The Recipe to Transparency is in the Clarity of Ingredients: Lessons from a Garlic-free Salad
- Details
- Written by Julie Hansen
Salad.
Some love it. Some hate it.
I grew up eating it or at least poking at it as a kid. But back then it wasn't that interesting. Head Lettuce, carrots, cucumber…the dreaded Thousand Island dressing.
Fast forward decades and The Salad has evolved itself into a complex, amazing meal concoction, containing a plethora of ingredients ranging from avocado to duck confit to corn chips served anywhere from cold to warm to hot while offering a dressing choice longer than a 2020s Starbucks coffee menu.
Salad grew up and with it my intolerance to digest garlic! (insert audible sympathetic gasp)
Yup. It turns out garlic is in everything these days including 90% of these amazing salad bowls! From minced to marinades...it's hard to avoid.
So, what do I have to do each time I eyeball a cool 20-ingredient salad? I must ask the creators about the ingredients, request some adjustments and then trust the result is sans-garlic. Typically, it's an easy request. Kitchens these days are happy to provide transparency into their recipes as it's often essential to their customer's safety, satisfaction and loyalty.
Hmm. Where else would transparency in 'ingredients' be helpful?
How about around AI innovation? Maybe, AI technology is today's modern-day salad.
It's next to a staple in our lives and like the evolution of salad, it is quickly evolving in terms of ingredients and complexity.
I think as consumers of AI, we are entering the 'food intolerance' stage with it. Meaning, as AI technology evolves should we risk blindly consuming it? Or should we also check with the creators for insight? Opaque AI use cases might start out good, but they could be poison to our systems. As leaders, we need to see, understand and potentially tweak AI recipes to trust that the result is good for business.
AI today is still very much a black box to most. It consumes data and produces delightful, impressive outputs. But do we really know how that result happened and is it consuming the 'right' data? The most complete, unbiased, relevant data? It's all subjective to the situation and deems many a solid conversation in terms of tool/data combinations.
Transparency in this case would be: Can you explain the results to others in layman's terms as to why this result arrived the way it did and why it's a trustable result?
Explainable AI. Interpretable AI. XML - explainable machine learning. These are all terms for where we are headed. Yes, there are cool tools out there creating unthinkable result combinations. But can you back the results or are you hoping these results back you and you can move forward with potentially shifty data?
It's something to think about as you work with data and new tools and aiming to solve business problems. The easiest way to absorb the seriousness of the matter is to imagine your doctor using AI to diagnose your illness and treatment plan. I'm pretty sure you would want that person to be absolutely confident in the data that's going to impact your life. Not every situation is potentially that critical. However, as AI plays more of a role in our lives, transparency in the diagnosis will become expected.
Recently I attended an in-person CIO roundtable "Leading Innovation and Growth in a Disruptive Era" by The IT Media Group that covered quite a few progressive topics including defining data strategies, building business/technology synergies and addressing AI education gaps.
When I reflected on the two hours of engaging, spirited conversation, I noticed a similar theme.
Like my salad, the theme across the roundtable was the need for increased transparency. Transparency going beyond just AI use cases.
In some cases, transparency was discussed outright related to AI. For example, when engaging with vendors, leaders want to understand how the offerings work under the covers, or they aren't interested. Today, leaders would rather build their own solutions where they 'know the ingredients' vs dealing with algorithmic Black Boxes.
In other cases, greater transparency needs were implied during discussions related to:
- Data access and insight
- Understanding how AI is evolving
- Board approval
- Governance, Risk & Security
- Customer acquisition and adoption
- Communications and Leadership
- The need to Educate at ALL points of influence - Board, Leadership, Engineers and the all-important Customer
With so much data, fast changing tech, content overload and marketing spin out there today, I think transparency is going to become an expected practice.
But, for many leaders, increased transparency may be uncomfortable. It may require culture shifts, mindset shifts even talent shifts to incorporate.
However, if done right, transparency can be very positive for a business as transparency is a universal ingredient for building Trust.
- Customers appreciate transparency.
- Employees want transparency.
- Boards demand transparency.
So, as you think about the challenges you are facing as a leader or the strategic goals you want to meet, ask yourself where you can increase transparency as part of that plan.
Maybe you make transparency a requirement for your vendors and in applications of AI and data.
Perhaps it becomes modus operandi for teaming and any ecosystems you develop for innovation and growth.
And perhaps your internal and external customers gravitate to your strategies because it offers a clarity hard to come by these days.
Like my garlic-free salad, soon gone may be the days of a 'secret sauce' behind a company or offering.
Transparency may turn out to be the fastest 'recipe' for trust, innovation and growth.
Julie Hansen is an award-winning technology and innovation executive. Julie is a judge and advisor to global innovation competitions and coaches women leaders in over 25 countries. She holds the Competent Boards GCB.D board-level accreditation and sits on The IT Media Group CIO Advisory Board.
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Home Trust Company - CIO
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ivari - SVP & CIO
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KFC Canada - CTO
KnowledgeOne - CIO
LaFarge Canada - Director, IT
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Leisureworld Senior Care Corp - VP IS
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Magna International Inc - VP & Global Leader, IT (CIO)
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March Networks - VP Professional Services & CIO
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MMM Group - CIO
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ODAIA - CEO
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