Do You Suffer From Shiny New Toy Syndrome? • Derek Cheshire

Is AI just a load of hogwash? Is Threads just another pointless distraction? Is Leadership just a load of hocus pocus? Are you suffering from Shiny New Toy Syndrome?

Well, brace yourselves folks, ’cause I’m about to ruffle some feathers with my opening statement. But honestly, I couldn’t care less about that. The purpose of this post is to get those gears in your head turning. And hey, before you slap me with the “anti-everything” label, take a gander at what I actually said. I’m just asking questions here, not making proclamations.

So what’s the big deal then? Let’s talk AI for a moment. It burst onto the scene, its reputation skyrocketing faster than a rocket-powered cheetah. It can speed up our tasks (no kidding), whip up some fancy copy (you bet), and even create art while casually chatting up our customers.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I have no beef with that. Except for one tiny little thing—it sucks us all into its vortex. We start feeling like total losers if we haven’t given the latest version of ChatGPT a whirl or explored the gazillion cheat sheets and prompt generators out there.

So here’s the deal, my friends: the next time a shiny new thingamajig pops up, ask yourselves these burning questions:

1. What’s the point of it all?
2. How the heck is it gonna help me or my business?
3. And most importantly, how’s it gonna help my customers or their business?

If it can’t offer any help, well, you have two choices—either ignore it like yesterday’s stale croissant or chuck it onto that ever-growing list of intriguing stuff you’ll eventually get around to (yes, just like those management books you bought but haven’t cracked open yet).

Keep on experimenting and keep on learning, my friends! That’s the name of the game.

If you are having trouble with your shiny new toys then I can help …