Trust, Media + Mickey

I often think of media as art, as something that is higher up on the Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. I’ll have time for art when I have enough money and food to sustain myself. 

This isn’t entirely off base, as the advent of great art movements like the renaissance began because suddenly individuals had a surplus of wealth and time to become patrons of the arts. 

But media companies have come to be more than just art in the leisurely sense. They’ve become news, entertainment and the digital market place. We’ve seen power players buy up media corporations for years now, but it’s fascinating what is happening with some of the conglomerates and the cross section with AI. 

I suppose because so much of US economy, and the world economy is derived from the AI market it makes sense. But is this where hopes for innovation turns into real indicators for trouble? 

When I was in college, I wanted to be a journalist. That was until my professors described the layoffs occurring at the NYT and the reporters that were getting killed in faraway lands. But I loved the work. The dedication to the question - what is truth and objectivity in the world of many perspectives?

One of our textbooks described a fallen democracy. It depicted a woman trying to make decisions for her family in wartime conditions, but since she couldn’t trust the information provided to her by the government, she was unable to gain her footing. What is my reality?

From the Gen Z perspective, this question can be applied in across many of our institutions and leaders. Can I trust CEOs, Presidents, Doctors, Influencers? Can I trust that a video is even real? I’ve been told if I just work hard enough I can buy a home, but is that true?

As streaming services, news outlets and social media platforms consolidate in the hands of the powerful and the zone is flooded by voices, what information can I distill to make choices about my life? 

The question drives home this idea that entertainment may not be the fluff at all. If the stories that are not inherently trying to tell us what to think, but make us think, are all that’s left. Is our reality in the hands to these creatives?

Last night my family went to the SF Symphony and watched a Rom-Com from 2008, The Holiday. In the movie, you have so much trust that things will work out. That the intent behind the lines is to elicit laughter, that there isn’t some kind of propaganda. 

On the other side of this coin, how will partnerships like the one between Disney and OpenAI lead to new opportunities or fan content? How will this improve the entertainment experience and allow creators who previously had no access to the film world to generate art. 

Or is this a defensive strategy entirely? A “if you can’t beat em join em” classic? 

And will the consumer want to view AI generated content. The AI videos of cutting glass fruit or jumping into a bed make of cinnamon rolls aren’t unpleasant to watch, but a AI podcast or leading character seems too uncanny valley for my liking. 

I suppose the final question - is there a way of running value this fast without collapsing principles?

My Grandma’s Flowers

Since moving home I go to my grandma’s house every other Sunday with my fiancé and my siblings. Sometimes my parents come too. Sometimes we bring our dog. 

My grandma makes too much food and tells us about her friends we don’t know. She always has a plate of appetizers and charcuterie out. My grandma is sharp, she knows about AI hallucinations and the latest football upsets. 

My grandma uses old recipes cut out from newspaper article and books. The paper is browning and thin. Alternatively she sometimes cooks without a recipe, throwing fistfuls of flour into a bowl. 

I love sitting on her couch while she cooks under one of her hundreds of quilts.

My grandma is mensa, she has a very high IQ. She had my dad and his twin brother 11 months after my uncle - having three boys within a year. She told me once that she regrets never having joined the workforce. 

When we leave my grandma’s house, she give me roses from her garden. She plants old fashioned roses, because she thinks they smell better. Their oblong petal shapes bloom away from the buds in bursts of pinks, reds, yellows and oranges. She fills an old pickle jar with them for me to take home. 

The fresh, clean smell fills the car as we drive over the bay bridge and into the throngs of the city, pushing westward to the Marina. 

My grandma is always dressed well, with colorful scarfs and sweaters, pearls and acrylic red glasses. Sometimes she’s returning from a big shopping spree, toting bags of clothes or antique goods. 

My grandma is unafraid. She sometimes says things are make us blush. 

I love looking at the roses in my apartment. On days where I work from home and feel the weight of loneliness, I feel the love she’s put into her garden and into me.

As the days pass, little shakes from the apartment door opening and closing or people walking by cause the petals to fall. The smell begins to quiet and then suddenly they’re bare stems in a mess of petals on the coffee table. 

Though my grandma never really worked, there’s so much about her that I aspire to emulate in my professional life - being bold, smart and put together. Showing up and being real. A woman unafraid.

Learnings from the support line:

To be honest, I’ve been an AI doomer. Until recently I felt like AI innovation sermons were castles in the sky. It’s felt speculative for what feels like a really long time, but the latest improvements are remarkable. 

As we see vibe coding replace traditional GTM app generation and prompting replace search, many of the existing jobs we know today will become a thing of the past. While I don’t anticipate that jobs like mine will be impacted in the short term, I wonder how the support and service functions will evolve as traditional roles are cut from the budget line. 

Especially as a member of Gen Z, the fact that AI will mostly cut junior job opportunities makes me feel like I’m pulling the ladder up behind me.

In the spirit of not being an AI doomer no more, I’m redirecting my focus to all the jobs that will result from this evolution. That the market with always correct itself. As I pivot from doomer, to opportunist, I wanted to pay a final homage to my previous role on support. I don’t anticipate our support function to be cut any time soon, though I’m sure one day it will look entirely different or be reallocated altogether. 

I worked on the support for two years, and despite its lack luster reputation I loved the work. I loved the opportunity to take someone from their most stressed moment to a positive outcome. I loved the camaraderie. Here are my takeaways: 

• The best way to handle an escalation is to focus on facts and path to resolution. Offer empathy, but don’t dwell or feed the emotional juggernaut. 

• While knowledge has become a commodity, being ready to confidently answer a question is everything. Don’t confuse access with expert. 

• Blame helps no one. Customers will blame you and it can feel like a personal attack. Let it go. Take accountability where you can and redirect to resolution. 

• Overwhelm is your perception, you can choose otherwise. When you do, it’s almost always not as bad as you think.

• Failing to make someone feel like you are understanding them is the quickest way to lose customer trust.

• Asking for help is just transferring the responsibility from you to someone else. Be responsible and exhaust all resources before placing the onus on someone else to solve your problem. We grateful for the help you do receive

• Panicking clouds your judgement and degrades your ability to resolve a problem

• Treat people the way you would want to be treated. I feel like this really forgotten in business. We all ask for help sometimes, we all stumble. Give help every chance you can, because you will need to ask for it too. 

• Take ownership over things that come across your desk, you will build allies this way