AI as a Reflection of Our Inner Systems: Navigating the Challenges of the Future

Posted on by Martin Murphy

Introduction:

In today’s rapidly evolving world, the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI) cannot be overstated. AI has the potential to revolutionize industries, improve efficiency, and enhance our lives in countless ways. However, it is essential to recognize that AI is not a panacea for all our problems. Rather, it is a reflection of our inner world, reflecting the systems and values that govern our society. As the famous quote goes, “Our outer world is a merciless reflection of our inner world.” In this article, we will explore how AI can both amplify and exacerbate the challenges facing humanity unless we proactively address the issues of meaning, economics, inequality, ecology, and collaboration. Additionally, we will introduce the Stoic Pilgrim Leadership development, a new journey of exploration into leadership development that focuses on ethics, regenerative principles, and social justice issues rather than the mere management of the status quo.

The Collapse of Meaning:

In our relentless pursuit of technological progress, we risk losing sight of what truly matters. As AI continues to advance, it becomes crucial to infuse it with purpose and meaning. Without conscious efforts to align AI with human values and ethical principles, we risk amplifying the disconnect between our inner aspirations and the outer reality. Therefore, it is imperative that we take a proactive role in defining the values and goals that guide AI development. The Stoic Pilgrim Leadership Development training offers a unique approach by emphasizing the cultivation of ethical leadership, ensuring that AI aligns with our shared values and serves the greater good.

Economic Implications:

The advent of AI brings with it the promise of increased efficiency and productivity. However, without careful consideration, it can also exacerbate economic disparities. AI has the potential to automate jobs, leading to significant changes in the workforce and widening the wealth gap. It is essential to create inclusive economic systems that ensure the benefits of AI are distributed equitably, fostering a society that thrives on collaboration and opportunity. Stoic Pilgrim training recognizes the importance of economic equity, equipping leaders with the knowledge and skills to navigate these economic implications and champion fairness in the age of AI.

Inequality and Social Challenges:

AI’s impact on society is not limited to the economy. It also has the potential to magnify existing social inequalities. As AI algorithms learn from historical data, they can perpetuate biases and discriminatory practices. If we fail to address these issues, AI will only reinforce and deepen societal divisions. To harness the full potential of AI, we must prioritize fairness, diversity, and inclusion, ensuring that the technology works for the benefit of all. The Stoic Pilgrim training addresses these social challenges by fostering leaders who are mindful of the ethical and social implications of AI, empowering them to create inclusive and just environments.

Ecological and Environmental Considerations:

The ecological and environmental challenges facing humanity are among the most pressing issues of our time. AI can play a significant role in addressing these challenges, from optimizing energy consumption to analysing vast amounts of data for climate research. However, without a conscious effort to prioritize sustainability, AI could contribute to further environmental degradation. We must integrate ecological decision-making into AI development, encouraging innovations that not only optimize efficiency but also preserve our planet for future generations. Stoic Pilgrim training advocates for regenerative principles, training leaders to make ecological decisions that prioritize the health of our planet and promote sustainable practices alongside AI advancements.

The Power of Collaboration:

To navigate the complexities of an AI-driven future, collaboration is key. AI has the potential to connect people, organizations, and nations, enabling us to tackle global challenges collectively. By fostering cross-sector partnerships, knowledge sharing, and collaborative decision-making, we can harness the power of AI to address the urgent issues we face. Together, we can shape an AI-driven future that reflects our collective values and aspirations. The Stoic Pilgrim Journey highlights the significance of collaboration as a crucial aspect of effective leadership in the age of AI. It encourages leaders to build networks, forge alliances, and work together to find innovative solutions to complex problems. By promoting collaboration, this training equips leaders with the skills necessary to leverage the power of AI in service of a better world.

Conclusion:

As AI becomes increasingly intertwined with our lives, it is essential to recognize its potential to reflect and amplify the challenges we currently face. By embracing creativity, infusing AI with meaning, and making ecological decisions, we can shape a future in which AI becomes a powerful tool for positive change. Moreover, the Stoic Pilgrim Leadership Development training introduces a transformative approach to leadership development that prioritizes ethics, regenerative principles, and social justice issues over the mere management of the status quo. By fostering leaders who are mindful of the ethical, economic, and social implications of AI, this training empowers them to navigate the challenges of the future with integrity and compassion.

To ensure that AI enhances rather than exacerbates existing problems, we must foster collaboration, prioritize equitable and sustainable practices, and actively shape AI’s development. By doing so, we can leverage the transformative power of AI to create a more inclusive, prosperous, and environmentally conscious world for all. Let us embrace the opportunities presented by AI while remaining steadfast in our commitment to ethical leadership and the pursuit of a better future. The time to act is now, as our choices today will determine the world we create for generations to come. Together, let us forge a path forward that harnesses the potential of AI as a force for positive change and a reflection of our shared values.

#AIReflections #InnerSystems #MeaningfulAI #EconomicEquity #InclusiveSociety #AIandInequality #EcologicalDecisions #CollaborationMatters #SustainableAI #FutureChallenges #HarnessingAI #GlobalCollaboration

 

Better Business Summit

Posted on by Martin Murphy

When change agents don’t speak out because they’re scared the system will reject them, then there are no pioneers, rebels or mavericks… Just managers and enablers of the status-quo.

Fortunately 👩🏻‍💻Hannah Cox FRSA FRGS kicked off the The Better Business Network Summit which brought together courageous collaborators on a mission to transform the paradigm we’re living in.

It was a privilege being asked to be on a panel on Day 2 and then be co-leading the Freshwalks around the hills of Edale.

The Great Outdoors is an excellent arena for meeting, talking, being inspired, getting into ‘flow’ states and building resilience. it’s important to challenge ourselves often.

The stoics call it voluntary challenge, an essential activity for change agents, because they face mighty challenges. Challenging the status-quo is not for the feint hearted. it was an honour to spend a day out in the hills with this plucky community:)

#network #community #business
#change
#leadership
#mavericks
#rebels
#changeagents
#bethechange

Quiet quitting? A misnomer for a Quiet Revolution?

Posted on by Martin Murphy

Quiet quitting has been in the news over the last couple of months. I wonder if it’s not to do with the fact that people have enjoyed a level of agency and autonomy, and this freedom has put into stark contrast what it’s like operating under a hierarchy that exists within most offices.

When people have been in the Special Forces, if for any reason they have to go back to a more ‘command and control’ structure that exists in their parent regiment, they often leave.

Once you’ve tasted freedom and been treated as an equal, it’s hard to give it up again.

Somebody who likes to dominate and believe that being rich gives them some sort of entitlement to demand more from others, well that’ll have a negative effect of increased stress on their ‘subordinates’.

There’s plenty of research that indicates that surviving under the influence of a hierarchy is bad for your health. Perhaps resistance to going back to the office has more to do with instinctively protecting their mental health than not wanting to work.

Anecdotally, among the businesses I’ve spoken to, it is mainly younger people who miss the social interaction of working in the office. People with families didn’t suffer from isolation so much.

Perhaps quiet quitting is really a quiet revolution that’s been triggered by feelings of returning helplessness and subordination.

Dominance hierarchy is a system in the brain which is triggered when somebody has achieved a position of status. The people who’re subjected to dominant behaviour get triggered into the opposite ‘involuntary defeat’ system. They’re both a throwback to our evolutionary primate states.

But although we’re 95.8% ape, we’re 99% hunter gatherers and they’re predominately egalitarian.

Perhaps instead of building a business, build a community of equals. People can manage themselves; they just need support from understanding leaders.

#buckhierarchy

#ecocoaching

#performance

#leadership

#decisionmaking

#superteamconcept

#smallteamsmakethedreamwork

Too Many TAPs, Not Enough STOP’s, We Need More LEGO

Posted on by Martin Murphy

When I wrote my Book: ‘From Mercenaries to Missionaries’ I wanted to give entrepreneurs, executives and managers tools around leadership and teamwork that are sublimely simple and easy to implement. Too much of the leadership lexicon has fallen into the realms of academia. Nothing wrong with academic study, but academia is often the activity of proving what’s already known. Academia didn’t invent mindfulness but we have people who can explain the neuroscience of mindfulness but don’t practice mindfulness, teaching mindfulness.

Moreover; we sometimes experience academics developing philosophies from observed behaviour then presenting it as logic. Milton Freidman did this with shareholder greed. Just because it happens doesn’t make it right because an intellectual said it. On a couple of occasions recently, I have found myself talking to some learned people, or rather they were telling me I was wrong, when what I already knew from experience, was true.

TAP’s – Tools To Accumulate Power.

Ever since the agrarian revolution, competitive people have used technology to hoover resources from a wide area and funnel those resources into a place where they can control the supply. Like our water supply, drawn from a wide area and funnelled into a tap. In a household the water is shared freely, but not in business.

When you develop control of a resource in a capitalist system, you are not going to share the resources equally, you’re going to exploit the situation. Hence why trickledown economics has never worked. It was just another BS explanation which is used to perpetuate greed. Old world examples include the Oil Industry and Banks. They’ve been hoovering up local resources whilst holding the world to ransom and passing the costs of pollution and debt slavery onto society for a century.

The latest example is the ‘platform economy’. This is just another TAP and code for the ‘monopoly economy’. Recent platform examples include: Amazon- hoovering up the local economy, Facebook – hoovering up our attention, Google- Hoovering up information and ad revenue. Most tech ideas have the potential to make our lives and the world a better place. But the challenge comes when people don’t understand why in our present culture they soon become weapons of subjugation.

Platforms combine network effect and first-mover advantage to gain enough users which then makes them immune to competition. With monopoly comes monopoly behaviours and as other large organisations identify the benefits of using the platform effect, you can guarantee that there’ll be more bad behaviour on the horizon.

We need to understand that given an opportunity people will revert to an earlier evolutionary psychological state which is dominance hierarchy. Basically, our inner-monkey will not let go of the ‘Apple’ once they’ve a firm grasp, even if it is detrimental in the long term. Once a person or small group have achieved dominance, they begin to believe their own nonsense and develop a sense of entitlement. They delete, distort, generalise and convolute whatever information is available to argue their point, even to the point of calling in divine powers to back their case. Kings, Queens and Presidents have been at this for centuries, aided and abetted by Bureaucrats. No matter how much media exposure reveals them to be ordinary and somewhat quirky people who managed to gain an advantage, they still sit in castles and big white houses. Tech moguls are the new royalty.

Research of contemporary hunter-gatherer communities revealed them to be rather egalitarian. They were able to live in a less stressful social existance because they employ STOPs- Strategies To Overcome Power. If a hunter returned with a prize, the rest of the community would, in a good-naturedly way, mock him because they wouldn’t want the hunter to become too big for his boots. They understood arrogance, entitlement and hierarchy was not good for their communties well-being.

STOPs range from satire to assassination, rock throwing to revolution. It’s a way to redress the balance when hierarchical leaders exploit their position too much. Unfortunately, there is little appetite for making the world a fairer place, everyone in tech wants to become the next Larry Page or Jeff Bezos. As these tech giants rise in power, their ability to externalise costs onto society and the environment increases. If Facebook and Amazon had to pay for the damage they’ve inflicted on democracy, the environment and the public’s mental health, to name a few dmaging examples, they’d be bankrupt pretty quickly. They operate under a façade of delusion just as the tobacco industry did.

What we really need is more LEGO – Local Economic Generating Opportunities. TAPs focus power into small areas, we call them cities and of course if you are not part of the tech digital world, there shortly be very little for you to do unless you find opportunities to generate local economic opportunities. Brexit and the pandemic have revealed how reliant we are on extended distribution lines which are fragile and polluting.

What if we followed the doughnut, circular economic and employee ownership philosophies?

I believe these aforementioned ideas are just a return to a more natural evolutionary advantage we’ve forgotten in the pursuit of the capitalistic delusion. If tech people focussed on building local resilience with platforms then it wouldn’t have to be doom and gloom, they could probably be a force for good. Then tech entrepreneurs could shift from being Mercenaries to Inspirational Leaders on a Mission to make the world a better place.

Ownership or Leadership?

Posted on by Martin Murphy
Why is ownership so important in team and individual engagement?

With ownership one could argue, the owner’s worldview is to extract value from people working on ‘their’ projects where as, a leader is leveraging the potential of a group of people to co-create value for the community.

Ownership is one of the greatest cons of all time which began around 10,000 years ago. Somehow, somebody, (probably a man) got their hands on some agricultural tech and gained an advantage over others, then leveraged that advantage. This has led to hierarchies, the exploitation of people and the destructive extraction of wealth from the planet with disastrous consequences.

Don’t believe me? Just look around you…

Before that period, as evidenced by observing contemporary hunter gatherer cultures that are still around today, we can see that our Palaeolithic ancestors were primarily egalitarian. Moreover, they were egalitarian for 150,000 years and living in balance with nature. They’ve outlasted supposedly more sophisticated, war-like civilisations such as the Roman, Mongolian and several Chinese dynasties.

Anthropologists have studied dozens of hunter-gatherer societies in remote areas around the world such as Africa, Asia and South America. These tribes lived in small bands of about 20 to 50 people and have many common cultural values. They also maintain peaceful relationships with friends and relatives in neighbouring bands. Warfare was relatively unknown and the dominant cultural ethos emphasised autonomy, non-directive childrearing, communal cooperation and decision-making. It appears we collaborated our way to the top of the evolutionary tree.

On the flip-side, modern history has been the ongoing conquest by dominant warring parties of other smaller bands to form more complex political structures. These societies focus on higher levels of power, wealth and control passing to an elite group at the top and like a Ponzi scheme is unsustainable. Every so often they fail and collapse back down to more sustainable levels. Then when the dust has settled and memories faded they begin the same journey again.

We’re heading towards a global economic and cultural community but that’s a work in progress. In the meantime we’re wrecking the planet with our conquering and exploitative mindset and people’s mental health and wellbeing are suffering as a result. Two decades of war in the middle east to protect the American petro-dollar is a classic example. All those humanitarian and ecological costs to protect the oil industry and American’s hegemony, are externalised onto communities and the planet.

So back to teamwork and leadership.

How does behaviour compare with egalitarian communities and modern workgroups?

Just as we have modern archetypes in the workplace, one could argue they match those of ancient egalitarian people. There are hunters, gatherers, shaman (mostly women originally) and scouts.

Hunters periodically acquired meat as a source of protein, Shamans were the keepers of the wisdom e.g. which berries were edible and which would kill you. Gatherers nurtured others in the community and foraged for edible vegetation and the Scouts would look for new hunting grounds and connect with other communities for marriages and trading.

Today we have Founders who are similar to Scouts as in they challenge old ideas, create new products and champion new ideas.

We have Entrepreneurs who tend to be more risk tolerant, focussed and can drive new ideas into existence similar to the hunter personality.

We have the Gathers who are the supporters and coaches within the organisations.

And the Managers, like the Shamans, are generally the keepers of the wisdom and strive for operational excellence and like to organise for certainty.

But what’s different from the workplace is traditional egalitarian communities maintain social norms that prevent any of the personalities from trying to exploit their position. These are called:

S.T.O.P’s – Strategies to Overcome Power

Hunters didn’t bring home meat then boast about their good fortune and hold the rest of the group to ransom. They didn’t promote silly ideas of greed as some ordained right. Material wealth was shared. Egalitarian communities focus on what George Monbiot calls ‘private sufficiency and public luxury’ the total opposite of what neo-liberal capitalists promote today.

In our evolutionary history we began to resist hierarchy, an ancestral primate social modus-operandi, when we developed the ability to speak. This allowed weaker members to collaborate more effectively, band together and throw rocks at any tyrannical member of the group that tried to dominate them. However, all previous evolutionary and developmental versions of us, are encapsulated within us and if the right conditions occur, people will revert back to being monkeys basically.

They will try to dominate others to get a bigger share of the bananas, and once they’ve got their hands on the bananas, they don’t like letting go.

For business owners and managers this means they have to deal with the psychological effects of the dominance and involuntary defeat systems. These are behavioural operating systems which arise as soon as you introduce hierarchy.

Those with authority and status begin to focus on their position and keeping it rather than doing what’s best for the community. It also increases the likelihood of psychopathology such as Machiavellianism and narcissism (a good example is politics).

Being dominated, triggers our involuntary defeat behaviours which leads us to doing as little as possible for our meagre share of the bananas…Well you would wouldn’t you?

As society has become more polarised between the have’s and the have nots, resentment builds. We’ve seen this with the rise of populism as smart people have tapped into the powerlessness felt by those left behind and motivated them to act in ways which actually don’t serve them but serve the elite…yet again.

Archimedes said:

‘Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand and I can lift the world’

Well leadership is the lever and humility is the place to stand. If we strive to see leadership as a lever of potential not a badge of office and promote those leadership behaviours throughout the organisation in self managing teams and communities we would probably see engagement increase tremendously. Of course it is not easy to wrestle back control from the baboons so perhaps it would be better to follow Buckminster Fuller’s idea:

‘Don’t fight the existing reality, create a new one which makes the old one obsolete’

So in summary, if you’re prepared to treat people like wage slaves, then by all means carry on, but don’t be surprised if it feels like you’re dealing with monkeys at times. Also accept that people are fed up of being left behind which is how Trump and Brexit happened. They’re also realising that their is an alternative and it’s on the rise.

Employee ownership is attracting tax incentives as it has been seen as beneficial for business and society for many years. When you have this level of ownership then the teams have skin in the game. It’s a great way for entrepreneurs to have a succession plan, because when things are steady, they like to move onto their next challenge whilst leaving a legacy.

Whenever an organisation needs to adapt quickly to overcome greater challenges, they’ve always diminished the influence of hiearchy and moved power to information. I call this the Elite Team Concept, as used by the military and organisations.

Special project teams have been hiding in plain site and showing the way for centuries. The irony is that they’re not elite, they’re egalitarian in nature and focus on doing the basics well. It’s our evolutionary advantage. Imagine if you empowered your whole orgniasation with the elite team concept?

Want to know more?

Check out: The Elite Team Concept Seminar with Complimentary Digital Book

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-elite-team-concept-seminar-with-complimentary-digital-book-tickets-98264771577?aff=ebdssbeac

The next one is Online on February 4th 2021

OODA Loop vs EDUCE a comparison

Posted on by Martin Murphy

What are you going to Stop-Start-Recover & Adapt?

Posted on by Martin Murphy

Scientific philosopher, Thomas Khune, stated that ‘advancement is not evolutionary, but rather a series of violent revolutions and in such revolutions one conceptual worldview is replaced by another’. Khune called these revolutions in worldviews ‘Paradigm Shifts’

As I was explaining the universal life cycle to a client yesterday, the pandemic was a useful example of the latest paradigm shift.  Every decade or so, we experience upheavals because shifts happen. As much as we’d like the world to be certain, it seems that the second law of thermodynamics regarding entropy of systems always comes to pass.

A shift is when the world as we understand it suddenly stops working and we go into some sort of emergency event. Examples of shifts I’ve experienced are 9/11, the Great Recession and now we’ve got Covid-19 and the fall-out from that in terms of second and third order effects are yet to be fully realised.

Right now, the pandemic has disrupted our lives and business behaviours but it is also an opportunity to create new beginnings. Winners of the present paradigm however, are not very good at accepting reality and adapting, especially when it comes to giving up power, status and wealth. So, it is vital that whilst the incumbents are wrestling to maintain the status-quo, that we get busy challenging, connecting dots and creating a brave new world.

There are three responses:

  • You can create some new ‘things’ to do.
  • You can stop doing some things.
  • You can recover and adapt whatever you were doing before.

However, in the recover and adapt stage, one has first to recognise and understand why something collapsed in the first place. Then work out what you need to do to make that ‘thing’ more resilient, valuable and sustainable.

Whilst we might not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, it will be necessary to adapt otherwise you head into the realm of ‘lessons are repeated until they’re learnt’.

When that happens, the weak point will become more difficult to recover in the future. Moreover; lessons are repeated more often and cost more resources often leading to a slow death. How long organisations bounce up and down from collapse to recovery and back again, depends really on how much money they have to waste.

A better response if you don’t feel adaption is going to be beneficial is to indulge in some creative destruction, get rid of the old and create something new.

Overcoming Zoom Fatigue & Enjoying Effective Online Meetings with Mission Power!

Posted on by Martin Murphy

With the desire for remote working from home increasing, then becoming a necessity due to Covid-19,

Richard Elwell and I discuss the complexity which makes online meetings an evolution in some ways but also a well-being challenge because it can be so exhausting.

We discuss the Mission Power Meeting Methodology and how this can be used to optimise the technology whilst also leveraging the potential for people to enjoy effective and rewarding online and face-to-face meetings.

THE FIVE SUPERPOWERS OF GREAT LEADERS

Posted on by Martin Murphy

Archimedes said, ‘give me a lever long enough and a strong place to stand, and I can move the world’. Well the lever is leadership and the place to stand is humility.

With humility the word leader transforms from a noun to a verb. Leading is something that ordinary people can do to leverage the potential within other people, themselves, a team or a situation. With simple rules of behaviours amongst a group of people comes synergy, where the whole becomes more effective than the sum of its parts.

The following leadership Superpowers are really simple, the challenge for most ‘so-called’ leaders today is having the humility and compassion to want to be great leaders because most are ego-centric as opposed to eco-centric. There are plenty of great leaders out there but unfortunately their results and efforts are overpowered by ego-centric power brokers who maintain the status -quo.

The world needs great leadership and effective teamwork at every level and every corner of the world right now, if we’re to tackle the enormous challenges which have come about by ego-centric leadership that has run rampant supported by delusional ideology and institutions which condones selfish behaviour.

The five leadership super powers:

Listen and clarify: This requires cognitive intelligence and it is a skill which requires the leader to engage in focussed listening, summarising and questioning to ascertain more of the details.

Recognise and reward: A lot of people complain that they’re not recognised at work and in some of their closest relationships. It is often why people may move on from one organisation in search of more rewarding pastures.

Nobody wants to be a widget in the machine, especially since the social contract which kept people subservient in the Victorian era, has been shredded. An effective leader utilises behavioural intelligence to recognises people’s efforts when they’re doing good work and rewards them for their efforts.

Enquire and empathise: This requires the use of compassion and emotional intelligence. With this you enquire how a person is or a team is and you try to intuit how they are feeling so that you can understand their situation more clearly. Often this will mean listening for what isn’t being said, understanding the whole person and what’s going on in their life outside of the organisation, so you can support them.

Challenge and champion: Leaders should be constantly looking for ways to improve the structure and challenge the status-quo. It requires the use of social intelligence to see how the team are operating, the lines of communication, the informal networks and also looking outside to learn new ideas that can be assimilated into the organisation, team or individual. It also involves creativity to come up with new modus-operandi, products and services and then champion those ideas so everybody gets to hear about them.

Knowing what to do and when: Lastly, the leader needs to exercise situational awareness. This includes being self-aware enough to understand their own skills and what they may need to practice more of, but also a leader needs to be able to determine when and which Leader Superpower to exercise to optimise the situation.

Ten Benefits for Implementing the Elite Team Concept in Your Business

Posted on by Martin Murphy

Notes: HERE 

For a complimentary digi-copy of my book, ‘From Mercenaries to Missionaries – Designing, Developing & Leading High Performing teams in Your Growing Business’ send a message using the form below:-