As part of Operation Florence- the “Career Renaissance”, I conducted nearly 20 interviews over the course of 3 weeks, and the results were eye-opening.

I was struck by the incredible range of perspectives and ideas represented. From AI to climate tech, from privacy to psychedelics, there was no shortage of visionary insights and thought-provoking opinions.

One of the most enjoyable elements was the experience of being curious about the diversity of opinions and experiences surrounding technology and its impact on our lives. While some people expressed deep concerns about the negative effects of technology, others highlighted its tremendous potential for positive change. And yet, despite these differences, there were several common themes that emerged.

One of my favorite moments, because it demonstrates the point of the exercise, came from Lawrence Lundy-Bryan and my therapist, who come from completely opposite ends of the tech spectrum. They both noted the looming "fertility crisis" in the Western world. The fact that they both mentioned this validated the idea of this research effort to find emergent patterns even if they come from totally divergent places in one's network.

The Rise and Impact of AI

One of the most frequently mentioned themes, of course, was the rise of AI and its impact on everything from the workplace to personal privacy. Kes Sampanthar and Brian Kotlyar helped me explore the field of "prompt engineering" and the concept of "super prompts." Brian referred me to a radical thinker, Brian Roemmele on Twitter, who further helped expand my understanding of this nascent field. My former boss, Paul Cimino highlighted the "dark path" of AI, such as AI blackmail, and what he considers to be an inevitability that big tech companies will get broken up. He wasn't the only one to mention AI ethics as a huge challenge area.

Meanwhile, David Berkowitz discussed how AI is changing marketing and how, just maybe, AI could solve the age-old question of marketing ROI. Brian Wong wondered if AI and cybersecurity could have synergies to detect threats and breaches faster, which connected with something Hilary Carter mentioned-- "cyber security is the crisis of our times."

I was also introduced to the intriguing concept of a skills marketplace brought up by Kes, particularly as AI gets mainstreamed. Kes raised suggested that we all need to think about "What human skills become more valuable and scarce?," "What human skills become less valuable?" and "Your unique Large Language Model (LLM) is the thing that makes a difference."

His advice: Read the things that other people aren’t reading.

This need for innate curiosity and ongoing self-education dovetailed with something else that Todd Newfield highlighted- that education is finally going to get disrupted as more and more people call into question the value of a 4-year degree.

Climate Tech

Another common thread throughout the conversation was the urgent need for action on climate change. Reid Christian, Joey Coleman, and Brian Wong touched on the massive opportunity and need around climate tech and, in particular, the importance of modernizing carbon credits. Damon Sununtnasuk added to this by discussing the devastating impact of the garment industry (over 92 million tons of garments are destroyed each year in the US alone) and the potential for generative AI to revolutionize the space. Joey thinks that the impact of climate migration is severely underestimated.

The Future of Work

Josh Pines, Ipek Tunca, and Joey Coleman all had interesting insights as well about the changing world/future of work. Josh spoke about how decentralization, remote work, and AI are fundamentally realtering the workplace experience and the hiring process. In many ways, this complemented the views of Joey, a customer and employee experience thought leader, who talked about the importance of creating personalized, meaningful experiences for customers and employees in a world where attention is scarce and the power structure between employees and companies has altered. "40 years ago," he said, "everyone lived within 30 miles of their companies. Today, European companies are poaching American talent with no requirement for relocation. That's a big change."

Meanwhile, Ipek is seeing first-hand how large companies with strong "in-person cultures" are being impacted by how well teams collaborate with the shift to a remote-first world. She and Kevin Lee also pointed out that Gen Z workers are impacting the workplace as much as the press would have you believe...if not more. In short, the social contract between a firm and an employee has been obliterated. Employees care about more than just efficiency and a paycheck.

Other Notable Ideas

Mark thinks that privacy may finally have its moment as "surveillance tech" gets mainstreamed, which could ultimately drive the development of new tech solutions.

In a "zig, while others are zagging" moment, Todd Newfield thinks that one of the biggest opportunities is helping "boring businesses" go digital. One enjoyable moment came when Lawrence Lundy-Bryan mentioned the growth opportunities of geothermal engineering, which he thinks is going to be huge, but is completely underestimated. I had heard about it before but didn't fully understand its potential until he explained some of the developments in that industry. A few days later, I saw an article about it in the Wall Street Journal, which enhanced my understanding of its possibilities since I had a larger frame of reference.

I also appreciated the comments on topics like brain computing interfaces and micronuclear fusion.

Joey Coleman thinks there's an "empathy crisis" and suggested something called "Empathy Foundation Setting" when starting a conversation. The example he shared with me, which proved his point was:

• How many ppl do you know who have tested positive for Covid?

• How many do you know who have been hospitalized b/c of Covid symptoms?

• How many ppl do you know who died b/c of that hospitalization?

• How many ppl do you know who have long Covid?

Once you get the answer to those questions, you have a better sense of where the other person's experience lies...and you can go from there.

Embrace It All

I've probably spent an average of 3 hours per day for each of the past 2 weeks just exploring AI tools (here's a list of 100 of them), using ChatGPT (I bought Plus), and learning how to code with AI APIs.

It's clearly a moment of dramatic change and though I haven't nearly captured all of the elements of the interviews, I am grateful to everyone who took the time to share his/her thoughts with me. Plus, I'm grateful to ChatGPT for taking my notes and spitting out the large bulk of this post (though I needed to make some changes...probably got me 60% of the way there).

Regardless, it's less about finding the "right" thing and more about the process of questioning and developing the right attitude.

As Brian Kotlyar said wisely,

“we each need to "milk the moment” of disruption and prepare for the era of increased stability to come." “Have an eye toward the after.”

AI tools used in creating this report

• ChatGPT

• Writewithlaika

• Lex.page

• WordTune (Chrome plug-in)

• And here’s a (very rudimentary, unedited) video summary of the report (thanks to Lumen5)…just to prove it’s possible.

Also a huge thank you to Rob Rager who helped me design the research questions.

And, as a tribute to the name of the project, here’s a rendering of me as a Renaissance man, thanks to Vana.