How IA interactive is facing COVID19

 

Today we are living in very difficult and complex times, fighting with an unknown enemy, with a lot of uncertainty in the business environment and no guides about how to act (or react) because this situation is so new in modern human life and history. In the past, we had similar events, like the SARS, Ebola, etc, and financial crises but none of these compares with the COVID effects in the global and local economy, and the ease in which you can get sick, or even worse, if you have other health problems, or if you are older you have a higher possibility of death. For all of these reasons, it is more difficult for our teams to have a reference about how to act . The environment is full of fear, confusion, and high levels of stress, all requiring a plan of action. 

At IA interactive, we’ve identified 4 critical points we are  facing at this moment

1. Leadership

a. As business leaders, the worst thing we can do is to take a seat and wait until this situation is over. It’s like if your house is burning and you have decided to sit on the sofa waiting for the firefighters  to come. As leaders, we have to think, evaluate and take action, not only for us, but for our team. 

b. When this crisis is over,our team is going to evaluate ourselves, as well as those who we led, and check how congruent our words and actions really were. Over the next few years, the reputation that we build for ourselves during this crisis will define whether or not we are true business leaders.

2. Build a Rapid Response Team (RRT)

a. We have to be humble and identify your strengths and weaknesses, and we have to be clear that we can´t solve all the problems, and we should ask for help.For this reason, we need to structure and define a multidisciplinary team that will help us understand what is happening in the business environment (legal, financial, clients, people, etc) taking into account all the experts on the team point of view, building a full, holistic picture. 

b. The RRT is going to be challenged to think with creativity and give options to solve the problems that are on the table. In addition, we must be very analytical in order to predict what is going to happen and consider all the consequences and impact for each of the solutions we are proposing.  In that way, we will anticipate if we need to make adjustments to the plan in real time.

d. It is very important that every person on this team has the capability and habit of taking time to think and ask themselves questions and look for the answers. The temptation and pressure to act fast is overwhelming because of the rush of the moment, but if we take action without considering the implications in the medium or long term of our decisions, we could have a very big disaster later on.

3. Prioritize

a. The first priorities are people and the cash flow. All our decisions must have these two aspects in mind. Without cash flow we can not maintain our people, and without commitment from our people, we can not generate cash flow.

b. In order to take care of both, we have to evaluate the risks and benefits for our people, our finances and our clients.

c. Prioritizing is so important when selecting a few ideas to implement, because in those moments of crisis, you have to focus your team’s energy on the most impactful decisions. Yes, you have a lot of things in your list, but you have to prioritize.

d. With the criteria from points a, b and c, all members of the RRT should be clear on which actions to take, and what are the inherent risks.

4. Take action, evaluate results, adjust and continue.

a. We´ve made a weekly cash flow plan to monitor and control expenses. If some expense can not be paid this week, it will be postponed to next week (considering the implications of this decision)

b. We have a daily meeting with the RRT to follow up on the actions and validate if they have worked as we have planned, and if not we can make changes.

We are living in a complex time, we´re walking completely in the dark, dealing with something new and unknown; and as leaders, we have to be very honest with our team, showing reality as it is. We won´t paint an idealistic scenario, give false expectations or an overvalued future. We must help foster an emotion of resiliency and comradery, making the best of this situation,committing to the entire team, and being in a mood of continuously looking for new ideas, opportunities, solutions and actions.

The reputation of our leadership is on the table, people need to be led (and more in these moments) and we have to be responsible and act according to our values.

Manuel

Los secretos (tecnológicos) detrás de AmazonGO

 

Hace unos días viaje a Chicago a un evento de eCommerce (IREC 2019) pero no podía faltar que me diera una escapadita a conocer este concepto tan platicado y revolucionario, Amazon Go.

Siempre he creido que el papel de la tecnología es ayudarnos a evitar (o eliminar) lo que no aporta valor en nuestra vida diaria y hacer las situaciones más sencillas, pero principalmente a que mejore nuestra experiencia de una manera que impacte en nuestras emociones.

Amazon Go, es el ejemplo ideal de como se mezclan un variedad de tecnologías en favor del cliente, creando una experiencia digna de compartirse con todos.

Así fue mi visita a este gran lugar donde no te dicen:

“pase a la otra ventanilla” o “no hay sistema joven”

Saludos

Manuel

¿Cómo se relaciona la fortaleza y el miedo a fallar?

 

Hace tiempo me hicieron una entrevista donde me preguntaban: para mí, ¿qué es la fortaleza?, así como: ¿qué consideraba que nos hacía falta en nuestra educación?. Comparto con ustedes un fragmento de la entrevista.

Los cambios se gestan desde dentro, y en la medida que somos capaces de tomar riesgos y aprender de nuestros fracasos nos hacemos más grandes.

Solo que ¡cuidado! ya que bien dice mi amigo Pedro Suarez

La mala suerte repetida, es sinónimo de pendejez

Saludos

Manuel de la Torre

AMAZON Re:MARS // Machine learning – Automation – Robotics – Space

 

Re: MARS se enfoca en la inteligencia artificial en todos los campos del machine learning, la automatización, la robótica y el espacio, y combina lo último en investigación y ciencia con aplicaciones prácticas que serán piezas para la inspiración del cambio.

Durante estos días (5 – 7 junio 2019) nos reunimos con algunos de los líderes más brillantes de la ciencia, del mundo académico y de los negocios para explorar algunos proyectos innovadores, avances científicos y aplicaciones prácticas de AI y ML.

Esta vez, estoy seguro que vale la pena romper la regla

Lo que pasa en Las Vegas, se queda en Las Vegas

por lo que les comparto esta reseña en la que intenté resumir los puntos más relevantes e inspiradores de este gran evento.

Saludos

Manuel

Collision Conference 2019 Toronto ( la reseña )

 

Collision Conference fue creada por el equipo detrás de Web Summit (el evento para startups que se realiza en Lisboa cada año) Collision atrae a los CEOs de las compañías más grandes del mundo, fundadores de empresas nuevas, inversionistas, expositores de primer nivel y medios de comunicación de más de 120 países relacionadas con la innovación tecnológica.

Este año, la conferencia se realizó en el Centro Enercare de Toronto del 20 al 23 de mayo y según decían éramos más de 25,000 asistentes.

Les comparto esta reseña donde integro algunos de los puntos que me parecieron más relevantes.

Saludos

Manuel de la Torre
@diosnegro