Tony Effik’s Post

Richard Feynman, the American theoretical physicist, said many insightful things about teaching: 1) "The best way to learn is to teach", 2) "The ultimate test of your knowledge is your ability to convey it to another". For 9 years I've been an adjunct at Columbia Engineering, where I learn something new each year. In an era when newly minted engineers are grappling with the impact of AI we play games and conduct simulations that imitate real life business scenarios. Here's the top 5 things I learnt this year: 1. Amazing computation is a competitive advantage, except when everyone else is doing the same amazing computation 2. The real competitive advantage is the ability to turn computation to insights and then deploy it with organizational discipline and outstanding teamwork 3. Organizational discipline requires you to "better choreograph" how humans-in-the-loop work together with AI. Access to powerful AI is just step 1. 4. There is a consistent distribution and pattern for how teams and individuals perform in these competitive scenarios year after year. I have 9 years of data on this. 5. At the highest levels it is not purely about how smart or technically competent you are - although that is a giant advantage - it's about mindset. You can outsmart and out-organize teams with the best technical skills. Big thanks to the leaders who got me started on this journey Jenny S. Mak, Ed.D. and Garud Iyengar