean with that, and why is that meaningful?

[laughs] Uh, it's, it's meaningful for me personally, uh, being different, I suppose.

Uh, mo- most people, the first thing they think about IT is almost robotic or, [laughs] you know, they push buttons and stuff, and then they meet me and they're like, "You're nothing like I expected when I heard the word IT." Uh, and, and I'm not.

I, I'm a person that can walk into most rooms and, and strike up a conversation and, and, and, you know, learn something about each other and come away maybe as friends.

And I try to encourage that with, uh, my teams, or if I'm solo, I try to, you know, flip a narrative on its head so that we can be the best teammates across the team called business at the end of the day.

Uh, so for me, I've been labeled as an IT unicorn very early in my career.

Uh, it's kinda been more of a negative thing.

Be a leader of self, right?