This is how AI turns you into a passive thinker

it's a real pleasure to step out of a busy, busy day and do things like this that really requires us to kind of reflect back on a lot of our motivations, shall I say, or our drive. We don't get to do that very often. So, I really appreciate being a guest.

okay. Good first question. what made me step out was freedom. And now that's a common answer in terms of freedom. And now I'm not just referring to the freedom of time. You've got more flexibility being on your own, but I mean kind of the freedom of for me personally. I wanted to focus on the work. I wanted to focus on value, value adding to people. And So to be released from kind of a a big corporate's bureaucracies, it's red tape, and let's face it, politics and agendas within the work environment. to me that's noise. And I know we all have to sometimes work in large organizations and and and and they give you so much. So I d I it's not that I'm trashing those environments because they g they gave me Opportunity. They gave me mentors. They gave me incredible learning. But I reached a point in my career where I wanted to take the noise away. And I really wanted to just go out on my own and focus on the work that I most enjoyed. So I think it's that aspect of freedom that kind of made me step out.

Hmm. Okay, really, really good question. Now there comes that reflection. So yeah, so it was my master's in HR that kind of led me into the people focus to begin with. And then with Accenture, I was working on very, very large global tech transformations. But I always focused on my work streams were always around capability, culture change, behavior change, that type of thing. So I was maintaining that focus on human behavior, even though I was in technology transformations. And then after Accenture, actually, I became global head of Cult C O L T, Cult Technology Services. So I was global head of L and D. So I was still focused on people development now within a technology environment. So I and then my career has gone the same in terms of these two strands. Even when I worked in the the cabinet office for the British government, I owned digital skill transformation. So again, it was around adopting and transforming with technology, but it was on the psychology of change. It was on behavior, it was on new ways of working, etc. And so Now with AI, if you jump forward the last few years and my focus on AI, that is a real sweet spot for me, because this is a technology transformation unlike any other that we've ever experienced in our lifetimes. And it's a technology, incredibly powerful and sophisticated technology that is not only changing the way we work, but it's changing the way we think. the way we learn. it's even challenging us to kind of think what it means to be human versus machine. So in terms of the psychology of change and human behavior paired with technology, I just I couldn't be in a in a better place now in terms of the type of work that really excites me.

Yeah. Well Yeah, you know what? I mean the first thing I would say about that is and again this is a great message that we all have to reflect on if we are independent contractors or have our own businesses. And it's that constant reinvention that's required. I have to walk the talk. I have to practice what I preach. or to everyone else around continuous learning. And when what I when I saw the impact of AI that was coming and I could see what was coming, it it it really inspired me and it forced me actually to go back and make sure that I grounded myself in enough of the technology understanding to then be able to focus on what matters to me. And that's how people and organizations actually adapt. to change and adapt to technology. So Berkeley was really good, but I didn't go there to learn coding. I didn't go there to understand all the complexities of neural networks in AI. I needed enough of that grounding then to focus on so what does this mean for us? so that's what Berkeley did for me. And also as I said it it really forced me to reinvent myself. yet again as an independent contractor and remain relevant and r r remain focused on the type of change that is is most impactful for companies and and society at large at the moment. So that's what inspired me to go there and and kind of reground myself, so to speak.

One more. how do I look at technology? Hmm, that's a big question. And I think first and foremost, I just continue to ground myself that technology is really just a tool. Now with AI it's much more nuanced than that because it's such a powerful sophisticated technology tool. But again, it is just a tool. And that tool can be a crutch or it can be a catalyst. for us. It can empower us or it can replace us. That's how significant this this particular technology is. So that's my ethos going into that question, how do I view technology? it can really be a catalyst or it can be a crutch when it comes to AI.

Yeah, absolutely. So when you think about how we use AI, what are we doing? it's basically cognitive offloading. So we're using it for research, for analysis, to summarize a document, etc. So we are cognitively offloading some of our critical thinking. And that is very risky. So that's what I mean by crutch or a catalyst. we have to be very careful about what we choose to cognitively offload, or we become there's the risk of becoming too much passive thinkers. We're offloading too much and we become passive thinkers. There's a really interesting concept that I heard recently called cognitive polarization, which sounds grand, but cognitive polarization is just simply if you look to the future and you think about more and more and more use of AI going forward. There's gonna kind of begin to be two tranches of people. There's gonna be those people that become more passive thinkers because of it. So they offload more thinking. they use it use it as a vending machine, as an answering machine. Here's a document, give me a summary. And they offload so much they just become very, very passive thinkers. And then there's another tranche of people that will use it more as a strategic thought partner. That will really use it to challenge them and to challenge their thinking, raise the bar on their output and the way they think. so I think cognitive polarization as a concept will become more and more important as we go forward. And that is the crux of what I mean. Is it a catalyst for helping you think better, or is it a crutch where you're just becoming a passive thinker? That's kind of think a lot of what drives my capability development because I want people to be in this side. I want them to be in this tranche where it is a real tool to actually make you better in what you do. I don't I I I I I really try to encourage people to define the red lines. Define the red lines of what you will use AI for. And what you should not use it for because it becomes a negative to a degree. So yeah, it drives a lot of what I do.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. What did it teach me? I well, first of all, I'll tell you the quick story of how that happened because it was very unusual for someone like me, maybe to enter into government. so it it actually happened within three weeks of me going starting TFB consulting. Within three weeks of going out on my own, I got a f I got a phone call. From the cabinet office of the British government saying, Would you consider coming in as a senior advisor on digital skill transformation across the whole British government? And you know what my first response was? My first response was, did you dial the right number? I mean, you know, why are you calling me? and and I I I really pushed back. I was like, I've never worked for government in my life. I don't have a political bone in my body. I'm quite corporate, I'm quite results focused, I'm quite driven. I've never worked with that level of bureaucracy. Why on earth are you interested in someone like me? And and they said it's for all those reasons we're interested in someone like you because this was this is back in 2013. So this is when we first started we we had created gov.uk, digital services for citizens. So the government was facing a digital transformation at that point. like n never before. And so they couldn't do things the way they'd always done them. And they needed to break from the status quo. And and the crux the crux of it, the reason that I was intrigued was I was told, you know what, Tom, your unofficial job title will be disruptor. I said, What? Excuse me. You know, positive disruptor. so That intrigued me. And I said, yes, absolutely, let's do it. so even though I was going into an environment you said I kind of went on the inside. I did, but I never became a civil servant. I never kind of joined government. I still was a consulting and that freed me up. Yet again, there's that theme of freedom. So I didn't have to worry about a political career. I didn't have to worry worry about political agendas. I didn't have to worry about a civil service hierarchy. I was there to disrupt and positively change and help a government that was hundreds of years old, mired in bureaucracy and red tape. Obviously, I it it doesn't all come down to me, but I think I was a positive influence. and I had that freedom to focus on the tough conversations. I I was able to be free and be a disruptor. without having to worry about political agendas. So that's what it taught me. It taught me that we need to be disruptors. Because especially in a transformation like we're seeing now with AI, I remember I used to say this to ministers and to senior civil servants back in the back in that time. I said you've got one or two choices. Only you've you've only got two choices. You can disrupt yourself. Get in the driver's seat and really kind of command your way on this transformation, or you can be disrupted because it's coming regardless. So you got two choices, disrupt yourself or be disrupted. And that's where we are again with AI, but in an even bigger way. So I think that theme of a positive disruptor is what I've taken through now. to twenty twenty six and w where we are with AI transformation.

it's it's really good. And and and also let me clarify something as well. TFB Consulting Limited sounds very grandiose and it's really just me. It's really, you know, I'm an independent contractor. And they're in then that's the place that a lot of independent contractors find themselves, independent consultants. So you are pretty much on your own, you know, everything comes down to you. From building your business to your strategy, to your clients, to your marketing, to your value proposition. Everything is you. and that's where I find it very, very interesting for independent contractors and the use of AI. Because if I take, for example, my particular case, so I customize my own GPT And have trained it for three years now. And so my customized GPT understands me, understands my ethos, knows the work that I do, helps me develop programs, things like that. Now that has been so revolutionary for me because you're often on your own, as I say. You don't have a lot of people to bounce things off of. You don't have someone always there. To kind of go, I need to think through this and I need to wrap my head around this. But you're having to do it on your own. And so now, with if you take the time to customize and contextualize the AI tools that you use, they can can become such an like powerful strategic thought partners. And that is a way that I have used AI personally. That's the way that AI is positively impacting my own business. Is I feel like I've got this strategic thought partner I can always bounce ideas off of. And I just I I find that has made being on my own and independent, much easier, to be honest.

Do you know what I mm, okay, again, ending with a really good question. I think one thing I would do differently is is to move faster. I think we all can suffer from imposter syndrome. We can all be a little hesitant when there's a lot of adaptability, a lot of change. We have to constantly reinvent ourselves. There's always continuous learning. I think I would feel the fear and do it anyway. A little faster. I I have because it's just natural. It's it's just human. It's the human condition that we're afraid of change and we want to stay in our comfort zones. I think I would have pushed myself out of my comfort zone a little bit faster than than I did. So that's probably the one thing. I wouldn't change probably anything else. I I Even the mistakes we make are fantastic learning opportunities. So I wouldn't change anything else, but I think I would have moved out of my comfort zone faster, to be honest.

And very good. Well, they can just Google me. just Google Tom Bryant, AI, and maybe London, because there's a lot of Tom Bryant's out there. strong presence on LinkedIn. I really use LinkedIn quite a lot for in terms of networking. So again, you can find me there. And then the website is tfbconsulting.co dot uk. that's there as well. So lots of lots of ways to reach out to me.

fantastic. Well, I thank you again for the the invite and the opportunity to kind of reflect on some of these. It's not every day we sit and we think, Well, what motivated me twenty years ago? So I enjoy that reflection. Thank you so much, Mikolas.