ICYMI: Building AI skills, moving up the IT ladder, and slowing the AI roll
Your curated briefing on the latest news and ideas for AI-powered service operations
The world of tech moves fast. Every other week, we bring you some of the best stories to stay on top of the trends and at the top of your game. Here’s what you need to know:
CIO Dive: How CIOs can help build executive AI literacy
“Too often, AI literacy is simply equated with personal use of generative AI tools. However, executive AI literacy extends much further. It is the combination of ‘working knowledge’ of data and AI and the ability to apply executive judgement to AI-driven decisions.” Read more.
CIO.com: How to level up from IT management to IT leadership
“Stand-out candidates for C-suite tech exec roles must have a ‘deep and broad track record of driving change and transformation underpinned by innovative tech-based solutions, says Peter Birch, director of technology and digital executive search at Harvey Nash. ‘These leaders are also required to be highly commercial operators, able to master corporate engagement, and speak the language of the board.’” Read more.
Dennis Woodside: How AI reskilling impacts the P&L
“If the people running a company aren't in the tools, everyone below them reads that accurately, and no training program closes that gap. … Here's what it looks like when fluency lands. Our product development lifecycle has changed. … QA is largely automated. Cycle times are ~30% faster and AI products ship on a two-week cycle, which we weren't doing before.” Read more.
Ian Tickle: I collapsed my GTM org chart. This is why.
“Customers don't care about my org structure. They care about dealing with Freshworks and is Freshworks going to look after them. And it's very easy for us to become very insular about, well, that's somebody else's team, you need to go there. … Outside of product development and the engineering side, that touchpoint is very much on my watch. And I like the fact that that drives the behavior within my organization, where everybody's pulling together.” Watch here.
Tom Davenport: Three approaches to slowing down AI
“I realize that generative AI can be useful, so I’m not advocating any sort of boycott—not that it would succeed if I did. I don’t want AI to go away—I just want fewer new data centers, a new model once every few months instead of every day, and greater attention paid to testing and guardrails.” Read more.
Storytelling Edge: The AI writing vibe shift
“Nearly four years after ChatGPT landed on earth like a sycophantic alien that desperately wanted to write blog posts for us, humanity is kind-of sort-of getting our s**t together. We’re realizing what we want AI to do for us (write code, analyze spreadsheets, update Salesforce) and what we don’t want it to do (send us texts and emails, write our Substacks, launch rogue cyberattacks).” Read more.
