I was terrified of it two years ago. I’d read the announcements that AI was the beginning (or end) of civilization as we know it.  And it will change our society, but only in some larger way than cars ended horses or PCs replaced the human workforce. That is, we will still find horses and people useful, just in different ways.

AI will be abused, as all innovations are by the bad guys, and it will change HOW we work.  I trust our society to adapt. My journey from fear to daily use has been rewarding; not because AI is magical or revolutionary, but it can be used to aid my work, including these blogs.  

I started with the free version of Claude (from a company called Anthropic) after my marketing hero Seth Godin recommended them.   When Claude writes with me, it sounds like me. When I share original thoughts (drafts), what comes back is authentically mine—just clearer, better organized.  Then, I edit their edit.  

Then there is its research capacity.   I've used it to evaluate car buying by feeding in my priorities and budget; to understand my blood tests in terms of actions I can take; to help a sibling navigate a health crisis.

Now Claude helps me organize complex business presentations with multiple moving parts, audiences, and objectives. I write the first draft, share my thinking, and it helps me see what I'm trying to say more clearly than I saw it myself. Then I edit again, keeping what rings true and dropping what doesn't.

I've used it for research on social issues I care about—immigration, entrepreneurship, education, community development. It helps me find sources I wouldn't have found, understand perspectives I wouldn't have considered, and organize information in ways that make the complex feel manageable.

I've used it to turn decades of scattered files, calendars, and notes into coherent narratives. Once, I fed it ten years of calendar entries with descriptions of what I was building during those years. It organized that chaos into a readable history of a decade of my life.

In every case, the pattern is the same: I do the thinking. Claude helps me organize, clarify, and strengthen that thinking. The final product is mine, but better than I would have created alone.

Like Mikey with his Life cereal in a 1970s commercial, I say, “try it you’ll like it”.  And if you don’t?  Just put down your spoon.  Nobody’s going to make you eat it.

Peace,

Tim McCarthy  

tim@thebusinessofgood.org 

www.thebusinessofgood.org 

Quote of the Month: Shane Parrish

“You have to do the work wrong many times before you discover    how to do it right.”

---Shane Parrish

Song of the Month:  "Downhearted; How Blue Can You Get" by BB King

Editor’s Note: This recording, live from Cook County jail, is my favorite version of this old blues song by the greatest blues guitarist of all time.  I learned it from John Zingg when we played out together in college and have enjoyed it ever since, especially these, my favorite lyrics. 

Favorite Lyrics:

“I gave you a brand new Ford, you say ‘I wanted a Cadillac’,

I bought you a ten dollar dinner, you said, ‘thanks for the snack’.

I let you live in my penthouse, you said it was just a shack,

I gave you seven children, and now you want to give them back!” 

Listen to the full song here

Book of The Month: "What If It All Goes Right" by Scarlet Keys

Editor’s note:  This is a fabulous, easy-to-read, morale-boosting book for anyone who needs a lift.  Keys’ simple approach starts with her breast cancer diagnosis but moves quickly into the broader concept of hope and how to focus on it using life’s best medicines, laughter and music among them.  Her appearance on NPR’s TED Hour is what caught my attention as this songwriter and music teacher spoke of how music impacts our lives.  PS Her TED talk, titled “Why do you love your favorite song”? is also informative and funny.

Favorite excerpts:

“’Radical hope’ is sometimes what we need the most; fierce and active, made of willpower and grit. Bursting with possibilities.” 

“Songs are the soundtracks of our lives”. 

Read it for yourself here

Truly Funny: 

My favorite mentors and bosses used their sense of humor while admonishing me.  I can still laugh and even hear their voices remembering their loud voices today.    

• “Not every thought deserves a voice”

• “Your lack of planning does not constitute my emergency”

• “Indeed, that was my mistake, but your job is to save me from myself”

• “Nouns and verbs, McCarthy, nouns and verbs” 

• “You do not have to run into every burning building”