Narrate Yourself Successful

The AI revolution has seen some companies grow and prosper, whilst others have plateaud or declined dramatically

A key difference is their public stance on AI

Nvidia has positioned itself as fundamental to the AI era - 69% year-over-year growth.

Microsoft have AI-related Azure, with revenue growing by approximately 175% year over year.

Meta same, 14% growth. Google’s products contributed to double-digit growth in cloud and advertising parts of the business.

In contrast, Salesforce introduced numerous AI features - but their message focused more on how they were disrupted by AI, rather than leading it. They lost $60B in their valuation this year

Chegg (US education platform) positioned itself as a victim of free AI homework tools. 99% of their value wiped off

WebMD failed to control the narrative around who would be using it’s platform in the era of AI. Multi-million dollar ad revenue lost.

This post does highlight how whether we embrace AI or not can change the fortunes of our businesses

But it tells a more important story - the necessity of controlling the narrative

AI or another topic, the real game is the same - whoever shapes the story, shapes the outcome.

Businesses grow or stall based on the story they tell about themselves, what they choose to make visible, what they stand for, what they repeat until people believe it

Similar on a personal level - each post, sentence, decision adds up to a narrative about who we are and what we’re becoming. We can either let that form by accident, or we can build it with intent.

Speaking on a panel at the weekend, this was the key message I tried to convey to those present

Your narrative is your moat

Most people would say they care what people think of them (and all of us do, deep down)

You can either try and ‘care less about what other people think’ (which probably goes against our fundamental biology)

Or you can make it your job to not leave it to chance, and teach people what to believe about you