Prompt and Circumstance

Hey everyone.

Welcome to the inaugural episode
of Prompt and Circumstances.

Isn't that a great title?

Yeah, that's a good one.

Um, I'm Tom Adams and I'm your host
today and only today for this inaugural

episode as we pull up our chairs around
this virtual conversation, and brown

table that we hope will become your

, Listening, uh, thing that you do
on a regular basis just to hear

about code culture, CEO, reality
checks around all things ai.

, To get us started, let's just make
sure you know everybody on our panel.

This is our first episode and we
just wanna make sure everybody knows

who the people are in the voices.

So, I'm gonna start with,, Mike,,
do you wanna take it away and

give us a sense of who you are?

Yeah.

Thanks Tom.

Hey, it's uh, great to be here.

Everybody looking forward
very much to this podcast.

Mike Richardson.

Yeah.

I've spent the last 23 years coaching
and facilitating CEOs and so I

just feel a grave responsibility.

To help CEOs figure out this AI thing.

That's why I'm here, Tom.

Good.

That's great.

Mark.

Yeah.

Morning Tom.

Thanks.

, Like Mike, uh, just to echo
him, like delighted to be here.

Awesome.

Um, so look, I'm an ad guy,
I guess I'm a marketing guy.

Um, spent my, um, early career
in agencies, then moved client

side and was, uh, in C-level for.

number of billion dollar companies, uh,
which was incredible experience for me.

Right now I am, I do a lot
of leadership coaching.

I work with CEOs.

I'm working with some young companies
in, uh, who are facing unbelievable

disruption unbelievably quickly.

So, uh, super exciting topic, like, uh,
great to be with you guys this morning.

Yeah, that's great.

And Ryan, I.

thanks.

Uh, excited about our prompt and
circumstance, uh, AI podcast.

My background is 30 years in technology
in the last 10 years being CEO of

private equity backed B2B enterprise
software companies in that mid-market

space and super excited to help
coach, lead, and, uh, educate others

on what I'm seeing in the market.

That's great.

Uh, from my perspective,
I'm an executive coach.

I've worked with small to
mid-size, privately owned, uh.

Companies primarily in
the B2B service space.

But I do a lot more than that.

I've been doing that for 23
years, and, uh, I am just, uh,

headlong into AI related stuff.

So that's part of the conversation, but,
uh, now that we've got a sense of who

each other is, um, Mike, you are the
guy who kind of put us all together.

So I want jump to you and, and, uh,
give us a sense of why we're, you

know, how we all met, how we put us
together, and why we're together.

Well, you know, like when you
go through life, you sort of

accumulate hangers on, don't you?

And, and so, and so I think, uh,
Tom, that, that you and I first

met, I don't know, 15, 20 years ago.

Yeah.

Yeah.

been a media guy all his life and, uh,
actually ended up doing one of my websites

at one point, and then we ran into each
other again two or three years ago because

we're part of a similar global community.

And I discovered that Tom is
blazing the trail with a very

practical approach to ai.

then, uh, uh, Ryan and I met,
I guess Ryan, when was that?

Like, I don't know.

Back in 26, 20 17, I think it was.

I was doing a keynote in Denver.

I asked the audience, you know, who
thinks that their business is gonna be

disrupted, you know, beyond recognition
within the next, you know, X years.

was one of the very few that put his
hand up and he is like looking left and

looking right, and he's just, I could
see this puzzled look on his face of

what, what is up with the rest of you?

Are you asleep at the wheel?

And then Mark and I met probably, what,
two or three years ago, uh, Mark's

a fellow Brit, as you could tell,
from our respective accents, and, uh,

he just got back from New Zealand.

uh, he'd previously been in
Southern California, just got

back from New Zealand, whereas
you heard he did, uh, three global

corporate massive transformations to
enterprise agility and everything.

And so, you know.

I, I've been blazing a trail
around agility for 23 years.

Before that, I was a serial
CEO and Tom, you know.

I just know when the dots start to join
up and something special starts to happen.

And so I'm

Hmm.

that we've come here today
to begin this podcast.

We, we thought about
writing a book, didn't we?

And we thought, well, hang on a minute.

By the time the ink is dry on that thing,
it'll be about three years out of date.

So why don't we just try to keep
up with this, this rollercoaster

ride, you know, week by week,
month by month kind of thing.

Yeah, so

Mike, I, um, I, it's so funny 'cause I
was just thinking about like, uh, what

we're gonna talk about today and um,
and I had it all figured out on Monday.

Like, and then yesterday
I, I like it all changed.

right.

I, I was like, I was like, oh, okay, so

GPT five and all, all kinds of stuff.

Yeah, exactly.

that's what we're dealing with, right?

It's like, and, and I actually,
I'm, you know why I'm here?

Like, I'm here 'cause I
need someone to talk to,

Yes,

like, like really, like I,
I need somebody to talk to.

'cause this, this shit's
gonna, is, is driving me mad.

yes, yes.

So Ryan.

thread is, is when we, we started talking
to each other, we realized we were seeing

the same things and felt some level of
comfort that we weren't, uh, alone in,

in seeing, and the dots aligning and.

As Mike says, something special happening.

And I, and I think we decided to
do a podcast because, uh, it, it

allows us to talk to each other
and I think, frankly, other people.

Uh, would be interested the kind of
conversation we're having because

we're coming at it from four, uh, I
think uniquely different perspectives

and a podcast allows us to be fresh,
relevant, you know, we can record and,

and, and it be online fairly quickly.

I think the other advantage
to it is what Mark said.

We just get to have a about what
we're experiencing and exploring.

It's not because it's staying static,
it's changing so incredibly rapidly.

Yeah,

everybody that's listening, just, I'm
gonna fess up right now everybody.

I am willing to be the slow guy in the
room, so you, you might struggle to

keep up with these other three guys here
'cause they truly are blazing a trail.

But I'll be coming along behind
gradually, so if you just keep

up with me, then you'll be fine.

Trust me.

We could do closed caption
subtitles for you, Mike.

We, we have a walker for you too.

Don't worry.

maybe let's just kind of come at it
from the perspective of what's our

individual sense of what's happening,
not just why we're doing this podcast,

but our sense of what's going on in the
world in AI and why we're particularly

interested in this conversation.

Ryan, maybe let's start
with you on that one.

You know, the, the first thing that
comes to mind is everything all at once.

Uh, it just seems like the rapid
innovation, the rapid change that's

underway, uh, I don't think it's
hyperbole to say it's another.

Industrial Revolution.

I also think it's fascinating there's
such a spectrum from ai first, AI native,

really rapid company innovation and
personal productivity gains the way to.

Lack of awareness or, you know, somebody
may have tried something a couple years

ago but really hasn't revisited using
a large language model or generative

AI or, you know, really hasn't, uh,
adopted it in their business or even

just mandates that there will be
no use of, of AI in, in a company.

I think that spectrum is just amazing
and it's happening all at once.

Yeah.

I love that.

And, and know, I've, I've, I get to
coach a lot and facilitate a lot of

CEOs, a lot of forums, a lot of boards.

And even before all of that, the
natural state of play for CEOs,

maybe, maybe plenty of exceptions to
that rule in our listeners here, but

the natural state of play is already
sort of, you know, overwhelmed.

I'm already overwhelmed with, you
know, all of the strategy and execution

and leadership and communication and,
and, you know, business development

and, and process engineering
that I gotta do in my business.

And now this.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh, I'm overwhelmed.

Times 10 if I'm not careful.

You know what, Mike?

I, I, um, I was having a chat with
somebody a couple of weeks ago uh.

We see CEOs fitting this is gonna, this
is a little bit like ridiculous, but we

see CEOs fitting into two camps, right?

The ones that are like, can you just keep
this away long enough so I can retire?

All right.

There's those guys.

And then, and then there's, and then
there's another camp, which is like,

um, uh, I have no idea what to do.

That's it.

You've got like, and, and, and it is
like, it's, and, and I'm not joking.

Like those are the
conversations we see happening.

Like, like, because, um, and the ones, you
know, I don't see anyone sat, sat, sat in

the, this is not gonna affect me middle.

I don't see anyone.

So,

and then there'll be the, then
there'll be the camp of people

that listen to our podcast.

Perfect.

but, but like, but, but there's a,
there's an absolute group of people

that are like, can just keep this away.

Like, I've got 18 months,
I've got 18 months till I

leave the seat, keep it away.

It's like, it's, it's pretty scary, right?

Like.

Yeah, and the challenge that I, I see
in my conversations is, uh, is what

you said, plus there's this other
factor that I also see, which is.

Um, keep it away from me.

, , I don't wanna deal with it.

It's too much.

But the other one is, I, I don't even
have a path to take with it, like it's.

It's a lot of times we're getting
there because there's, I don't know

what step to make at this point.

Like, it feels like the ground is so
uneven and unsteady that I'd rather just

stand here, kind of like, you know, the,
uh, the flight or fright or freeze mode.

A lot of people are in freeze mode right
now, just stuck not knowing what to do.

Yep.

Yeah.

a good point.

You know, the CEOs that I talk to,
I frequently ask them to really

lean in and start to make it part
of their day-to-day operations.

Uh, I love it.

Story where I had a conversation with
a CEO and I said, take out your phone,

open up chat GPT and walk around
your warehouse, start to take some

pictures of products that you have.

And, uh, he reflected back that
he had four or five people behind

him and they were getting insights
and really kind of some level of

omnipotence about the products and
such, and storage and material safety

data sheets and different things.

Uh, just an example of
how you could really just.

Change the way that you work.

That mindset shift how you can leverage
AI in your day-to-day operations is,

is really, uh, uh, enlightening and
really kind of opens up that aperture

as to it not just being a product or
something over there, or something

that's being discussed at a board
level, but rather how you infuse it

into your, your day-to-day operations.

You know, I, so I run these monthly
forums, as you all know, and after you

came and spoke, Tom, if you remember,
you came and spoke to all of my forums,

or rather you came in by Zoom, you know,
over the last, what, 2, 3, 4 months

Yeah.

Yep.

Um, I instituted.

A second sign in sheet.

There's always been a first sign in
sheet where on the way into the room.

The CEOs will sort of rate themselves
out of 10 business professional,

personal life kind of stuff.

And you know what, what issue,
challenge, problem is front of mind

for them as they come into the room.

That's, I've always done that, but I
put up a second sign in sheet, uh, which

is all about ai, and they now have to
rate themselves out of 10, how are they

doing and applying AI to themselves.

To their team and to their business.

And of course see scores
all over the board.

I mean, there truly are people
that, that come in and, and put

zeros they're, they're just like,
you know, frozen as you said.

And there are some who come in and they're
putting sixes, sevens, eights, nines.

um, one of the members, it was his turn
last, last month, a couple of weeks

ago, to do his sort of host presentation
and, and process and issue a case.

Um, I, I encourage people to get
into the habit of doing, uh, moving

average graphs to, to help explain
the story of their business.

So he was explaining to everybody
that with the new agent mode in

chat, GPT, he just dumped the raw
data in there and boom, average

graphs just like that, and everybody

Right.

sat there with their eyes wide

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

on.

Um, so I, I was, uh, here in
Southern California, right?

We in, uh, orange County, there's
a, a group called EMP and they

do events like a couple of year.

There was one on Wednesday and I went to
it and I got to hear a couple of really.

People talk.

One of them was a guy called Keith
Strayer or Stria, and he's the

SVP of um, global AI A MD chips.

Right?

He's ex Nvidia.

Right.

And he said something that I
thought was so interesting, right?

He's like, so, you know like when,
when we have new technologies like

that, you know, the hype cycle,
it's like, oh, it's overhyped.

He said, guys, like, let
me make one thing clear.

This is under hyped.

All right.

So, so it was like, and that
actually stopped me in my tracks

Mm-hmm.

okay.

He said, normally when we talk
about technologies in this stage,

we we're talking about overhyping.

This is under height.

He's like, it, no, this is
not just another technology.

to be honest, I've got a little
bit of that narrative in my mind.

Like it's just tech, right?

It's like he's.

This is like, make no mistake.

And he said, you know what we've
gotta get our arms around is you,

you know the story of the single
person, billion dollar company?

He said, that's real.

And he said, but what you've gotta
understand is with AI, you are

no longer limited by team size.

By team location.

You are not, you are unlimited.

Yeah.

So, and he mentioned a couple
of companies where, um, uh, one

of the, what was one of them?

Um, I've wrote it down somewhere, but
he's like, look, this is a six person

company like that is valued at $5 billion.

Right.

all teenagers.

six of them.

He said, he said, because, because if
you, you know, like when you deploy this

technology correctly, you are unbound.

Yeah.

have a team, an unlimited
team of experts to help you.

And um, and another lady there,
girl called, a lady called Claire,

uh, Gibbon, or yeah, Claire Gibbon.

Um, at AWS she said, I'm
not a brilliant person.

But, um, with ai, I can
do brilliant things.

And I was like, that's a good,
that's a good quote, man.

Like,

Yeah.

that's a good quote.

So, so anyway, I just thought, like, that
really struck me this week as like, we,

we are talking about this thing, right?

And, and it's like if, if you, if
you buy into the, it's under hyped

narrative, then it's like this
wake up guys ring the bell, right?

Like ring the bell.

I thought it was really
quite powerful actually.

Yeah.

couldn't agree more.

And I think actually some timely
things this week, uh, for instance, I

think it was the CEO of Palantir, Alex

Yeah.

had said, we see that we
could 10 x our revenue.

And with 10% fewer employees, there are
currently, I think at 4,100 employees, he

said, I think we can trail down to about
3,600 employees and 10 x our revenue.

And I think the level of innovation,
just leaning in on the hype cycle,

it's possible that there's just so
much innovation that we never get.

I, I have never felt like I hit
a trough of disillusionment, for

instance, in the last, uh, few years.

Right.

Yeah.

seems like the next level of productivity

Yeah.

level of innovation just
keeps building that.

Maybe, maybe we'll never see
a, a trough of disillusionment.

I'm sure we'll see a plateau at some
point, but that's so Well I say so far

in the future, but, you know, in the
next three to five years, uh, the level

of innovation and productivity and, and
insights and anecdotes about, you know,

elevating your own personal level of,
of capability is just super exciting.

Yeah.

And, and everybody listening, the

I.

I think was made by Gartner.

Is that correct guys?

The hype cycle?

Yeah.

And, and I think it, I think one of
my other favorite models is called

the Dunning Kruger model, and I
think they, they sort of go hand in

hand and it, it's this idea that.

As you've all said, right?

You know, you, you get this explosion
of, of the sort of up curve, you know,

the bub the bubble kind of effect all
the hype, and then it sort of crashes

into the valley of disillusionment
when sort of reality sets in and then,

and then gradually it sort of claws
its way back and starts to be real.

Just like if you think
back to the internet.

You know, what, 25, 30, 35 years ago.

but I think what, what Mark and Ryan are
saying, everybody is, you know, sometimes

things come along that just, um, explode
the previous paradigm and you begin to

realize that that doesn't work anymore.

That, that, uh, that codification of how
things go doesn't apply to this because

this is breaking all of those rules.

Yeah.

And for me that that has meant, as
I'm having those conversations, I had

to take it outta the theoretical for
myself because we can talk that talk,

you know, we see the hype cycle, but I
had to make sense of that for myself.

And one of the things I've tried to do is
go, if I'm gonna be in this conversation.

In a reasonable way.

I've gotta explore what this looks like.

I gotta try things, I gotta do stuff.

And, um, I I, I heard recently
that one of the biggest indicators

of whether a a generally a larger
company, even mid-market comes on

board, is the CEO actually playing
with chat GVT or Gemini or, or copilot.

If they're not playing with
it, it's not gonna happen.

But if they are, it is.

And for me it was.

I gotta dig in, I gotta try
stuff like literally on my, my

office computer, I have four
different, uh, LLM agents running.

I'm testing stuff all the time.

I've been vibe coding on five platforms.

Like I, I'm just throwing shit at
the wall literally all the time.

But what it's helped me to do is really
understand that this is not a hype cycle.

We're, we're in something profound.

But that's it.

That's it though, Tom.

Right?

It's like, I think that, um, that's
a great example because like all

leaders have to have that moment.

Yep.

They have to where, where they
go, hold on, this is different.

Yeah.

isn't like, oh, try this new CRM.

It's better than the last

Right.

whatever.

Yeah.

But like when you start to touch
this, and I know just chatting to

the, between the four of us, like
the impact it's had on my work in the

last six months is just unbelievable.

Right?

You can't experience that without going
something crazy is about to happen,

Yeah.

can't, you can't look at it
and not have that reaction

Yeah,

you know, I, I think everyone's
gotta go through that moment where

you wake up and you go, holy crap.

Everything just changed.

Yep.

I've talked to a, a number of,
uh, leaders, and when that tipping

moment happens, they, you know,
that, that there's this consensus

of, I just haven't been this excited
about technology for a while.

you know, and I've, I've lived through,
you know, pc, internet, mobile, cloud,

uh, but man, the last couple years
and especially the last six months.

Uh, has just been something special
and just really just kindled

this excitement for what's next.

Yeah.

And, and you know, all of us to some
degree have been blazing the trail

with agility and, you know, the, the
concept of that enterprise agility,

business agility, organizational
agility, team agility, leadership

agility for, you know, decades now and.

You know that tipping point idea is, is
so crucial, I think, where you sort of

cross over to the other side where rather
than fearing chaos, you embrace chaos

Yeah.

rather than chaos being the enemy.

Chaos becomes your friend if you know
how to engage with it and, and get

into the concept of organized chaos.

The trouble with ai, everybody
is this is just going to 10 x

Yeah.

if you fall behind the curve 10
x opportunity, if you're sort of

hanging on, you know, keeping up
with the curve or even getting ahead

of the curve, just gonna sort, it's
gonna be another grand sorting out

those who can and those who can't.

Yeah.

Tom, what are we gonna try
to do here, from week to week

or month to month to try to.

I've resigned.

Well, I, I.

we gotta, we gotta bring some solutions.

I, I appreciate everyone's
time this morning, but I'm out.

What's that famous, that famous,
uh, uh, commercial, right?

Oh, no.

No.

We don't do anything.

We, we only

No, I,

problem.

yeah, I think what we wanna do is, is
just based on our own perspectives,

let's just talk a little bit about
what are, what are we seeing?

What do we see this week?

What's fresh, what's new?

Uh, is there a lesson, an insight
experience, a tool a, something

that happened this week that brought
you in or that caused you to think

differently or caused you to be
aware of how profound this is?

Um, Ryan, do you wanna.

You wanna take that one first?

Well, I'll probably take a, a little
bit, uh, different SL on this.

What I was excited to see was additional
investment from the majors education.

Uh, so I believe, uh, you know, four
weeks ago or so, Microsoft had committed

billions of dollars to education
and the like, I think Google just,

uh, did a three year billion dollar
investment in the higher education.

I think that's absolutely imperative
As this workforce is being educated,

I personally have seen entrance
into the workforce and a heightened

expectation of AI avail availability,
uh, and often met with a lack of

interest and not understanding.

Um, I, I think that has coupled with.

What we're seeing is a more normalization
of CEOs that level of productivity,

going through efficiencies in their
workforce, doing some layoffs and

the like, becoming much more normal.

And I think it's an interesting
dichotomy some organizations

realizing that productivity,
going through some, some layoffs.

A new workforce entering the, uh,
entering their, their first jobs and

having that expectation of AI efficiency.

So I'm really excited to see, uh,
additional investment into education,

especially in higher ed and across
K through 12, uh, to really help

educators understand how to best, uh,
groom the next workforce in this, this

AI enabled, uh, environment we're in.

Very cool.

Yeah, that's great.

Mike, what's, uh, what's
blooming for you right now?

So, uh, you know, over the last two or
three weeks I started to play with the

new agent mode in chat GPT-4, and that
was what that, that CEO member used.

uh, do those moving average
graphs so quickly and so easily.

So he, he tuned me into that
and I started to use it, uh,

to just do some basic things.

My wife and I are planning a vacation in
Sep in, in October, and so I asked chat

GPT to sort of out there and figure out
where the best deals are for cruises and

resorts and all of that kind of stuff.

And, and then you just sort of watch
it do its work and, you know, a few

minutes later, five or 10 minutes
later it's done and serves up.

The summary then of course, heard about
chat GT five, uh, at least I saw the

video yesterday of that rather stiff
robotic announcement video of open

ai, CEO, and the team announcing chat,
GPT five, but they, you know, they

got the message across, which is good.

So, lo and behold, you know, when I, when
I opened it up this morning, you know my

chat, GPT, there it is, chat, GPT five.

And so I asked.

I asked chat, GPT five.

Hey, gimme a summary of chat GPT five.

a summary of, of what, how CEOs should be
thinking about what's new and different

in chat GT five and what else, you know,
what they can start to do with it, even

more than they could do with chat GPT-4.

So that's what I've been playing with
in the last few hours, literally.

That's great.

Mark, what's going on with you?

What's, uh, what's driving
your attention this week?

What's, uh, what insights,
experiences, what else?

Uh, we lost your

We, we lost you,

I've got, um, got some guys
doing, uh, doing leaf blowing

outside the window, so I went

Okay.

a second.

of course.

I, I think, you know, I, I mentioned
earlier the event I went to, like,

I, I just thought some really.

Uh, like important thoughts for me.

I'm still like, I, I'm flip-flopping
though between like end of the world

the most exciting thing I've ever seen

Right.

and like, and I'm, I'm not kidding.

I, I

Yeah.

when I'm like, we're actually doomed.

I'm not kidding.

I'm like, I can, I can force it and
it'll be, and it'll happen, it'll happen

quicker than we could even imagine, right?

So don't, like, you can talk to me
about a 10 year horizon, but like

nothing beyond that because in 10
years we, this will be unrecognizable.

Yeah.

And that is, really terrifying.

Right.

I, I've, as a, as a dad of two.

Two kids who have now left school and
are trying to get into the workforce.

I'm terrified for that.

Um, you know, I'm terrified that Elon
Musk thinks there'll be a billion

humanoid robots, you know, in 10
years, but really probably in five.

said he's, you know, I dunno if you
saw that interview, but he's like,

he's like, in five years there will
be humanoid robots everywhere you go.

Every public space, every service.

And he said, because of that,
services will go to zero.

Right?

Because like, it'll be so
cheap to do everything.

So I'm like, so I do have days when I
wake up and I go like, oh, oh my God.

Like, this is, like, I don't even
know if I wanna live in that thing.

And

All right.

you're a beard mark?

Is that, is that what that's.

like, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm trying
to buy a cave somewhere in, yeah.

I would say, you know, mark,
actually that's an interesting point.

I have heard that from others, uh,
especially those that have children

that are entering, or young individuals
that are entering the workforce, this

sincere, compelling feeling of, I need
to make sure they understand this.

I'm super worried, Ryan, I gotta tell
you, and I'm super, I've got a, I've

got a, I've got, um, a family member
is doing computer science at UCLA.

Not a great decision, right?

Like, like, I mean, seriously.

Like let's get real here.

We've got people who are about to invest.

Like we've got a new
education cycle rolling.

Now we've got people who are about
to undertake three, $400,000 of

investment for degrees in things
that are going to be worthless,

Yep.

right?

And, and 15 years ago we
said, become a developer.

You'll be set for

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

Like,

right.

it's like guys like wake up and,
and, and, and then people always

say to me, oh, yeah, but they're,
they're learning how to learn.

I'm like,

like, excuse me.

Like,

Yeah.

keep your, keep your 400 grand.

Right?

And like, and like learn this shit.

Yep.

go to a trade school and

Right.

okay.

Yeah.

So, so I, I'm, I'm, I'm having
a, I'm definitely having

like a minor midlife crisis.

We

Good.

see that Mark.

We,

Yeah.

all it's written all over your face, mark.

So,

Well,

and

I get,

I, so, so, and, but I'm, and then
I'm like, and then I think about

possibility and I'm super excited.

But

yeah,

so, I, I'm, I'm having
one of those moments.

I might have to have a
lie down in a minute,

yeah.

Yeah.

you'll know why.

so, you know, I'm sure we
all, we all do this, right?

You know, we talk about vuca, right?

Volatility, uncertainty,
complexity and ambiguity.

And the thing everybody
is, we've always had vuca.

I mean, when we, when we rolled
out the railroad infrastructure

around the USA, that was vuca.

then we rolled out the, the,
the automotive infrastructure

and that was vuca.

And then we rolled out the aviation
infrastructure and that was VUCA

on everything that came before.

And, and yeah, there's been
VUCA and VUCA and vuca, uh,

COVID of course and all that.

So this is obviously another form
of VUCA on steroids times 10.

Yeah.

So there is a little bit of a sort of.

There is a little thing we can
hold onto which, and try to stay

composed in the face of vuca and
that we've always had to do that.

We've always had the next phase of vuca
and we've always had to find ways to sort

of, in the face of that craziness and that
terror that's coming at us, stay composed

and look for the silver lining, look for
the opportunity inside of that threat.

It just, it just is gonna,
as you're saying, mark, it's

just gonna be so much harder.

Times 10 times a hundred possibly, to
find that ability to stay composed in

the face of what's gonna be coming at us.

And that's what we're here to try to do.

Everybody is try to give you,

I don't have that.

try to try to give you a little safe
harbor, a little port in the storm to

Well,

you know,

yeah.

rebalance your composure.

Well, for me, the way I deal
with that is I go into it, right?

I go into the storm.

And so like this week, the thing that I've
been learning this week, and uh, and this

is, this is pretty good, I gotta tell you.

'cause it connects to our, our, our title,

drum

is

Very nice.

circumstances are the direct
result of prompt effectiveness.

yes.

Right.

And so what I've been learning this week,
'cause I I, there's conversational chat

with your chat, GPT or your Gemini, but I,
I'm trying to learn vibe coding more and

I, I don't know how to code, but I've been
playing on, uh, on things like cursor.

Uh, there's rep, which is one, but Cursor
is like a, a software that sits on your

computer, like you write code in it.

But now you can add a AI agent.

And what I'm learn, what
I'm realizing is, um.

They're like bad employees.

They really are because, uh, they can
go down a path and then they just go

round and round in circles and loop
the loop and they go, I don't care.

I don't want to help you.

And they, they do the thing
that you didn't want them to

do and they keep doing it.

And, um, what I've, what I've
been spending time on trying to

figure out how to stay, you know,
brain calm in this world is.

I dig into it and I go, huh, if I get
better at prompting, and it's not just,

it's not just a little bit, it's like
it's actually called prompt engineering.

Um, and, and I get better at
those kind of little things.

I'm more comfortable with the crazy,
for some strange reason I can deal with

the crazy when I'm in it, as opposed to
standing outside of it, looking at it

and going, uh, right When I'm inside of
it I go, okay, this is crazy, but it.

It's no better than, uh, even,
you know, a crazy employee.

It just goes.

And I, and I have, I realized
like a management, like a

leader, you gotta give it.

What's the context?

What's the goal?

What's the outcome?

Is there examples of this?

Are there steps that
you think I should take?

And, and when you do some basic
prompt engineering, you're

in the middle of the crazy.

And at the same time, you start
to see that it responds to that.

And I respond to that,
which is kind of cool.

My circumstance gets better.

Yeah.

And that brings back.

a couple.

Good, there's a couple good tips there.

Uh, you and I have talked about this,
like with, uh, just in the last few

weeks, repli released the MD feature,
which is like custom instructions.

And so

Yep.

things in there to help provide
some guide guardrails and such

Yep.

to, to make the agent, uh, perform better.

You know, just a, a quick tip on prompt
engineering, and I always tell people

this 'cause it's just super easy.

One, take the prompt I
give you make it better.

two, ask me three questions or
five questions before you proceed.

two things can really make a prompt
that much better and, and help you

get to an outcome that's much more
tailored to what you're looking for.

Yeah.

I tracked with you there, you'd say maybe
you go into chat GPT or whatever, you

put in your first prompt, you see what
comes back, then you say again, okay,

please improve the prompt I gave you.

Yeah,

And then and then, and then you're saying
a third round would be ask me three

questions to help improve the prompt.

Is that correct?

on my, you can put that
right into your prompt.

And if you wanna go to the advanced
course, if you will go to your settings,

look for traits you want GPT to uh,
uh, display and put it in there.

And every time you prompt will do that.

Say, you know, take my prompt, make
it better than ask me three questions.

And you don't need to know code.

You just that right in there.

Natural language.

Okay.

Yeah.

And Tom, you know, what you were
saying brought back that old adage

that, that we've used many, many,
many times, which is, you don't

feel yourself into acting better.

Right,

act yourself into feeling better.

right.

So I think everybody that's
listening, we're just, we're

gonna try every, every week, every

I,

we're here.

We're gonna try to encourage you,
inspire you to dive in and get messy

yes.

the only, the only way to learn is
to learn by doing everybody, not,

yeah, you can do some reading, you
can do some thinking, you can do some

studying, but if you're not a careful
that, that becomes analysis paralysis.

You just gotta dive in head first
and start doing some things and

learning by doing and, and you'll
start to feel not massively better,

but at least a little bit better.

I think Mark's beyond
help, but we'll, we'll do.

All the, well, yeah, good luck.

Um, on like, um, I know all the
quotes attributed to Mark Twain, all

of them ev all the, but like, I I,
this was attributed to Mark Twain

and I, it made me think of it when
you're talking and it's like, um, it's

something, it goes something like, um,
I really don't like that fellow, right?

I must get to know him better.

Hmm.

And I'm like, if, if, if AI is the fellow.

Yeah.

Right.

It's like, there you go, because, and this
is, and this is like a life skill, right?

Yeah.

whenever you meet somebody and you go, oh,
I'm really not sure about that Ryan Guy.

It's like, it's

Yeah.

just, you gotta understand Ryan, man.

Yeah.

like, and, and, and that's,
that's the, that's the genesis

of what you're saying, isn't it?

It's like, we've gotta, we've,
you've gotta get into this guys.

Like,

Yeah.

it'll be this scary monster that's gonna
come and eat our families, you know?

And it's like, so, so, yeah.

I, I'm so, so as again, as
everything around us changes,

everything stays the same, right?

The same rules apply.

Like we are facing a massive
moment of disruption.

You got two choices.

Like if you're gonna leave, leave
now and go far away, If, if.

that island in the Pacific.

If you're gonna stay like,
like get to know him better,

Yeah.

know?

Yeah.

That's good.

So, a, as we wrap this one, um, I'm
gonna take that concept and just sort

of ask you, um, the, the concept for
me that I try and teach the people I

work with, or when I'm training people
on this one, is be comfortable with

play instead of putting this big set of
expectation that you gotta figure it out.

Play with it.

Like, like you, you only get good
at this when you play and, and you

don't even get good at it 'cause
it changes by the time you play.

But at least when you're playing
with it as opposed to this big

expectation, you gotta figure it out.

Um, it tends to come easier.

So my question to you is, as we close
up this, uh, first inaugural, uh,

episode is what are you gonna play
with this week as it relates to ai?

What are you, what are you gonna,
what are you gonna focus on?

Or what action are you gonna take
to help you move you forward?

I, I'll jump in first.

Uh, I have a new Microsoft Surface copilot
ready, uh, latest whizzbang high spec, uh,

you know, uh, device that's just shown up.

It was time for me to upgrade, so
I'm gonna get all that set up over

the weekend, and I've only skimmed
the surface of what copilot can

Hmm.

I, you know, I have chat,
GPT, paid version of course.

but I'm really excited about what
copilot can do inside of the.

Microsoft ecosystem of, of PowerPoint
and Word and Excel and, and Outlook and,

and teams and all of that kind of stuff.

So I'm really gonna dive in head
first and then I, the other thing

is, I, I know you have, I think
you have flawed Mark, don't you?

The little sort of, uh,
transcription device.

I, I actually signed up to get Limitless,
and I've just been waiting, waiting,

waiting for the, for the Android version.

And so I, I canceled out of that.

I'm, I'm gonna get myself applaud and, uh,
and start, start experimenting with that.

How's that been for you, mark?

uh, it's good.

I, I use it, um, specifically to
record like leadership sessions.

Um, it's really good.

But again, Mike, I've touched,
like, I've just skimmed it right.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

this is, this is part of
the challenge for us all.

It's like, goodness me, we are, we
are touching the very, every time

these tools come out, like we're
doing the classic like, you know,

2% of available features, right?

Yeah.

Good.

Keep going.

Mark.

What are you gonna do this week?

You know what, I've got a really
interesting week coming up actually,

'cause I'm gonna Vancouver on Tuesday
to spend the week with a client in

Vancouver and we're gonna spend a lot
of time re-imagining their business.

So, um, I've got quite a creative week
coming, which is gonna be really fun.

Um, you know, I just picking up on
something Ryan said earlier, like.

Because I hadn't thought of it that way.

Like, this is really interesting
because this hype cycle has

no disillusionment, right?

Because every time I try something
or do something, it blows my mind.

All right.

so, so I'm like, so I'm like, and,
and so, so I would encourage, for

anyone listening who's like, you
know, every great journey, one small

step, it's like, just try it because I
guarantee you the first thing and be.

The first query you ask Chatt BT Okay.

Make it very specific and very
relevant to your business.

And if it doesn't blow your mind,
I'll send you a coupon for Target.

Right, right.

like, so, so like, honestly, it's
like, um, it, it's 'cause 'cause that's

how I started and I remembered my
first query and I'm like, holy crap.

Like, how does it do that?

So just, just, just
start, just try something.

'cause it's like, it, it'll
not, it will not disappoint you.

If it does write to Sam Altman, uh,
I don't know, somewhere in Silicon

Valley and he'll, he'll answer.

I'll,

Gonna do.

Yeah, actually, and, and do it with
something that you are familiar with.

Right.

know, I think a lot of people are
like, well, I don't need to ask Chatt

BT this, but you'll be surprised.

One, you can start to
validate, is it accurate?

Is it hallucinating?

What, what am I seeing?

But you'd be surprised on the different
vantage points, or if you keep.

I keep asking it, well expand on this.

What do you think or
challenge my thinking on this?

You'd be surprised what you, you get back.

That really just starts to open up
your mind to different perspectives on

a topic that you may know very well.

Yeah.

So what are you gonna work on?

What are you gonna work on this week?

Uh, Ryan, what's, what's on
your uh, plate this coming week?

Well, like you, uh, I've don, uh,
dove in on, on vibe coding, and you

were kind enough to gimme some time
and really show me some great agent

work that you've been, uh, developing.

So that's my, my objective.

And I think even the day that we
were talking, I was like, well,

should I subscribe to the chat GPT?

Uh.

I forget the next level, $200 a month
and really get, get in on agents.

And I think that day it was
when, when they had released

the agents for the pro version.

So I'm excited to dive in on that and,
uh, just see how I can start to, uh, add

agentic tooling to my own pro productivity
and really think through product roadmaps

for, for SaaS companies and the like.

So that'll be my, my to-do this week.

Awesome.

What about you, Tom?

Uh, so, um, I am, I, I've never
used, you know, there's this thing on

your computer, it's called Terminal.

If you're on, um, if you're on, uh,
Mac, it's terminal, and if you're on

Windows, it's, uh, what's it called?

It's.

It's, I don't know, command prompt.

Tom.

I have no

Yeah.

Whatever this is.

But I, I, I didn't really understand
it until Claude Code, which is now

pretty much universally recognized
as one of the better coding tools.

So you don't even see it now.

You just go into terminal and you
say, Claude and Claude pops up, and

you just talk to Claude and Claude.

Make stuff.

It fixes stuff.

It it, you say, go look in this folder
and tell me everything that's in there.

And it comes back and says,
this is what's in the folder.

Why, what do you want me to do with it?

And, um, I'm playing with Terminal
and I've never done that before, but

I'm using this really cool tool called
Warp, which is like AI terminal.

Um, and then I'm testing also warp,
I mean, Claude Code in Cursor.

And again, the very fact that I'm
saying this, mark, you'll get this.

I don't even know what I'm,
I don't even know who I am.

Like I would've never said this literally

What have

three weeks ago.

I, I, I'm going, what,
what is going on here?

I'm touching stuff that code
people touch, but I'm touching it.

So that's what I'm working on this week.

Yeah.

So

Anyways.

if you're, if you're there with us,
uh, never fear, I'll bring up the rear.

We'll make sure that we translate
this back into English for you.

I nearly had to interrupt, Ryan.

Sorry, what?

Rept what?

And MD What?

And by the way, we'll
try to put it in English.

English everybody.

Not

All right.

All right.

of the thing.

Anyway, Tom, take us out.

Well, uh, gentlemen, it's been great.

Thank you for sharing where you
are and, uh, we'll catch up soon.