Unleashed - How to Thrive as an Independent Professional

You wouldn't hire a plumber who isn't comfortable using a wrench, or a lumberjack who can't handle a chainsaw. A professional needs to master the tools of the trade.

For independent consultants, a fundamental tool is Excel. For most, it isn't necessary to program in Visual Basic or write macros, but it is essential to master all the basic tools, including, for example, pivot tables, vlookups, if functions, date functions.

In this short episode, I share some suggestions on how to sharpen your Excel skills if they are rusty, and some particular Excel tools to prioritize learning.

Daniel Weiner is a prominent attorney with forty years of experience serving companies in distress, guiding them through restructuring efforts. He is widely published on the subject of bankruptcy, including co-author of the Collier Bankruptcy Practice Guide and contributing author to Bankruptcy and Its Impact on LLC Membership Interests, published by The Institute of Continuing Legal Education.

In today's episode, Weiner provides a broad overview of how restructuring works, and then in the second half suggests some specific steps for owners of small businesses impacted by the global pandemic.

To learn more about his work, visit http://www.schaferandweiner.com/

Show Notes:

Barry Saunders, a digital expert at McKinsey, discusses his background in the firm and his experience in AI-related projects. He worked in the LEAP practice, which built platforms for video streaming, preventative maintenance, and optimization tools. He left McKinsey to become Chief Product Officer at an Australian fashion company and recently joined MXA, a strategic digital technology company in Australia. Barry suggests a two-by-two typology classification scheme for AI-related projects. The first quadrant focuses on understanding patterns of behavior, while the second quadrant focuses on predictive behavioral modeling, third is more about text orientated and understanding meaning. The fourth quadrant focuses on regenerative AI and content creation. Barry believes that combining these quadrants can lead to personalized content for different customers and valuable insights and can unlock interesting value.

AI Use Case Study

Barry and his partner have been working on an AI toolkit to automate time-consuming work for management consultants. They developed a startup called First Things, which uses Gen AI to create classic McKinsey storylines from unstructured data. This tool has helped executives work through their strategies and report outcomes. They have also worked with clients on the AI journey, especially regulated industries. They have found that some tasks can be done more effectively with AI. One project they did was analyzing insurance policies for large-scale agricultural businesses, which are often complex and drift in meaning as language is updated. They created a tool that would analyze these policies, extract semantic meaning, and identify where drift took place, allowing them to align documents and simplify policies. One of the projects they are currently working on is simplifying lending policies for banks. In Australia, many lenders do home lending as their primary base, but the technical platforms used by banks and non-bank lenders are ancient and difficult to navigate. They are working on simplifying policies and offering home loans more simply.

Building AI Tools

The level of effort required to build a tool like this is not limited to building it. Many of the tools available are free, and there are many software as a service tools available that can perform similar tasks. To build a tool like this, one should be clear on what they are trying to do, such as simplifying a policy or comparing two different policies. The AI toolkit has proven to be effective in automating time-consuming work for management consultants and other clients. It is essential to be familiar with the tools and their capabilities to effectively utilize AI in various aspects of business operations. The legal space offers a vast array of tools for generating and analyzing contracts, including software as a service tools. To use these tools effectively, it is essential to be familiar with the large language model and the tool being used. Tuning these tools to get the desired response requires understanding the chain of logic and the outputs.

To build a production-oriented tool, consider using large language model operations (LLM ops) or large language model operations (LLM ops) in a broader software architecture or workflow. Google, AWS, and Microsoft offer guides on how to integrate these tools into their software stack. It is crucial to be clear about the tasks and outputs of these tools, and to work with teams who are familiar with these systems.

Using AI Applications

Barry discusses his work on AI applications, specifically RF cues and analyzing large documents. He built a proof of concept using a tool called mem.ai. He talks about a template he built to analyze questions in RFQs, which are often templated and consistent across government agencies. The system is particularly useful for handling open-ended questions and generating text about your company's services, processes, etc. This speeds the process of applications, and the system can be used to set the tone for the next step in a project.

Timestamps:

00:03 AI projects and experience at McKinsey with Barry Saunders

01:57 Using AI to analyze text data and create personalized content

05:23 Simplifying complex insurance policies using AI

09:06 Building a tool for analyzing and comparing legal documents

12:31 Using AI to automate RFQ response generation

Links:

Whitepapers: https://www.mxa.com.au/whitepapers

Company Website: https://mxa.com.au/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barrysaunders/

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of ...

Show Notes:

In this episode of Unleashed, Dr. Michelle Drapkin, author of The Motivational Interviewing Path to Personal Change: The Essential Workbook for Creating the Life You Want, discusses her book and her work as a Board Certified Clinical Psychologist and behavioral scientist, focusing on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Michelle is known for her work at Johnson and Johnson and the Veterans Administration, and she shares science-based techniques on how to change behaviors beyond intuition or folk knowledge.

CBT and Motivation

Michelle explains cognitive behavioral therapy and her motivational interview technique. Her area of focus within psychology is the common sense approach of using intrinsic motivation to drive behavior change that aligns with an individual's values and goals. She also emphasizes the importance of aligning these values and goals with the context of the organization. Michelle addresses myths about what motivates people and how to overcome them. One myth is that simply telling people what to do is enough, but it's not always the case and doesn’t always endure. She also discusses the importance of fostering a supportive environment and setting clear expectations. She believes that a supportive environment can help individuals feel more comfortable and confident in their decisions, leading to more effective behavior change.

Discussing the McKinsey Change Model

Will and Michelle discuss the McKinsey change model, which consists of four parts: understanding and skills, commitment, leadership modeling, and accountability. They agree the McKinsey model is mostly right, but Michelle also mentions the missing motivation component. She talks about the Combi model, which combines capability, opportunity, and motivation to achieve behavior change. However, the accountability mechanism and measurement are missing in the McKinsey model. She offers an example to prove the point. She suggests that the McKinsey model might not be the best fit for organizations, as it may not be suitable for adopting new habits or habits that require a different approach. She suggests using motivational interviewing, which is a more compassionate and empathic approach that helps people connect with their internal intrinsic motivation to change.

Michelle explains what motivational interviewing is and how it was developed 40 years ago as an alternative to confrontational approaches in the addictions field. It is a gentle, compassionate approach that meets someone where they are at and helps them connect with their internal intrinsic motivation to change. By using motivational interviewing, organizations can help individuals change behaviors for themselves or at least for their own benefit.

Michelle talks about the importance of self-compassion, the best-self, and various exercises and strategies for enhancing team alignment and organizational effectiveness. She suggests exercises on how to connect with the best-self and emphasizes the importance of motivational interviewing in behavior change, as it encourages people to talk about their reasons for change and commitment to change. This has been scientifically proven to result in the change.

How to Prioritize Values

She discusses the importance of prioritizing values, which can be challenging to identify. She suggests that individuals should first identify their values and then narrow them down to about 10, and then prioritize one value. This offers a map to their North star(s). These are the building block to purpose, and

helps in making decisions about how to manage competing values and navigate conflicts.

She talks about the importance of recognizing and valuing different aspects of an individual's life, such as their time and family, and how they can prioritize these aspects. They emphasize the importance of understanding and valuing different aspects of oneself to better understand and manage competing values. By focusing on positive experiences and addressing barriers, individuals can become more likely to make changes and improve their overall well-being.

Michelle talks about chapter two in her book which focuses on finding their why which leads to the what. She helps them identify and prioritize what they want to focus on driving towards before identifying what needs to change. She moves on to explain how she motivates change and introduces the process to consolidate motivation to make change and then commit to the action. She stresses that this approach is not telling people why they should, convincing, persuading or cheerleading.

What Is Motivational Interviewing

The concept of motivational interviewing (MI) and its four components: focusing on motivation, consolidating motivation, consolidating commitment, and empowering employees. MI is different from other approaches as it is not persuasive but rather evokes motivation from inside the indi...

Show Notes:

Chris Freeberg is the co-founder of deck.support, a company that brings some of the best tools for PowerPoint into Google Slides. Chris and cofounder Dimitri Limberopoulos recognized the need for increased functionality in Google Slides as more companies were switching from PowerPoint to Google Slides but wanted a larger variety of tools and functionality for projects. deck.support was launched last month in the Google workspace marketplace as an extension to Google Slides and provides a wide range of tools to increase creativity and functionality that are available for PowerPoint. deck.support is an affordable and essential tool for those who prefer working in Google Slides for client or collaboration reasons.

An Introduction to deck.support

deck.support lives within Google Slides and Chris demonstrates how to access the extension. He discusses the use of deck.support which offers various formatting shortcuts and alignment tools. These tools allow users to quickly align images, columns, and objects, and automatically resize them for better alignment.

deck.support Objects and Templates Tutorial

Chris explains how to use objects and templates. Objects are text and graphical elements that can be inserted onto a page, such as three-step process wheels or four-step process wheels.

Templates are more elaborate versions of layouts. Templates can include a table of contents, detailed agenda, context, findings, matrix, BFA, call out, box prioritization, traffic light, slide, Harvey Ball, timeline, slide, customer funnels, and more.

The founders have tried to replicate the visual languages used in their slides. The collection of templates, key actions, deliverables, and hypotheses is a complete list of 90% of the standard slide designs used in consulting projects.

deck.support for Project Goals and Objectives

The project also includes charts with more numerous charts to explore the project's goals and objectives. The goal is to provide a more engaging and effective presentation for clients.

They have built a roadmap of 10 different chart types to start with, aiming to bring a high level of precision to Google Slides. AI is another feature which allows users to prompt the AI to read a slide and add finishing touches. This is an integration with Open AI, which will look at a slide and add specific notes to the speaker notes at the bottom. The AI suggestions launched at the bottom of the slide include a more action-oriented or informative headline that concisely summarizes the benefits of deck support.

deck.support and the Golden Age of Entrepreneurship

Chris discusses the importance of remembering who the audience is for a slide presentation to ensure clarity and comprehension. The process of building the tool involved a quick analysis of the potential of Google Slides, and hiring a developer with expertise in Google Apps Scripts. The augmented intelligence provided by AI tools allowed him to understand the process of development and make informed decisions. Chris believes that AI is a gold standard in the field of entrepreneurship, as it provides a demystification of the process, making it easier and more enjoyable for the audience. He also mentions the importance of considering the audience's needs and the potential for advancements in the field. Chris and Dimitri built a roadmap using PowerPoint and AI to understand the purpose of their software. They were guided by 17 years of BCG experience and were familiar with existing tools and their limitations.

Developing, Testing, and Pricing deck.support

Chris discusses the development process of their product, which took about six months. The first step was identifying how to communicate what they wanted in terms of tools and functionality, and identifying the limitations of current tools on the market. They used chat GPT to evaluate different jurisdictions for incorporation, such as Delaware, Ireland, Dubai, and Singapore. They landed on Singapore, as it was the best place for two international people selling software. Chat GPT helped them evaluate different options and run simulations of fees, given different revenue levels and currency flows. Each section of the tool became its own block, and they tested each one before launching it in the App Store. They learned that the most valuable aspect of the product was the user-centered approach and understanding how it would be used and integrated into workflows.They currently offer the product for free on the Google workspace marketplace, but the alignment tools will be paid for. The core version of export will have an annual fee of $50 per year, and charts will be an additional feature that people can pay for. The pricing for charts is currently around $300 a year, and efficient elements will be around $100 a year. The overall value of the product is expected to be around $150 a year for charts.

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