Rich Fernandez
Hello, everybody, and welcome to the ROI podcast. I'm your host, Rich Fernandez from SIY Global, and I am really thrilled today to have Nichol Bradford with us, who is an incredible innovator and thought leader, practice leader, investor, researcher. There are so many things to say about Nichol. really in the space of artificial intelligence and human interaction. In fact, she holds a role as executive in residence at the Society for Human Resources Management, in AI and Human Interaction.
Rich Fernandez
Nichol has a long history of working in transformative technology that really focuses on human flourishing. Nichol, you're a co-founder and partner at NIREMIA Collective. early stage venture that focuses on human wellness technologies. I met you through the Transformative Technology Conference and transformativetech.org, which you are a co-founder of. and just for the audience because they don't know you.
Rich Fernandez
But, I know that you were a senior executive in interactive entertainment prior to all of that. working for a company such as Epic Games, Activision Blizzard, Vivendi Disney. So and you've also covered a span of roles right from, strategy to operations to marketing to production. So you've kind of seen all ends, of, kind of the tech space.
Rich Fernandez
Finally. Of course, you're a faculty at Singularity University, a trustee of California Institute of Integral Studies and, adjunct faculty and lecturer at Stanford. So we're just thrilled to have you here with us today and all of the expertise you're bringing. So, Nichol, welcome.
Nichol Bradford
Thanks for having me. It's nice to see you again.
Rich Fernandez
Yeah, it's been a little while. you know, I think I first met you, at an event that did focus on transformative technology. and just so for the audience, to help get their head around that, how would you describe transformative technology? Kind of in a very basic way.
Nichol Bradford
Yeah. I mean, the the transformative part of that goes comes from the idea of human transformation, the idea of a human being becoming happier and healthier and more fulfilled. And what is that process so specifically, what transformative tech is, is think of it as technology that strengthens what I call the human mesh. So mental emotional, social health and human performance.
Nichol Bradford
So MESH so technology for the human mesh. And so that could look like technology to help with mental health emotional health social health. They can look like your ordering because if you can't sleep you can't be well as well as all of the, you know, mental health platforms that are starting to come out. So it's a it's a broad definition, but the journey to one's flourishing and fulfilling one's human potential is act actually an act of transformation, a process of transformation for which there is a role that technology can play.
Nichol Bradford
And that's what transformative tech is.
Rich Fernandez
Great. That is super clear. So thank you. I really appreciate that way to describe it. And if we can and I feel like we just jumped right in, you know like hi how are you doing. And well are you all that stuff. We probably have that covered. but you know, there's so much to say about this.
Rich Fernandez
I think it's it's just exciting to dive in. So, sorry, I just went straight there. but it's it's great. you know, and the role the technology has to play is one of the things you said in the human transformation going forward. Where do you see the opportunities, and then where do you see the risks?
Nichol Bradford
Well, just to give a little background, when I got into transformative tech, one of my early premises was that it wasn't necessarily that tech is bad, it was that it's not good enough. It's just not good enough. You know, like these these flat screens are not good enough, you know, and it was really a calling to say, okay, we need to build the tech.
Nichol Bradford
That actually is what we need to support our growth and development so humanity can get on the same page. you know, so we can, you know, address our, our traumas, our collective traumas and individual traumas, get on the same page, get the behaviors and the practices that raise our capacity for emotional and mental health, those, those types of things.
Nichol Bradford
So I consider all of the people who are working on the betterment of technology from the center for Humane Technology and the work that they did on social media, and what they're doing on AI. and like I consider us all on the same team. So they're over there, you know, fighting the good fight on making sure that, the harms are addressed.
Nichol Bradford
I think there's going to be, you know, especially around, like, bio and neuro data, there's some significant things of which there'll be a combination of like regulatory and some other things. My focus is on, you know, knowing that those people are doing that. And then also a little bit later, I'll tell you how I advise founders and companies to be ready for the moment.
Nichol Bradford
But you know this the interesting question is like, how do we really use it? So we're I think the opportunity is and what I think is next is how do we leverage technology for human beings to collaborate more deeply together. And there's some interesting things that, you know, are really only possible now. and very relevant for enterprises and, teams.
Nichol Bradford
that technology is enabling that. We're just at the very beginnings up around collaboration because email is not collaboration, neither is slack. Yeah. Like it's not it's basically like smoke signals, you know, like I'm you're saying, hey, Rich, but I'm just doing it at my computer and like, sending you tons of stuff. yeah. And so, but like, really deep human collaboration.
Nichol Bradford
How do you have the wisdom of, you know, how could an organization, a 500 person organization really get the wisdom of those 500 extraordinary people? but with the quality and density of, you know, five person deliberations, you know, because any meeting that's got more than five people is not a meeting. Yeah. It's, you know, it's something else useful, you know, for its purpose, but not where you're going to get, like, the deep thought.
Nichol Bradford
So I think the the real opportunity is around human collaboration, human collective intelligence. and then, you know, where the mesh supports that is that, you know, think about the number of times you've been in a meeting and there's, you know, an argument over the budget, but it's not really about the budget. It's like thinly veiled mommy daddy issues.
Nichol Bradford
You know, between people, you know, not about the budget. and so, you know, when we think about, you know, as humans, we have some very real problems to solve. We need to solve climate change. We need to address income inequality. we need to understand the future of work. We have to redesign work, reinvent workforce. You know, all of these things, like they're they're they're tricky, complex problems.
Nichol Bradford
And we have to be able to collaborate and communicate and trust one another. and you, it's my opinion that, you have to you have to have a strong mesh to be a real leader in doing that.
Rich Fernandez
And then the mesh, mesh is, the acronym for again, you said it earlier.
Nichol Bradford
Mental, emotional, social health and Human Performance.
Rich Fernandez
Love it. Yeah. And all of those are interconnected. You know you really can't have necessarily one without the other. And technology has a, perhaps an important role to play in that. I know that that is one of your, operating principles, for everything you do. the technology actually does have a role to play in. Yeah.
Rich Fernandez
It think human thriving.
Nichol Bradford
Well, it's also it's like we're. So, you know, one of the things that I think people do is, there is this implicit assumption out there that humans are the best they will ever be. Because when people are talking about harms, they always talk about the lowest common denominator. And yes, that is true, but it's not the best that will ever be.
Nichol Bradford
I think a really great example is that today, you know, the bulk of the world believes that slavery is wrong. Yeah, there's still a hundred billion people who are being trafficked, and that's a problem. But if you go back a thousand years, you know, slavery is pretty common. And most people thought it was most societies, you know, it was integral.
Nichol Bradford
And so people.
Rich Fernandez
Think we're in a better place than we've ever been. Is is that what you're saying?
Nichol Bradford
You're saying we definitely are in a better place than we've ever been. Like the, you know, the US murder rate is the lowest it's been in seven years. You know, and so we're in a better place. But the thing is, is it's sort of like the point I wanted to make is that, you know, we are really clever and we're really curious.
Nichol Bradford
And so, you know, we have to point our curiosity towards building the things that help us become better, building the things that help us, you know, think differently, think together, and continue to, you know, evolve like the concept of a liberal democracy is a new thing, you know, and we came up with that. So, you know, so it's just this thing that if we if we have the belief that technology can play a role in helping strengthen the mesh and enhancing collaboration and connection so that we can solve the biggest problems that are facing us in the world and also in organizations.
Nichol Bradford
You know, we can iterate towards understanding and developing what those things are. But first, we have to believe that and point our curiosity that way.
Rich Fernandez
Right? Because it's and when I heard you say, is that, because the technology is not good enough at this stage right now, but it's not bad. It's just that it's not good enough. And there's so much more to go to be able to harness these capabilities towards mental, emotional, social health. The mesh, as you say, for human performance and thriving.
Rich Fernandez
so in that regard, one of the really interesting things that I know you're doing is that you are, an executive in residence at the society for Human Resources, specifically with a focus on AI and human interaction and the possibilities that, that, that, that creates. So can you tell us about that work and some of the things that you're seeing emerge as you as you dive into that domain?
Nichol Bradford
Absolutely. I am so excited to be working with SHRM It's an organization that has 340,000 members who touch 325 million workers and their families every Monday. So, you know, as a, as an investor in technology, I see a lot of decks with Tam total addressable market. So that where a, you know, a young company, I do precedent seed hopes to reach that kind of that, you know, amount of people and often it doesn't happen because, you know, starting starting a tech company is actually really, really hard.
Nichol Bradford
so it's just beautiful to be working with a really thoughtful, extraordinary global organization that is actually embedded in the lives of 325 million workers and their families every month. so I love that work. how this came to be. Is that so? I've been in tech for 20 years, and the first ten have been in consumer facing software, and that's the game stuff that you talked about.
Nichol Bradford
And I oversaw, the in you know, one of the things I'm most known for was being the head of operations for, Blizzard Entertainment for China. And so I oversaw the back end, and the platform, which meant, yeah, almost everybody on my team, was technical in some way or supporting the technology in some way.
Nichol Bradford
So I'm not an engineer. but I spent a lot of time, you know, learning how to understand what I'm looking at and how to empower, technical people to, you know, be their best selves. and, you know, and get the, the obstacles out of their way so they could be in their genius. and for that to come through what they were building.
Nichol Bradford
And so ten years in pure tech and then or consumer facing tech, pure tech. And then, I went on a meditation retreat, which is, you know, you and I share a love of meditation, and I had a really powerful experience which included, you know, having such a strong experience that, you know, prior to that, I, I would have to say I felt very lonely.
Nichol Bradford
and then after that, I felt very connected. And so I wanted to really bring that to everyone, because, you know, I just I had a very democratic orientation, by the way, to technology, because my dad was a plumber, you know, like, so I'm from the middle of nowhere, right. And, you know, when you go on a retreat, if, it's, you know, most of the world is working.
Nichol Bradford
And so it's a very special experience to be able to go on a retreat. But the thing that technology can do is it makes everything affordable, accessible and available. It has that ability to take take all the good stuff and put it, you know, in the hands and have access to it for everyone. Yeah, we have to do that intentionally and we have to, you know, we have to be mindful and responsible and we have to have, you know, non predatory business models and a bunch of things like that.
Nichol Bradford
But technology is the only thing that can do that. So my very first you know thing was, you know technology for the mesh that in itself is human potential. So how I came together with SHRM is about, you know, midyear last year, I was introduced to the CEO, Johnny Taylor Junior. And, it was at that time that SHRM was saying, you know, this is going to change everything.
Nichol Bradford
It's going to change work. We want to get ahead of how we think about, you know, the intersection of technology and humans inside of organizations. And so, what I'm doing with them is, you know, in all of my work, you know, like, all of my work is at this intersection. So, you know, many pure AI people, haven't spent as much time really focused on people because my, the point of my technology.
Nichol Bradford
And by the way, also, you know, the game that I the what are the big games that I worked on, World of Warcraft was basically an online community where people also play games. You know, you. Yeah, like 40, 40 people would go on a grand adventure together. Yes.
Rich Fernandez
Real life teammates. I know, I know totally yes, he's been up into that for ages. Yeah, yeah. But it is.
Nichol Bradford
People don't play games alone. You know, people think you they don't. They play community. and so my work has always been around, the intersection of humans and technology and technology for the purpose of enhancing the human experience. And so traditional AI people don't necessarily do that. And, some, you know, many people who are traditional HR people, you know, they have spent 20 years in tech.
Nichol Bradford
And so that that combination actually makes me one of the few people who's, like, really been at the intersection of that. and you know, what I love about SHRM and the role of HR is that HR people are essentially the, the circulatory system of an organization. They have their pulse, they have horizontal and vertical relationships.
Nichol Bradford
They understand what's going on. And, you know, and I really believe that they're the key, to be able to bring in, you know, human centered AI implementations that unlock the power of people to move the world forward.
Rich Fernandez
Can you so tell us more about that? Because I think that's the crux, right? So when we talk about AI and human potential, what are we talking about. Because the flip you know, you're hearing a lot of people the AI apocalypse. Right. Like it's going to take all these jobs and so forth. And that's a whole other area to investigate.
Rich Fernandez
But in terms of the capability of AI to facilitate human collaboration and, you know, connection, what are you seeing emerge for people in organizations with regard to this?
Nichol Bradford
Well, so it's really interesting. And so, you know, there's multiple types of AI. there's the, you know, RPA, which is sort of like the early automation robotics. then there is the predictive AI, which is like that deep machine learning, that's been going on for a while. And then there's conversational AI and then there's generative AI, and they're all, they're all in some ways the same.
Nichol Bradford
Or they have some they have things in common and then they have some very different things. and so, you know, the previous versions were usually behind the scenes, you know, so you or I couldn't, you know, sit down at our desk at whatever company we work at and start to, have it do work for us now.
Nichol Bradford
People have been touching AI all the time. Like, if you've got Siri on your phone and Alexa in your house, and if you're watching Netflix, you've been immersed in AI. So we all lived immersed for like 15 years.
Rich Fernandez
You know, it's it's it's baked in to your point, right? Like we don't realize we're not actually prompting it and directing it as much. I mean, you know, it's kind of reading us and it's been programed to do that, but, but we're not interacting as much now. It's sort of disintermediation as they say. There's another round of disintermediation almost right where we're right there at the, at the sort of at the, at the coalface, as they used to say in an old mining.
Rich Fernandez
Right, working it.
Nichol Bradford
Well, now you can have it do work for you. and, and you can iterate that work very quickly and directed in shape. It and coming up soon, you'll have an agent that will do multiple things for you, and do different processes for you. so it's, you know, it's going to get, you know, even more powerful for what it can do for you.
Nichol Bradford
Rich Fernandez, as an individual, for you, Rich Fernandez as a team lead. and then, you know, what you're going to see in organizations is you're going to see a combination of all four types of AI, like the truly, you know, the companies that really reinvent themselves and are truly transformative. They're going to use all of it, to complement one another for different things.
Nichol Bradford
so, so that that's one thing. But, you know, I think the, you know, the important thing to note is that on the generative side, we're still figuring out how it actually reinvents work. workforce and work flows, you know, on the but I think there's a lot to learn from all the previous implementations. you know, depending on who you talk to, 50 to 80% of machine learning, predictive RPA, you know, all of that stuff, failed, you know, and in the society of like data scientists, 80% of models are never deployed.
Nichol Bradford
so there's a lot of failure. So it's worth looking at what causes success. And so the things that cost success are three things a catalyzing leader, you know, a business orientation. And I'll explain that in a second. and the third part is change management. You know, it's like like old fashioned. Well, the part about buying in empathy and conversation and getting feedback from the organization.
Nichol Bradford
and so like, those are the three things that, that these, that success has in common. And so, you know, so it's very human, human centered. And, you know, we're going into a place where the world is moving so fast, you know, like, you know, companies are not rewarded just for efficiency anymore. Like, if you look at the, you know, the, magnify decent seven, magnificent five, what they're being rewarded for is growth.
Nichol Bradford
and so a lot of times when people look at these technologies, they're thinking about it purely in terms of efficiency or productivity, like do more, more emails faster, versus and this gets to your question, I think the real opportunity is to step back and say, you know, how can everyone on your team spend more time, you know, at the top of their game?
Nichol Bradford
How can they spend more time in their genius doing that? And what does what does that look like? So, you know, there was a cert, a study I saw a little while ago where, nurses, you know, their own self-evaluation. they felt like in this particular survey, they felt like, they spent 70% of their time doing paperwork and stuff like that, and 30% of the time, you know, at the top of their game, doing the thing that, you know, you really want a nurse, that you really want him or her to do.
Nichol Bradford
Rich Fernandez
And I ask you then is, is the the, the rest of this that, I will kind of take care of the routinized kind of work tasks, workflows, and we can sort of be freed up to do kind of more of our superpower, our higher order, you know, strengths and, and, and be our best. is that part of the thrust of what you're.
Nichol Bradford
I think thats what the winners will do.
Rich Fernandez
Little can, but can I also edge into that space where, you know, like I have some friends that are therapists, right. And some of the talk I hear from them is, hey, is this going to replace us? Because it's going to get to know you so well that it'll be able to, you know, index its massive catalog of all therapeutic interventions and spit out something that's fairly personalized for you that.
Rich Fernandez
Well, and, you know, I don't know the answer to that question because the technology could be that powerful. But do we think it's that impactful?
Nichol Bradford
I think that, I think that I will have perfect answers, you know, completely matched for you, but I don't know how satisfying that will be for you. So technology is relatively new. Biology is ancient, you know, and there's a lot more that goes on. Like right now I'm like, I don't know, I'm obsessed with, gut biome and microbes and the microbiome, you know, and like, couples colonize one another.
Nichol Bradford
Did you know that.
Rich Fernandez
Now that I did not know. But it makes sense. It makes.
Nichol Bradford
Sense. And there was a study that was done at this, Israeli, sort of lab, university. And they like, watch people go to conferences. And, within about a half an hour after someone shake someone's hand, they touch their nose and mouth. But they don't do it. If they have it, they don't do it if they have it.
Nichol Bradford
And so some of the thinking is that, like our bodies are collecting microbes, you know, we need microbes. And, you know, there's, you know, several processes in your body that require microbes. There's things that we don't make and we can't eat, and microbes are required. So, you know, we don't completely understand the processes of life. And our bodies, I think, are very integrated into that.
Nichol Bradford
And so, yes, can, there was a study where, you know, they gave therapy answers to a, to people. And they said, which one do you like better? And they liked the AI ones better until they said, oh, this one's from an AI. And the people are like, well, I want the perfectly imperfect one. You know, it's like, we really like we have a we have, you know, very ancient biology that is about us being together, about us wanting to be together.
Nichol Bradford
you know, your mirror neurons are all pointed towards what is happening in that other human being. and, you know, I think that for that to really and this is just a guess, but I think for that to kick in for AI, the AI is going to need a body. And once it has a body, well, you know, is it really I think, you know, like once it's got microbes and germs and every other.
Rich Fernandez
Yeah. And we’re the Borg. Right. Like,
Nichol Bradford
You know, like like, what is it? What is it really. You know. So but there's that's a long time between now and then, but I just like I'm not I'm not ready to give up on humans. And that's why I think the collective intelligence is really important. because we're still not on the same page. Like, people talk about values, alignment, you know, human alive values.
Nichol Bradford
It's like, well, we're not aligned. So, I think that's a step.
Rich Fernandez
It's a step. And then there does seem to be, you know, some of the research may bear this out, what you're citing here, but also there there appears to be something unique and irreplaceable, about our human interaction and our human capabilities. that I don't think can ever be fully reducible to, you know, a trained AI. again, that's just a little bit of a hypothesis on my part.
Rich Fernandez
do you where do you come out on that something? So what I'm saying is human interaction, these capabilities we have, the way they show up in organizations, in relationships and therapy and whatever the venue may be, there are aspects of it that are unique and irreplaceable. and so I won't sort of take over everything.
Nichol Bradford
You know, there's another layer to that which is sort of like tenet, and, and, and, and is that satisfying to you? You know, like like one of the things that will happen is that by, by this time next year or by the end of next year, I would say probably everything you see online is going to be almost everything will be generated or, in whole or in part today.
Nichol Bradford
The estimates are that half of the traffic on the internet is bot traffic. depending on who you talk to, you know, and especially not once the agents come online and you could send your agent out to do all of your, you know, price comparison and everything, it's like almost everything's going to be generated, a ton of traffic is going to be bot traffic.
Nichol Bradford
We're going to be, you know, searching by asking questions versus, you know, restaurant near me. We're not going to do that. And so, you know, what that means is that, you know, curation is going to be very important. What you'll find is you're going to be interested in what you know, someone you know has to say, you know, and and the things that they bring to you which might be generated or not.
Nichol Bradford
And so, you know, human like are a part of our biology, from our hunter gatherer time periods is that we're sort of from to look for novelty, to look for what's interesting, to look what for, what stands out. And if you've already noticed that you're starting to get a little bored when you're reading things, you know, like it's the early stage of that because like, you know, like people talk about deep fakes and, and, and, you know, everybody using generators in their own voice.
Nichol Bradford
but the thing someone said something, Ethan Malik said something really funny that I thought was great, which basically was when you use if you even if you train an AI in your voice, a generative AI because they aggregate and then predict, what it will create is not your best writing and not your worst writing. Let's get to create your mediocre writing.
Rich Fernandez
Yeah. Regression to the mean.
Nichol Bradford
Yeah, yeah. And so imagine an internet where everything is not bad, but it is indeed mediocre, right?
Rich Fernandez
So here's the thing. Why do we have maybe I'll because, you know, I'm aware that we've been talking for a while, and.
Nichol Bradford
I totally feel like.
Rich Fernandez
You keep going. This is fascinating. You know, there's so much to talk about here, Nichol. And it's great talking about with you, too. because, again, you bring that lens of human flourishing together with, you know, the deep technology, but maybe here's the question for you. What do we have to learn? Our audience, perhaps our largest learning and development practitioners.
Rich Fernandez
So we we're professional, we're professionals who think about learning and education. You know, for humans, for adults especially, what do we have to learn in this brave new world?
Nichol Bradford
Yeah. the most important thing really is, and, you know, cultivating in yourself, in your family, in your organization, an agile, curious mindset. and, you know, the the ability to ask questions and the commitment to think for yourself. the reason why is that it's too easy to generate, and it sort of loses that, like, you lose the sort of like thought, thoughtfulness.
Nichol Bradford
I just made up a word. And so, you know, you know, what does higher education look like? there's a great university called Minerva, where their pedagogy is based on the Socratic method and the ability to ask questions and think, so as a learning and development leader in an organization, you want to, you know, hire for or cultivate or, you know, reward and spark, you know, agility, curiosity, collaboration, adaptability.
Nichol Bradford
because that's what's going to happen. In addition, a basic thing that everyone should know how to do is that or understand the way you should think about AI, and where it's going, is think about it like electricity. Think about it like, as your organizational, infrastructure, kind of the way that roads and highways or infrastructure in a, in a country.
Nichol Bradford
and think about having a basic understanding of AI as, you know, knowing how to read like just a basic one, just like knowing how to read, and, you know, and then from an organizational standpoint, how do you cultivate that from a learning and development standpoint? One, you have to, you know, do awareness and then you have to do exposure or the exposure leads to curiosity.
Nichol Bradford
The curiosity leads to experimentation. You have to think through how you want to manage the experimentation. do you want to have a brand, you know, a, a walled garden system, probably a good idea to support the curiosity. I mean, the experimentation. Then you want to sort of like, stack your experiments so that you actually, create, value for the organization.
Nichol Bradford
you want to get that institutional learning that raises the water line for your organization. You want to understand historically what has made AI implementations fail and what has made them succeed. And then also what's unique about generative AI, because you can be a part of that process, because you know, the real like goal or the real win.
Nichol Bradford
Here's what the winners will do. the winners will think of AI and find a way for AI to help them grow. And they will grow because they are empowering their people to spend more time. At the top of their game. And they will create a change management process that allows that where the people help them with that Re-imagination in a way that serves the business.
Nichol Bradford
That's what the winners will do. So the lab people are essential to this process because they're the ones who help retain, capture and retain firm knowledge. And firm knowledge is critical for AI maturity.
Rich Fernandez
And what do we win?
Nichol Bradford
What do you win? the way what?
Rich Fernandez
Like what are they winning? What does winning mean in this?
Nichol Bradford
Well, I mean, success is different for every company, whether it's, you know, market share or, you know, all of those things. But I think the most important thing is, do you truly serve your clients? You know, I like you like the word clients over users because I think users cultivates the wrong relationship, with people. But it's like, do the people who use your products, do they love you?
Nichol Bradford
Do they trust you? Do you make their lives and businesses better, you know, in a meaningful way? and I'm going.
Rich Fernandez
If I can. I challenge you for a second on that, because I want to suggest that it's sort of like Plato's cave, right? Because the person who said, oh, that person who stepped out of the cave and said, there's this land of sunshine. And like a big, vast world out there, our crazy that was a trusted leader. And that's why everyone stayed in the cave.
Rich Fernandez
Right. And so I want to make sure I want to encourage us. And I don't know, what do you think of this, but I want to encourage us to think about AI. Well, actually, I kind of know what you think about this. That's why I wanted to talk to you about this, which is that in this service, it's kind of the betterment, of the world, right?
Rich Fernandez
It's not just about the market share, of course, and and those things, but it's about, it's about this kind of broader remit that it can also help us, like you said, be the top of our game so we can be the best this collectively as a species and the best as a planetary from planetary health perspective.
Nichol Bradford
Where I think collectively, absolutely. And also people vote with their values around products like that's already starting to happen, you know, and so, you know, as technology starts to make it easier and easier for people to start things, you know, old incumbents are going to be really challenged by upstarts that completely align with the values of consumers.
Nichol Bradford
Also, the other thing, the other thing that's happening that many people are not tracking, like if you're looking long term, is that we're at 8 billion people, we're going to go up to 10 billion, and then there's going to be a population, a massive population decline. you know, and it just has to do with how many people have how many children who been have how many children.
Nichol Bradford
you know, it's it's that, you know, regardless of what happens with climate that is just like, that's just what the numbers are now, and there's really no way to change it. you know, and so, you know, sort of what that means is that, you know, loyalty, or brand appreciation alignment. How are you serving the world?
Nichol Bradford
What are you doing? What are you contributing to? you know, every human being. I think you know what I'm hoping for. What I really hope for is we get to the place where we understand that every human is precious. You know, like, every human is precious. And, you know. And then how does the technology allow that?
Nichol Bradford
You know, one of my, so in my fund, our investors are Japanese. to are two of our big anchors are Japanese. So I spend a lot of time in Japan or talking to people in Japan, and they're, they now sell more adult diapers than baby diapers. And, median age is 50. And it's interesting, you would think for mesh technology, they would be the most focused on looking at how do we support such an elder population, when, you know, the population pyramid is inverted and they absolutely are thinking that.
Nichol Bradford
And also they're like our young people have to flourish. They have to flourish, you know, they have to like they have to become their best selves. They have to flourish. They have to be empowered. How do we use this technology to allow those young people, you know, to be and do everything because they're thinking, you know, the, the one of the beautiful things about, Japan is they think very long term, you know, and so they're like, they're, you know, weighing with these questions.
Nichol Bradford
And so, you know, that's got to happen to every, every country in the world. You know, I think it's 2050. There's only going to be four countries in the world that do not have an inverted population pyramid. And there's four questions in Africa. And that's it. Yeah. So you know the wider question. So how to how do you win.
Nichol Bradford
So there certainly is like the interim how does a company win or how does a you know how does a team win. but then there's a longer thing about like how does humanity win and has technology allow us and support us in doing that, in creating a world, you know, that is, you know, better for all.
Rich Fernandez
And we can vote with our values, I love that. So maybe we'll leave it at that. Nichol. so much, so much to explore more, but, we've already said a lot and hopefully, this was really impactful for the audience. I know, for me, like, I just, you know, appreciate your, your very deep and also broad perspective.
Rich Fernandez
So thank you. And thank you for continuing to do the work you do in the world, of really seeking ways for technology to help us flourish. it's needed because it's not good enough, as you say, and it could be way better. And we can continue to grow and be better. So thank you for being a champion for that, to call it a pleasure.
Nichol Bradford
And then, you know, pretty shortly with sure, we're going to be releasing white papers on, maturity models and, AI implementation processes that are very human centered. and so everybody look out for those.
Rich Fernandez
All right. We will do that. Nichol, thank you so much. you could, find Nichol online and, and on her website as well. and learn a little bit more about her. at NicholBradford.com and, and deeper we go. So thanks, but thank you so much, Nichol.
