Day 2 Close — Gene Kim with André Martin

Gene Kim

Yesterday we were inspired by Paul Gaffney, formerly head of technology for The Home Depot, exporting goods and so forth. He gave some great advice to the community, and the specific piece of advice — his observation — was that some leaders are actually doing their team's job instead of their boss's job. So given the talks that you've seen today, what advice would you give this community?

André Martin

I think the first advice is sort of what I started with. I don't think you realize yet what you're holding onto from a pure growth-of-company standpoint. GenAI has the ability to be one of the greatest differentiators for any company. I think you all being able to lean into "what does that mean for me, what could that mean for my career, and what does that mean for the place I need to hold for my company" —

And I think in the end, you've got to become teachers. You've got to become mentors. You've got to open up people's eyes and their minds to the potential that I saw today in these talks.

Gene Kim

Having sat through the talks, are there any specific highlights that stand out for you in terms of things that got you excited, that started to inform an opinion of where you think the industry's going to go?

André Martin

I got excited by them all. From the talks about Gemini, to deepfake, to even looking at the governance of AI. This isn't just about opportunity and all the amazing things GenAI can do. This creates one of the greatest ethical dilemmas we have faced in a long time in our companies.

Who's going to be the value center of this technology? Who's going to help us go slow to go fast? Who's going to raise their hand and say, "Hey boss, I know you think this is a great idea, but we're not ready. The world's not ready." Because this is the kind of thing that, if we don't do it well, if we don't help move this at pace — it can not only not have the potential that we hope it realizes, it could cause profound damage in the world.

So again, I look to you to be that ethical compass for GenAI and technology in general as you move forward.

Gene Kim

I want to take that one more level deeper. So if that's true, what concrete steps, what advice would you give to get better at teaching that you would offer everybody?

André Martin

Do it. I'm sorry — I come from the place of "life is the greatest classroom on earth." Those simple ideas I gave you — from lunch-and-learns to book clubs to master classes — to just do it.

The thing that I tell new teachers every time someone has to stand in front of a class for the first time is: realize that you are the expert in the room. And that's absolutely all you need to be a great teacher. From there, it's emotional intelligence. It's practice. It's "how do I create a space that allows me to offer something and for the group to pick it up and do something with it." That's something that's art.

Just like how you became a great technologist. You had to practice. You had to code. Same thing's true for teaching. Just go and do it.

Gene Kim

Fantastic. We were talking off stage — I thought it was so interesting that this is a conference first in ten years. You are one of three organizational psychology PhDs. I've read lots of papers. If you had to boil down that huge body of knowledge, what specific tools, techniques that come out of this body of knowledge would you recommend to leaders for them to use in their own daily work?

André Martin

I'll make it super simple. As a leader in a company, your only job, as I said before, is to add legitimacy to conversations. I believe that your calendar is your company, and your company is the team or function that you run. So how you spend your time is going to dictate where attention is.

The biggest lesson I learned out of psychology — especially in organizations — is that strategy isn't developed. It's either participated in or not. Every single day, everyone's making decisions that either align to where we want to go, or they don't. The x-factor between those two things — between me following a strategy or creating my own — is: how good is my leader at painting a picture on why the world is better with us in it, how we make money, how we do work, and what's in it for you if you stick around?

I think that's kind of the simplest thing you can do — do that every day, every moment you can, every chance you get. And you will inherently have a more motivated, more committed, more focused team — and that will produce the growth you want to see.

Gene Kim

Very good. Thank you. Round of applause for Dr. André Martin.

André Martin

Thanks, everybody. Have a great conference. Thanks, man.

Logistics Host

All right, everybody, we are at the end of the ultimate GenAI learning experience, but we are not at the end of the day yet. We have a lot more in store for you.

We're heading into the break right now — a really short break. Then we're going to have workshops starting at 2:45. Visit our sponsors in the expo hall, and then be back here in this room for a musical number by Forrest Brazeal. Yes, I said that right — a musical number by Forrest Brazeal. Then we have Lightning Talks, and then we have book signings, all starting at 5:25.

John mentioned one of the workshops; we have two other ones — those are happening right now. Then the Lightning Talks back in this room after Forrest's performance — yes, performance — at 5:45. You'll be educated, you'll be entertained. You will definitely not want to miss that.

Then we have IT Revolution authors signing five books tonight. Stock up on your books for your bookshelves. We'll see you back here at 5:25.