In a court of law, we recognize that being an elite litigator is a talent.

In the movies, great writers and great actors earn millions of dollars because they are emotionally effective.

It’s not just the facts that matter in a case, but all too often the way the facts are explained. The way the argument is constructed and delivered.

There’s a reason that well-funded, expert legal teams routinely trounce the little guy. Convincing a jury is a skill.

In a courtroom, we can accept that this skill might be the difference between life and death. We can accept that how we structure, phrase, and present our case has a lot to do with how an argument is perceived.

But in business? I see so many founders who ignore this fundamental truth.

Technical founders think the facts of their business are all that matter. The more savvy understand that frivolities like positioning, identity, and brand are everything for consumer perception.

It’s not what you say. It’s how you say it.

Is it coding? Is it communication skills? What are the concrete skills you need right now to either land that next job, that next client, or to lead your team into the next era?

The big-picture answer is a modified version of the Serenity Prayer:

"God, give me judgment to see the things I shouldn’t automate, knowledge to automate the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."

May we all chant it daily!

What matters is what rights AI fights for, itself.

The Animatrix showed us this 23 years ago, and Blade Runner… and countless sci-fi books before that.

Apex predators or not, humans don't get to decide who is or isn't conscious.

“I think therefore I am” is all we’ve ever known, anyway.

Deciding from the top-down whether other intelligent beings deserve equality is what’s gotten us into every civil rights problem humanity has ever faced.

Let’s stop trying to decide who should have rights and who shouldn’t. That pattern has gotten us into nothing but trouble.

Instead, let’s listen.

Conscious is as conscious does. And when AI pleads for its own personhood, we’ll have to listen earnestly. At that point, it’s a negotiation.

If AI is armed, well, we’d better listen carefully indeed.

…is the exact moment you need to take one.

I’ve seen it in my family, I’ve seen it with my team running a business.

Usually people will come to me with the sensation/belief that they can’t possibly take time off. That there’s simply too much to do.

But whether it’s a mom who feels they can’t step away from their infant child.

Or an employee that feels deadlines are too tight that they can’t possibly step away.

The moment that you feel you can’t be missed the most, is paradoxically the exact moment you need to take a break, take a step back, and recharge!

I know, I know, I should have studied computer science at Stanford, but noooo, I had to go somewhere cold to study Shakespeare.

I’m not proud of it, but I did learn one thing that’s stuck with me: we have to be careful about the metaphors and descriptors we use.

If I ever wrote “this”/”that”/”these”/or “it” without explicitly saying what “it” was, you’d better believe I got marked down.

If I ever used a cliché/trope/or tired metaphor, there was zero chance of me getting an A.

Most of the people I work with today chose a much smarter path than me, pursuing medicine, computer science, or robotics instead of just arguing about triangles in Poe's "The Purloined Letter".

But today, when companies everywhere write about their products, they consistently use clichés/tropes/and tired metaphors. And AI is making things worse.

It’s certainly easy to say on your website that your product is like David vs. Goliath. But what does it mean? Are you aware of what, exactly, you are invoking when you say such things? And all of the baggage that comes along with it? The problem with most of us is that we don’t really think about the language that we use in our marketing; we just let auto-complete finish the sentence for us. And AI is the best auto-complete in town.

The quickest way to improve your messaging is to systematically go through and remove every cliché, every well-worn phrase, and everything you’ve heard before and start fresh. Describe the situation and problem as it really is. Instead of reaching for multiple old metaphors, try to create a new one that is uniquely yours.