The #1 Skill In The Age Of AI
Freedom Firm Insider #006
There are three common attitudes when it comes to AI…
– The AI Optimist – “This is going to change everything for the better!”
– The AI Skeptic – “It’s just not very good. I can do it better myself.”
– The AI Doomer – “The robots are coming for us!”
The problem is…
They’re all right (a little).
AI is already changing things for the better. Will it change everything? Not likely (everything is big).
Is AI good? Sometimes. Sometimes it’s really bad. Often you’re better and sometimes you’re faster without it.
Are the robots coming for us?
In some ways, yes. But mostly, no.
As with most things in business and life, they’re complicated, and a simplistic view isn’t helpful.
Here’s what we know with great certainty:
* AI isn’t going away.
* AI will impact every industry in some way.
* AI’s impact will be both good and bad at the micro level.
* AI’s impact will largely be positive at the macro level.
(BTW…that’s the pattern of every technological revolution in human history.)
The most important thing to do today is accept the first point–AI isn’t going away.
Ignoring it isn’t an option unless you’re hanging it up in the next year or two.
If you’re going to be in the game any longer than that, you need an approach to AI.
And to develop that approach there is one (and only one) essential skill…
The Curiosity Advantage
When you step away from the three reactionary views of AI–optimist, skeptic, and doomer–you get a new possibility…
Curiosity.
One of my favorite Jim Rohn quotes is “Isn’t that interesting?”
He used it as a default response to people he observed doing strange things, but it works equally well with this new technology.
When you approach it from the perspective of “Isn’t that interesting” it invites curiosity.
Curiosity is the killer AI skill today.
We’re in the exploration phase of AI.
We have this new tool.
We aren’t exactly sure what it can do and what it can’t do.
We don’t know where the limits are.
And, the limits are changing exponentially every week or two.
Just in the last few weeks, Anthropic (the company behind Claude) released Skills and Plugins, both appear to be major leaps forward in practical AI use.
Honestly, I’m still playing with them to see how they fit.
Early results look very promising, and I know I’m only scratching the surface.
But without that curiosity–and most importantly, the time freedom to explore–you’re going to fall behind.
That goes not just for you as the leader.
It’s equally important for every person on your team.
You multiply impact when everyone is “AI curious.”
Top-down just takes too long.
In our firm, I’m easily the most technically skilled and AI curious. I should be well positioned to push things down into the organization, but it just doesn’t work.
The team needs to lead AI adoption. And they need to approach it as if their jobs depend on it (because they do).
I do think AI will replace some jobs–but fewer than we fear.
More often, it will multiply the impact of the people you have.
It will elevate them to higher-level tasks.
Imagine a day (in the not-too-distant future) where your entire team levels up and you’re producing three to five times the results with the same team.
That’s a more profitable business.
More for you…and more opportunity for them.
But you can’t (and they can’t) assume business as usual.
So let me give you a framework for thinking about AI…
AI isn’t so much a tool or a technology, but a teammate.
And like any teammate, it excels in some areas and struggles in others.
I went back to one of the best little books on success — Peter Drucker’s Managing Oneself — and pulled out 7 principles that I think apply perfectly to Managing AI as a Teammate.
1. What are AI’s strengths? What are its weaknesses?
Just as you want your people working in their strengths, you want the same for AI.
2. How does AI perform? Where does it not perform?
In what ways can AI actually perform (deliver the desired result)? In what ways does it fail to perform acceptably?
3. How does AI learn?
Just like a new intern, you have to teach AI about you and your business. How does it best learn this information and keep it?
4. What are your values?
AI is a probability machine. It does not have values, per se. Sure, it might mimic values sometimes, based on its training data, but we’ve already seen some tragic events where AI’s lack of values caused harm or death. You cannot abdicate the application of your values to the robot!
5. Where does AI belong? Where do you belong?
It shouldn’t be used everywhere–just like any individual team member isn’t used in every role. You need to figure out where AI belongs within your organization and where it doesn’t.
(If you want a framework for this, check out last week’s Freedom Firm Insider #005)
6. What should AI contribute?
Key word…should. I get asked all the time by would-be authors if they can use AI to write their book. Sure, you could use AI to write a book. It won’t be a good book, and more importantly, it won’t be your book.
In this example, you shouldn’t use it to write your book. But I use it every day to brainstorm book titles for clients (using the methodology I trained it on). It’s great for massive iteration. And, it should not choose the title (just give me lots of options).
7. How does AI communicate (input and output)?
This is a big one… most of the bad results you get from AI are a result of poor communication on your part (sorry). You communicate with AI through a prompt and contextual information. The way you do both of those things will have a huge influence on the result you get.
Instead of staring at the blank prompt, wondering what AI can do for me, think about these questions.
Talk about them with your team. Get them thinking this way about AI and their work.
AI’s here to stay…figure out how to leverage it for good.
Steve “AI Curious” Gordon
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