How small business can lean on innovation in the face of AI, technological advancement, and more, with Trent Gillespie

If you’re a small or medium-sized business hoping that all the buzz about AI and other recent technological innovation will just die down without you having to do anything about it… well, you’re already behind the 8-ball. The time to take advantage is now — or you risk being left behind quickly by your competition.

 

Our latest guest is someone who knows innovation — and how to use it — well. Trent Gillespie helps companies out-innovate Amazon, based on his 9 years as a senior leader there managing major global expansion and innovation programs, and his over 20 years of technical experience. 

 

Tune into the full episode for more on the rapid evolution of AI in recent years, what businesses can do to stay ahead of the curve, how companies can build cultures of innovation internally, and a lot more.

 

Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Learn: 

 

• What Trent believes is one of the most valuable skills you can learn, especially in the face of technological development, AI, and more

• Some of the recent innovations in the AI space, and what they mean for the future of business

• The top use cases for AI in business, especially ChatGPT, and where small to medium-sized businesses can do now to take advantage of this technology

• Whether businesses should be worried about AI, and why Trent believes they really only have 5 years to respond to today’s technological innovations

• How Trent has transformed his experience at Amazon into his current work now

• The one characteristic that every successful company should structure their business around 

• What “sustainable innovation” is, why it’s so important for businesses to invest in, and why Amazon actually isn’t great at this type of innovation

• How to create a culture that embraces innovation, and what that means for an organization’s incentive programs

• Why innovation should factor prominently into your hiring strategy

• How Trent measures success in his own business, with his clients, and in his personal life

• Why Trent has shifted the measure of his happiness from simply money to quality of life

 

Resources Mentioned in This Episode: 

• Trent’s company, Day One Innovation

• Trent Gillespie on LinkedIn

• “The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail (Management of Innovation and Change)” by Clayton M. Christensen

• “[Non] Human Intelligence: AI, Automation, and How Robots Will Make Us Better People” by Cesar Keller

• “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t” by Jim Collins

• “How Will You Measure Your Life?” by Clayton Christensen, James Allworth, and Karen Dillon

• Buy a copy of “Lost at CEO: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Strategy” by Carl J. Cox 

• 40 Strategy

• Contact 40 Strategy

• Carl J. Cox on LinkedIn