What to work on in the age of AI if you are ambitious?
As a British founder in China
At times I feel confused about how to map the new territory, because it feels as if the map is constantly changing and not yet settled.
I am straddled between China and the west, sometimes unsure which side to dive into, and how a study abroad platform is going to evolve in the future.
This is what I think about as a founder, but also for the perspective of students who are choosing where and what to study?
Before, it seemed quite clear what to work on - take a degree, and get into a specific trade like law, architecture or medicine.
While they may still be true now, every field is changing more quickly - it seems almost impossible to accurately predict, let alone 4+ years in advance.
So what should you work on in the age of AI if you are ambitious?
I wrote a few ideas in this article
But now I want to look at a slightly different, more applied angle - how to find and evaluate opportunities.
We can look at what is now abundant and therefore what is now scarce.
When I first came to China, sharing the information on an online platform was incredibly valuable.
Now that has shifted the value is more about trust, curation and relationships.
So here are two levels on which to think:
On a personal level - which skills to develop and how to apply them?
On opportunities and projects - which opportunities to pursue?
As a person, there are some solid principles that I am focusing on:
Personal Skills
Writing and ability to think clearly
This becomes a more valuable skill as the world becomes more disrupted and information becomes more abundant. So I plan to write more to improve my thinking and ability to communicate. This is counterintuitive as I see more students copying and pasting letters and sending automated emails.
AI helps you to refine and improve your thinking and writing.
Strong relationships
This is something that has to go through people annd intelligence and technology can’t replicate. The ability to build and maintain relationships and add value to others.
The subset to that is reputation: Reliability, dependability and competence in your domain. This is a skill, and something to build over time.
Health
This is something that compounds and gives you strength and energy. While seemingly obvious.
Deep Work
The ability to work deeply is an advantage that I’ve come to appreciate more.
Courage
Emotional Stability and Awareness
Financial runway
This is a skill but also a resource, just like relationships are.
These can be pursued but better applied and refined through work.
As the tools become more available, execution more easy, and competition increases, opportunity selection becomes more important.
Opportunity Selection
The exact opportunities are going to depend on each person.
I like the idea of focusing on the work right in front of you. You can’t do bigger work if you can’t do the current work well.
While I think most of us have ideas of what is valuable, here is a framework for evaluating principles to evaluate opportunities.
The test - what is scarce, valuable and scalable?
When we have abundance in one domain, it shifts to what is now scarce and valuable.
For example abundant information makes curation more valuable. And we are only able to grow or develop it as much as it’s scalable. Many opportunities meet only two of those, but ideally they should meet all three.
The materials - Taste, Judgement, Trust
Build something that scales one or ideally, all of these: taste, judgement and trust. A platform, product or brand.
Distribution
One thing I can say confidently that it becomes more valuable and that is distribution, and you develop distribution by consistently express a genuinely scarce perspective, on a channel you can sustain for years, to the specific people who need it, until trust compounds into reach - then layer brand into platform into product.
So what’s the thing you should focus on?
The answer to this question is becoming more difficult now. Before if you got a law degree you were set for life. But that’s why answering this question, for you, becomes more valuable now. This is the game.
But if you look back at this article you realise that things haven’t totally changed, they’ve just shifted.
A platform is just as, or more valuable, but for different reasons.
And here I am figuring it out, building and making progress, and that’s all we can do, together.
One step closer.
What are your thoughts? Let’s share and connect.