Before anyone labels me an AI heretic, let’s get one thing straight: I use AI every single day
When we rolled it out across DLA Ignite, there was no blueprint
We were flying the plane while building it
And in this business, if you want to get anything off the ground, you have to get my partner, Adam Gray, on board
Our culture isn't built on rigid corporate structures; it’s built on people
Every Monday, we have a team meeting with no agenda
It’s a space for anything, work, life, or the personal stuff
One of our team members recently suffered a heart attack, so lately, those meetings have been about sending him the virtual hugs he needs to get back on his feet
It was against this backdrop of human connection that we started our AI rollout with a philosophical debate. The big question? Does AI stop you from thinking?
I recently read a piece by Mark Schaefer where he warns against AI becoming an "easy button." He quotes Ray Wang, who suggests that relying on synthetic research leads to a kind of "brain rot." Wang argues that people will eventually crave the authenticity and insight that only comes from years of actual human experience
I couldn't agree more, but our internal deliberations at DLA Ignite took that idea even further
I’m old enough to remember when calculators were first introduced in schools
Back then, everyone warned they would kill the art of mental arithmetic
And they did
There is a very high probability that AI will do the same to the art of blog writing
But our team challenged that: What if you weren’t writing in the first place?
If we can take a salesperson from zero to average, isn’t that a win?
If we measure skill on a scale of zero to one, we should celebrate the person who finally moved to "one" rather than shaming them for not being at "100."
I run three times a week
Compared to my mates on Strava, I’m slow
But I get up, I go out in the cold, and I do it
As Woody Allen said, "Eighty percent of success is showing up."
Throwing stones at someone who is simply trying only serves to deter them
However, we have to temper this with a reality check
Just because you can write a blog doesn’t mean anyone will read it
You are reading this right now because there is trust and a relationship between us
Furthermore, just because AI allows us to churn out thousands of posts doesn’t mean the world has more time to consume them
Our "reading time budget" remains as limited as ever
Our internal debate eventually led us to a realization about the hierarchy of content
We decided (rightly or wrongly) that our blogs are usually excellent, or at least "good" on a bad day
But remember: you don’t get to grade your own work
Your audience does
I’ve written pieces I thought were masterpieces that did nothing but gather digital dust while the tumbleweeds rolled by
Ultimately, we realized there are four distinct levels of content in this new world:
Excellent
Good
Average
Zero
The revenue impact of using AI in your sales team
There are many sales and marketing experts are talking about AI and the strategy seems to be turn up and use. Without training the AI on data, which really brings the use of AI to the fore
Before you dismiss this and say you don’t have the data, most sales and marketing teams say the same, we are now able to create the data synthetically
Average is target achievement, so as you move above average, sales moves to over achievement
That has a direct connection to revenue and rolled across your sales team that will have a massive revenue impact to your organisation
Conclusion AI is a powerful tool for closing the gap between "Zero" and "Average," and for many, that is a transformative step
But as the internet becomes flooded with synthetic, "average" content, the premium on human experience and authenticity will only skyrocket
AI can help you show up, but only your humanity will make people stay
Next week I talk about what we have learned so far for rolling out our AI teammate at our first customer
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