 |
|
|
|||||
I work in the data center industry, where were known for our digital-ready, adaptive infrastructure. Yet one of our most valuable products is actually the leaders we create. Developing leaders is critical for every growing company. For us, its an urgent priority. Demand for AI and high-powered computing means were expanding almost 30% annually. In just two years, weve grown from under 200 employees in the U.S. to around 900 across five countries.But as vital as leadership development is, it often gets overlooked. Just four out of 10 executives say their company has high-quality leadership, while 45% of managers dont think their organization is doing enough to develop senior talent.Turning your company into a leadership development engine requires looking at tomorrow through a talent lens. Its not just about hiring great peopleits about building a pipeline of leaders who can step up, inspire teams, and represent the business at its best. That means promoting from within, bringing in fresh perspectives, and upskilling existing leaders to be ready for whats next. Even for companies that arent on a rapid growth trajectory, our experience offers some lessons worth considering. Here are three things any business can do to develop its leaders. 1. Identify potential and create the roadmap To start, you need a clear leadership philosophy. Ours is simple: Grow people, grow the business. We see leaders as those who take initiative, elevate others, and deliver results without needing to be micromanaged. The next step: Create a leadership roadmap by figuring out which roles you need today and tomorrow. This isnt just about identifying people but also pinpointing business needs. Who on your team can be developed to meet those objectives? What roles call for a new hire? Who will need replacing? With an aging workforce threatening a talent shortage, succession planning is increasingly important for future-proofing. Its also crucial to balance internal promotions with new blood. When I became CEO, I could have recreated the C-suite from my previous company. Instead, we built a culture rooted in our unique business needsrecruiting leaders from a variety of organizations and developing existing talent. Last quarter alone, we promoted four executives within the company to new roles. Im also a firm believer that A players should hire A players. That demands letting go of fears around being replaced and bringing on people who help raise everybodys game. Finally, one of the most powerful things an organization can do is treat leadership as a behavior, not a goal. Give people the chance to lead projects, influence peers, and solve hard problems before they ever manage a team. It builds confidence, surfaces potential, and helps people grow into leaders long before their title says so. 2. Train and develop your leaders Identifying a future leader is just the beginning. The real work lies in helping them develop. General Electrics Leadership Development Institute once set the standard here, especially during the Jack Welch era. IBMs offerings include online leadership development programs that earn participants a certificate from a top business school. While some companies prefer a one-size-fits-all approach, we break down leadership development into three cohorts. One is for team members who have never led before. The next is for midlevel managers, covering topics like having tough conversations, big-picture thinking and leading rather than managing. For high-potential employees (chosen by the C-suite), we offer a Leadership Excellence program designed to accelerate those who can move the business forward. One-on-one training is also essential. Through our mentorship program, we pair top leadership candidates with senior executives. We also have promising leaders shadow more senior team members, especially if they might end up succeeding that person. Such efforts pay off. One study found that the average ROI for every dollar spent on leadership development is $7. Besides a revenue boost, those benefits include savings from higher employee retention and lower recruiting costs. 3. Support the leaders you have Leaders need autonomy to do what they do best, but that freedom hinges on support from their peers. We recently brought the entire executive team together for an offsite. Such meetings are a chance to align on priorities, share ideas, talk about what is and isnt working, and brainstorm how to overcome obstacles. Having that peer network to lean on helps set leaders up for success with their teams. Burnout is also a major problem. Younger people are especially vulnerable, with 75% of leaders under age 35 saying they feel used up at the end of each day. To prevent that, we provide executive coaching, settle on a realistic scope for leaders duties and encourage setting boundaries. Avoiding burnout also means normalizing vulnerability and urging leaders to tell us if theyre at capacity. The worst thing that can happen is someone quitting because they didnt have bandwidth. Especially when we can help them, whether thats by hiring or bringing in staff from elsewhere in the business. Challenges and opportunities Developing the next generation of leaders has its stumbling blocks. One hurdle is that many young professionals are reluctant to lead. More than half of Gen Z employees dont want to be middle managers, and roughly 70% would prefer to advance as individual contributors. Were tackling this challenge with a robust internship program that gives new grads exposure to multiple career paths, including leadership, so they can make an informed decision about whats right for them. AI adds another layer of complexity. On the one hand, I see it becoming a powerful development tool, offering leaders real-time feedback, personalized learning journeys and data-backed insights into team dynamics. On the other hand, AI is forcing leaders to start thinking about how it will transform the workforce and impact their teams. But no matter what changes AI brings, it cant replace the human element of leadership. For leaders at any successful business in any industry, qualities like empathy, judgment, and presence cant be outsourced. If anything, AI frees up more time for leaders to focus on their most important job: bringing out the best in the people around them. Andrew Schaap is CEO of Aligned Data Centers.
Category:
E-Commerce
Today, most AI is being built on blind faith inside of black boxes. It requires users to have on unquestioning belief in something neither transparent nor understandable. The industry is moving at warp speed, employing deep learning to tackle every problem, training on datasets that few people can trace, and hoping no one gets sued. The most popular AI models are developed behind closed doors, with unclear documentation, vague licensing, and limited visibility into the provenance of training data. Its a messwe all know itand it’s only going to get messier if we dont take a different approach. This train now, apologize later mindset is unsustainable. It undermines trust, heightens legal risk, and slows meaningful innovation. We dont need more hype. We need systems where ethical design is foundational. The only way we will get there is by adopting the true spirit of open source and making the underlying code, model parameters, and training data available for anyone to use, study, modify, and distribute. Increasing transparency in AI model development will foster innovation and lay a stronger foundation for civic discourse around AI policy and ethics. Open source transparency empowers users Bias is a technical inevitability in the architecture of current large learning models (LLMs). To some extent, the entire process of training is nothing but computing the billions of micro-biases that align with the contents of the training dataset. If we want to align AI with human values, instead of fixating on the red herring of bias, we must have transparency around training. The source datasets, fine-tuning prompts and responses, and evaluation metrics will reveal precisely the values and assumptions of the engineers who create the AI model. Consider a high school English teacher using an AI tool to summarize Shakespeare for literary discussion guides. If the AI developer sanitizes the Bard for modern sensibilities, filtering out language they personally deem inappropriate or controversial, they’re not just tweaking outputthey’re rewriting history. It is impossible to make an AI system tailored for every single user. Attempting to do so has led the recent backlash against ChatGPT for being too sycophantic. Values cannot be unilaterally determined at a low technical level, and certainly not by just a few AI engineers. Instead, AI developers should provide transparency into their systems so that users, communities, and governments can make informed decisions about how best to align the AI with societal values. Open source will foster AI innovation Research firm Forrester has stated that open source can help firms accelerate AI initiatives, reduce costs, and increase architectural openness, ultimately leading to a more dynamic, inclusive tech ecosystem. AI models consist of more than just software code. In fact, most models’ code is very similar. What uniquely differentiates them are the input datasets and the training regimen. Thus, an intellectually honest application of the concept of “open source” to AI requires disclosure of the training regimen as well as the model source code. The open-source software movement has always been about more than just its tech ingredients. Its about how people come together to form distributed communities of innovation and collective stewardship. The Python programming languagea foundation for modern AIis a great example. Python evolved from a simple scripting language into a rich ecosystem that forms the backbone of modern data processing and AI. It did this through countless contributions from researchers, developers, and innovatorsnot corporate mandates. Open source gives everyone permission to innovate, without installing any single company as gatekeeper. This same spirit of open innovation continues today, with tools like Lumen AI, which democratizes advanced AI capabilities, allowing teams to transform data through natural language without requiring deep technical expertise. The AI systems we’re building are too consequential to stay hidden behind closed doors and too complex to govern without collaboration. However, we will need more than open code if we want AI to be trustworthy. We need open dialogue among the enterprises, maintainers, and communities these tools serve because transparency without ongoing conversation risks becoming mere performance. Real trust emerges when those building the technology actively engage with those deploying it and those whose lives it affects, creating feedback loops that ensure AI systems remain aligned with evolving human values and societal needs. Open source AI is inevitable and necessary for trust Previous technology revolutions like personal computers and the Internet started with a few proprietary vendors but ultimately succeeded based on open protocols and massively democratized innovation. This benefited both users and for-profit corporations, although the latter often fought to keep things proprietary for as long as possible. Corporations even tried to give away closed technologies “for free,” under the mistaken impression that cost is the primary driver of open source adoption. A similar dynamic is happening today. There are many free AI models available, but users are left to wrestle with questions of ethics and alignment around these black-boxed, opaque models. For societies to trust AI technology, transparency is not optional. These powerful systems are too consequential to stay hidden behind closed doors, and the innovation space around them will ultimately prove too complex to be governed by a few centralized actors. If proprietary companies insist on opacity, then it falls upon the open source community to create the alternative. AI technology can and will follow the same commoditization trajectory as previous technologies. Despite all the hyperbolic press about artificial general intelligence, there is a simple, profound truth about LLMs: The algorithm to turn a digitized corpus can be turned into a thought-machine is straightforward, and freely available. Anyone can do this, given compute time. There are very few secrets in AI today. Open communities of innovation can be built around the foundational elements of modern AI: the source code, the computing infrastructure, and, most importantly, the data. It falls upon us, as practitioners, to insist on open approaches to AI, and to not be distracted by merely “free” facsimiles. Peter Wang is chief AI and innovation officer at Anaconda.
Category:
E-Commerce
Creativitys value to business success cant be overstated. Not only do 70% of employers say that creative thinking is the most in-demand skill, but studies show that companies prioritizing design outperform those that dont by two to one. And as the rise of AI, social media, and creators continues to quickly transform both business and culture, it will likely be the creative industryand those working within itthat will help others navigate that change. Things are evolving quickly and creativity is essential to that evolution. So then, why is it that creative educationthe backbone of creativity is largely standing still while others are embracing change? For decades, the current creative education landscape in the U.S. is largely private, expensive, and increasingly out of sync with the industrys real needs. Most accredited creative programs follow a similar structure: multi-year degrees with high tuition costs, studio-based courses, and portfolio development as the primary measure of progress. While these programs can offer technical training and creative rigor, they often produce similar outcomes: predictable ideas in an industry that thrives on surprise. Also, creative tools and thinking are changing every day, necessitating constant learning not facilitated by current models. Of course, creativity can thrive outside of formal education. Especially now, creative tools are increasingly accessible, and thats a good thing. Also, platforms like TikTok, Canva, and AI-driven products have lowered the barrier to entry, and todays creators are proving that you dont need a degree to have a voice, or an audience. But access to creative tools isnt the same as understanding how to use them wellor how to achieve a level of craft in execution that not only produces results but is worthy of being celebrated. Structured education still matters. So, instead of abandoning creative education altogether, the answer may be in forcing it to evolveembracing new models that acknowledge the real-world needs of business and culture. When education fails, everybody loses In my work with creative organization and educational nonprofit D&AD, I’ve seen the lack of innovations impact in creative education in the U.S., especially as expensive tuitions and employers reliance on traditional talent pipelines leads to creative homogeneity: Business growth suffers when companies pull from the same narrow talent pools. Diverse perspectives drive cultural relevance and resonance. And for Gen Z in particulardemanding cultural alignment from the brands they supportthe cost of getting it wrong is higher than ever. Diversity of thought suffers when teams are filled with people whove had the same training, same references, and same industry touchpoints. Surprising ideas dont arise from predictable inputs. Across marketing, branding, and beyond, were seeing the effectsideas that feel increasingly familiarcreated by teams that look increasingly alike. Entry-level, mid-level and even leadership demographics stagnate because if the pipeline into the creative industry is closed, the pipeline up stays closed too. Studies show that this kind of lack of leadership diversity hurts business innovation as well. The current U.S. traditional creative educational model only perpetuates these issues, excluding not only the same groups often left out of higher educationlow-income students, first-generation college students, Black, brown, Indigenous, neurodivergent, and rural creativesbut also a growing cohort of social media creators as well as creatives with raw talent who never had access to training, mentorship, or even the vocabulary to describe what theyre good at. Strengthen creative education Fortunately, theres been a major shift in how alternative creative programs are viewed, not just by talent, but by the industry itself. What once felt like a plan B is now seen as a fast, relevant, and often more inclusive way to surface new voices and ideas. Alternative programs dont need to be a threat to traditional creative education. In fact, organizations like ours can provide insights into how to evolve to provide what talent needs. Commit to low cost or even free: More urgently, access remains a major barrier. If you cant afford tuition, unpaid internships, or the time it takes to build a portfolio, youre often locked outnot because you lack talent, but because you lack the means to invest or even awareness that this path even exists. Thats why, at D&AD, our night school Shift is fully-funded with no cost to the student, while still delivering a 74% industry placement rate. Other educational institutions need to follow suit, offering ways to dramatically decrease the financial barrier to entry. With the right access, the right talent will show up. Stress real world skills: Most creative programs do a good job teaching skills, but rarely offer the context students need to thrive in the real world. Students learn how to ideate, design, and critique. But they are often not educated on the other important aspects essential to success: understanding the pace, context and nuance, mastering the soft skills essential to conversation and collaboration, as well as how to function productively as part of a team. Weve found that by taking on live briefs from brands like Spotify, Adidas, Diageo, and Airbnbpresenting ideas, fielding feedback, and navigating ambiguity in real timeweve been able to nurture creatives to hit the ground running in a workplace. Nurture a learning mindset: The only constant is change, so it’s critical to embrace an approach that prioritizes discovery and experimentation. The simple fact is that you cant expect relevant creative work from teams running on outdated approaches. Iterative training isnt just about tools. Its about staying connected to cultural shifts, industry changes, evolving platformsand most importantly, changing audience expectations. The most impactful creative work comes from teams that are learning continuously, not just about craft, but about context. More traditional creative colleges and schools need to build iterative offerings that reflect this reality. The truth is that the best creative education doesnt just teach craft; it nurtures curiosity, builds confidence, provides context, and fosters community. These arent immutable qualities but ones that evolve and change, especially now that social and technological factors have radically altered the creative industry and the businesses relying on it. We have to invest in creative people, not just the creativity. And it starts by giving creatives the right education. p>Kwame Taylor-Hayford is the cofounder of Kin and president of D&AD.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||