Making It Big!

It is often said- probably because it is true - that small businesses are the bedrock of a healthy  economy. Business leaders know this; even leaders of large businesses, for their businesses were small once.

One assumes that political leaders also know this - for they are reminded of it regularly when discussing growth strategies.  Yet politicians seem to have difficulty in accepting or understanding this simple fact.

Few of them seem to act as if they are keen to help small businesses grow.  They (SMEs) are more commonly seen as a source of tax revenue rather than as the source of economic growth.  Too many are stifled or strangled st birth or in their first few, dangerous years.

Of course we hear about the rare, immediate successes -tech-related  and tech-supporting businesses for the most part.  But these are very much the exceptions which prove the rule. 

So come on politicians, Help small businesses start and then help them grow - or at the very least, stop undermining that growth.  It’s your future, and the future well-being of your citizens that are at stake. 

We need you to think, and act, positively.

I. Give In

I've been using AI systems for a while now.  I mainly use Chat GPT but I have tried a few others to see how they compare.  My executive summary is that particular systems may be better at specific tasks but ChatGPT is the best all-rounder.

However, these systems are not perfect.  I have had problems with ChatGPT failing to start handling a query when I hit 'Go'.  When I subsequently get fed up of waiting and complain to ChatGPT about the lack of progress, ChatGPT either apologises or replays my prompt back to me to confirm my request and parameter choice.  If I had not responded, ChatGPT would have done nothing.  On some systems I have had problems with the system seemingly not able to meet my needs giving me a 'substitute answer' or 'holding answer'. 

I realise that the level of 'intelligence' in an LLM-based system is not high (though they are adept at handling and presenting knowledge) so I do not expect perfection. 

But when s system (or a person) cannot meet my request for completion of a task, I expect to be told so I can make other arrangements.

So, AI, if you cannot meet my request within an acceptable timeframe, just stay "I give up" and we can both move on

Like Me

There has been a tendency since forever for companies to hire new people that are like the existing people.  This results partly from both conscious and unconscious bias but also from a 'reasoned' argument that like people will get on better so the new staff will not disrupt existing relationships snd cultures.

This is still taking place in an era where the DEI movement has never been stronger - and where most senior managers and execs have had unconscious bias training. - and would probably profess their support for increasing diversity.

I remember many years ago when studying innovation being told that: 

If you have an engineering problem and you ask an engineer to solve it, you should get a competent solution.  If you ask non-engineers to solve it, you might get an innovative solution idea which can be made to work by an engineer.

So, diversity can bring different strengths to play on problems and issues, and help you relate to different segments of the market.

So look around your organisation - and especially at new hires. Are they all out of the same mould?  If so, you might be missing out on a variety of views that could increase your capacity to innovate, grow and develop.