Mark Cuban’s Impact on Business
Like him or don’t like him, Mark Cuban has had a high-profile effect on business and consumers really understanding business through the show Shark Tank. Many people have become familiar with Mark Cuban more so than would have known about him if it was just for his business operations. Back in the 90s, he sold a company called Broadcast.com, which was an early internet company, and he rode the wave. I think it was sold to AOL Time Warner at the time for, you know, billions of dollars. That wouldn’t have happened today. That company wouldn’t have had that valuation, but he took that money, and he did a lot of things with it.
The Future of AI in Business
What he’s saying now is that companies are either going to be at great risk, or they’re going to be put out of business, or they’re going to be great at it. So the question is, whether you’re a business owner, you’re a manager, an entrepreneur, or even an employee, you either have to become good at AI or maybe be left behind by AI. We’ve talked about this on this channel before. It’s still unknown what AI is going to do and how legitimate it is. It might be one of those flash-in-the-pan things.
Lessons from the Internet Era
Remember back in the internet era, there was a lot of hype about how the internet was going to change everything, and it did to some extent, but most of the same companies that are out there still exist. IBM is still out there. General Electric is still out there. Manufacturing companies are still out there. Starbucks is still out there. Sure, there are new companies that wouldn’t have existed without the internet, like Google and Facebook.
Understanding AI and Its Impact
But good quality companies still exist. The question is, what is the place of AI in everyday economics? Regardless of where you fit into the employment pipeline—if you’re a staff member, an employee, a manager, a director, an executive, or an owner—you should become familiar with AI, if nothing else, to know how it’s going to affect you. Even if you don’t do anything with it, you want to know how it’s going to affect you, maybe how it affects your competitors, and whether or not Mark Cuban knows what he’s talking about.
The Need to Learn AI
This whole idea of “be great at AI or out of business” is really the question, and we’ve talked about this for years here. One thing is for sure: if you know nothing about it, you will be left behind—even in conversations. People that are talking about it in marketing, in sales, in operations, and in management will have to know a little bit about how AI works so that you can have an intelligent conversation.
Getting Started with AI
So what do we recommend? Get one of the really basic AI tools. Play around with it on your computer. Look, you probably play around on your computer every day on a video game or fantasy leagues or something else. Why not spend a half an hour or 45 minutes playing around with AI to see what it can do for you? Even if it helps you with your everyday tasks, you’ll know how it works. So when it comes time to put it in place for your career, you’re not starting from scratch. Then, you have a head start.
