SXSW Key Takeaways 2024 🌷 – Small Meet Large

A few key insights from this week at #SXSW 🌷

1️⃣ We are going to produce 100 years of progress in the next 5 years. Thirty paces linearly will get us to the other side of the room. Thirty paces exponentially will land us on the moon. #ThinkExponentially

2️⃣ AI is either biased or woke/overcorrected. If you have a face, you have a space in the conversation. How do we reduce harm? And who benefits from these systems? We make business decisions based on #priority and #perspective, so let’s change our perceptions for the common good, and make that our priority.

3️⃣ The idea of a 100,000+ company size and “job holders” is retiring. Small teams and “creative generalists” are scaling. Just use AI as a tool, and stop being fearful you’ll lose your job. Stay passionate and curious and leverage your interests and gifts within the work environment to solve problems.

4️⃣ We need to show people that we want to connect with them. Recognize what type of conversation you’re in: do you or the person you’re communicating with want to be helped, hugged, or heard? You can find that out by asking questions and looping for understanding. Summarize and clarify.

5️⃣ Feeling lonely? Practice reciprocal authenticity with a stranger to build interpersonal closeness through an experiment called “making fast friends.” Spread positive emotional contagion where you can.

6️⃣ Acknowledge diverse abilities and challenge your unconscious biases (and those of your kids) to practice listening to lived experiences and providing more opportunities and connection. Keep asking questions.

7️⃣ Start to scale the edge of your business. Not by flooding resources there, but by committing to 2-3 strategic initiatives for the next 6-12 months, one step at a time. Your edge will be your core business in 10 years. Your core business as it exists today will be obsolete.

8️⃣ Pay attention to the leaders that have an Explorer mindset and who aren’t afraid to say “I don’t know the answer, help me.”