Dan Sullivan and Gord Vickman examine the intersection of emotion, artificial intelligence, and human consciousness—and explain what will always set humans apart. What does it truly mean to be conscious in a world increasingly overwhelmed by technology?

Show Notes:

• The entire human experience of being an individual is consciousness.
• The scientific community still doesn’t understand why humans are conscious or how to measure consciousness.
• By 2026, experts predict 90% of online content could be AI-generated.
• AI lacks the multi-sensory and emotional depth of the human experience. It can never fully replicate human consciousness and interaction.
• Technological advancements often fade as fads because they can’t substitute the richness of human interaction.
• Humans tend to project significance onto new technologies that simply isn’t there.
• Google Images has started delivering AI-generated results.
• AI is a capability, and it becomes increasingly more useful the more you view it through this lens.
• Our ability to advance AI technology is limited by the physical resources this technology consumes.

Resources:

Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman

Perplexity

Thinking About Your Thinking by Dan Sullivan

Most business owners grow by hiring the right people, but a theatrical approach offers unique advantages that accelerate your success. Dan Sullivan and Gord Vickman discuss the groundbreaking concepts in Dan’s new book, Casting Not Hiring, and share the simple tool that virtually guarantees success when you bring someone new into your company.

Show Notes:

There are two possibilities for bringing new people into your company: hire them, which is the corporate model, or cast them, which is the theatrical model.

The emphasis in casting is on the uniqueness of the individual and the role, whereas in hiring, it’s the job that matters, not the individual.

Treating your business as a theatrical performance means there’s a constant series of new projects, just like there are new plays in theater.

The people you bring into the organization are the organization.

Walt Disney is a great example of an entrepreneur who did casting, not hiring.

The most important question in casting someone is, do you match up?

All of Strategic Coach® thinking tools are positive.

As the world becomes more technological, live theater becomes a more valuable experience.

The way that start-up entrepreneurs bring people on board in the first three months determines whether they're going to be successful.

Resources:

Book: Casting Not Hiring by Dan Sullivan and Jeffrey Madoff

Perplexity

The Collaborative Way®

Podcast: Inside Strategic Coach

Podcast: Anything and Everything

Personality: The Lloyd Price Musical

Dan Sullivan and Gord Vickman discuss the importance of partnership between AI and humans—finding a balance between technology and the human touch. Dan also shares his insights about where ideas come from and the differences between creativity, wisdom, and intelligence.

In This Episode:

• Dan and Gord share the importance of AI-human partnership, addressing concerns of AI replacing human creativity.
• Where does Dan get his ideas? Through conversations with ambitious people and those who faced setbacks, as well as by thinking about his thinking.
• Intelligence manifests in Unique Ability®, like Larry Bird's situational quickness and unpredictability in basketball.
• Human creativity links unrelated concepts, while AI focuses on patterns and predictability.
• What’s the difference between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom?
• Journalism's decline linked to AI's inability to replicate the classic journalist’s three Ws: waiting, wondering, and wandering.
• News reporter Barbara Frum interviewing the Shah of Iran's consort, tapping into the listeners’ reactions in a way that AI never could.
• Dan sees AI as just another tool, not a replacement for human thinking, and emphasizes maintaining agency and partnership with technology.

Resources:

Larry Bird

Barbara Frum, from the CBC archives

The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

The Strategic Podcast Network