When I started my sales career, computers and data processing as we think of it today was in it’s infancy. I know - Jurassic Period right? Just call me a dinosaur.
Because of your human qualities, you inherently have discerned that I’m not really a dinosaur, I’m just an individual living today among not dinosaurs but the machines. The ability to discern is a most human quality and not a capability of artificial intelligence (at least not yet). According to Google’s AI:
To discern means to recognize, understand, or perceive something with the intellect, senses, or sight, often by making out a distinction or difference between things. It involves distinguishing something subtle, perceiving something that is difficult to make out, or separating one thing from others.
So when someone says, “You sure are one of a kind” or, “They broke the mold after you were born” those comments originally made in jest are now an important complement among us humans.
A presentation by Dr. Troy Butler I attended was the catalyst behind today’s musings about individuality. You might remember a recent post I shared about his research in the field of mathematics and AI (There’s a Difference).
Due to his renown in the research arena, Dr. Butler told us he receives incoming email requests (e.g. sales pitches) from all over the world. He has discerned no matter the sender (e.g. student, vendor, potential research collaborator), and no matter the country of origin, every email is structured and reads in a very similar pattern. With his background in the AI field, he can tell the sender has used AI to write the email. He joked he is considering enabling AI to write a response. Machine-to-machine communications? No individuality there, true?
The more that individuals use AI, the less of their individuality comes through.
Dr. Troy Butler
During his presentation my mind wandered to the sales profession. Wandering mind; another human quality. I thought about how many salespeople use AI to generate prospecting emails. I’ve often professed that to the prospect, all vendors (aka salespeople) look alike. Not only is AI not a competitive differentiator for salespeople, its worse than that - it’s an “homogenizer of sameness”.
Here's a thought… if you want to stand apart in your prospect’s mind; if you want your individuality to shine through; then act more like a human than a machine.
Today’s post is brought to you by just me, a dinosaur in today’s world of Artificial Intelligence.
GAP
When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.
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