We live in an era of hustle and noise.
Wherever you turn, you are confronted by get-rich-quick strategies, stars, and gurus.
And then we have Artificial Intelligence.
AI tools are found by many institutions to save time and raise efficiency.
But blanket application of Artificial Intelligence also obfuscates the distinction between pseudomastery and true mastery.
In this environment, you may have questioned what it means to be truly educated in an AI world.
The first things to remember are that the actual education, i. e., wisdom is possible to gain from anywhere.
An example is the idea of ‘tacit knowledge.’ That is, the knowledge you gain from the way you are raised, from instinct, from the worlds that make you up, but not from bookshelves nor from school desks.
Some of the greatest lessons that I have ever learned are the folk tales that were read by my father to me as a youth.
Learning is possible both formally and informally. Never undervalue the worth of what I term ‘wild ideas,’ learned from your environment or from nature.
You may also wonder about the value that is accrued from university when any student is able to outsource their university exam or essay to an artificial intelligence chat robot.
Full-time study is still extremely worthwhile. However, competency will never need to come secondary to prestige for the student.
When I made up my mind to further my education, the choice was made from the desire to study, not from the desire to receive an honor.
My doctoral research on resource-conservation management may seem an unlikely choice given my business background. However, it provided me with an in-depth understanding of systems thinking that continues to shape my work.
It must also be said that formal education, and highly ranked universities, do not necessarily provide clarity concerning the direction of the student. I was 25 years old before deciding what I wanted to do with my life.
Uncertainty is intimidating, but it is also incredibly teachable. Doubt will have you ask uncomfortable questions and sidestep the status quo definition of what ‘success’ is.
The material world is not just about a university degree. It is looking for resilience, adroitness, and a keen sense of oneself. What is imprinted on you as the natural component of one’s university studies is the proper credential of one’s accomplishments.
There is also a very tangible distinction between an entrepreneurial and corporate mindset in the corporate arena.
Most classical corporate thinking will demand that group members are risk-averse and work under strict parameters. At the opposite end is an entrepreneurial spirit that relishes risk and is willing to think out of the box.
Both methods are equal. It is, however, extremely important that leaders are able to distinguish between the two methods and able to see tendencies among their teammates. The ability to distinguish, and adapt, your method will give you the greatest results, not least as the members within the group will have tendencies toward the both methods.
The hard realities of leadership are separated too frequently from the classroom. Leadership is all too often hard. It’s disciplined. It’s decisive. It’s persistent. It’s letting other people’s stars shine and acting with rectitude when things are going astray.
It is also very simple to take pleasure in leadership. Try to be curious, respectful of dignity and maintain a sense of morality, and set up systems so that what you’re establishing endures beyond your name. These are the lessons I try to teach the young businessmen whom I advise.
The Age of the Machine is all about quick answers and quick credibility. By the only measure that matters, to be well-educated is to demonstrate hunger for learning over the span of your lifetime.
Continual learning leads us to make informed decisions, to design lasting systems, and towards improving the future. Never wanting to stop learning is the very definition for success amidst an age of AI.
