A Software Insider's Point of ViewMonday's Musings

The recent backlash on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs stems from both the lack of quantitative data showing how diverse teams improve performance and the discriminatory nature in how these teams were constructed. In 2015, a McKinsey study lauded the dividends to be gained from diversity. The well meaning Davos set used this study to launch a movement for diversity, resulting in hundreds of billions spent on diversity programs across businesses, the public sector, and non-profits over the past decade.

Take A Measured Approach To AI Adoption The rush to AI projects often comes as an all or nothing approach. However, lessons learned from Constellation's Executive Network (CEN) members show a gradual and measured approach. Constellation sees five phases to adoption from both a business and cultural point of view:

Margin Compression Is Pernicious, Disruptive, and Exponential In Impact Technologies for the enterprise have often been seen as enablers for disruption and change. Over the past five decades as one technology or vendor would come to prominence and dominate a market, challengers would apply new technologies or business models to topple the legacy market and create new markets. Silicon Valley built its credibility on these disruptive market entrants. This cycle would continue to repeat itself until the next challenger became the market leader and struggle to hold on to its lead while meeting the demands of investors and the market.

Expect Software Giants Hunters To Soon Be The Hunted In A Digital Giant's Quest For Growth Six of the Magnificent Seven (Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Alphabet [Google], Amazon, Meta [Facebook]) stocks have entered the four comma club -over $1 trillion in market cap. With a combined market cap of over $13.2 trillion, these six players continue to defy physics with continuous quarters of double digit organic growth. Digital giants by definition have deployed five key strategies:

Age of AI Ushers Exponential And Transformational Power In The Hands Of A Few Society has often swung to centralization and decentralization in the distribution of power and rights. Living in a culture of abundance versus a culture of scarcity can alter the prioritization of decisions, the quality of interactions, and the overall optimism or pessimism of a society. AI has the power to transform societies for both good and evil.

The Traditional Pyramid Is Under Attack Most professional services firms have operated in a pyramid model where the most senior owner of a P&L would have a staffing ratio of 1:3 to 1:5 and their next reports would have a staffing ratio of 1:5 to 1:10. This pyramid structure would continue until the last level. There could be as many as 8 to 10 levels in a structure that looks like this with billable rates per hour that would correspond to seniority and level of expertise.

Enter AI And The Real Fourth Industrial Revolution Running out of ideas to inspire, a false fourth industrial revolution was coined by the World Economic Forum. The move to digitization and digital transformation was a necessary half-step to the move towards AI. While some will now profess that the Fifth Industrial revolution is AI, AI is more exponential than the internet or the fake fourth industrial revolution. The dawn of the fourth industrial revolution begins with AI. This Cognitive Era will be with us for decades to come.

Sam Altman just faced his Steve Jobs moment when the OpenAI board fired him on Friday. The balance between too much governance and not enough innovation was the challenge OpenAI faced. This was a very immature board with members who had never built companies, never moved from ideology to commercialization, nor had any pragmatic board experience.

Big Brains In AI Discuss The Risks of Generative AI At Reinvent Futures Event On July 27th, 2023, almost 300 people gathered at Shack15 in the Ferry building in San Francisco to discuss the actual risks of Generative AI. The event hosted by Reinvent Futures with Peter Leyden and Joe Boggio brought together the biggest minds on AI for an evening of deep discussion.

Every Enterprise and Brand Is Focused On Revenue Growth While Trying To Achieve Operational Efficiency There has never been a greater focus on revenue, however, Chief Revenue Officers (CROs) face a dual mandate. On one hand, they must continue to find growth and revenue, on the other hand, leaders must balance operational efficiency and reduced budgets. Constellation's recent CXO

ChatGPT or Generative AI Is This Year’s POC And Shiny Object While generative AI has been around for some time, ChatGPT has captured the hearts and minds of the general population in highlighting tangible possibilities of what AI can accomplish both in the consumer and enterprise world. In fact,

Market Conditions In California Working Against Silicon Valley Big Tech Pundits and industry watchers continue to forecast a demise in Silicon Valley and the tech companies in the region. While the valley's influence may be slowly diminishing, there's still a significant hub and concentration of talent unlike any other region in the world. For those who can still afford to live here, access to top talent, capital, weather, and industry expertise remains parallel to none.