The Rapid Response Institute

Author: RRI

  • Worthless

    Worthless

    Does CRM still frustrate you, the would-be buyer all these years later?

    I recently ordered a relatively expensive product from a well-known retailer.  At their prompting, I signed up for ‘track order.’  Three days later, my inquiry was responded with, “the order has been placed.”  Ok, but I already know that.  Are you still processing the (digital) paperwork?  Will I get a notice next week that the product is out of stock, or does the company even care?  Another worthless, CRM automated reaction.  Oh, by the way, I received a ‘pop up’ survey about my experience with the site 10 seconds or less after I logged on.  A waste of my time, worthless and makes me less likely to return to that store.  Almost the same reaction as spending hundreds of millions to change a corporate image, only to redraw and eat those expenditures–More shareholder value destroyed by idiots.

    Give me a break, we are almost at the end of calendar year 2025, and this ecommerce stuff has been around for a while.  Apparently, not for some.  Makes me want to buy a whole lot of your stuff–NOT!

    Get with the program and make MY customer experience at least not–“I am so pissed off . . .”

    Fix The Basics

    Ai is all abuzz.  The latest shiny object it may be the maker of the first trillionaire.  This all great, but what if I only want a dinner reservation, airline reservation, doctor’s appointment, or online order status.

    We cannot forget in the hype/heat of the moment that the core requirements of the organizations must be properly services.  If this is overlooked or underfunded, AI nirvana may illude the firm entirely.  After all, someone has to keep the lights on if hundreds of billions of dollars are to be spent on the new, (more on whether this level of spending even makes sense in a future blog).

    US football season is started and once again coaches are teaching even established super stars to pay attention to the basics–blocking and tackling.  Happens every year.

    What is your firm doing to assure the IT enabled lights stay on?

  • AI–What’s Your Number?

    AI–What’s Your Number?

    There is a great deal of hype regarding AI, some is justified and some not so much.  Pundits, including this one talk about the value an organization will get and, in some cases, immediately.  But what is the actual measurable value a firm can realistically expect?

    I recently used a free AI Value Calculator, asking how an oil refinery could become more effective and safer. The following response was received:

    “**Value Proposition:** At [Your Company Name], we understand that oil companies face increasing pressure to enhance safety and efficiency within refinery operations. Our innovative solutions are designed specifically to address the unique challenges of the refining industry. By integrating advanced technology and safety protocols, we empower your team to operate more effectively while minimizing risks. With our expertise, you can expect: – **Increased Operational Efficiency:** Streamline processes with cutting-edge tools that boost productivity and reduce downtime. – **Enhanced Safety Measures:** Implement systems that prioritize employee safety and ensure compliance with industry regulations. – **Real-Time Monitoring:** Gain insights through data analytics that allow for proactive decision-making and immediate response to potential hazards. Choose [Your Company Name] as your partner in revolutionizing refinery operations, ensuring you meet both efficiency goals and safety standards. Together, we can create not just a safer workplace, but also a more effective refinery that drives success in today’s competitive landscape. For more information or to schedule a consultation, please contact us at [phone number] or visit our website at [website URL]. Let’s work together to pave the way for a more secure and productive refining environment.”

    The Problem with Value

    There are several problems with this response, and I (the user) am part of that problem.

    • My prompts were minimal and not specific
    • The response was pablum, as it did not tell me anything I did not already know.
    • What do phrases like, “Implement systems that prioritize employee safety and ensure compliance with industry regulations,” actually mean and how do I accomplish that?
    • What do I tell the “C” level executive that she can expect to see on our bottom line as a result of this expenditure and what is the risk profile?

    Determining the economic value proposition for any capital investment project has always been a challenge and is difficult to accomplish, especially when the list of intangibles is long.  The recent issues surrounding Cracker Barrel rebranding is a case in point.

    The process of assessing possible value and the associated risk of attaining said value from investments is not trivial.  It takes a lot of thinking and iterative re-thinking from a knowledgeable and qualified team, as well as input from others.  And in my opinion, there has to be a dollar value that can be documented and defended–meaning, it is a solid assessment and not wishful thinking.

    The Journey to Measurable Value

    “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.”― Yogi Berra

    We been conducting economic and financial assessments of capital projects for over two decades. Our Economic Value Proposition Matrix (EVPM) has been developed and curated with organizations in the Critical Infrastructure Sector.  It meets and exceeds the tough requirements of some of the most prestegious global firm and has demonstrated its ability to provide decision makers with an economic and financial “What If” and “Iterative” model of proposed spend before a dime is committed to the project.  We love tough questions and have learned most that are used.  Moreover, it Risk Assessment section if one of the most robust available.

    It is being used for AI Spend assessments and a case study will be available in our forthcoming book, from CRC Press, The Transformation of Our Spreadsheet Society: Moving Towards a Nonlinear, Big Data Enabled AI Environment, to be released by early 2026.

    Is AI Different Than Other Capital Expenditures (CAPEX)?

    The traditional response from IT providers is, It Depends!  In some ways this is a correct statement. However, industry/individual organizations have been through existential difficulties before and frequently.

    Most IT CAPEX is either Science/Engineering or transactional, i.e., ERP.  However, much of AI centers on behavior and therefore, involve an addition dimension–latent variables.  We have been interested in latent variables since the early 1990s and first published our approach towards learning about their impact on behavioral systems in my 1996 doctoral dissertation, Cross-cultural negotiations between Japanese and American businessmen: A systems analysis (exploratory study).

    In our forthcoming book by CRC Press, The Transformation of Our Spreadsheet Society: Moving Towards a Nonlinear, Big Data Enabled AI Environment, we develop a detail approach and representative AI model about the value that can be identified and measured using latent variable.

    So, what is a latent variable?  Largely unknown, these variables are essential in the complex data analysis and modeling needed in statistics, machine learning, and other scientific assessments.

    Very important–They cannot be measured directly but can be inferred from other measurable variables.

    This is a major and usually unrecognized problem when attempting to place an economic value on a project yet to start, i.e., the planning and funding stage.

    Our upgraded EVPM model takes latent variables into consideration giving management greater insight into the costs, return and ultimate value of AI investments.  We believe that unless this dimension is properly assessed, calculated values are WRONG and will not result in the value proponent’s advance.

    Look for further details regarding our economic value of AI model and feel free to contact us if you have specific needs or questions.

    Is your AI Economic Value Assessment model robust enough to bet your career on?

  • AI In Chaos

    AI In Chaos

    There is a daily flood of often contradictory posts regarding the tremendous and immediate value of Artificial Intelligence (AI).  But are we to believe our lying eyes?

    This picture of wiring stupidity might as well have been taken in my front yard.  Years of shoddy workmanship by firms that do not care in a city that cares even less about its neighborhoods is the result.  But that is not the theme of this post.

    The artificial intelligence software sector looks like this photograph. Tracing connections and thoughts is almost impossible and may require AI to understand AI.  Is that even possible?

    AI Is On Fire

    “We must implement AI because everyone else is doing it” is the mantra.  Expressed by those selling AI products and services, organizations feel pressure to buy immature code as individuals are told their careers are over and robots will replace them in the next few years.  This pundit challenges this rant.

    There is a method to the madness and order can be made out of the chaos of the “new kid on the block.”  It is not necessary to panic or make quick irrational decisions.

    Published in 2023, I co-authored the book, Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability and the just released, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  Moreover, the next forthcoming book by CRC Press, The Transformation of Our Spreadsheet Society: Moving Towards a Nonlinear, Big Data Enabled AI Environment, should be released in early 2026.

    The focus of all these volumes is to help management and non-IT individuals better understand game-changing technologies, how to assess, procure and deploy them and attain superior economic value for the firm.  Additionally, we address what individuals must do to keep their skills and career current and future proofed.

    I mention this because we must all remain clear eyed in this current caldron of chaos.  Rudyard Kipling is famous for his poem that begins, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs.”  Our generation should learn from this call to calm, rational thinking (readers should read the entire very powerful poem).

    Those not familiar with the IT field may not know but the sector even has a name for the development curve AI technologies are on.  The research firm, Gardner has developed a tool that can be useful. “The AI Hype Cycle is Gartner’s graphical representation of the maturity, adoption metrics and business impact of AI technologies (including GenAI).  It helps organizations understand where different AI innovations are on the path to becoming mainstream, why they are where they are and what these innovations mean in the context of the overall AI landscape.”  While the Hype Cycle is a commercial offering, a great deal is written, and a high-level understanding is readily available to all from online sources.

    The Storm Will Pass

    AI offers tremendous promise across all human endeavors.  At the moment it is a new shiny object that entices but still has a lot of unknowns.  It will mature and become as ubiquitous as the Internet.

    The rate that individuals embrace change varies widely; however, change is a fact of life, and I believe this change will benefit more than it hinders.  After all, other generations have undergone significant change that we now take for granted, i.e., automobiles (aka horseless carriage), smart devices, etc.

    What are you doing to keep yourself not only relevant but of high value in the AI world?

  • “Relieved of the Necessity”

    “Relieved of the Necessity”

    F. A. Hayek explained why many people support politicians touting socialist plans. In The Road to Serfdom, he explained that people want to be “relieved of the necessity of solving [their] economic problems and…the bitter choices which this often involves.” 

    The latest New York City Siren Song, free stuff will be the savior of a runaway city beckons. So tempting, this harkens back to era of free mobile phones as well as promises the Romans and their predecessors made to keep their populations under control.

    Many like to believe that we are different than our forbearers, that somehow we are smarter, more sophisticated–pick one or all of the rationales. Hate to bust any social media ballons, human nature is the same as it was eons ago.

    Someone Take Charge of My Life and Help Me!

    Much as children reach for their parents, guardians or other trusted adults, dependency requires subserviency.  Not responsible in a meaningful manner for behaviors until reaching the age of “being treated like an adult,” children get away with a lot. “He is just a kid,” rings hollow after the age of 10 or so but that myth persists, often well into one’s 20s and even later.  Seems unsustainable to me, but that’s just me.

    Whose Your Daddy?

    Daddy Warbucks is going to pay for this political largess.  Really?  Given that the so-call rich are the biggest donors to politicians, what if they just say NO!  Political winds can turn on a dime and likely will here too as reality starts to bite.

    We would all like to win the lottery and free gifts and discounts are great.  However, “there is no free lunch” rings in my ears as does, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”  None of us can be relieved of the necessity to take charge of our lives and not submit to Hayek’s serfdom emanating from the relinquishment of our right to make our own decisions.

    Isn’t the right to make decisions right up there with the First Amendment?  Don’t give it away for shiny object trinkets. 

    What are you doing to protect your autonomy?

  • Scam Leadership

    Scam Leadership

    It seems the world is awash in scams, those attempts to steal from all of us.  Couched in nice words like spam, these are attempts to destroy you.  Likewise, there are scam leaders who would do the same, only worse.

    In 1978, the scam by the so-called pastor, Jim Warren Jones slaughtered more than 900 people including over 300 children.  He told his followers, couched in religion that he would lead them to utopia and convinced them to kill (poison) themselves.

    Leaders take on a mantel of leadership by proclaiming themselves to be prophets, pastors, and even leaders.  However, stating to be a leader does not make one a leader.  As Christians have been told for eons and from Matthew 7:15: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. Wherefore by their fruits, ye shall know them.”

    False leaders present themselves constantly.  If you follow me and do thus-and-so, I will reward you.  This is not normal product marketing by credible organizations of all sizes, these are the deliberate criminal attempts by wolves to destroy their targets, even to the point of suicide.

    Beyond Outright Criminals

    Even more difficult to detect and defend oneself against than criminal spammers are legitimate people in positions of authority.  These can include the office bully, fellow employees and management, as well as elected officials and government employees and even family members and acquittances.  This is a long list of those who actively work against constituents and people they know or who can be influenced to commit figurative suicide.

    Sales 101 teaches that when trying to convince people to follow your lead, it is not the best idea to call them derogatory names.  It continues to amaze this successful sales executive how many talk down to those they seek to persuade, almost like your dumb and I am smart thinking.

    Meeting the Test of Actual Leadership

    This quote is attributed to General Douglas MacArthur, “A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.  He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.”  This pundit would like to add that during the World War II period, significantly large numbers of women also rose to the leadership challenges MacArthur espoused.

    How many self proclaimed leaders we see in our daily life live by MacArthur’s code?  Not many during my long life, I am afraid.

    BS Detector

    There is not much we can do about some exalted individuals.  We must obey laws and organizational policies, or else there may be consequences.  We should activate our leadership radar aka BS detector.

    There are many false prophets we can choose not to follow.  Those who do not bring out our best are not servant leaders they are self-servicing aggrandizers.  Do not drink their Kool-Aid.  When you see those on the media mouthing out crap, advocating violence or worse, failing to condemn the condemnable, cancel them!  If you get cancelled, celebrate the liberation.  Finally, the ole saying, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is” or no free lunch when a Santa Claus politician is loose.

    The worst thing that can happen to these losers is the loss of ‘likes’ and lack of followers.  That way they cannot lead lemmings over their figurative cliff.  Scammers come from all walks of life, not just online.  See this class of Bozos for who they are and reject the clown car they are driving.

    How fine tuned is your leadership radar?

    Our new book is Now Available

     

    Navigating the Data Minefields:

    Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making

    We are living in an era of data and software exponential growth.  A substantive flood hitting us every day.  Geek heaven!  But what if information technology is not your cup of tea and you may even have your kids help with your smart devices?  This may not be a problem at home; however, what if your job depends on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

    To Order

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is the coauthor of the 2023 book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce the released by CRC Press of our new book, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross-Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg and his book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • Leadership: Pattonesque Style

    Leadership: Pattonesque Style

    “The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.” ~ Faye Wattleton

    As an owner and crew for offshore pleasure sailing vessels, I have experienced several gale force storm that lasted more than 24-36 hours.  Several were across the Gulf of America (aka Mexico) regattas and quite a few offshore Gulf races of 150 nm or longer.  Relatively minor damage to the boat and no injuries to our crew.  More than one storm resulted in yachts retiring and in a rare case abandonment. Minor injuries to regatta crews are fairly consistent.  What separated our winning boat from the others?  A competent well trained crew and effective leadership!

    Old blood and guts, General George S. Patton Jr. gets a bad rap in my opinion.  He probably was a pain in everyone’s you know what, but he was paid for being something else.  A leader who made consistently effective decisions of consequent, rapidly with decisiveness. 

    Much is being written, complementary and not so much about Donald Trump’s management style and especially the speed with which things are getting done.  Additionally, from one perspective Elon Musk’s frustrations can be probably be attributed to his belief, especially regarding the budget, that things are not moving fast enough.

    Wait and See

    While it is appropriate to make a good assessment of a situation before action, some organizations can suffer from “paralysis by analysis” where decision makers effectively do not respond within the appropriate time window.  In a high intensity, fast moving environment, launching endless committees in some vain hope that a third party consulting firm whose members often have no real executive leadership experience will ride in to to save the day is misguided.  The logic usually is that this decision is too important and costly not to take one’s time to properly assess the associated risks.

    One writer framed the issue well, “Therefore, in a world were the game is changing rapidly, failing to take action—deciding to ‘wait and see’—can quickly put you on a path of increasing irrelevancy or a rapid demise.”  How is this nonaction adding shareholder value?

    No Competence-No Confidence

    Leaders are not born, they are made.  It is unreasonable to assume that just because so-and-so went to a specific school, was a great jock, or celebrity that individual is qualified to drive an organization.  Elected officials are a great example of this perturbation.  Poorly performing public companies are another example where board in their infinite non-wisdom think that the ship will stop sinking if only we hire the right well-known person or even ‘strange’ spokesperson to hawk an alcoholic beverage.  The corporate sea floor is littered with the wrecks caused by incompetent captains with no confidence in their judgements.

    Will AI Make Things Worse?

    Unfortunately, the answer is yes for many, even (once) prestigious organizations.  Coming like a freight train, most organization executives appear to be totally clueless about the value of artificial intelligence to the firm they are entrusted to manage.  With no understanding or competence in this field, we can expect these individuals to have any confidence in how they spend shareholder value?

    Expect the same waste that large IT projects have enjoyed for decades.  Five years from now, expect the 500 to have new winners and long standing firms no longer visible.

    We do not posit for quick poorly assessed capital expenditures.  Only that decision cycle times have always been shorter than many like.  Decision-makers must get better at their job.

    Defeat is the realm of incompetent generals.  Great generals who know their business with more limited loss of life and limb are the winners.

    Winners in the AI era have not yet emerged.  We will know shortly those who made good timely Patton like decisions and those who waited to see the door closed in their face.

    How will your organization assure that it is competently led through the AI door?

    Our new book is Now Available

     

    Navigating the Data Minefields:

    Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making

    We are living in an era of data and software exponential growth.  A substantive flood hitting us every day.  Geek heaven!  But what if information technology is not your cup of tea and you may even have your kids help with your smart devices?  This may not be a problem at home; however, what if your job depends on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

    To Order

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is the coauthor of the 2023 book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce the released by CRC Press of our new book, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross-Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg and his book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • Trading: The Art of the Bridge

    Trading: The Art of the Bridge

    “For the only way in which a durable peace can be created is by world-wide restoration of economic activity and international trade.”  – James Forrestal

    A recent article reviewed games that might be akin to the international trading process, chess, poker and bridge.  That author argues that so much of our rhetoric is militaristic.  We are going to “target” and, “fighting” for you, “outmaneuvering,” and so on sends the message that somehow, we are in a battle?

    If we are in a battle, who wins and what is the prize?  Typically, a military victory results in the destruction of the foe(s).  This pundit is not sure this is a good global model.  The approach has been tried many times in history, the Greek Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire, various European colonization, parties from Word War I and World War II, the Cold War, etc.  The result is always the same–a continuation of tensions leading to the next and more violent conflict.  If the goal is to limit the global population, we seem to be getting pretty good at it.

    All of these classic games have a winner or at least a stalemate.  So, in this context, how do we define Winner?

    Win-Win

    A more satisfactory global engagement can lead to the world that the first US Secretary of Defense sought.

    “Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions.  It has applications in many fields of social science, and is used extensively in economics, logic, systems science and computer science.  Initially, game theory addressed two-person zero-sum games, in which a participant’s gains or losses are exactly balanced by the losses and gains of the other participant.  In the 1950s, it was extended to the study of non zero-sum games, and was eventually applied to a wide range of behavioral relations.  It is now an umbrella term for the science of rational  decision making in humans, animals, and computers.”

    In the 1990s, this author used game theory to assess international business negotiations, Cross-cultural negotiations between Japanese and American businessmen: A systems analysis (exploratory study).  One of the influences for that study was the early 1980s book, Getting to Yes – Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In.  In their book, Roger Fisher and William Ury set out Four Principles of Effective Negotiation, summarized as follows.

    • Separate the People from the Problem
    • Focus on Interests not Positions
    • Invent Options for Mutual Gain
    • Insist on Using Objective Criteria upon which to Base Agreement

    A common theme among these points it the de-escalation of personal animosity that might exist/develop.  By focusing on the common or mutual goal(s), the win-win outcome is possible.

    All Can Win

    Winning is ingrained in our human psychic. Survival of the fittest has served our evolutionary development process well.  However, collaboration is not mutually exclusive with winning.  Humans have banded together for the common good since the beginning.  It is possible for both or multiple parties to a ‘deal’ to feel that their best interests are served.  Isn’t this the basis of a successful marriage?

    The quote “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing” by the legendary NFL coach, Vince Lombardi is not as singular as it first appears.  It has additional dimensions, “Resonates with a competitive spirit and the desire to be the best, it is crucial to recognize that life is not solely about winning.  This interpretation aligns with a broader perspective on success, one that focuses on personal growth, resilience, and the lessons gained along the way.”

    Classic games and military jargon are useful tools for today’ so-called business road warriors.  They stand the test of time because we all can relate to conflict.  Even after hostilities cease, countries and societies must be rebuilt in a useful way.  After World War II, both Germany and Japan were rebuilt and became the positive global influences they are today.

    We addressed this recovery process in a LinkedIn post, Trump’s Marshall Plan in February 2025.  Out of the depths of despair a new and better world emerged.  This writer believes we can still help the defeated and even crushed Bridge to a Long-Term Win in the Lombardi spirit.

    How are you helping assure your organization and its ecosystem participants are Winning?

    Pre order our new book, Now Available

    Navigating the Data Minefields:

    Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making

    We are living in an era of data and software exponential growth.  A substantive flood hitting us every day.  Geek heaven!  But what if information technology is not your cup of tea and you may even have your kids help with your smart devices?  This may not be a problem at home; however, what if your job depends on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

    Preorder May 23, 2025

    Ordering Information

    We are also pleased to advise our loyal readers that CRC Press has accepted our proposal for this forthcoming book, Nonlinear Big Data and AI-Enabled Problem-Solving: Transforming From A Spreadsheet Society.  Publication 2026.  Stay tuned for more details.

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is the coauthor of the 2023 book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be released by CRC Press in June 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross-Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg and his book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • Tariffs Tariffs, Tariffs

    Tariffs Tariffs, Tariffs

    According to the economist, Paul Craig Roberts, “Tariffs protect ill-considered government policies, such as costly regulations and high taxes on labor and capital that make our goods uncompetitive in international markets.”

    Young and emerging countries may want tariffs to protect nascent industries and other local protections to help assure employment and rise of a strong commercial base.  Advanced (OECD) countries seek to protect existing sectors for a number of reasons including employment and political/military power.

    Once in place both exporting and importing countries develop a sense of normalcy and change becomes difficult for all parties involved.  They become part of the business culture of the exporter and importer.  As with other cultural change, engrained habits are stubborn.

    Policy Disruption

    The Trump Administration is arguing that an unlevel trading system has existed, at least since the end of World War II in 1945.  Their tariff policy seeks to update the partner relationship with countries and their companies that are no longer rebuilding form that devastating conflict.  The protections afforded nascent rebuilt from that era are no longer necessary or relevant.

    As might be expected, many prefer the status quo and vehemently argue the unfairness of it all and other rationales for not changing practices and policies that are 80 years old.  This is no difference than those that have been made redundant due to a reorganization make the case for their value add, usually in vain.

    Comparative Advantage

    Over two decades ago this author postulated, “Economists usually think of comparative advantage as a function of the raw material or strategic position a country holds.  In the knowledge age, comparative advantage goes to those who hold the knowledge necessary to achieve strategic posture.”  Moreover, “Thought leadership and subsequent comparative/competitive advantage usually goes to those that see things differently, earlier, or both.  Seeing is one thing, believing another, and implementation still another.  Leaders do not just postulate, they make things happen.  This is the tough part.  Many people have good ideas, but most do not implement and even fewer follow through to the end.”

    In May 2025, President Trump signed over $2 Trillion in business deals with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirate.  These were not traditional oil and gas investments that this part of the world is known for, but commitments in defense, aerospace, AI and other advanced technologies.

    In addition to aircraft and other defense products and solutions, these countries focused on the development of emerging capabilities such as AI.  A classic example of the position taken almost a quarter of a century ago.

    Are Humans Being Replaced?

    This has been the question raised by every dramatic technological introduction.  The general consensus, in this writer’s opinion is, we adapt and adopt to the new when it is beneficial and reject it when it does not add value to our personal life–the ‘What’s in it for ME question.

    This is the contemporary question all of us are reacting to with the advent of Artificial Intelligence.  Accordingly, “The rise of artificial intelligence has reinforced the belief that transformations across various domains can be primarily achieved through digital technology.  However, the creative potential for change of people’s  cognitive, emotional and imaginative powers often loses importance and gives way to  creative technology.   Many therefore see humans as having arrived in the age of post and transhumanism.  But is the human being as such really a kind of obsolete model?  According to such a view, it seems to have become ‘normal’ for people to leave their own fate, as well as the fate of humanity and the environment, to technical transformation possibilities.  This implies accepting that technology increasingly becomes an instrument of control rather than a tool to be used and directed, as individuals become subject to a technology and capitalist artificial intelligence industry that surpasses their own capabilities, leading them to be controlled by it.”

    One can assume that these concerns will cause many to fight for existing international trade rules to remain in place.  This is true, not only for tariffs, readers may remember that in 2024, “The ILA’s ( International Longshoremen’s Association) initial proposal was for a 77% salary increase over the six-year duration of their contract with USMX, as well as a complete ban on the automation of gates, cranes and container-moving trucks at its ports.”

    Short-Term Pain, Long-Term Gain

    Cultural Disruption can be sharp and quick, like a knife cutting into the skin.  It will take some time and perhaps a long time for transformation to take hold, and wounds to heal.

    However, this parade is marching by.  We can all chose to join in, become a bandleader, or hope it will just go away.  Change can be painful, but without it we cease to grow and will eventually whither and our value to organizations will no longer exist.

    Get with the program!  Tariffs were never meant to be generational, but only a short-term economic band aid.

    How are you and your loved ones preparing for ongoing technological convulsions?

     

    Pre order our new book, May 23, 2025

    Navigating the Data Minefields:

    Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making

    We are living in an era of data and software exponential growth.  A substantive flood hitting us every day.  Geek heaven!  But what if information technology is not your cup of tea and you may even have your kids help with your smart devices?  This may not be a problem at home; however, what if your job depends on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

    Preorder May 23, 2025

    Ordering Information

    We are also pleased to advise our loyal readers that CRC Press has accepted our proposal for this forthcoming book, Nonlinear Big Data and AI-Enabled Problem-Solving: Transforming From A Spreadsheet Society.  Publication 2026.  Stay tuned for more details.

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is the coauthor of the 2023 book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be released by CRC Press in June 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross-Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg and his book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • Dot Bomb 2.0 — ai Style

    Dot Bomb 2.0 — ai Style

    Are we doing this again with Artificial Intelligence?

    On March 10, 2000, a five-year dotcom bubble bursts on the Nasdaq Index. Even blue-chip tech companies lost more than 80% of their market value and it would be 15 years before Nasdaq would see that peak again.  “The dotcom bubble, also known as the Internet bubble, grew out of a combination of the presence of speculative or fad-based investing, the abundance of venture capital funding for startups, and the failure of dotcoms to turn a profit. Investors poured money into Internet startups during the 1990s hoping they would one day become profitable. Many investors and venture capitalists abandoned a cautious approach for fear of not being able to cash in on the growing use of the Internet.”

    At the height of the dotcom hype, organizations were changing their name (not just the domain) to include this suffix, i.e. Acme.com.  This attempt to differentiate almost became silly and the butt of jokes.

    Increasingly, this pundit is seeing a similar thought process when it comes to artificial intelligence. The new marketing moniker/domain is now Acme.ai.  We predict .ai identification will end in flames as did .com.  This is not to say artificial intelligence will go away but that it will become mainstream, just as the Internet did not fade into marketing oblivion. Online business is now just the way we do business and access to it is available to all at a marginal cost that approaches zero.

    Branding

    Much of this section is adapted from our report prepared for a United Nations Agency.

    The concept of the Brand is well established in marketing literature and practice.  The Brand is a messaging vehicle that seeks to position all consumers and stakeholders “on the same page.”  As discussed herein, it is a powerful construct and may be of useful to the nuclear power sector as it seeks to embody an AI Culture into all stakeholders.

    The theory of the Brand Wheel is addressed herein.  To address the Key Themes and concerns raised during the conference, it appears that “AI Culture” may need to become a “Brand.”  Strong Brands generate a powerful emotional response!

    For example, a positive brand such as BMW’s “the ultimate driving machine” (at least in the USA) transcend other issues such as the high cost of maintenance of these automobiles.  Negative branding often can never be overcome as the Coca Cola Company learned when they launched “New Coke” in 1985.  This company almost ruined a long-standing strong brand!

    Construct

    We put forth a Brand mental model for debate within the industry.  In this section, the construct or set of organizing ideas for consideration are developed.

    In accordance with the theory, the AI Culture Brand Wheel (High Level Framework) is composed of two major categories:

    Facts & Symbols or those components of the Brand that address the “hard” and often more measurable aspects. 

    • What the Product, Service, or Solution does for ME
    • How I would Describe the Product, Service, or Solution

    Brand Personality addresses the more emotional side of the Brand

    • How the Brand make ME look
    • How the Brand makes ME feel

    Populating the Wheel

    The Groups (developed in a workshop) in the following diagram are believed to be representative of major issues the sector faces.  It follows that any marketing message to stakeholders should address their concerns.

    These four quadrants were populated with over twenty Groups from the Affinity Diagram process.  This is a high-level approach to populate the wheel with the almost 200 AI Culture issues (variables) identified from participants.

    The following table shows the Groups by Brand Wheel Quadrant and the Rationale behind the categorization.  The focus is on the individual person and how he or she relates to the AI Culture Brand.  By extension, how individual stakeholders feel is how their organization or group feels about the Brand.

    The Brand Wheel is an easy-to-use model that helps organization position themselves in crowded market segments.

    Graphically, these Groups are shown in the following figure.  Seven Groups fall in the top two quadrants as more tangible variables (Fact) by nature and four in the Personality quadrants.  One can surmise that a Brand such as Systemic AI Culture would require substantial “technical” support to be credible.

    The intangible Groups can be considered the Brand emotional delivery mechanisms.  Collectively, the Systemic AI Culture Brand can be considered a key aspect the industry Go-to-Market strategy—selling Systemic AI Culture.

    Similar to the way an Affinity Diagram adds high value to the team doing the work, developing the Brand Wheel adds significant value to the process itself.  Figures and charts are visual representations of concepts that are highly appealing.  The Brand Wheel is one method supported by the Affinity Diagram to capture a large set and sometimes conflicting issues into a model individuals can grasp and internalize.

    Finalizing the Brand

    A brand Tag Line would be helpful to etch the construct into the minds of all stakeholders.  For example, High Reliability Management used the concept of Mindfulness—the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis, also such a state of awareness (situational awareness).

    Concluding Thoughts

    To be clear, branding is not the end game in marketing but one of many prongs used to achieve strategic advantage and greater shareholder value.  It is a convenient framework that captures the essence of who the organization is.  This approach is immensely more successful than simply attaching .ai to the organization name, hoping for differentiation.  Any competitor can do exactly the same thing.

    Earn your value the old fashion way, with viable products that solve problems, customers, profits and return to shareholders. Forget about the hype!

    Is your organization taking Rudyard Kipling’s advice to his son, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
    but make allowance for their doubting too!”

    Pre order our new book

    Navigating the Data Minefields:

    Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making

    We are living in an era of data and software exponential growth.  A substantive flood hitting us every day.  Geek heaven!  But what if information technology is not your cup of tea and you may even have your kids help with your smart devices?  This may not be a problem at home; however, what if your job depends on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

    Available June 2025

    Ordering Information

    We are also pleased to advise our loyal readers that CRC Press has accepted our proposal for this forthcoming book, Nonlinear Big Data and AI-Enabled Problem-Solving: Transforming From A Spreadsheet Society.  Stay tuned for more details.

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is the coauthor of the 2023 book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be released by CRC Press in June 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross-Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg and his book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • Send in the Suits

    Send in the Suits

    “The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don’t tell you what to see.”

    –Alexandra K. Trenfor

    As a sales manager, executive and now independent advisor, I am often asked to go on sales calls. Sounds like what every sales executive should to, support the representative, interact with the client and help close the deal, right?

    Not so fast, often this is a crutch.  For a number of reasons, mostly lack of preparation, the sales representative is looking to outsource the sales call.  What often happens next, the perception the part of the client of a weak performance by the vendor. This tact will backfire more often than not.

    It continues to amaze me how unprepared sales calls are.  In the heat of making as many calls as possible, real opportunities are routinely squandered.  The feeling among many reps is that an executive adds gravitas and is almost a dressed up potted plant in the room.

    Meet and Greet is only appropriate at an event, such as a hospitality suite at a conference. A sales call needs an agenda and end game goals. “I wanted to introduce so-and-so is not an agenda and will accomplish exactly nothing.

    Proper Use of an Executive

    We asked Chatbot Pro two questions, How to Plan a Sales Call and How to Use a Senior Executive on a Sales Call.  Its response follows:

    How to Plan a Sales Call

    Planning a successful sales call involves several key steps to ensure that you are prepared and can effectively engage with the potential client. Here’s a guide to help you through the process:

    1. Research Your Prospect – Understand the prospect’s business, industry, and any specific challenges they might be facing. Use LinkedIn, their company website, and news articles.

    2. Define Your Objective – Be clear on what you want to achieve. This could be setting up a follow-up meeting, closing a sale, or gathering information.

    3. Prepare Your Value Proposition – Articulate how your product or service can solve a problem or improve the prospect’s situation. Tailor this based on your research on their needs.

    4. Develop Questions – Craft open-ended questions that will help you understand their needs better and match your solution to their requirements.

    5. Plan Your Pitch – Create an outline of what you want to say during the call, focusing on key benefits and features that resonate with the prospect.

    6. Practice Active Listening – Be prepared to listen more than you speak. Make mental notes of key points the prospect mentions so that you can address them.

    7. Set the Agenda – At the beginning of the call, outline what you hope to discuss and ask if there’s anything specific the prospect would like to cover.

    8. Prepare for Objections – Anticipate potential objections the prospect may have and prepare responses to address these concerns.

    9. Follow-Up Plan – Be ready to discuss next steps and how you’ll follow up after the call, no matter the outcome.

    10. Practice and Refine – Role-play the call with a colleague or rehearse your talking points to build confidence and identify any weak areas.

    11. Schedule a Time – Plan the call during a time that is convenient for the prospect, ensuring you have adequate time without interruptions.

    By following these steps, you’ll be in a strong position to have a productive sales call that builds rapport, addresses the prospect’s needs, and ultimately drives sales.

    How to Use a Senior Executive on a Sales Call

    Using a senior executive in a sales call can significantly enhance your pitch, especially when dealing with high-stakes clients or complex sales. Here are steps on how to effectively include a senior executive in your sales call:

    1. Identify the Right Executive – Choose a senior executive whose expertise aligns with the prospect’s needs or the solution being offered. This could be a CEO, CTO, or another relevant leader.

    2. Prepare Them with Context – Provide the executive with background information on the prospect, including their business, challenges, and previous interactions. Share key objectives for the call.

    3. Define Roles – Before the call, clarify who will lead the conversation and how each participant will contribute. The senior executive can handle higher-level discussions, while the sales rep can manage details and logistics.

    4. Focus on Value – During the call, the executive should emphasize the strategic value and vision of the solution rather than delving into minute details. This highlights the significance of the partnership.

    5. Build Credibility and Trust – Having a senior executive on the call can instill confidence in the prospect. They can address company capabilities, commitment, and long-term vision, which can reassure the client.

    6. Encourage Engagement – The executive should ask questions and encourage dialogue. This not only fosters a relationship but also helps uncover deeper insights into the prospect’s needs.

    7. Handle Objections – Use the senior executive’s authority to address any key objections the prospect may have. Their experience and level can help navigate concerns more effectively.

    8. Follow-Up Actions – At the end of the call, the executive should help define the next steps or commitments. This shows commitment from the top level of the organization.

    9. Thank and Acknowledge – Thank the prospect for their time and reiterate the value that your organization can bring, leveraging the senior executive’s closing remarks for strong impact.

    10. Debrief After the Call – Review the call with the executive afterward to assess what went well, what could be improved, and any follow-up actions needed.

    Including a senior executive in sales calls can provide a significant edge by leveraging their authority and experience, ultimately leading to more successful outcomes.

    The use of senior executives, and I would include senior support individuals such technology gurus or Chief Digital Officers, etc. takes a fair amount of prep work.  Moreover, clients may invite counterparts and/or others to the meeting.  A big deal!

    It is only fair to all concerned that the call be well thought out.  This is not to say stick with a rigid script.  The dialogue may well lead into other areas and deals struck may be substantially different than the original position(s).

    “We’re from corporate and we are here to help.”  How do you maximize this valuable asset?

    Pre order our new book

    Navigating the Data Minefields:

    Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making

    We are living in an era of data and software exponential growth.  A substantive flood hitting us every day.  Geek heaven!  But what if information technology is not your cup of tea and you may even have your kids help with your smart devices?  This may not be a problem at home; however, what if your job depends on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

    Available June 2025

    Ordering Information

    We are also pleased to advise our loyal readers that CRC Press has accepted our proposal for this forthcoming book, Nonlinear Big Data and AI-Enabled Problem-Solving: Transforming From A Spreadsheet Society.  Stay tuned for more details.

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is the coauthor of the 2023 book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be released by CRC Press in June 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross-Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg and his book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • Leadership Selling

    Leadership Selling

    “The price of greatness is responsibility.” – Winston Churchill

    I recently watched a documentary about Three Mile Island.  I did not fact check it or try to assess bias but if much of what went wrong were correctly portrayed, leadership was missing in action.  The father of the US Nuclear Navy, Admiral Hyman G. Rickover and his demand for excellence was referred to on several occasions.  He was rightfully positioned as THE sector leader during that era when nuclear power generation was an emerging technology.

    In the context of leadership, the following is attributed to him, “Responsibility is a unique concept… You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished. You may delegate it, but it is still with you… If responsibility is rightfully yours, no evasion, or ignorance or passing the blame can shift the burden to someone else. Unless you can point your finger at the man who is responsible when something goes wrong, then you have never had anyone really responsible.”  This is a very telling statement that is applicable to the many human foibles that have resulted in cataphoric failures, even warfare and almost all high visibility major industrial incidents.

     A clear explanation of the difference between Management and Leadership.

    What Does All This Have to Do with Selling?

    Typically, organizations refer to the process of revenue generation as Sales.  However, a more accurate description this process is Selling.  The action verb, selling can result in a sale or series of sales.  Yet, for each competitive engagement most of these costly attempts at revenue generation will result in no sales–zero revenue.   Fail at enough opportunities and the firm’s Cost of Sales can skyrocket.

    Moreover, increasingly B2B solutions are a combination of products (seller product line and possibly third parties) as well as services (can include Cloud subscriptions).  By definition, Complex Sales is getting more complex and interrelated with other new/existing systems.

    Failure is Not an Option!

    “SUBSAFE was born in 1963, just two months after mechanical failures resulted in the loss of USS Thresher (SSN-593).  The program was started with a simple goal in mind: ‘. . . provide the maximum reasonable assurance that the ship will not have flooding but if flooding does occur, assures that the ship will get safely to the surface.’”  The program is deemed as a major life saving success, partially by enabling real responsibility to all including contractors.

    Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) are a similar construct.  Most organizations in Critical Infrastructure sectors incorporate SEMS into their Operations Management Systems (OMS).  For our purposes here, we will repurpose and slightly change the nine tenants of the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s BSEE, SEMS.

    We posit that the following Tenants comprising our Selling Management System (SMS):

    1. Commitment to Values and Actions. Leaders demonstrate a commitment to societal and organizational values in their decisions and behaviors.
    2. Issue Identification and Risk Management. Issues potentially impacting the deal and its successful delivery are promptly identified, fully evaluated, and promptly addressed or corrected commensurate with their significance.
    3. Personal Accountability. All individuals take personal responsibility for process and personal behavior, as well as the stewardship of those entrusted to them.
    4. Work Processes. The process of planning and controlling work activities so that the selling action items are in accordance with organizational mission and policies as well as boding well for success.
    5. Continuous Improvement. Opportunities to learn and codify selling and delivery knowledge, ensuing future success and organizational learning.
    6. Environment for Raising Concerns. A work environment is maintained where personnel feel free to raise issues and concerns without fear of retaliation, intimidation, harassment, or discrimination.
    7. Effective External and Internal Communication. Communications maintain a focus of the selling efforts and processes.
    8. Respectful Work Environment. Trust and respect permeate the organization with a focus on teamwork and collaboration.
    9. Inquiring Attitude. Individuals avoid complacency and continuously consider and review existing conditions and activities in order to identify discrepancies that might result in error or inappropriate action.

    It is not surprising that action items focused on revenue generation should align with business imperatives towards effective and efficient operations.  This is especially true when operations personnel are assigned to the pursuit team as they will play a major role assuring successful delivery, i.e. most capital (CAPEX) goods and services.

    Tenant 6, Environment for Raising Concerns is perhaps one of the most important when enabling junior leadership.  For example, if a material issue is identified by a new college graduate in her or his field and unnoticed by more senior individuals schooled in early technologies, failure to be “heard” may have deal failure ramifications, i.e., engineering or software errors.

    Leadership is not part of a title, except by self-serving politicians who routine call themselves leaders.  Leaders are not born either, they are individuals (all ages and genders) who when needed, rise to occasions great and small.  The Rickover Mind Model enables leaders to emerge and that includes leadership during selling processes.

    Complex Deal Pursuit Team

    A deal Pursuit Team is a formal group assigned to drive revenue opportunities for a single deal/long-term strategic relationship or even partnership.  It can be an ad hoc assemblage or more effectively the assembly of experts with this type of experience.  Ideally, for a significant opportunity this team has a sole focus during its lifecycle, but that is not always the case or even practical in some firms or deals.

    Team composition can include, Sales Representative(s), Sales Management, Sales Support Team (as required) Executive Sponsor (if appropriate), Subject Matter Expert(s), Project Management, Third Parties (subcontractors and/or technology/professorial services providers), and others as needed.  Not all participants will be required full time.

    Typically, there are three phases to this process:

    • Relationship and Opportunity Development–The relationship building processes between seller and buyer as well as identification of value that can be added from seller products/services/solutions.
    • Formal Proposal Submission–Development and draft (with revisions) of a documented Scope of Work/Products, Deliverables and Pricing.
    • Proposal Assessment and Acceptance–Buyer review, changes and agreement to move forward–The Deal!

    Leadership is required throughout this process, and it may come from very unlikely sources.  Often top-level technologists and engineers are not the most outgoing folks.  However, their thoughts can be game changing.  It is important that those on the quiet side be actively ‘Included,’ and their ideas sought out and given serious discussion.

    Role of AI Agents

    “AI sales agents are autonomous applications that analyze and learn from your sales and customer data to perform tasks with little or no human input. These agents can perform a wealth of functions, from top-of-funnel tasks like nurturing leads with email outreach, answering questions, booking meetings with sellers, and quote creation to tasks more deeply integrated inside sales teams, like active buyer roleplays and coaching. What makes them different from simple workflow automation is that agents are capable of learning, using data analysis to work more efficiently, taking action on their own.”

    The Pursuit Team is responsible for winning the deal and AI is another tool, not unlike product demonstrations and marketing efforts.  AI inputs should be calibrated and interpreted just like other data sources and analyses.

    Final Thoughts

    Remember that people buy from people and individuals on both the selling and buying teams have personal agendas, such as getting promoted.  Sellers who identify many/most of these concerns stand a better change of closing the deal.

    Closing deals generates jobs.  Both by the vendor and its ecosystem as well as the client who will use the product/service/solution to increase the stakeholder value ecosystem.  Stakeholders are broadly defined including local communities and customer’s customers.

    It is safe to say that the complex selling process is dramatically changing.  Time to get on board!

    Nothing happens until somebody sells something!  How is your company assuring the selling process is routinely successful?

    Pre order our new book

    Navigating the Data Minefields:

    Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making

    We are living in an era of data and software exponential growth.  A substantive flood hitting us every day.  Geek heaven!  But what if information technology is not your cup of tea and you may even have your kids help with your smart devices?  This may not be a problem at home; however, what if your job depends on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

    Available April 2025

    Ordering Information

    We are also pleased to advise our loyal readers that CRC Press has accepted our proposal for this forthcoming book, Nonlinear Big Data and AI-Enabled Problem-Solving: Transforming From A Spreadsheet Society.  Stay tuned for more details.

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is the coauthor of the 2023 book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be released by CRC Press in April 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross-Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg and his book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • Reputation, Reputation, Reputation

    Reputation, Reputation, Reputation

    “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.  If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

    – Warren Buffett

    It is fascinating how many accident videos get posted to social media.  Guess we all go to NASCAR races to see car wrecks.  In some cases, videos are personal disasters for those involved.  In some cases, they are downright funny and in the category of what were they thinking.

    Equipment and facilities damage, lost production/project time, personal injury litigation are just some obvious costs.  One hidden cost is reputational damage.  Would you hire a firm that hires, does not train, and/or tolerates some of this behavior?  Probably not, and in some case a strong safety record is part of the procurement decision process.

    Risk Mitigation

    Most of the social media video show failures in occupational safety.  Typically, in the United States these would fall under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and/or state and local safety regulations.  This is laudable, but without a broader safety governance framework, a lackadaisical attitude can continue.

    Under a Strong Bond Governance Framework, a robust Operations Management System (OMS) enables both public and private firms to realize the Safety Culture they seek that will keep them off the social media most watched list.

    Strong Bond Governance

    An organizational governance model with the following attributes first put forth by the author in our seminal 2014 book, following the Deepwater Horizon incident.

    • Direct, defined relationships that enables open and valid information between governance members.
    • Led by authorities who are closely connected and strongly bonded.
    • Strong Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) system.
    • Back office and field processes combined into a single information model (OT-IT).
    • Designed for application and use in Mission-Critical Environments. [i]

    [i] Holland, Winford “Dutch” E. and Shemwell, Scott M. (2014). Implementing a Culture of Safety: A Roadmap to Performance-Based Compliance. New York: Xlibris.

    Operational Excellence

    Operational Excellence is the execution of the business strategy more consistently and reliably than the competition, with lower operational risk, lower operating costs, and increased revenues relative to its competitor.  It is needed more than ever in today’s technology driven rapidly changing business models, which require organizations to undergo end-to-end business transformation. Operational Excellence can also be viewed as execution excellence. 

    However, the focus of Operational Excellence goes beyond the traditional continuous improvement methods to a long-term change in organizational culture.  Companies in pursuit of Operational Excellence do two things significantly differently than other companies: they manage their business and operational processes systematically and invest in developing the right culture. 

    Operational Excellence manifests itself through integrated performance across revenue, cost, and risk. It focuses on meeting customer expectation through the continuous improvement of the operational processes and the culture of the organization.  The goal is to develop one single, integrated enterprise level management system with ideal flow.  The second component, a culture of Operational Discipline, is commonly described as doing the right thing, the right way, every time.  This culture is built upon guiding principles of integrity, questioning attitude, always problem-solving, daily continuous improvement mind-set, level of knowledge, teamwork, and process driven.

    Organizations attain and sustain Operational Excellence using tools such as Operations Management System OMS).

    A Typical OMS Framework includes all the major areas involved in organizational processes such as shown in this graphic.

    OMS is a collection of processes and procedures enabling a company to effectively manage business practices and achieve the highest level of Operational Excellence in daily operations.

    One of the more notable examples is the Safety and Environmental Management System (SEMS).  SEMS embodies the Safety Culture into the organization’s OMS.  This systemic model is incorporated into a Strong Bond Governance Framework causing safety to become ‘the way we do business.’  In other words, the culture of the organization and by extension its Ecosystem.

    Systemic Safety Culture

    In a culture of safety, people are not merely encouraged to work toward change; they take action when it is needed.  Inaction in the face of safety problems is taboo, and eventually the pressure comes from all directions — from peers as well as leaders. There is no room in a culture of safety for those who uselessly point fingers or say, “Safety is not my responsibility, so I’ll file a report and wash my hands of it.” 

    — Institute for Healthcare Improvement

    Systemic Safety Culture is the Core Set of Values and Behavioral Economics of ALL participants of the extended organization and its Enterprise Risk Management strategy that reflect a Strong Bond Governance commitment to behaving as a High Reliability Enterprise Ecosystem in a safe and environmentally responsible manner.

    Most Safety Cultures have a set of tenets similar to the nine shown in the following list.  These are based on those developed by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s (BSEE) for marine offshore oil and gas operations and are typical of those used in other Critical Infrastructure sectors.

    Nine Tenets of a Culture of Safety

    1. Leadership
    2. Problem Identification and Resolution
    3. Personal Accountability
    4. Work Processes
    5. Continuous Learning
    6. An Environment for Raising Concerns
    7. Effective Communications
    8. Trust and Respect
    9. Inquiring Attitude

    Finally, it is common practice for parties to refer to a singular industry ‘Safety Culture.’  In reality since each organization has its own culture, there are literally hundreds if not thousands of Safety Cultures in any critical infrastructure sector.  As shown in the above figure, each individual can interact routinely with a myriad of other cultures, both internal to their organization as well as with external economic players.

    After the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, the authors quickly recognized that all economic players in the industry regardless of size would need to immediately adopt a Safety Culture if they were to survive.

    The resulting 2014 book, Implementing a Culture of Safety: A Roadmap for Performance Based Compliance remains one the few that readers can use as a roadmap to incorporate a Safety Culture into their Operational Excellence business model regardless of industry.

    Smart OpEx

    Fifteen years ago, large organizational Operations Management Systems were struggling to incorporate structural safety as more than the so-called, ‘slips, trips and falls’ of OSHA regulations to one where safety is endemic to the culture.  Smaller firms, often participants in the supplier ecosystem were largely forgiven.  The logic being that the major contractors and operators would assure that the final work product met Safety Culture requirements.  This is no longer the case.  Firms of all sizes in every business sector with an operations component now require an OMS to manage not just internal operations but third-party contractors as well.

    The Smart OpEx Operations Management System software solution is joint venture between The Rapid Response Institute LLC and Knowledge Ops, Inc.

    As Mr. Buffet mentions, reputations can be lost in an instant.  According to a 2007 Harvard Business Review article, “In an economy where 70% to 80% of market value comes from hard-to-assess intangible assets such as brand equity, intellectual capital, and goodwill, organizations are especially vulnerable to anything that damages their reputations.”  While almost 20 years old, the premise of the HBR piece remains the case as Boeing, Bud Light, and others can attest.

    Put systems with checks and balances in place that enable the organizational governance and protect the company from entering the Halls of the Disreputable.

    An individual’s and organization’s reputation are everything.  How are you assuring both are protected?

    Pre order our new book

    Navigating the Data Minefields:

    Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making

    We are living in an era of data and software exponential growth.  A substantive flood hitting us every day.  Geek heaven!  But what if information technology is not your cup of tea and you may even have your kids help with your smart devices?  This may not be a problem at home; however, what if your job depends on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

    Available April 2025

    Ordering Information

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is the coauthor of the 2023 book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be released by CRC Press in April 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross-Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg and his book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • Value from Elon Musk’s ‘Idiot Index’?

    Value from Elon Musk’s ‘Idiot Index’?

    “If the ratio is high, you’re an idiot.” – Elon Musk

    “Musk developed the ‘idiot index,’ which calculated how much more costly a finished product was than the cost of its basic materials.  If a product had a high idiot index, its cost could be reduced significantly by devising more efficient manufacturing techniques.”

    Effectively, what he is saying that if the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) is too high, a product may either become too expensive or not sell well, if at all.  This is the basic Supply-Demand curve from Economics 101.  He is also indicating that Gross Profit will be negatively impacted as well.

    It’s the Cost Structure Stupid

    Paraphrasing the candidacy of Bill Clinton in 1992, an organization needs to develop a cost structure that not only lowers Total Cost as low as possible but sustains this approach while assuring the produced product/service is fit-for-purpose.

    According to the Corporate Finance Institute, “Cost structure refers to the various types of expenses a business incurs and is typically composed of fixed and variable costs.  Costs may also be divided into direct and indirect costs.  Fixed costs are costs that remain unchanged regardless of the amount of output a company produces, while variable costs change with production volume.

    Direct costs are costs that can be attributed to a specific product or service, and they do not need to be allocated to the specific cost object.  Indirect costs are costs that cannot be easily associated with a specific product or activity because they are involved in multiple activities.

    Operating a business must incur some kind of costs, whether it is a retail business or a service provider.  Cost structures differ between retailers and service providers, thus the expense accounts appearing on a financial statement depend on the cost objects, such as a product, service, project, customer or business activity.  Even within a company, cost structure may vary between product lines, divisions or business units, due to the distinct types of activities they perform.”

    We see that cost management is much more than simply lowering the procurement costs of parts or subcomponents going into the manufacturing product.  It is all about the design of the firm and its culture!

    Parasite Control

    One of the challenges all organizations face is ‘Cost Creep.’  Management needs to but guardrails in place to assure a low-cost structure business model remains that way.  Service firms are just as susceptible as manufactures. 

    According to one source circa 2000, professional services cost creep aka parasite control can be defined as, “Too many people whose services are not really required trying to use it as their meal ticket.”  Originally used in the context of the space exploration sector; however, in this writer’s opinion this issue is not restricted to that one industrial segment.

    At one point in my career, I was the executive responsible for a number of large successful simultaneous consulting engagements.  Other projects were either not doing as well or winding down.  Two things started happening.

    First, I discovered that those not on one of my projects were trying to bill their time to one or more projects.  Either as a direct ‘accounting code’ attempt or more frequently as a ‘contributor.’  One individual even tried to charge for his local mileage under the premise that while he lived in Houston, he was tied to a practice in Atlanta.  Thus, in his opinion he was remote.

    Point being, any project can be subject to parasite control.  “Cost Creep” is an ongoing managerial problem that must be shut down when found, the real costs clawed back and allocated correctly.

    Robust Cost Management

    Aggressively addressing costs at all levels is neither idiotic nor stupid.  It has always been a business fact of life and as of this writing, the federal government bureaucracy is discovering it is the ‘new normal.’

    Moreover, this never-ending pursuit of cost perfection will have a new player shortly.  Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly gaining traction in our everyday operations.  The audit process is part of cost management, and we already have examples of the use of AI in the audit process.  Expect more to come and sooner rather than later.

    We have an Operations Management System implementation underway where AI will play a pivotal role in Phase II later this year.  We will report back once it has ‘gone live.’

    What are your organization’s plans to vigorously manage costs?

    Pre order our new book

    Navigating the Data Minefields:

    Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making

    We are living in an era of data and software exponential growth.  A substantive flood hitting us every day.  Geek heaven!  But what if information technology is not your cup of tea and you may even have your kids help with your smart devices?  This may not be a problem at home; however, what if you job depends on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

    Available April 2025

    Ordering Information

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is the coauthor of the 2023 book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be released by CRC Press in April 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross-Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg and his book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • Process Audit-Musk Style: A Systems Analysis Solution

    Process Audit-Musk Style: A Systems Analysis Solution

    “Auditing is defined as the on-site verification activity, such as inspection or examination, of a process or quality system, to ensure compliance to requirements.”  Elon Musk has just changed the Auditing Game!

    Most readers are aware that Elon Musk is leading a small task force of developers to assess the processes and spend of various federal government agencies, i.e., USAID.  This pundit has been of the belief that this group is using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to address this, as he did when assessing the proposed budget in December 2024.

    Observers were astonished with the speed and accuracy of this AI driven assessment.  Gone are the days of thousands of pages of unreadable bills where congressional leaders demand instantaneous passage in the ‘wee hours’ of night.  No more, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”

    Too Big to Fail, No More!

    The long-standing mantra for major, critical sectors such as Money Center Banks is that they are too big and too important to be allowed to fail.  By this logic, US federal government agencies are at the top of that very short list.

    Assuming the following post on 𝕏 is factual, Musk and company have the developed the basis of a new company.  One that will restructure the way auditing is conducted for large complex organizations.

    The EKO article is a quick and compelling read, and we will not repost here.  Key take aways, this pundit took include that crawling through decades of data:

    • Three subsystems were mapped quickly as were payment flows across agencies.  Patterns were revealed that even career individuals did not know existed
    •  $17 billion in redundant programs were detected and are growing
    • “The beautiful thing about payment systems,” noted a transition official watching their screens, “is that they don’t lie. You can spin policy all day long, but money leaves a trail.”
    • “That trail led to staggering discoveries. Programs marked as independent revealed coordinated funding streams. Grants labeled as humanitarian aid showed curious detours through complex networks. Black budgets once shrouded in secrecy began to unravel under algorithmic scrutiny.”
    • “By 6 AM, Treasury’s career officials began arriving for work. They found systems they thought impenetrable already mapped. Networks they believed hidden already exposed. Power structures built over decades revealed in hours.”
    • “Their traditional defenses—slow-walking decisions, leaking damaging stories, stonewalling requests—proved useless against an opponent moving faster than their systems could react.  By the time they drafted their first memo objecting to this breach, three more systems had already been mapped.”

    The list goes on, but readers get the point and can do their own detailed review.  Also, one expects that much more will be made public in the near future.

    Graphic is taken from the linked 𝕏 article.

    2025-02-10_13h13_41

    Value Proposition to ‘We the People’

    Bureaucrats are hired hands.  The citizens of the United States of America are the client.  Some argue that government is different than a profit or non-profit organization.  But is it?  Isn’t government responsible for delivering goods and services in accordance with its customers wishes?  If not, what is the role of Washington, DC and every state capital?

    This pundit has focused on Operational Excellence (OE). We have developed economic models that document (with support) measurable as well as soft value that can be attained and sustained from OE initiatives.  We believe this approach is applicable to governmental agencies as well.

    Nature of Auditing

    According to the American Society for Quality (ASQ), Auditing has three components:

    • Process Audit–Verification that processes are working within established limits
    • Product Audit–Assess whether or not products and services conform to accepted standards and requirements
    • System Audit–Assessment of management systems, i.e., Operations Management Systems (OMS)

    The principal objective of the systems analysis phase is the specification of what the system needs to do to meet the requirements of end users.  Isn’t what Musk has done the holistic integration of data acquisition and initial assessment of the three components of an Audit?

    There are no longer three components (four if one included financial reporting) but ONE.  Not just Game Changing but the Creative Destruction of the esteemed auditing profession.

    Future Role of Professional Services

    This writer’s career spans the gulf of large software development teams to the configuration using tools by as few as one individual.  This is a pattern many processes deal with, for example fast food, discrete manufacturing, energy exploration, medical and others.

    Jobs are retooled and affected individuals find careers elsewhere and by the way, you’re never too old.  Millions of individuals in the private sector have met this challenge and some more than once.

    Apparently, Musk only had four (4) IT types working on this DOGE project.  Certainly, others had to assess his findings and make decision, but the data acquisition was inexpensive and fast.

    This suggests massive and wrenching changes to the professional services status quo.  Smaller, focused with fewer billable hours compensated teams.  The upside, this may lead to a Value Pricing Model.

    Musk Auditing LLC?

    Has Elon launched another company with the high visibility first customer?  This pundit thinks so.  And what a demo!

     “The US Auditing Services Market size is estimated at USD 51.88 billion in 2025, and is expected to reach USD 60.94 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 3.27% during the forecast period (2025-2030).”  I rest my case.  Then there is the Rest of the World!

    One lesson for all of us; any profession can be instantly made irrelevant with emerging technologies and the will power of new entrants.  At all costs, stay ahead of the curve.

     

    How will your organization deal with this game changer?

    Pre order our new book

    Navigating the Data Minefields:

    Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making

    We are living in an era of data and software exponential growth.  A substantive flood hitting us every day.  Geek heaven!  But what if information technology is not your cup of tea and you may even have your kids help with your smart devices?  This may not be a problem at home; however, what if you job depends on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

    Available April 2025

    Ordering Information

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is the coauthor of the 2023 book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be released by CRC Press in April 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross-Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg and his book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • Can Machines Think?

    Can Machines Think?

    In 1950, the mathematician Alan Turing put forth this question.  Rather than attempt to answer it using conventional logic, he proposed a new disruptive model–the Imitation Game.

    The Problem

    One can look at Alan Turing (1912-1954) as the “father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.”  His contributions to modern computer science cannot be understated.  He posited whether computers could one day have the cognitive capabilities of humans.  Some argue that day has arrived.  Yet, how do we know?

    The Turing Game

    The Imitation Game is played by three people (humans).

    (A) a Man,

    (B) a Woman, and

    (C) an Interrogator (of either gender)

    • The Interrogator, segregated into a separate room, is to determine which of the two players is the man and which is the woman.
    • The interrogator askes the two players (known only as “X and Y” or “Y and X”) a series of questions, the answers to which are written or passed through an intermediary so as not to expose the player’s gender.
    • The role of Player (B) is to assist (C) determine the gender of (A), while (A) is to deceive (C).

    However,

    • “What will happen when a machine takes the part of A in this game?  Will the interrogator decide wrongly as often when the game is played like this as he does when the game is played between a man and a woman?  These questions replace our original, Can Machines Think?“

    In his paper, Turing goes to elaborate in detail but for our purposes, the bottom line.

    Will the error rate from a human only decision process be the same as when a machine (digital decision maker) become one of the players?

    Early AI and the Turing Test

    In 1955, McCarthy and Shannon, along with Marvin Minsky and Nathaniel Rochester, defined the AI problem as, “that of making a machine behave in ways that would be called intelligent if a human were so behaving.  In 2013, when asked about Turing’s test in a taped interview, Minsky said, ‘The Turing test is a joke, sort of, about saying a machine would be intelligent if it does things that an observer would say must be being done by a human.’”   This materially connects the early definition of the AI problem to Turing’s test.

    Our intent here is not to split academic hairs but to put forth this concept that predates most readers and is typically not a subject of serious discussion.  The point being that the problem was documented 75 years ago or earlier and this pioneering thinking is the basis of our contemporary definition and implementation of Artificial Intelligence.

    Before Turing

    In one sense, we all stand on the shoulders of giants who preceded us.  “When you think about the origins of computer science, the name Ada Lovelace might not come to mind immediately—but it should.  Born in 1815, Ada Lovelace was an English mathematician and writer whose visionary work laid the foundation for modern computing.  Collaborating with Charles Babbage (considered to be the father of computing), the inventor of the Analytical Engine, Lovelace wrote what is widely recognized as the first algorithm designed for a machine.”

    “Ada was the first to explicitly articulate this notion and in this she appears to have seen further than Babbage.  She has been referred to as ‘prophet of the computer age‘.  Certainly, she was the first to express the potential for computers outside mathematics.”  In the computer Familia, we might also want to think of her as the grandmother of computing.

    Other women who played a major role in the evolution of Artificial Intelligence (after Turing) include Navy Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, the inventor of the first compiler for a programming language as well as other innovations.  Many others made significant contributions.  No doubt women will continue to play a vital role with this game changing technology.

    The Solution(s)

    Twelve years have passed since Minsky’s statement that the Turing test is a joke.  Today’s artificial intelligence capability has changed that landscape.

    The argument becomes, not can ‘we’ meet the Turing test, but how far and fast will it be eclipsed.  This suggests exciting times with associated challenges and risks.

    Contemporary Thinking about the Test

    “As AI systems are increasingly deployed in high-stakes scenarios, we may need to move beyond aggregate metrics and static benchmarks of input–output pairs, such as the Beyond the Imitation Game Benchmark (BIG-bench). We should be prepared to evaluate an AI’s cognitive abilities in a way that resembles the realistic settings in which it will be used.  This can be done with modern Turing-Like Tests.”  As shown in the following figure.

    “Looking ahead, Turing-like AI testing that would introduce machine adversaries and statistical protocols to address emerging challenges such as data contamination and poisoning.  These more rigorous evaluation methods will ensure AI systems are tested in ways that reflect real-world complexities, aligning with Turing’s vision of sustainable and ethically guided machine intelligence.”

    Computer Game Bot Turing Test

    “The computer game bot Turing test is a variant of the Turing test, where a human judge viewing and interacting with a virtual world must distinguish between other humans and video game bots, both interacting with the same virtual world. This variant was first proposed in 2008 by Associate Professor Philip Hingston of Edith Cowan University, and implemented through a tournament called the 2K BotPrize.”

    This pundit believes that the Turning test dam has been broken, and greater things lie ahead.

    Today’s Father of AI – Geoffrey Hinton, The Nobel Prize in Physics 2024

    “When we talk about artificial intelligence, we often mean machine learning using artificial neural networks. This technology was originally inspired by the structure of the brain.  In an artificial neural network, the brain’s neurons are represented by nodes that have different values.  In 1983–1985, Geoffrey Hinton used tools from statistical physics to create the Boltzmann machine, which can learn to recognize characteristic elements in a set of data.  The invention became significant, for example, for classifying and creating images.”

    Together with John J. Hopfield, they used physics to find patterns in information.  Dr. Hinton has expressed some concerns regarding his (AI) child as he states in the following interview from October 9, 2023.

    Theoretical Basis of Tests

    In this pundit’s opinion, the Turing test used Game Theory as a fundamental underpinning.  A later theory, Relationships, Behaviors and Conditions enables newer derivatives of the original Turing Test as well as supports different approaches to the problem.  These theories are briefly described.

    Finally, it is not necessary to read this section, as these details are provided for completeness and to support the position taken.  We understand that this level of detail is not for every reader.

    Over the past few years, there has been an impassioned argument regarding ‘The Science.”  We addressed this issue in 2020, and the following paragraph is taken from that Blog, They Blinded Me with Science.

    “According to Scientific American, Scientific claims are falsifiable—that is, they are claims where you could set out what observable outcomes would be impossible if the claim were true—while pseudo-scientific claims fit with any imaginable set of observable outcomes.  What this means is that you could do a test that shows a scientific claim to be false, but no conceivable test could show a pseudo-scientific claim to be false.

    Sciences are testable, pseudo-sciences are not.”

    There is academic peer reviewed agreement that both Game Theory and RBC hypotheses are testable.

    Game Theory

    Concurrent with Turing’s Imitation Game development, game theory was being formalized as an approach towards economic behavior modeling among economic ‘rational’ actors.

    “Game theory emerged as a distinct subdiscipline of applied mathematics, economics, and social science with the publication in 1944 of Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, a work of more than six hundred pages written in Princeton by two Continental European emigrés, John von Neumann, a Hungarian mathematician and physicist who was a pioneer in fields from quantum mechanics to computers, and Oskar Morgenstern, a former director of the Austrian Institute for Economic Research.  They built upon analyses of two-person, zero-sum games published in the 1920s.”  This treatise was developed from the works of other pioneers of the 1920s and 1930s.

    An interesting side note, “The software industry is a little over half a century old (in 2005), but its roots date back to the textile loom programming of the seventeenth century that powered the Charles Babbage Difference Engine. In 1946, ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), the first large-scale general-purpose electronic computer built at the University of Pennsylvania, ushered in the modern computing era.

    That same year (1946), John von Neumann coauthored a paper, Preliminary Discussion of the Logical Design of an Electronic Computing Instrument.  The von Neumann general purpose architecture defines the process of executing a continuous cycle of extracting an instruction from memory, processing it, and storing the results has been used by programmers ever since.“(1) 

    Perhaps, this is part of the collision of the two major breakthroughs: Game Theory and the modern Computer Architecture.

    In 1996, this author’s doctoral dissertation, Cross Cultural Negotiations between Japanese and American Businessmen: A Systems Analysis, (Exploratory Study) was “An exploratory test of this framework in the context of two-person zero-sum simulated negotiation between Japanese businessmen and American salesmen, both living and working in the United States.  The integration of structural (game theory) and process theories (RBC) into a dynamic systems model seeks to better understand the nature of complex international negotiations.  Advanced statistical techniques, such as structural equation modeling are useful tools providing insight into these negotiation dynamics.”

    This work is the basis for the Cloud based Serious Games used to train Cross Cultural Teams.

    Relationships, Behaviors and Conditions (RBC) Framework

    This model has been part of numerous this pundit’s writings since 1996.  A brief overview from a 2011 article follows.

    “The Relationships, Behaviors, and Conditions (RBC) model was originally developed to address issues around cross cultural (international) negotiation processes.   Relationships are the focal point of this perspective, reflecting commonality of interest, balance of power and trust as well as intensity of expressed conflict.

    Behavior in this model is defined as a broad term including multidimensions – intentional as well as unintentional.  Finally, Conditions are defined as active and including circumstances, capabilities and skills of the parties, culture, and the environment.  Of course, time is a variable in this model as well.

    One key feature of the R B C Framework is its emphasis on interactive relationships while providing an environment for multiple levels of behavioral analysis. This makes it a useful tool to better understand the new regulatory processes currently unfolding.  As we will see later, the number of constituents now engaged belays the use of simplistic linear decision models.”(2)

    Operational Excellence

    The following excerpt from our 2017 Blog, Excellent Behaviors: Assessing Relationships in the Operational Excellence Ecosystem addresses the role of the RBC Framework in organizational excellence.

    “One of the hot business buzzwords of 2017 is “Operational Excellence.” It has been the subject for many pundits, including this one.

    In October and November we published a two-part series, Assuring Operational Excellence from Contractors and Their Subcontractors through BTOES Insights.  Each part included a link to additional information.

    The October edition featured an excerpt of our Implementing a Culture of Safety book. In the November edition we released our new Best Practice solution, Attaining & Sustaining Operational Excellence: A Best Practice Implementation Model. We are proud to make it available herein and in general.

    One of the basic tenets of the RBC Framework is the general construct that Relationships cannot be determined a priori.  The well-used example is a man and a woman sitting on a bench at a bus stop.  Are they married, siblings, coworkers, friends or simply two people waiting to catch the same/different bus?

    Their relationship cannot be known directly. However, their Behaviors will provide insight into how they relate to each other.  Romantic behavior may indicate marriage, dating, an affair etc.  They may still be coworkers but most likely are not strangers.

    The third dimension, Conditions (environment) can be considered the stage upon which behaviors play.  So, what does this have to do with Operational Excellence?

    Another component of our digital environment is Human Systems Integration (HSI). In our forthcoming book, we have defined HSI as, “Human Systems Integration (HSI) considers the following seven domains: Manpower, Personnel, Training, Human Factors Engineering, Personnel Survivability, Habitability, and Environment, Safety and Occupational Health (ESOH).  In simple terms, HSI focuses on human beings and their interaction with hardware, software, and the environment.”

    We have crossed the Turing Rubicon.  How will your organization capitalize on these Opportunities?

    Hardcopy References

    1. Shemwell, Scott M. (2005). Disruptive Technologies—Out of the Box. Essays on Business and Information Technology Alignment Issues of the Early 21st Century. New York: Xlibris. p. 127.

    2. _______ (2011, January). The Blast Heard Around the World. Petroleum Africa Magazine. pp. 32-35.

    Pre order our new book

    Navigating the Data Minefields:

    Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making

    We are living in an era of data and software exponential growth.  A substantive flood hitting us every day.  Geek heaven!  But what if information technology is not your cup of tea and you may even have your kids help with your smart devices?  This may not be a problem at home; however, what if you job depends on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

    Available April 2025

    Ordering Information

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is the coauthor of the 2023 book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be released by CRC Press in April 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross-Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg and his book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • Who Owns the Intellectual Property Generated by AI?

    Who Owns the Intellectual Property Generated by AI?

    Disclaimer:  The author is not an attorney, and this document is not meant to be a legal opinion in any sense.  Interested readers should contact their legal counsel for any Intellectual Property (IP) determination.  This blog simply raises a question that is generally not addressed regarding ownership rights of the content and products developed using artificial intelligence emerging technologies.  One suspects that going forward, this issue will become more forefront.

    Moreover, this is a fast-moving environment with new local laws and promulgated regulations continuously updated.  Readers are cautioned that some of the materials herein may be quickly dated.  Appropriate legal counsel and other experts should be consulted.

    Like most new software technologies, there is a period of the Wild West where anything seems to go.  Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been no different, but now these horses are beginning to be reined in.

    It is generally accepted that the ownership of content developed using third party software belongs to the generator of said content.  Data, the results of analytics and their interpretation, computer generated audio video materials, etc. are generally covered by this convention and codified by law.  The spreadsheet vendor does not own the financial analysis that leads to major value add to the firm.  Conversely, if the financial model is flawed, the software developer is generally not liable.

    However, Artificial Intelligence is a different technology model.  It dictates that organizational AI policies recognize the disruptive change caused.  For example, the publisher of my new book, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making has issued its author, AI Policy.

    An AI engine searches for data and information from a wide variety of sources.  It then amalgamates and analyzes and/or develops what some consider a new product or solution–document, image, or new approach/model, e.g. medical technique.  However, did the AI secure permission from the data owner(s) or even cite its source(s)?  The most likely answer is no.  A follow-on statement might be, “why do we need that?”

    Copyright

    According to the U.S. Copyright Office, “Copyright is a type of intellectual property that protects original works of authorship as soon as an author fixes the work in a tangible form of expression.  In copyright law, there are a lot of different types of works, including paintings, photographs, illustrations, musical compositions, sound recordings, computer programs, books, poems, blog posts, movies, architectural works, plays, and so much more!”  The Copyright Office goes on to state, “Works are original when they are independently created by a human author and have a minimal degree of creativity.”
     
    In the UK, “Two conflicting views emerged.  The tech sector believes the copyright to AI-generated content should belong to users, whereas the creative sector wants this content to be excluded from ownership completely.”
     
    From a 2022 Reuters article about a lawsuit over, Gen AI generated content.
    “Accordingly, unless a generative AI is used in such a manner that its output would be recognizably linked to some person or entity who is likely to actively police the use of their works and whose works are likely to be registered, the risk of the generative AI’s users being sued for infringement seems low.
     
    In practice, the legal issues surrounding generative AI mean that its outputs should be handled in a manner similar to materials covered by open source or creative commons licenses — i.e., with policies and procedures which ensure use only in appropriate manners and cases.  This includes determining if a project where generative AI would be used is something whose results would need to be protected and, if so, determining whether tools are available for that protection other than copyright.
     
    It also includes avoiding high risk uses, such as using generative AI to attempt to replicate the work of a particular artist whose materials were used as training data. However, with intentionality and forethought, the risks associated with generative AI can be managed, and this new technology can bring tremendous benefits to those who deploy it intelligently.“
     
    Later, we will address two other types of Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks.  Both have a lengthy pedigree as well that must be considered in our new AI era.
     

    Data Privacy

    Data privacy and security are major issues organizations must deal with, and the regulatory burden is onerous.  Most readers have heard of HIPPA; the need to keep individual medical records confidential.  HIPPA is symptomatic of the need to treat ALL data in secure and private.

    From the GDPR, “The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the toughest privacy and security law in the world.  Though it was drafted and passed by the European Union (EU), it imposes obligations onto organizations anywhere, so long as they target or collect data related to people in the EU.  The regulation was put into effect on May 25, 2018.   The GDPR will levy harsh fines against those who violate its privacy and security standards, with penalties reaching into the tens of millions of euros.”

    The EU regulations are viewed as the ‘gold standard’ and others worldwide are in the process of emulating them.  Increased date management regulations are a given, as is their impact on AI learning.

    IP Guardrails

    Individuals and organizations jealously guard their intellectual properties, as they should.  Just think of the significant value Disney has built over 100 years from a cartoon mouse.

    Some may see AI as an assault on the organization’s core and take legal action they believe appropriate.  Others will try to capitalize on loopholes.  This is not different behavior from the IP current practice.

    AI advocates will find themselves in the midst of what could be a significant number of legal challenges as the technology and its regulation matures.  The current long-standing legal battles over social media platforms is but one example of this process.

    IP Ownership of AI Generated Content: The Movie

    Summary of the Video

    Briefly, in the video dated January 7, 2024, the attorney makes the following key points:

    • Copyright extends only to humans and AI content generated by products such as ChatGPT do not meet the ‘human’ authorship test.  However, if a human is actively engaged in the development of (and change) said content, things get less clear.
    •  Regarding AI generated inventions, Patent law becomes more relevant.  The speaker argues that ‘at least today’ patent laws mirror copyright because human creativity is key.
    • As far as AI generated Trademarks are concerned, these products such as logos, tag lines, etc. do not enjoy original authorship protection, but their ‘first use’ has precedence.  For more information he references the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
    • Finally, he states that this area of the law is unfolding, and change is likely.

    These points were transcribed by this pundit.  As such, they are only his perception and must be viewed skeptically when addressing a specific ‘real’ question regarding this subject matter.  The attorney’s fifth bullet is probably the most important one.

    Final Thoughts

    Intellectual Property ownership is an area that technologists and software developers are generally not involved with.  Additionally, many have historically treated the content found online as if it is in the public domain.  We now know that authorship should be attributed.

    For most of the things individuals and organizations do with online content this is not an issue.  Blogs, political opinion and technology critique among others come to mind.

    However, AI has the potential to change fortunes (wealth, reputation and other) of individuals and organizations.  Finally, the regulatory environment is evolving, and dramatic changes are most likely forthcoming.

    Individual creators, management and others have a responsibility to assure AI developed content meets, and not just the regulations (in each jurisdiction the firm operates in).  Moreover, governance enforcement models must add AI technologies and assure that others are not infringing on the firm’s IP with potential risks of capital and reputational loss.

    One Last Thing

    With the need to protect data as well as assure all key intellectual property is protected, will this negatively impact on the output of AI models?  What will be the basis of gen AI training if it cannot gain access to the universe of data they require?  And yes, I know we often sign away certain rights when we engage with some organizations, but we can ‘opt out’ of allowing access to our data.

    Another Blog for a later time but in the meantime, just a question.

    How is your organization addressing these and other Intellectual Property issues emerging from Gen AI and other content developers?

    Pre order our new book

    Navigating the Data Minefields:

    Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making

    We are living in an era of data and software exponential growth.  A substantive flood hitting us every day.  Geek heaven!  But what if information technology is not your cup of tea and you may even have your kids help with your smart devices?  This may not be a problem at home; however, what if you job depends on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

    Available April 2025

    Ordering Information

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is the coauthor of the recently published book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be published by CRC Press in 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross-Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg and his book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • Strategic Sourcing?

    Strategic Sourcing?

    Is outsourcing software development strategic or simply a cost saving method?

    It Depends

    The most infamous words in software development.  Yes, it depends on the task at hand, but this cop out has long been a way to forego the development of a robust economic value and risk assessment.

    According to one vendor, “Engineering started becoming a commodity.”  But is this true if your product and organizational reputation are based on the long-earned perception that your organization provides the very best in safe and cost-effective solutions?

    What is your solution must work all the time, every time, e.g. medical equipment?  The list goes on, but readers get the point.

    Strategic Sourcing

    According to CIPS, the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply, “Strategic sourcing is about having a targeted approach to your procurement activity.  A sourcing strategy will help you to formalise the way you gather information, so you can find the best possible value that aligns with your organisation’s goals, long term.  Strategic sourcing is a long-term process and requires continuous re-evaluation of sourcing activities, analysis of the market and recognising your organisations goals.

    Strategic sourcing is important because it can help you save costs through the monitoring of the market and sourcing the right suppliers.  It also acts as a way to maintain long-term relationships with suppliers and they are selected on their compatibility with your organisation’s goals.”

    While strategic sourcing has its value, it cannot replace organization core competency.  These are two very different business requirements.

    Core Competency

    From One definition, “core competencies refer to the capabilities, knowledge, skills and resources that constitute its defining strengths.  Core competencies distinguish a company from other organizations and are, therefore, not easily replicated by those organizations, whether they’re existing competitors or new entrants into its market.”

    Not all engineering meets the test of core competency, but management must perform proper ‘due diligence’ before outsourcing technology and processes that either do or might meet this test.  In other words, effective Risk Profiling.

    Max 8 Headlines, Again

    The once storied aerospace firm, Boeing just can’t seem to catch a break.  A self-made purgatory: the gift that keeps on giving.  Offshoring engineering software development as a cost saving method appears to have backfired.

    Damningly, Multiple investigations – including a Justice Department criminal probe – are trying to unravel how and when critical decisions were made about the Max’s software.  During the crashes of Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines planes that killed 346 people, investigators suspect, the MCAS system pushed the planes into uncontrollable dives because of bad data from a single sensor.

    That design violated basic principles of redundancy for generations of Boeing engineers, and the company apparently never tested to see how the software would respond, Lemme said.  “It was a stunning fail,” he said.  “A lot of people should have thought of this problem – not one person – and asked about it.”

    To this observer, it appears that this software met the test for core competency.  If this is the case, why would this be outsourced to save a few bucks?  It certainly appears to be outside the organization’s culture of redundancy that has served the organization well for decade.  A third-party vendor most likely would not share this cultural trait.

    How does your organization handle Bet Your Company procurement decisions?

    Pre order our new book

    Navigating the Data Minefields:

    Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making

    We are living in an era of data and software exponential growth.  A substantive flood hitting us every day.  Geek heaven!  But what if information technology is not your cup of tea and you may even have your kids help with your smart devices?  This may not be a problem at home; however, what if you job depends on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

    Available April 2025

    Ordering Information

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is a coauthor of the recently published book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be published by CRC Press in 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross-Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg and his book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • The Crisis/Challenge of AI in 2025

    The Crisis/Challenge of AI in 2025

    “Many processes are repeatable and only data inputs change.”

                                                                                                         — Scott Shemwell, 2023.

    Technology disruption has been with humankind since the first invention.  We get used to one model and suddenly, a new way supplants the old.  Much has been written about the innovation process, and it is not the focus of this Blog to regurgitate the obvious.

    However, Wikipedia states, “Beyond business and economics disruptive innovations can also be considered to disrupt complex systems, including economic and business-related aspects.  Through identifying and analyzing systems for possible points of intervention, one can then design changes focused on disruptive interventions.”  This is the broader focus of this piece.

    Human Redundancy?

    One if the ongoing concerns, “will AI replace humans?”  As of this writing, many do not believe it will, at least anytime soon.  Interestingly, according to Harvard professor Karim Lakhani, “Just as the internet has drastically lowered the cost of information transmission, AI will lower the cost of cognition.”  This is consistent with the traditional path of Information Technology innovation.

    Moreover, this concern is not new.  In her 1983 paper, Ironies of Automation, Lisanne Bainbridge posited that there are inherent problems with automating workflow, humans are still required for tasks that are not easily (if at all) automated.  Oversight of automation requires more training in new job skills, not less.  More recently, the former Chief Scientist of the US Air Force points out the “Original Ironies of Automation is highly relevant with regards to today’s new wave of AI-enhanced automation.  Near misses and incidents involving human automation operations often arise from a mismatch between the properties of the system as a whole and the characteristics of human information processing.”

    In our forthcoming book we address the need for Strong Oversight coupled with Standardization and Risk Tolerance to address the broader need for upskilling today.  According to McKinsey, “Any engineering talent rethink needs to begin with an understanding of how gen AI will affect the product development life cycle.”

    Paraphrasing Mark Twain, “The rumors of Human demise are greatly exaggerated.”  AI is here to stay and should be embraced with cautionary guardrails as it is still immature and subject to error.

    Human Factors

    One pundit refers to the ‘Human Edge‘ as the competitive Advantage we have over machines.  This pundit has long been an advocate for Human Factors when it comes to managing technology, especially emerging technology used for process or production management.  The risk profile otherwise is just to0 steep and high.  One only has to look at the recent travails of the once venerable firm, Boeing.

    2025 and Beyond

    Artificial Technology, its future derivative products and solutions not yet envisioned will continue.  Most likely at the breakneck speed or faster of today.  Remember when we used to think of the Internet growth in terms of Dog Years?  Insect Years may be the new metric.

    Many, including this writer as documented in our book, believe AI et al is just entering the explosive growth on the maturation curve.  We must live with it and the most successful will get ‘on board’ when the timing is right for them.

    Exciting times lie before us all and it is a great time to be alive, at least from a technology perspective.

    How are you, your family and work colleagues prepared for the future?

    Pre order our new book

    Navigating the Data Minefields:

    Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making

    We are living in an era of data and software exponential growth.  A substantive flood hitting us every day.  Geek heaven!  But what if information technology is not your cup of tea and you may even have your kids help with your smart devices?  This may not be a problem at home; however, what if you job depends on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

    Available April 2025

    Ordering Information

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is a coauthor of the recently published book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be published by CRC Press in 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross-Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg and his book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • DOGE’d

    DOGE’d

    The Day the Congress Stood Still

    On December 18, 2024, Elon Musk delivered on the social media site, 𝕏  the death knell of a 1500+ page so called Continuing Resolution that was to stave off a Federal Government shutdown.  Later it was replaced with a much shorter (100+ page) bill that passed largely intact.

    This Out-of-the-Gate action by the Non-Government Organization (NGO), DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) may foretell the next 18+ months of DOGE’s self-imposed life ending July 4, 2026.  This first Musk assessment revealed extensive and massive political pork earmarked spending.

    The Congress and all manner of hired bureaucrats may face increased public scrutiny, posted for all to see.  Who knows, the idea may expand to all levels of government and their hired hands.

    Creative Destruction

    Previously, we discussed this economic substitution model.  “The economist Joseph Schumpeter was the first to coin the term creative destruction–the destruction of old markets and those active in them through innovation, & inventing of new markets, this can be new technologies, methods, business models, services, or products.”  One can argue that the creative destruction cycle time is very short today.

    And perhaps getting even shorter!

    Gort or Grok?

    In the original (1951) movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still, the robot Gort has the ability to destroy the world.  It is prevented from doing so by the utterance (by a human) of the key words, “Klaatu barada nikto.”

    According to 𝕏, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) robot of today, Grok (formally defined as “to understand something”) “leverages the 𝕏 platform to understand what’s happening in the world in real time. We recently launched two additional features to enhance this experience even further: web search and citations.  Now Grok draws upon posts from 𝕏 and webpages from the broader internet to provide timely and accurate answers to your queries.  We also added citations, so you can easily dive deeper into a source to learn more or verify the information provided by Grok.”

    Fortunately, three simple words neutralized Gort, and the earth was saved.  Grok will not so easily be rendered impotent, unless the First Amendment is repealed.

    The government world has been (figurately) creatively destroyed and changed forever.  Moreover, in their world of consistent suboptimal performance, most have no idea what has already happened to their cherished long-standing bureaucratic processes.

    The Regulatory Public Comment period will never be the same.

    After DOGE

    It appears that Musk has put in place an AI solution that will live on after the formal closure of DOGE in 2026.  Grok and other emerging AI tools can continue to review and assess each and every piece of proposed legislation and other government edicts regardless of length and/or complexity.

    Like Hacking, those opposed to honesty will seek ways to thwart AI.  Those providing transparency solutions will need to stay one step ahead, just like law enforcement agencies that are required to enforce and uphold the law.  If accepted social behaviors norms are to prevail, transparency is demanded.

    Finally, we can “read the bill to find out what is in it.”  Prior to voting!

    This Accountability Sucks!

    Well, get over it!  One suspects entrenched vested interests will try to find ways around this revolution, but likely to no avail.  There is not only a new sheriff in town, even after he leaves, the new accountability will remain.

    And so much for the current media business model whereby either a single individual or small group amalgamates society’s daily activities and present the proletariat with their (often agenda driven/opinionated/biased) version of THE NEWS.

    How will you take advantage of the AI delivery of information?

    Pre order our new book

    Navigating the Data Minefields:

    Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making

    We are living in an era of data and software exponential growth.  A substantive flood hitting us every day.  Geek heaven!  But what if information technology is not your cup of tea and you may even have your kids help with your smart devices?  This may not be a problem at home; however, what if you job depends on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

    Available April 2025

    Ordering Information

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is a coauthor of the recently published book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be published by CRC Press in 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross-Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg and his book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • Birds of a Feather . . .

    Birds of a Feather . . .

    Eagles Soar, others flock.

    Post the US election, it seems that many on the losing side are circling the wagons and pointing to the ‘other guy’ to blame for a series of political sins.  Like fish in a school, the belief seems to be that the crowd provides an element of protection.  But is this belief borne out by observation?

    Experience suggests that the masses can be figuratively slaughtered while the lone leader prevails.

    Keep Doing What You’re Doing

    Paraphrasing the Brown/Einstein quote about insanity, ‘many are doubling down on past behaviors that have already cost success.’  Yet we humans keeping going back to the old playbook.  Partially, because we do not know any other options.  Shame on those without a well thought out strategy (with options) because as we know, ‘No plan survives initial contact.”  If your political party just lost a major nationwide election, why would the first post-election reaction be to do more of the same?  Not all are taking this path, but based on the public media it seems many are.

    We often refer to the concept of Groupthink, “A process through which the desire for consensus in groups can lead to poor decisions.  Rather than object to them and risk losing a sense of group solidarity, members may remain silent and lend their support,” when speaking about group dynamics.  Let me posit that this sociological model does not address the dynamics of the losing side in the recent Presidental election.

    The Abilene Paradox

    The “Abilene paradox refers to a situation wherein no member of a group decides to contest a decision taken by the group, believing it to be the consensus of everyone, when in reality, none of the group members agree with the decision.  However, none of them speak up for the fear of going against the wishes of others and end up regretting not speaking up in time.”

    To this pundit, the Abilene paradox more closely mirrors what may have been happening to the losing presidential candidate team than many other social and behavioral models.

    The following short video provides a good and concise presentation of this methodology and its origin.  Suggest readers take a few minutes to watch it.

    Early Signals from the Markets

    Note: This paragraph is the opinion of this writer and not the result of a formal data analysis or use of any methodology.  Also, it does make one wonder if the results of the US Presidental election were borne out exclusively for the reasons many pundits are putting currently putting forward.

    Thanksgiving is the informal kick off for the holidays or Christmas.  It seems that the atmosphere this year is more upbeat, even joyous than in the recent past.  For example, starting with the so-called Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), “E-commerce was the biggest winner over the weekend, showing the strongest growth year over year. U.S. online sales for the weekend were $41.1 billion, and online spending set new records on each of the five days, according to data from Adobe Analytics.”  Despite persistent inflation, these sales figures are extraordinarily strong.

    Moreover, advertisers seem more willing to use the phase, “Merry Christmas” more than in the recent past.

    Perhaps, the outcome of the election excited the population, but maybe there is an additional factor to be considered.

    Retail marketers must develop champaigns well in advance of the purchasing season.  Decisions regarding inventory volume and key ‘in’ styles and toys etc. must be made.  Moreover, festivities, parades and other market Pull Drivers as well Push (when appropriate) must be developed, funded and implemented.

    Bottom Line–these efforts should be seen as a major Leading Indicator.  This suggests that retailers and other consumer/hospitality sectors had supporting data many months ago, i.e., Big Data Analytics.

    Hypothesis, while very important, the personalities in the election may have played a lesser role than many believe.  The rising tide lifted the boat of the candidate(s) that could sense this underlying movement higher better than those that did not pick up on these vibrations.  This is an important leadership trait.

    This does not diminish the role of candidates and positions taken.  We simply make the case that there is a broader social and economic movement afoot.

    This writer only has access to public information and the opinions of others on this subject.  There may be other processes and behaviors taken by the presidential parties (not publicized) that can either add or detract from the arguments herein.  Additionally, some public behaviors such as campaign budgets and spending habits are known and likely contributed to the wining process as well as the losing operation.

    Final Thoughts

    In the coming years many books, research papers and other documents will be written about the 2024 US Presidental election.  Some will add real value to the discussion, yet sadly many will seek to justify positions taken.  Others will label scapegoats.

    Likely, history will show that this election is but a single yet major impact event of a very large social transformation whose final impact we cannot yet surmise. 

    To be successful in this new environment, individuals and the groups they represent only gain actionable and factual knowledge when strict and structured methodologies are use based on strong data foundations.  In this piece, the November 15, 2024, edition The Transformation of Our Spreadsheet Society and others (previously published and future editions), we attempt to participate in these early discussions.

    What have you learned from the outcomes of November 5, 2024?

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is a coauthor of the recently published book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be published by CRC Press in 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg and his latest book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • Never Ask a Tire Salesperson if You Need New Tires

    Never Ask a Tire Salesperson if You Need New Tires

    This Blog is dedicated to the memory of Eugene Lindsay, 1931-2015.  For many years, Gene was one of my sales representatives, confidant and a friend.  The title of this piece is attributed to him.

    The United States is still in the throes of the election aftermath and the President just pardoned his son; something he repeatedly stated he never would!

    The Not Good, The Bad and Absolutely Ugly!

    Form Information Can Take

    Even Biden’s hitherto staunchest supporters have turned on this so-called liar.  Never mind that he has a decades long visible track record of his verbal latitude with the facts, this seems to have broken the camel’s metaphoric back.  Moreover, this incident has seemingly opened Pandora’s Box regarding the loose running with the truth during the recent election cycle.

    In our forthcoming book (2025), Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making, we address at length the following types of non-factual information:

    • Misinformation–“It can be a collection of false, fabricated, misleading and/or taken out of context.  However, it does not meet the test of Intent to Deceive.”
    • Disinformation–“The deliberate publication of private information for personal or private interest, as well as the deliberate manipulation of genuine content.”
    • Malinformation–“The deliberate publication of private information for personal or private interest, as well as the deliberate manipulation of genuine content.”
    • Deep-Fake–“Technology that can seamlessly stitch anyone in the world into a video or photo they never actually participated in.”  We saw some of this during this last election.

    When Guardrails Fail

    “The fury which destroys an opponent’s character, would stop at nothing, if barriers were thrown down.  That which is true of the leaders in politics, is true of subordinates.  Political dishonesty in voters runs into general dishonesty, as the rotten speck taints the whole apple.  A community whose politics are conducted by a perpetual breach of honesty on both sides, will be tainted by immorality throughout.  Men will play the same game in their private affairs, which they have learned to play in public matters.  The guile, the crafty vigilance, the dishonest advantage, the cunning sharpness;—the tricks and traps and sly evasions; the equivocal promises, and unequivocal neglect of them, which characterize political action, will equally characterize private action.  The mind has no kitchen to do its dirty work in, while the parlor remains clean.  Dishonesty is an atmosphere; if it comes into one apartment, it penetrates into every one.  Whoever will lie in politics, will lie in traffic.  Whoever will slander in politics, will slander in personal squabbles.  A professor of religion who is a dishonest politician, is a dishonest Christian.  His creed is a perpetual index of his hypocrisy.”

    —Henry Ward Beecher

    “Politics was a necessarily dirty game of treachery and deceit.”

    – Dave Robinson

    The tools now available with more yet to come enable nefarious characters to attempt new heights in propaganda.  Joseph Goebbels would be so proud.

    Those of us who they seek to become consumers of valid and reliable information must develop better ‘radar’ detecting mischief in information and/or data.  This will be an ongoing war with significant challenges determining actual facts–truth seeking.  Moreover, misinformation and bias can come from automated solutions including Artificial Intelligence.

    The saying, “If it sounds too good to be truth, it probably is,” applies today as much as ever.  Our book drills down much deeper regarding signs of fabrication.  We must forever be on guard for purveyors of lies are ubiquitous.

    And don’t forget.  Everyone has an agenda–good or some not so virtuous.

    Enter the Tire Salesman

    Gene Lindsay was a lifelong sales representative.  Selling was his stock and trade.  As might be expected from someone with his outgoing personality and background, he had a number of quips about the sales business.  The satire of this Blog title has stuck with me over the years.

    The obvious response is NOT to trust a sales representative of tires if you don’t know if you need one or more of his/her products.  Gene knew that professionalism and helping prospects/client to make the right decision paid more with greater personal rewards in the long run than ‘stretching’ the truth for immediate gratification/commission.

    NO is the appropriate sales objection in response to a tire sale representative, if in fact you do not need tires at this time.  Ethics and truth shines through and yes, someday we all will need tires and hopefully we will turn to Gene’s proteges.

    The Truth Will Set You Free

    We all must attain and sustain the mantel of a knowledgeable (buyer) consumer of information.  Our personal and professional success depends on this skill.  Moreover, teach your children, colleagues, friends and relatives this skill as well.  They will thank you for it every day they are required to make decisions.

    Our marketing buzz word driven world has invented a number of descriptions for those who wish us ill, scammers, porch pirates, politicians who ‘walk back’ statements (give me a break), etc. These individuals are just liars and thieves and should be vilified.  We should not credit them with some panache because of their chosen path.

    While some politicians may not actually break the law, their states expose who they truly are.  As Beecher stated, “Men will play the same game in their private affairs, which they have learned to play in public matters.”  In other words, the philosophy, “We are what we eat,” is inviolate.

    How do you and your organization determine whether information presented is tainted and/or past it’s “sell by date?”

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is a coauthor of the recently published book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be published by CRC Press in 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg and his latest book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • The Transformation of Our Spreadsheet Society

    The Transformation of Our Spreadsheet Society

    “The only rules are the ones dictated by the laws of physics.  Everything else is a recommendation.”  — Walter Isaacson/Elon Musk

    We live in a spreadsheet society.  Columns of Categories of People and Rows of Wants, Needs, and Desires.  This model is too simplistic.  What is needed, and Big Data can provide, is a more sophisticated approach.

    This spreadsheet approach was shown in the recent US elections to be detrimental to the party mainly depending on this view of society.  How many times did we hear pollsters opine that X percent of a certain population was voting for one candidate vs. the other?  The categories of people were divided along traditional lines.  This whole model was shattered on November 2, 2024, and likely some providers of data in this format may no longer be in business for the next cycle.

    However, this belief system is not limited to the political class.  We all can fall into this stereotype.

    For decades we have been taught that data categories can be captured under a Normal Distribution (Bell) Curve of a category and row of interest, i.e., the distribution of the height of a class of male senior high school students or SAT scores.  Another more relevant example, retailers’ pertinacious obsession with the 18–34-year-old group.

    These are fairly simple models, and in this Blogger’s opinion, this representation rarely works anymore, if it ever did.  For example, the resulting retail sector inventory overages as a result of dependencies on this gross data model are not an effective return on shareholder value.  Other recent missteps based on faulty interpretation of the customer/prospect base include the Bud Lite advertising fiasco and the Target marketing failure.

    It is ok to make marketing mistakes, that is going to happen.  The problem with these two (and other) campaigns is the analysis of risk, return, etc. was likely shallow or mathematically primitive.

    There are ways to appeal to new consumers without alienating a large existing base.  It’s all in the big numbers.

    There are several validated models of human behavior and we will discuss two of them herein, Maslow’s Hierarchy and the Relationships, Behaviors, Conditions model.  Some readers may prefer others, and they will most likely work within this construct as well.

    Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

    This perspective on human needs and subsequent behaviors dates back to the 1940s.  As shown, it consists of five steps from survival to the ultimate Self Actualization.  Note that we adapt this model in two ways.  First, we view this as a growth process as opposed to five discrete steps.  Additionally, the bottom two lower ranges focus mostly on the physical issues we all face.  Fundamental survival and security both physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  Once we have attained, sustained, and believe, we are ready to transition towards an end game, “the realization or fulfillment of one’s talents and potentialities, especially considered as a drive or need present in everyone.”

    Next, we will discuss how we can use this and the RBC solutions to realize specific and measurable value that changes this dynamic.

    The color gradient is meant to reflect that this journey is a process and often each field begins slowly before accelerating into the next range.

    Another perspective of each the Five Platforms consists of a number of smaller steps, which when assessed using Integral Calculus, generates a continuum.

    Relationships, Behaviors, and Conditions (RBC)

    The following is taken from our Cross-Cultural Online Game site:

    The RELATIONSHIPS, BEHAVIORS, and CONDITIONS (RBC) model was originally developed to address issues around cross cultural (international) negotiation processes.   As shown in the figure, Relationships are the focal point of this perspective, reflecting commonality of interest, balance of power and trust as well as intensity of expressed conflict.  Behaviors in this model is defined as a broad term including multi-dimensions and intentional as well as unintentional.  Finally, Conditions are defined as active and including circumstances, capabilities and skills of the parties, culture, and the environment.  Of course, Time is a variable in this model as well.

    Moreover, we have defined Behavioral Economics as “the decision-making model that incorporates societal, cultural, emotions and other human biases into the process as opposed to the classic rational economic actor.

    One key feature of the R B C Framework is its emphasis on interactive relationships while providing an environment for multiple levels of behavioral analysis.   This makes it a useful tool to better understand the new Big Data/AI processes currently unfolding.

    The following graphic is a derivative of our Cross-Cultural Interactions model.  It is a peer reviewed model and is a very good way to calibrate interactions.  Additional information is available on the above link.

    This author has long believed that we do not live in a linear or mathematically deterministic world.  A strong belief in stochastic, matrices drive much of my thinking.  This is reflected in the figure on the left.  The RBC model is the foundation for the five parties and their collective Behaviors.  The resulting Relationships range from one-on-one to small groups or in some cases a wide and varied constituency.

    Note that there is an Ecosystem, (something, such as a network of businesses, considered to resemble an ecological ecosystem especially because of its complex interdependent parts) associated with each entity other that the individuals’ who are the other four.

    This is a wide array of influences on any given individual.  Not easily measured, linearly!

    Scientific Method

    Most readers are familiar with how science has been brought into bolster the position of pundits/advocates of policy, especially related to Covid-19.  The word is tossed around casually, as if most who use it know what they are talking about.  Spoiler Alert–Most Do Not! This includes some with advanced technical or medical bona fides.

    Most think that by using the word ‘science’ this assessment process is out of their wheelhouse.  Previously, we argued that there is a layperson’s approach that works fine for most of our daily needs.  Details can be found on our Blog, They Blinded Me with Science.

    For space reasons, this (guidelines) model will not be repeated here but check it out, it is a short read.

    The late Nobel Laureate, Richard Feynman has a brief and layperson-oriented presentation on the Scientific Method.  He is an excellent teacher, and this clip is informative as well as entertaining.

     “If it disagrees with experiment, its wrong”—Richard Feynman

    Human Input Still Needed

    To be clear, pollsters and marketers will still need to ask questions that will also help structure the model, but the processes posited herein can change the weighting processes driving toward equilibrium and Pareto Optimality (Pareto efficiency implies that resources are allocated in the most economically efficient manner but does not imply equality or fairness) in the final analysis.  In other words, higher quality results.

    These numbers can also be seen as ‘first value’ in a simulation.  Another way to look at this is to the logic the Turing (Bombe) Machine of World War II.  Not setting a number as itself.

    Then AI can take the model to the next level and provide pollsters/marketers with real, modern solutions.  Finally, other uses will most likely be derivatives of this solution.

    The Data Management Problem

    We have identified a general problem as well as three valid and reliable theories.  This is only a nice discussion without relevance with Valid, Reliable, and Timely (VRT) data.  Data Management has been a problem as long as there has been data, stone, paper or electronic.  It has always been an issue.  “Herman Hollerith is given credit for adapting the punch cards used for weaving looms to act as the memory for a mechanical tabulating machine, in 1890.”  Much later (circa 1950s) digital database management schemas emerged.  Today, we are flooded by data of all types including telemetry and deliberately false data/information.

    How can this be effectively managed and how can an executive without a technology background survive much less thrive in such an environment?

    For decades, this author has been involved in almost all computer system development from the yellow punch tape of the 1960s until today.  There have been several constants over that period.

    One of the biggest chronic challenges has been database management; from the acquisition of data through its life cycle until achieve.  An outcome of poor data management has been decisions that have even led to the demise of firms, along with tens of thousands (if not more) of suboptimal decisions at the expense of shareholder value (bottom line/stock price).  What makes the current crop of Big Data/Artificial Intelligence advocates any smarter than those who came before?  Nothing!  Unless some things are changed.

    Our forthcoming book to be published by CRC Press in 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).  The following and other managerial action items are developed in detail.

    • How to determine the quality of the data and its relevance to the decision-making processes.
    • Current Challenges and Trends in Big Data and associated applications.
    • Proposed organization structure such as High Reliability Organization and an understanding of Human Factors to fully realize the full and measurable economic value from these technologies.
    • A full set of Risk Mitigation and a Governance model including Disaster Recovery and Cyber Security.
    • How these technologies are used in Operations, a proposed Management System as well as numerous Case Studies across a number of industries and types of problems.

    The challenge of managing this suite of emerging AI/Big Data is daunting and one that cannot be dodged or delegated.  How organizations respond can be the difference between success or the destruction of shareholder value.

    It’s The Data Stupid

    Our pollsters are collecting and analyzing data that are self-reported.

    • A questionnaire is developed which may or may not reflect bias.
    • These questions are posed to potential respondents (phone and otherwise) who may detect a voice tone, and/or the subject may intentionally lie or mislead.
    • Finally, who answers the phone these days?  This skews the data sample and perhaps badly.

    Data collected in this manner is not subject to rigor and most likely wrong or skewed.  Finally, data collected in this manner is not suitable for the new Big Data Analytic models.

    One Proposed Better Way

    There are probably several much better ways to address political and marketing problems.  While no data source is perfect, we posit the following way to use the US Census data.  We can treat it as a function of columns and rows yet apply sophistical data analysis algorithms.

    Categories

    As mentioned, we tend to clump or stereotype individuals into preconceived ‘buckets.’  Over time, these buckets have taken on an aura of, it’s the only way.  Basically, the construct that ‘we have always done it this way.’
     
    This is no longer a viable business or social model.  Our world is much too dynamic for the older static approach to targeting the likelihood of a specific demographic to perform in a preconceived prescriptive manner.
     
    One place to start looking is at the United States Census data.  This data set consists of 57 profiles, The United States and each State and Territory.  Each Profile is divided into several Sub-Categories, Populations and People, Income and Poverty, Education, Employment, Housing, Health, Business and Economy, Race and Ethnicity, and Nearby States.  Each Sub-Category is further detailed.
     
    We might even call the data in these Categories/Sub-Categories, Conditions from the RBC model.  Each Platform in Maslow’s Hierarchy can be considered a Category with infinite Sub-Categories.  Likewise, Conditions.

    Rows

    We have identified the following three variable model as representative of human Behaviors–Wants, Needs, and Desires.  We have previously reviewed some of this in our Blog, Want – Like – Need  in 2019.  These can also be mapped to Behaviors in both the RBC and Maslow models.
     
    Details and a short list of some variables follow.  These definitions can overlap, and readers will note that there is some duplication across all three classes below.  Researchers use different definitions for each class.  This does not detract from the fundamentals of Rows selected for analysis.  
    The point is to develop a list of behaviors that is indicative of the problem to be solved.

    Wants

    For purposes of this model, we define Want as something that an individual might seek as part of normal life, i.e., and ice cream cone.

    Needs

    Those fundamentals of life, especially as defined in Maslow’s Hierarchy, platforms one and two.

    Desires

    Different from Wants, Desires are perhaps beyond his/her reach.  Coveting a promotion and willing to back stab co-workers to get it rather than compete on merit.

    Sources of Wants, Needs, and Desires

    We have suggested that a starting point for Categories is the very large US Census database.  No such singular source exists for these behaviors and there is an overlap in definitions.  This list gives readers a starting point.  In no particular order, this non-comprehensive includes:

    The list goes on, but readers get the point.  A large row of behaviors will help develop a robust model.

    And The Answer Is

    While we know that the solution to the political pollster and/or marketing manager is not a definitive answer, we can do better than we are.  We know how to management data in this environment and we have models for assessing and making decisions based on results.  As we move from simple, small data set, linear models to robust Big Data Analysis, we need to consider a few additional action items.

    Scientific Method

    Do not forget to use this methodology to define and refine your problem statement.

    Model Limits

    • While we are using a significant number of independent and dependent variables, we are not trying to solve world hunger.  Therefore, we need to put limits on (Bound) the model.  This is an age-old problem we first addressed in 2015, Bounding the Boundless.
    • From a scientific perspective, “Across all science, modelling is our most powerful tool, as models let us focus on the few details that matter most, leaving many others aside.  Models also help reveal the typically far-from-intuitive consequences when multiple causal factors act in combination.”
    • Additionally, “Getting AI/ML/DL systems to work has been one of the biggest leaps in technology in recent years, but understanding how to control and optimize them as they adapt isn’t nearly as far along.  These systems are generally opaque if a problem develops in the field.  There is little or no visibility into how algorithms are utilized, or how weights that determine their behavior will change with a particular use case or interactions with other technology.”
    • Moreover, “the European Union this week (2021) issued guidelines for AI — specifically including ML and automated decision-making systems — limiting the ability of these systems to act autonomously, requiring ‘secure and reliable systems software,’ and requiring mechanisms for ensuring responsibility and accountability for AI systems and their outcomes.”

    Diminishing Returns

    Since we are not boiling the ocean, at some point continuing with the model will result reduced performance.  According to Economists, “The law of diminishing returns says that, if you keep increasing one factor in the production of goods (such as your workforce) while keeping all other factors the same, you’ll reach a point beyond which additional increases will result in a progressive decline in output.  In other words, there’s a point when adding more inputs will begin to hamper the production process.”

    “Data is just a way of codifying information. Any data gathered should be relevant to a problem, otherwise useless data clouds the results of a query.  If there are too many degrees of freedom, you are begging for a spurious correlation.”

    Readers may be familiar with, “The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80-20 rule, is a concept that many have adopted for their life and time management.  It is the idea that 20% of the effort, or input, leads to 80% of the results or output.  The point of this principle is to recognize that most things in life are not distributed evenly.”  This may be a satisfactory approach to this application.
     

    Need for a Data Scientist

    This approach may require the use of a professional data scientist to realize a valid and reliable outcome.  “A data scientist is an analytics professional who is responsible for collecting, analyzing and interpreting data to help drive decision-making in an organization.  The data scientist role combines elements of several traditional and technical jobs, including mathematician, scientist, statistician and computer programmer.  It involves the use of advanced analytics techniques, such as machine learning and predictive modeling, along with the application of scientific principles.  As part of data science initiatives, data scientists often must work with large amounts of data to develop and test hypotheses, make inferences and analyze things such as customer and market trends, financial risks, cybersecurity threats, stock trades, equipment maintenance needs and medical conditions.”

    More

    This is not a definitive list and is provided to give readers an understanding of what it will take to move forward with the Big Data Analysis model.  Appropriate research and problem definition may reveal additional or fewer requirements.

    Demise of Linear

    The Linear broadcast approach to selling or changing minds is not the relevant delivery vehicle for new micro-data analysis.  Directed notifications is better although practice this with care.  This last election cycle, I received a text, words to the effect, “can we count of your vote for X?”  I was very much against X and no reason was offered to help me change my mind.  Get with the program and don’t be so lazy developing your spiel or message.

    Elon Musk’s ‘Algorithm’

    This is an interesting approach to problem solving that can have relevance to the issue discussed herein.  Can we reduce complexity without losing data fidelity, “The accuracy, completeness, consistency, and timeliness of data.  In other words, it’s the degree to which data can be trusted to be accurate and reliable.”

    His Five Step Process:

    1. Question Every Requirement

    2. Delete Any Part or Process You Can

    3. Simplify and Optimize

    4. Accelerate Cycle Time

    5. Automate

    Readers may ask, how does this fit in this discussion?  We bring this to your attention because it may help identify and bound the problem to be solved.

    Also, perhaps of some value is his, “idiot index, which calculated how much more costly a finished product was than the cost of its basic materials.  If a product had a high idiot index, its cost could be reduced significantly by devising more efficient manufacturing techniques.”  A survey, analysis, etc. are all products and may benefit from this index model.

    Final Thoughts

    Most financial professionals will tell you that spreadsheets must foot (the sum of all rows must equal the sum of all columns).  Can societies or multiple societies foot their columns and rows?  Most likely not and if that is the case, data from this model is not valid or reliable.

    Most likely, this type of data will take the form of a Scatter Diagram (without correlation?) with some clumps or areas of intensity of a specific category or group of categories.

    This may not be an approach that many will take; however, it is clear that the original premise of this piece, that we live in a spreadsheet society is no longer appropriate.  “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.” ― Albert Einstein.  It will be interesting to see how future polling is conducted.

    Non-Linear Speed Ahead

    Sometimes pieces like this summarize a conclusion.  In the high-pressure environment, we are not concluding anything.  We are carving a way forward–A Growth Model of the Data Economy.

    As of this writing the incoming US administration appears to be moving at hyper speed across a broad front.  Moreover, AI in particular exploding.  Those interested in keeping up may want to to Subscribe | Generative’s AI Newsletter (not an endorsement but seems be a good daily source of information).  Mostly, just keeping up will not be enough, if top quartile success is the goal.

    It will be interesting to see the role the family of Artificial Intelligence (AI) software solutions play in this field going forward.

    Micro-targeting is certainly a place for Big Data to shine.  That said the problem to be solved and the confidence in the validity and reliability of the data must ascertained. 

    Society faces some real challenges with how we manage, analyze and decide using data.  This is but one example where old methods no longer produce valid and reliable results.  How will you and your organization go forward?

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is a coauthor of the recently published book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be published by CRC Press in 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg ands his latest book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

    Copyright © 2024 The Rapid Response Institute LLC.  All rights reserved.

  • Operational Excellence Enabled by Leadership in Technology

    Operational Excellence Enabled by Leadership in Technology

    In 2025, our new book, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making will be released by CRC Press.  This is an accompanying book to our 2023 book, Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.

    Both books focus on the use of advanced information technologies to attain and sustain Operational Excellence.  Today, organizations are drinking from a firehose of advanced solutions such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Business Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Digital Twins and much more.

    Moreover, the roles of executives at all levels are changing.  It is no longer satisfactory to leave major decision to Chief Technology/Digital/Information types.  Everyone has a stake in these (in some case $100 million or more, bet you company decisions).  For example,

    • The business need must be identified, verified and a detailed plan put in place to acquire and implement the technology of choice.
    • Is this aligned with organizational objectives?
    • How will these new technologies integrate into existing systems, if at all?
    • Does the organization have the maturity to undertake this process?  In other words, is it culturally ready and if not, what must be done to get ready?  Examples include upskilling the workforce, what new skills will be needed and so forth.

    The list is lengthy and detailed which is further explained the new book mentioned.  Additionally, what role do non-IT executives play in this process.  The Blogger believes is it no longer satisfactory to outsource the future ‘core competencies’ to the technology staff or key third parties, including Systems Integrators.  The so-called experts.  What agendas do these parties have and are they aligned with the organization mission and strategy?

    Bet Your Career

    These advanced and emerging and sometimes very immature software solutions will touch every division, department and individual employees as well at the organizational ecosystem.  Poor performance will end careers and possibly organizations.  As always, there will be winners and losers, both at the organization level as well as individuals.

    We could go on, but readers get the point.  This is game-changing for industry sectors, organizations including government agencies and finally for individuals.  Big decisions will need to be made and soon.

    What are you doing to prepare of this transformational tsunami?

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is a coauthor of the just published book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be published by CRC Press in 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg ands his latest book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • Let’s Test Artificial Intelligence

    Let’s Test Artificial Intelligence

    This author is working on a book to be published in early 2025 that addresses issues about the decision to procure and implement today’s exploding technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).  So, for this edition, we wanted to try something new.  We are going to ask Chat GPT how to sell Artificial Intelligence and glean knowledge from this non-human response.

    We will ask the following and present the AI response.  Do to space limitations we will limit the length of the AI answer.  Finally, how does the AI response compare to experience?

    Question: What are the Top Ten B2B Sales Objections?

    We are licensed and used ‘Chatbot Pro powered by OpenAI.’ to obtain the following response:

    In B2B sales, encountering objections is common. Here are ten of the most frequent objections sales professionals may face:

    1. Price Concerns: “It’s too expensive.” Buyers often worry about how a purchase impacts their budget.

    2. Need for Approval: “I need to get this approved by my manager.” This highlights the longer decision-making process in B2B environments.

    3. Existing Vendor Loyalty: “We’re already working with another provider.” Customers may be reluctant to change suppliers due to established relationships.

    4. Timing Issues: “We’re not ready to make a decision right now.” This can signal that the buyer needs more time or is in a different stage of their purchasing journey.

    5. Lack of Trust: “I don’t know enough about your company.” Prospects may require more assurance regarding the credibility and track record of the vendor.

    6. Concerns Over ROI: “How can you guarantee a return on investment?” Buyers want assurance that the product or service will add value to their business.

    7. Complexity of Implementation: “The implementation process seems complicated.” Prospects may fear that adopting a new solution could disrupt their operations.

    8. Product Fit: “I’m not sure this meets our specific needs.” For B2B buyers, product alignment with their unique requirements is vital.

    9. Potential Risks: “What if it doesn’t work for us?” Buyers may worry about the risks associated with adopting new solutions or the potential for failure.

    10. Economic Conditions: “Given the current economic climate, we need to be cautious.” External factors, such as economic downturns, can lead to increased scrutiny on new expenditures.

    Addressing these objections effectively is crucial for closing deals in the B2B space.

    This is pretty impressive.  It is a simple example of the power this set of technologies can deliver if used properly.  Readers may remember an example of how not to use AI.  Some examples can be found in our Blog edition, How Stupid is AI?  Humans still develop Artificial Intelligence solutions.  Therefore, the relative value of this suite of technologies isa function of the expertise of those seeking to solve various difficult challenges.

    What Unreleased Value will you Address with AI and Why?

    We are pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be published by CRC Press in 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is a coauthor of the just published book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg ands his latest book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • What Do You Think About Artificial Intelligence?

    What Do You Think About Artificial Intelligence?

    The world is abuzz, not with the US presidential election, but with Artificial Intelligence (AI).  How do you feel about this game changing suite of technologies?

    Whether we agree or not, the AI tsunami is coming ashore.  What we, as individuals do about this phenomenon will dictate the remainder of our career and even quality of life.

    Do you see this as a threat or opportunity?  Technological advancement has led to the indoor flush toilet, horseless carriage and even the ubiquitous Smartphone.  What makes AI any different?

    The burden we all face when confronting the inevitable is to adapt.  Some jobs will be eliminated, (the preverbal buggy whip manufactures) and others will emerge.  Your task is to stay relevant.

    Beyond AI

    AI technology is not the beginning or the new, but the next step in the ongoing information technology resolution.  Expect much more to come and sooner rather than later.

    Humans have always had to develop and adapt to new technologies.  Our modern lifestyle is a testament to our collective success.  Embrace the change and as they saying goes “Yippee Ki-Yay,”  Or just go for it!  AI is only a step, more is to come.

    What are you doing to assure you are not left behind?

    We are pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be published by CRC Press in 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is a coauthor of the just published book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg ands his latest book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

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  • Why Me and Why Now?

    Why Me and Why Now?

    In the current calendar year, I have personally not been negatively impacted by hurricane Beryl and other extreme weather events that have hit the Houston metropolitans area.

    Friends and colleagues have not been so lucky with several enduring power failures multiple times.  So why have I been so lucky?  We usually ask the title question when adversity impacts our lives.

    Clean living, fate, etc. are claims we all make when fortune smiles on us.  Probably none of these are true in  my case.  Luck plays a big role when we are smiled upon.  None of us can be certain what will come our way and when adversity will hit and perhaps hit hard.

    The word Luck, has a number of whimsical expressions such as, “I would rather be lucky than good.”  This writer would take that all day long!  Another whimsical expression.

    “Happiness is a quality of the soul…not a function of one’s material circumstances.” ~ Aristotle (384–322 BC).  In other words, it is not about what happens or does not happen to us, words spoken over 2,300 years ago.  It is what we make of our life.

    Finally, stay tuned (a 1950s statement about the then emerging technology — television).  Shortly we will launch another Blog tentatively titled, Wisdom of the Ancients.  There is an immerse body of knowledge from our forefathers that are applicable today.

    What do you do everyday to assure the quality of your life?

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is a coauthor of the just published book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg ands his latest book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • The Times They Are a Changin!

    The Times They Are a Changin!

    Creative destruction is the dismantling of long-standing practices in order to make way for innovation and is seen as a driving force of capitalism.

    We live in an era of hyper-change.  Technology to be sure, but all social constructs are under duress.  The question is, how will all of us at an individual level deal with these enormous pressures?

    The statement, “The only constant is change” remains a basic truism.  From the time of our birth until our death we  undergo physical and psychological transformation.  At this writer’s age, I have been through more than seven decades of evolvement.  With hopefully a few more cycles in the future.

    Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) coined the seemingly paradoxical term “creative destruction,” and generations of economists have adopted it as a shorthand description of the free market’s messy way of delivering progress.

    The question is, would we have it any other way?  Some central government (most likely unelected) bureaucrat dictating how we should respond to social/economic forces is not only anti-American it is Fascist if not Communist policy.

    If Lenin and the Bolsheviks prevail in the upcoming US presential election, get ready for the disruption of life as we know it.  Welcome to East Berlin, circa 1960s.

    How will you preserver Capitalism, the best, worse, social construct?

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is a coauthor of the just published book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg ands his latest book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • How Do You Know the App is Giving You the Right Answer?

    How Do You Know the App is Giving You the Right Answer?

    We all rely on Apps for most of our decision making.  But, how do we know the app is providing the correct answer?

    The stories about spreadsheet errors are legendary and are usually the result of human ‘data entry’ or ‘calculation’ errors.  However, software can be the root cause for problems.  Software bugs are classified into three types:

    1. Software Defects by its Nature–The type of software, its functionality and role it plays with other software applications.
    2. Software Defects by its Priority–The likelihood of a severe impact on the software program.
    3. Software Defects by its Severity–The impact a defect can have on operations, other integrated packages, etc.

    Regardless of the software defect/error type, or caused by human misuse or data input issues, the results can be devastating.  The following 3.38 minute video does a good job presenting a high-level overview on this subject which is probably the level of detail a layperson should have on this subject.

    I Give, How Would I Know?

    The navigation system in my 2015 SUV routinely tells me that I have arrived at my destination a block or more before I actually have.  I know this from experience and expect this error.  However, we do not often have this level of visibility into the output of software.

    The long-time classic IT response to a question is, “It Depends.”  The argument meaning, that the answer is unknowable and I need more information.  This response from your IT division or third party contractors is totally irresponsible.  For example, they need to go find out and report back that Gaps exist and need to be addressed.

    If I am completing my expense account on my portal and the total sum seems incorrect, it is not the end of the world and this can easily be remedied.  If the decision has greater consequences or is risky, additional assessment should be sought.  For example:

    • If the recommendation is  based on the output of a spreadsheet or other app output is critical, have a neutral third party independently arrive at a conclusion.  It they agree, probably OK, if not more assessment is warranted.  If the discussion is, ‘We don’t have time,’ then perhaps the response to the decision to the question is NO!
    • Decision makers need to look at the three software issues listed above and answer the internal answer as to the impact of the software.  Not just the possibility of errors or incorrect calculations but the test of the impact on the organization if errors exists.  The CloudStrike episode is a case in point where that organization did not take Version Management professionally.
    • Finally, does the answer pass the ‘Smell Test?’  What do your experts say about the output; by they way they can be wrong.

    Much of this is subjective, but decision makers should treat this technology as the do with other technologies.  IT solutions can have a high impact on the firm, yet they can be disastrous as well.  The ultimate test; IT indicatives/decisions must be scrutinized with the same degree as any other corporate level decision.

    For the complex AI derived responses, the opinion writer suggests the humans trying to decipher this data, look to the Scientific Method.  This is tried approach to problem solving and even if only AI can provide an answer, the process to get this answer needs to be understood.

    This scientist was trained during the slide rule era.  As such we needed to understand the problem and how it would be solved, rather that an answer spit out from a computer.  This skill set needs to be resurrected in the AI era.

    Are you assured your software is accurate?  How do you know?

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is a coauthor of the just published book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg ands his latest book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • Is Chivalry Dead?

    Is Chivalry Dead?

    Some still believe that an individual’s word is his/her bond.  Or that the Marquess of Queensberry Rules still apply.  Sadly, for many, these statements are outdated.

    Blockchain is a, “decentralized digital ledger that securely stores records across a network of computers in a way that is transparent, immutable, and resistant to tampering.”  This is the reason it is famous for cryptocurrencies and lesser known but as important as the backbone of secure Supply Chain Management and invoicing/payment systems.  In this era of complex global business relationships with millions if not billions of transaction each year, the blockchain SCM is essential.

    And Yet!

    Not only are the well known and often comical scams running strong, some executives still seek to take advantage of the unwary and naive.  Guess both types of thieves will always be with us.  In addition to a lifetime of dealing with those who seek success at the expense of others, here are two recent use cases taken from the last 18 months, of which this Blogger has personal knowledge.

    The Handshake

    A small supplier of leased equipment to heavy industry ‘cut’ a deal with another small firm to lease equipment to a much larger organization of which the small firm had a business relationship.  In this case contract negotiations broke down but the equipment supplier shipped the equipment on a handshake and assurances the ‘paper’ was not necessary.

    As of this writing, there is a great deal of animosity and non-payment.  Likely, legal action will be taken to the detriment of both these small firms.

    The Contract Did Not Address

    In another ongoing situation, a one page agreement provided by the sales person of a small firm was accepted by the small buying organization.  No provisions we provided for accidents or incidents while the equipment was in the possession of the seller, but making changes to the total solution by a 3rd party who was partially directed by an engineer representing the buyer.

    A resulting fire rendered the equipment unsalvageable and the finger pointing commenced.  This was compounded, as the buyer’s engineer kept few if any notes and most communication was verbal.  The who will pay for the damage is still uncertain, as are next steps.

    Trust But Verify

    Chivalry is not defined as it was in the day of the knights and I think rightfully so, as we are not taking our swords to the field of battle against those believed to have wronged us.

    Contracts need not be the lengthy small print most think they are.  A contract must start with an offer (proposal) and its acceptance.  The do not need to be in writing but usually are.  They must be legal and have consideration (value exchange).  Finally, the contract is between ‘Capable Parties,’ those qualified to enter the agreement.  The written agreement typically has standard clauses or provisions including but not limited to assignments, arbitration, amendments, modification, notices, choice of law, force majeure and more.

    An average written contract would have saved all parties in the two use cases from a lot of personal and organizational grief.

    Finally, most larger organizations have put in place Operations Management Systems.  They go by a number of names but their purpose is to assure the contract is adhered too, especially for a complex project as well as document performance for the protection of all involved.

    Our firm has been directly active in this field for about 15 years but working in the area for over 50 years.  We have developed our software solution Smart OpEx that enables this business model for the benefit of all parties involved.  The proverbial “He said–She said,” goes away.  This has been addresses previously and more information is available on our website.

    Chivalry May Not Be Dead, but Consider that Handshake Management as Expired.  How will you manage even small business relationships going forward?

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is a coauthor of the just published book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg ands his latest book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • A Model for Technology Adoption

    A Model for Technology Adoption

    Oh My, I am Swamped by this Firehose of New Technologies.  How can I Understand, Much Less Use These Tools?

    Like most of us, our job is not about new bigger, better, faster IT.  We have the daily grind to attend to and quarterly metrics to make.  What we need from IT providers (internal and external) are the solutions and tools we need to do our jobs.  But how do we know what are the right software solutions and which will disappoint us?

    This is Easier than You Think

    In our forthcoming book to be published by CRC Press in 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making we address technology adoption issues at length.  However, while you are waiting to order your copy of these guidelines, there are a few things you can begin with.

    Ask yourself the following questions:

    • What is the quality of your data and how is it used in decision-making processes.?
    • How much do you and your organization know about the challenges and trends in Big Data and associated applications, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
    • How ready is your organization to fund and implement new advanced software/cloud applications?
    • Does your organization know how to realize the full and measurable economic value from these technologies?
    • What is your organization’s appetite for the risks involved from implementing new technologies?
    • How will these technologies be used in your organization?

    Getting a handle on these few questions will give you and your organization a good start in this journey.

    Final Thoughts

    One can make a case that the advent of new information technologies is ramping up.  The expectations this author has for AI, for instance, is just beginning.  Why and How organization take advantage of these solutions is not longer in the hands of the Chief Information Officer or other ‘C’ level individual responsible for keeping the firm abreast of advances.  These are now corner office decisions, and in some cases the Board of Directors will have to concur and/or approve.

    How are you preparing yourself and your organization the Brave New World?

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is a coauthor of the just published book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg ands his latest book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.