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Showing posts sorted by relevance for query generations. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query generations. Sort by date Show all posts

Friday, March 3, 2023

The Singularity of Remote Work: The End Of Generation Gaps


When boomers and zoomers unite over Zoom, you know the Singularity is here.

The fear of Covid, remote work, and artificial intelligence is destroying the Generation Gap.  


We are the Last Generation.   Hear me out.
  1. The fear of Covid affected the Globe, regardless of age.
  2. Remote work helped us realize what's important, regardless of age.
  3. ChatGPT(AI) is a linguistic program that is changing the way everything gets done, regardless of age.
I do not like defining individuals as a 'generation'.  The new work environment promotes more deliverables, and less judgment on the adherence to a process - regardless of color, age, or gender.  Interesting, right?

Thursday, October 24, 2013

013: Managed print Services And The Last Generation Gap




The Last Generation Gap- from 2013...

If you remember back to the '60s - riots, Viet Nam, Presidential and political assassinations, hippies at Woodstock, the Beatles, Stones, the Peace Movement, and a vaguely remembered issue called the "The Generation Gap".

This Gap referred to the difference between younger generations and their elders. Back then, teenagers regarded their parents' established social norms as outdated and restrictive - many rebelled:

At Transform2013, I attended Terrie Campbell's presentation, "GenY's Idiosyncrasies - Can your Business Survive Them?

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Boomers and Managed (print) Services



The Last Gap Generation - Friday, June 28, 2013, Walters & Shutwell

If you remember back to the '60's - riots, Viet Nam, Presidential and political assassinations, hippies at Woodstock, the Beatles, Stones, the Peace Movement, and a vaguely remembered issue called the "The Generation Gap".

This Gap referred to the difference between younger generations and their elders. Back then, teenagers regarded their parents' established social norms as outdated and restrictive - many rebelled:


At Transform 2013, I attended Terrie Campbell's presentation, "GenY's Idiosyncrasies - Can your Business Survive Them?"  She has an acute understanding of the inner workings of the different generations within the business environment.

Here is your rendering of the Baby Boomer demographic:

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Millennials Have (Finally) Figured out Bigger Salaries Are a Scam



From a post on LinkedIn.

"Some join cults. I joined the corporate ladder cult and fell in love with the devil in a pinstripe suit.
This devil promised me bigger paychecks, more status, and lots of office fun. As a millennial, what I got became my worst nightmare. Us younger generations are getting smarter.

We now see bigger salaries as a scam.

The modern-day corporate nightmare


Saturday, October 4, 2014

#HP $HPQ to Cull PC's & Printers: New Company Called, "HP, Inc." - Get It?



"Ah ! well a-day ! what evil looks
Had I from old and young !
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung."
--- Coleridge

In 1991 Lexmark was formed when IBM divested its printer and printer supply operations to an investment firm. On November 15, 1995, Lexmark was publicly traded .  Today the company is trading at $41.59 has a revenue around $3.7B and about 12,000 employees.  Back in the 90's, Lexmark boasted a revenue of nearly $2.0B.

IBM was in the midst of one of the greatest corporate transformations in history.  The company was in turmoil; internal leadership changes, intense competitive pressures, economic headwinds and a fractured self-image.  They didn't know who they were, what they did or how to do whatever it was they were going to do, better.
Crazy times, the 90's.

Today, another great technology firm finds herself in the throws of transformation - HP offers everything from servers, clouds, PC's, laptops, printers, supplies and services. But its not enough.  More accurately, its just too much. What IBM grew through, HP is now experiencing - you can't be everything to everyone.  If that were all, it would be bad enough, but its worse.  HP, Microsoft and the rest of the WinTel realm can no longer dictate demand. Their rule is not as relevant as in the past.

Take printers, for example.  HP brought the laser printer into the business world and for a decade or two, HP was synonymous with printing.  But in 2007, the winds of change were upon us.  No matter how much marketing tries to accentuate the shift from toner to ink, black and white to color, desktop to mobile, hard copy print will never rebound;  sinking more resources against the tide is folly.

What made HP great, is holding her back.  Print is the albatross.

Some will herald the move as great strategy - it might be - for sure, this is a responsive tact, not one that bends the market to HP's will.

Nothing, not even the company who brought the laser printer to nearly every desktop in the land, can reverse the trend.  Printing is dying.  Not because we've all decided to stop killing trees, or understand printing decreases the ozone layer or bringing on the next ice age.  HP is a victim of the shift in How We Work:

  • No more desktop PCs
  • No more servers
  • Fewer laptops
  • We do not print the same
  • We communicate differently
  • Fewer printers
  • Almost no copiers

Today, we communicate under glass more than ever before. Generations of young adults live in a world without PC's, rotary phones, black and white TV, newspaper delivery or a printer.  Like generations before them understood life with electricity, they've never known a world without the internet.  Why in the world would they ever want or need to print anything?  Why?  Ask them.

Tablets, smart phones and new workflows, oh my.
"No one in the printing industry, or outside it, had any idea that the iPad would come along and destroy three- to four-thousand-year-old human traditions concerning paper," explained Gary Peterson, chief executive at Gap Intelligence, a San Diego-based research analysis firm.
No one except us...here.

In light of this expected turn, to all the paperless deniers, I ask this:




then...


  • Why did International Paper shutter it's biggest, 8.5x11 sized paper producing plant if print volumes are increasing?
  • Why did HP layoff 40,000 employees when the second coming, mobil print or ink, is just around the corner?  Think of layoffs as The Rapture.
  • Why is less than half of Xerox's revenue generated through equipment sales?
  • Why would a leading copier manufacturer build an erasable copier?
  • Even without printing capabilities, Apple still sold more than a dozen iPads

Denial.
"HP profits are reliant on selling "consumables" like inkjet cartridges, so the company can't be eager to see that business sidelined by the new prominence of tablets and smartphones. Even though mobile device make it easier to skip the printer in some cases, for example with electronic boarding passes and mapping apps, McCoog doesn't see printing as an endangered business.
Yeah, right.

What does this mean to all of you selling copiers and MpS?  Keep doing what you're doing, your resume clean and enhance your PERSONAL ACUMEN every day.  The change isn't coming, it is already here and you've got to improve yourself beyond the box and away from marks on paper.

Perhaps two decades from today, we'll look back and remember how HP built a great print business, sold it off and turned into the technology powerhouse Bill and Dave envisioned.


1991 -

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

"We Didn't Start the Fire": A Tale of Two Generations Through Billy Joel and Fall Out Boy


History Does Not Repeat - It Rhymes

In the annals of music history, few songs have captured the zeitgeist of their respective eras as vividly as "We Didn't Start the Fire." The iconic track, originally penned by Billy Joel in 1989, received a modern-day facelift by Fall Out Boy in 2008. Both versions serve as time capsules, chronicling the social, political, and cultural landscapes of their times. But how do these two renditions stack up against each other? 

Let's dive in.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Managed Print Services, Detroit & Eminem - "This is Who We Are, This is What We Do."

2/2011

[Commentator]

"I got a question for you.

What does this industry know about recovery?

What does a market that’s been to hell and back know about the finer things in Managed Print Services?

I’ll tell you, more than most!

You see, its the hottest fires that make the hardest steel, add hard work and conviction. And the know how that runs generations deep in every last one of us.

That’s who we are. That’s our story.

Now it’s probably not the one you’ve been reading in the trades. The one being written by folks who have never even been in the trenches selling and don’t know what we’re capable of.

Because when it comes to MPS, it’s as much about where it’s from as who it’s for.

Now we’re from the imaging industry – but this isn’t Xerox. Or Ricoh. Or Canon. And we’re certainly no one’s RiKON.

This is the Managed Print Serivices. And this is what we do..."
-----------------------
It's been in the left corner for a few weeks now. Honestly, I posted it there so I could play it whenever I wanted.

I like it.

Yes, it's a commercial.  For a car, no less.

The vehicle was on the drawing boards, 3-5 years past. The campaign ideas, camera angles, story boards and re-writes most likely occurring months ago. Possibly created by a crew of marketing majors who never worked the line, a 12 hour shift, or maybe have never, ever been to the D.

No worries.

The intent is to sell a $20,000.00 automobile manufactured in the Sterling Heights plant, from a company that gave us the K-Car.  The car that rescued Chrysler last time: brainchild of Lee Iacocca

No such luck today. 

What Iacocca and the US Gov't. saved so many years ago, is no longer.

Today, the third of the "Big Three" is owned by the UAW, the US Gov't and an Italian automaker, Fiat.

It doesn't matter. 

Because this commercial is about more than a car, a car company, or even a recovering Rap Star.

Unintended consequences, unforeseen responses, what happens on the Edge, in the margins is what resonates within a nation.

The post Superbowl buzz around Em's two commercial appearances(he did another spot for some iced tea company, in claymation) accelerated after his potent rendition during the Grammy's.  "I need a Doctor" anyone?

Sure his personal story is about redemption.

But it isn't about him.

The vehicle looks interesting, but it isn't about the car.

Detroit, looks like...well...Detroit - but it isn't completely about a community eternally on the ropes.

Its about the long gone steel mills of Pittsburgh or Allentown, the lonely hotels in South Beach, the out of work scriptwriters in LA, the soup lines off the Loop, the ID 10-T's in DC, the awe inspiring towers on a half-empty strip in Vegas, its about an industry, country, and global economy that's been to "hell and back..."  - its about you and its about me.

And the timing couldn't be better. 

When Marshall stands on stage in the Fox Theater, that wonderful choir as a backdrop pointing his finger at the world, declaring, "This is the Motor City, and this is what we do...", it isn't just him out there, its each of us. 

And it isn't just the Motor City, its the Big Apple, the City of the Big Shoulders, Sin City, and the City of Angels, from Philly to San Fran, Portland to Miami. DC to Tokyo, Vancouver to Ndabeni to Sydney to Buenos Aires to Moscow.

We're tired of layoffs, higher taxes, people getting paid for doing nothing.  We're finished with a leader who bows when he shouldn't, who apparently doesn't believe in our exceptionalism.

And we're pissed.
America loves anybody "recovering" and making it - we love the comeback kid because we as a nation are the epitome of that underdog who keeps coming back.  We Never Give Up.

Sure MPS is fading(no its not).

Of course MPS is a flim-flam(could be)

Sure copier sales will come back(no they won't)

The only constant here are the people within this niche, this market, this industry, this economy.

Us.  We the People.

This is Managed Print Services, and this is What We Do.

------------------------------
[Commentator]


I got a question for you.

What does this city know about luxury? What does a town that’s been to hell and back know about the finer things in life? I’ll tell you, more than most!

You see, its the hottest fires that make the hardest steel, add hard work and conviction. And the know how that runs generations deep in every last one of us.

That’s who we are. [View of The Spirit of Detroit] That’s our story.

Now it’s probably not the one you’ve been reading in the papers. The one being written by folks who have never even been here and don’t know what we’re capable of. [Campus Martius outdoor skate rink.]

Because when it comes to luxury, it’s as much about where it’s from as who it’s for. [Chrysler 200] Now we’re from America – but this isn’t New York City. Or the Windy City. Or Sin City. And we’re certainly no one’s Emerald City. [Eminem driving Chrysler 200, then walks out of the car, and walks into the Fox Theater.] - Source: LYBIO.net

[Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972)]




This is the Motor City. And this is what we do.
-----------------

The Inside Story: Chrysler's Risky Eminem Super Bowl Commercial
Almost Didn't Happen

An excerpt:

"Over the past decade, rap legend EminemEminem music catalog and has one-third of the writing credit on the song.


But that was until Chrysler chief marketing officer Olivier Francois started selling Martin on how much he wanted the music, and how he had an idea to show off Detroit to the Super Bowl audience, the largest TV audience of the year. To seal the deal, Francois drove a new Chrysler 200 to Martin's office in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale a few days into the New Year. The car was fresh off of the assembly line in neaby Sterling Heights, and hadn't even gone on sale. Francois had Martin and Eminem (whose real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III) drive the car, as well as a new Chrysler 300, to try and get the music legend to play ball..."

Rap Experts Weigh In Here.
Imported from Detroit Here.

Click to email me.

 

Saturday, February 18, 2023

From Hybrid to Happy: Why Some Leaders Are Afraid to Embrace the Future of Work




If you're a CEO or a leader, you might be missing out on the future of work. Adam Grant, a professor of organizational psychology, thinks that too many leaders are afraid to change and experiment. They might stick with what they know, and not consider other options.

Grant says that every opinion you hold at work is a hypothesis waiting to be tested. Every decision you make is an experiment waiting to be run. Too many leaders just implement decisions without testing them. They might be afraid to try new things, even if it could lead to happier and more productive workplaces. For example, back in 2018, Grant proposed a remote-Friday experiment to some CEOs. But they all balked at the idea, worried that it might be hard to put it back in the bag once it was out.

What about the future of work? 

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

The #SalesRevolutionRebellion Is a Farce

The fake "sales revolution" attacks symptoms, not the cause.














"Lannister, Targaryen, Baratheon, Stark, Tyrell. They're all just spokes on a wheel. This one's on top, then that one's on top. And on and on it spins, crushing those on the ground."

Rebels and Revolutions - 



When individuals declare independence from tyranny, they put their lives, and the lives of their families on the line, risking everything for revolution, for future generations' independence.

For freedom.

Today, there's talk of a "Sales Revolution". Insurgents take to the nearest pulpit espousing "changing the way sales is done..." by being open, real, authentic, a trusted advisor, partnering to solve client problems - not a con man.  Noble efforts.

For them, it's not nine to five; it's always too always, elevator pitches, value propositions, and increasing effort 10 fold.

There are literally THOUSANDS of sales coaches and trainers in the world today.

Here are a few of the folks I respect and follow. Some are calling for sales a "revolution".  A few pitch themselves as 'rebels', "Leading the Sales Revolution":

All are passionate and committed to their specialty contributing great content to the realm.

But -

EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF SELLING ADVICE IS MISSING THE POINT.

I'm not recommending the current sales training and consulting efforts are not valid.  I'm just saying there is so much more that can be done to 'save the industry'.

Of Smoke and Ice -

"Speeds, Feeds, Quota's, Commissions, Solutions. They're all just spokes on a wheel. This one's on top, then that one's on top. And on and on it spins, crushing those on the ground."



The sales revolution is an insidious movement because it is based on truth. Bad sales skills, low motivation, poor relationship building, aggressive attitudes, boring pitches, tedious corporate introductions, and unoriginal talk tracks, are real, yet each a  SYMPTOM of the sickness, not the cause -  - indeed, going to war against "bad selling practices" amounts to self-hate.

We're revolting against the wrong enemy.

The Real Monster -

"Xerox, Canon, Ricoh, HP, Lexmark. They're all just spokes on a wheel. This one's on top, then that one's on top. And on and on it spins, crushing those on the ground."


The idea is simple, the mission tragic - manufacturers' selling models must be taken down, defeated.  While we fight among ourselves over who can save selling, the real archenemy plods forward, assimilating more and more into its ranks.

Break The Wheel

WE DON'T NEED A SALES TRAINING REVOLUTION, WE NEED A REVOLUTION AGAINST THE ESTABLISHMENT.

It's the OEMs who push equipment quotas down the channel, and not just copier OEMs - every manufacturer has the same, Materials Resource Planning (MRP) based systems.

The model utilizes the following:

  • MRP based quotas
  • "Fear Uncertainty and Doubt"
  • Purposely confusing and ever-shifting, commission plans
  • "Kill it and Grill it" mentality
  • Adversarial Selling construct 
  • "Where there is a mystery, there is margin"
  • "67% of salespeople do not reach quota"
  • Features and benefits of training
  • Solution Selling
  • Sales Techniques...
A real Revolution(with a capital R) doesn't attack the symptoms, it takes on the creators of the Wheel. The hierarchies are organically crumbling, digitally transforming - gravity is drawing the towers down, but they fight.

As long as we continue to harp on old-fashioned ideas, as long as we concentrate on "new", non-standard training topics, we keep the chaos going - and that's just fine with the zombie kings. The dusted-off,  selling retreads are like 'opiates for the masses' keeping the "little people" hypnotized in their insecurities.

Do you want to lead a true revolution?  Then revolt against:

  • Stodgy commission structures
  • Outdated quota schemes
  • Product-based, solution selling
  • OEM dogma
Are you a self-proclaimed leader of the revolution?  Then:

  • Produce videos telling the establishment to stop pushing old-fashioned ideas and programs.
  • Write articles outlining the challenges of terrible infrastructure and processes.
  • Establish standard, salary influencing, and sales training certifications.
Embark on the battle between independent selling professionals and corporate structures - it is time.

Unfortunately,  this two-dimensional skirmish is nothing compared to what's coming.  The next titan of turbulence holds enough power to wash away 50% of the sales universe.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Top Secret Sales Technique: Lie

This past week, I've run across two separate examples of the EvilsOfSales.

One is the implementation of the classic bait and switch scam.  From mattress sales to office products, the act is still alive and kicking.

The other comes to us from the IT side of selling.  Specifically, a 'top secret' technique proven to get you around a 'gatekeeper' and into the wanting bosom of the 'decision maker'.

If your mouth is watering just thinking about getting a super-secret way around that gatekeeper - stop reading and leave now.  If you see nothing wrong with 'stretching the truth' in order to create a target-rich environment of prospects, leave and take your carpetbag full of yesteryear's sales mysticism with you.

That these activities occur, shouldn't surprise anyone.  Especially those of us who sell - and everybody sells. How many sales training courses have you been through that are nothing more than process and machinery?

What sticks in my craw is that these practices and I am sure others like them, are implemented and recommended institutionally.  Sleight of hand is considered a legitimate selling function - salespeople are expected to cheat customers and maneuver around people. This is old-fashioned, phony baloney, plastic banana, carpet-bagging swill.


Doubling Meanings and Plausible Deniability-

Example number 1, submitted for your approval, is from a telemarketing company specializing in the MSP vertical, espousing an example on how to get around a Gatekeeper.

"...the solution we developed was to approach the gatekeepers with vague phrases like, “I am calling back for Mr. Jones." The difference this style can make is one of the double meanings and plausible deniability, which means that if you have called for this prospect before, then you are literally ‘calling back’ for them..."

So what is the 'top secret' recommendation for getting to the decision-maker? In a word, Lie.

I kid you not, some poor soul is going to pay for this curriculum.

Déjà vu, the taste is familiar, isn't it?  Like tequila after that one night in college - you drank too much, prayed to the porcelain god while your best friend held your hair, remember that?  Tequila was never the same again.

That's the response these types of advisories illicit - and if you don't feel uncomfortable in the least if you believe that building a relationship based on a lie is the best way to prosper - stop reading and leave.

You and I are not that naive to believe sales 'techniques' haven't been employed or are not effective.  I can say that BOTH sides of the selling equation dodge, duck, and jab at each other.

I've seen it, I've done it. It won't work the same way for much longer...

There's more...there is always more...

Operation Market Basket -

The second occurrence is from Staples.

Now I know what you're thinking, if you hire high school kids to man the isles, what kind of talent are you employing in the first place?  Malleable.

Here's the juxt:  Staples places ads in the local newspaper for a specific laptop.  The price point is designed low enough to attract people into their stores.  Staples training, in some locations, instructs each rep to sell "additions" to these specially priced items: extended warranties, mousepads and the like, or NOT AT ALL.  If the customer doesn't opt for any add-ons or up-sells, don't sell them the unit.

Each rep is expected to hold an average of $200.00 in add-ons.  This internal system is referred to as "Market Basket".

The complaints go like this - consumer spots an ad for a laptop, shows up to purchase said laptop, asks if the unit is in stock - indeed it is - and is immediately thrown into the 'up-sell process.  When the consumer refuses any additional items, the laptop in question, upon further review, is now not in stock.  It's a mystery and as all good salespeople know, '...where there is a mystery, there is margin..." - gag.

Article here.

B2B sales are NOT retail, but your customer doesn't see the difference.  The poor schmoe who had his  Saturday morning ruined by the sales schlep at Staples is the same IT guy you have a meeting with on Tuesday - he's going to roll you right into the same ilk.  How's that going to work for ya?

So What?

What have the selling classes been teaching generations of salespeople to do on a daily basis?  What have we willingly, in some cases desperately and happily consumed, over and over again?
They've taught us how to, Lie.

Lie in Print.

Lie on the internet.

Through your teeth.

To the person on the other end of the phone.

Lie to your friends, family - and especially - to yourself - as long as you move "5 boxes", "place 4 bodies" or "secure 25 appointments" this month.

"Lie" yourself into believing you're a professional, in a profession.  Rationalize away that oily feeling you carry home every night. Keep telling yourself, 'every NO brings me closer to a YES'

Keep buying those books, listening to podcasts, and reading the internet - anything you can do to keep that voice in your head buried deep.  The little voice you've been trained to ignore. That voice that use to say, "this is wrong".

For most salespeople, the voice is still there.

There are more people who feel the old selling models deserve the circular file.  From quotas, commission structure, cold calls, and mission statements: there is a better way.
  • There are more and more experts who believe cold calls are a waste of time.
  • There is a movement in sales championing fewer outside salespeople.
  • There is a belief that selling doesn't really need to be about manipulation.
  • There are those who know the 80/20 rule need not be.
  • I think Selling Professionals shouldn't work FOR a company but could work WITH more than ONE company.
What can you do?
  1. Stop lying to yourself.
  2. Start questioning the existing model - to yourself.  Ask why.
  3. Keep an eye out for new kinds of sales mentoring and a new Professional Selling approach.  Today, there are a few contrarians in the field - in the next 24 months, there will be many more.
  4. Ask your existing clients why they decided to engage with you...personally.
It is time to rediscover Professional Selling - we've moved from offering "clicks" to "sharing ideas", our ways of communicating must move as well.

I don't see a disruption in the selling methodology, I see the demolition of the ecosystem.

Want to learn more?

Join Us.  Grwalters.com


Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Walt's Weekly Words - Week 15 - July 15


Walt's Spin

"What's old is new." A statement uttered by countless generations before and leagues to come. For me, and I am sure many timeline-compatriots, today's world seems eerily reminiscent. Certainly not identical, and more than nostalgic. 

More like a Renaissance.

Managed Print Services is still alive and experiencing a bump. Partly due to some pent-up demand and a reduction of IT resources.

The demand is provisional. I still believe pivoting into IT services is possible, not strictly because of an existing print-centric relationship as much as the supporting infrastructure of MPS practices is a solid foundation for the transition.

Sales and marketing will shift demographics and talk tracks, but needs assessments and proposals are parallel paths. But again, the demand for IT services has a shelf life.
Consolidation runs rampant, and the larger, establishments remain overconfident in their temporary position.

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

The Constitution of the United States of America & #StarTrek


Some say the current version of Star Trek is edgy and inclusive and diverse. 

Some say Discovery is revolutionary and Strange New Worlds is fresh - truly examples of the "history didn't start until after I was born" generations. 

Alas, The Original Star Trek, TOS as it is referred to from 'Trekkers' not "Trekkies" is still the purest version in the canon.

Monday, July 20, 2020

The Channel Revolution Nobody is Talking About



"If you keep staring at the sun, you won’t see
What you have become, this can't be
Everything you thought it was
Blinded by the thought of us, so
Give me a chance, I will
Fuck up again, I warned
You in advance

But you just keep on starin' at the sun”

The End of the Beginning -

There is a revolution afoot few recognize or acknowledge.  This event will obliterate every business model in our channel. Most of corporate America, the Fortune 1000, have decided to keep employees working from home, they’ve canceled yearly company get-togethers and will not be sending anyone to shows or conventions.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Happy Veteran's Day - Find a Vet, Buy him/her a drink and say thanks...



This is getting disturbing - fewer and fewer people, Americans, don't know the difference between, Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, December 7th, VJ Day, VE Day and the Fourth of July - we forget what happened on Monday, August 6, 1945 and again six days later (Google-itize it for God's sake).

How long until 911 and the Towers fall away - out of the American History text books - hell, do we still teach AMERICAN HISTORY???

Vietnam vets returned home to be spat upon.

Today, some of our fallen come home for their final rest, only to have their families assaulted by the likes of Code Pink and crazy, whacked-out, 6 person congregation, churches.

The F is wrong with this picture?

Because of what they, and generations before them did, we get the honor of being beaten down by goofy Purchasing Agents as we try to save the world with MPS.

Anyway - find a vet and tell him you remember.

'Nuff said...take it away, Kid...






Click to email me.

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

The Cost of Progress: AI Regulations and the Erosion of Innovation


Bureaucracy and AI: A Match Made in the Cloud

Freedom takes a hit,
AI regulations loom,
Innovation weeps.

Greg's Words
No. No. NO.

This is a really bad idea and if implemented sets back the freedom of speech and puts the entire media, news reporting, and the distribution of facts, back 100 years.

The truth will be what they want us to believe.  You know this. You've seen a glimpse - no matter what side you are on, when a government entity can call up a media outlet and tell them what to say, the freedom of the press dissolves and we citizens are at best lulled and at worst sent off to the re-education camps.

The 911 Act was bad enough; it sounded great that all the alphabet agencies share data, sure, but the FBI given jurisdiction in foreign lands?  A no-fly list? I'm still required to take my shoes off?  When do we retire the TSA? 

Never.

I don't think AI should be regulated because it stifles creativity and promotes a narrative.
I think the platforms should be considered just like the phone companies - it is just a wire.
And after watching the FB and TT hearings, I am more than convinced our elected officials do not know sh$t about technology.

And you want BIDEN making recommendations on AI?  Are YOU that big of an ID 10T?

We put the big AI in the sky in the question.

Enjoy.

Monday, March 27, 2023

Americans Pull Back From Values That Once Defined U.S., WSJ-NORC Poll Finds



Embracing change and shedding old skin: America's journey towards a brighter future.


Three-point executive summary:

  1. American values, including patriotism, religious faith, hard work, and having children, are receding in importance to Americans, as per the Wall Street Journal-NORC poll.
  2. The country is divided by political parties over social trends such as racial diversity in businesses and the use of gender-neutral pronouns.
  3. Only money was cited as very important by 43% of respondents in the new survey, up from 31% in 1998.
__________
Greg's Opinion:
 
As one of the few people who voted for Ronnie Raygun, it the results of the survey are not surprising.  

The self-loathing of a nation has been eroding foundational values since the 60s.

And that's okay.

There will be a tomorrow and America will be there, leading to way.  For all the angst, all the fabricated and false shame, we are the nation that leads - we lead in tech, we lead in societies, we lead in business and we lead in change and we are always growing.

Unfortunately, constant growth equates to continuous growing pains.

GPT summary of WSJ article, "Americans Pull Back From Values That Once Defined U.S., WSJ-NORC Poll Finds: Patriotism, religion, and hard work hold less importance"

Monday, August 22, 2022

Hunger Stones Reveal 'Ominous' Warnings #ClimateChange



Dropping river levels in Europe are revealing historical artifacts while here in the States, Lake Mead gave up the remains of five folks 'sleeping with the fishes'.

A recent article in Morning Brew states, 

"Perhaps the most ominous findings are the “hunger stones” etched along the banks of central Europe’s rivers. These inscriptions date back centuries, and generally offer the same message to future generations: “If the water is low enough for you to read this, prepare for pain.”

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

ChatGPT Writes this Frost Poem About AI Replacing Writers, April 5


Could ChatGPT lay waste to millions of professional jobs, including journalists?


Source: The Wall Street Journal

Date: April 5, 2023


"...professionals such as grant writers, data analysts, and HR professionals were able to produce news releases, short reports, and emails in 37% less time and with superior results using ChatGPT..."


Greg's Words


AI is replacing journalists, copywriters, and creatives in all industries.

It's happening right now as the writers in Hollywood strike.  Good luck with that.

Unlike loom operators, automotive painting booths, and redundant manufacturing processes, the creative arts were once thought untouchable by machines or any being possessing a level of intellect less than a painting elephant.

Not anymore. Every creative effort that involves a creator and a beholder is impacted by the '6 billion' points of light ChatGPT can call upon.

What better to illustrate this than through the human beauty that is a sonnet based on the human-generated WSJ article- created in less than 8 seconds, by ChatGPT in the Style of Frost:

"In quiet fields where newsprint grows, I found
A tale of change that spoke with tempered might,
The words upon the page, a solemn sound:
"The robots have arrived to claim our plight."
For now they've come to seize the author's pen,
Their quills of steel and gears in place of hearts,
And in their wake, the question lingers, then:
What fate awaits the souls displaced by arts?
Yet still, the Earth spins on, as change doth turn,
In cycles of creation and demise,
Each era births a new, a lesson learned,
And with each fall, a phoenix tends to rise.
Embrace the march of progress, let it be,
For in its tide, we find our destiny."
_________

We've pulled together this piece based on the WSJ article. Enjoy.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

This is What HP Should Do with TouchPad/WebOS: "Execute Order 66"

Give more TouchPads away.  And by more, I mean to give another 500,000 away.

Quickly put together a Mega-Cloud, now.  

Call it the "MacGyver Cloud"; duct tape, paperclips, hope, and a prayer - whatever it takes, string it together.  

In this cloud, give away 6-month subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal, HBR, LeopardONE, MPSInsightsPro, LuLu, TMZ, on and on.

Bundle all of it in. Free.

Hook up with Verizon and get on their network, into their stores.  Hell, buy Verizon.

Get every remaining print publisher on the phone, in a Halo room, or to the West Coast and offer up an advanced conduit to 1 million customers, through MacGyver. Negotiate for a percentage and target Amazon/Borders; the Nook and the Kindle.

Spark up the TouchPad plants.  Rationalize, re-calibrate and reorganize PSG around generations of TouchPad.  Get this new team out there selling MacGyver and giving away TouchPads through every channel.  EVERY CHANNEL.  Sell it at 99 bucks - through Walmart.

Call the second model, "TheNext" and release a Leopard print version.

Buy a f*cking advertising agency, not another technological oddity.

I'm not done yet.

Friday, January 27, 2023

The Relevance of Queer Theory in Black History Education


Okay, here we go -

I had a very interesting discussion on LinkedIn the other day that reminded me of the good old days when the internet was raw and debates heated.

I was drawn into a conversation about Queer theory inside Critical Race theory in the state of Florida's education system.

An article titled, Florida wants its strict race and gender law to influence how an AP class on Black history is taught nationwide can be found here, which started this thing off.

Granted, beforehand, I knew very little of either side - indeed, my interest level wanned, I don't have a horse in this race. I copied the conversation out of LinkedIn and ran it through GTP, 
"summarize this content and write a 1000-word, collegiate-level essay with sources, a title, a summary paragraph, and a tweet:..."
Here is the lightly edited response.
###

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