Just a few generations ago, the thought of humanity accomplishing powered flight in a machine heavier than air was considered impossible.
There were many vocal experts in the late 1800s who did not hesitate to ridicule anyone in the âWhat Ifâ crowd - those brave or crazy enough to ask âwhat if it is possible to take flight?â
Many visionaries among us stay firmly planted with their heads in the clouds and never return back to earth to figure out the next important question to answer after âwhat if?â, which would be âHow?â
âHowâ is where legacies are built.
As they say âideas are a dime a dozenâ. Executing on an idea and bringing a vision to reality is priceless.
And so we find Wilbur and Orville Wright taking flight on December 17, 1903 at Kitty Hawk North Carolina.
And make no mistake - the world changed that day.
But the world did not know that mankind had left the ground for 12 seconds and traveled a distance 120 feet there on the Outer Banks - an area selected far from the Wright Brothers hometown of Dayton, Ohio, four Summers prior.
In fact, only five people beyond the Wright Brothers were in attendance that day of their first flight.
They chose Kitty Hawk, North Carolina for itâs wide swaths of unobstructed sandy expanse, and the ocean - both were suitable emergency landing options to avoid death in their high stakes ambition. Kitty Hawk also commonly had ideal wind conditions.
So it was on that Thursday, December 17, 1903 at 10:35 am that Orville helmed that first flight, which he later noted was an erratic one, much too short to grow fearful. 12 seconds and 120 feet. A modest start.
The second flight found Wilbur at the helm - flying a distance 175 feet.
Next, Orville returned to the flyerâs pilot harness and flew for 200 feet.
Finally, the fourth and final flight of the day was a huge leap forward, with Wilbur at the helm - covering a distance of 852 feet and 59 seconds.
A fifth flight was being contemplated just as a violent wind gust thrashed the flyer about to the point of it being severely damaged. In fact, their first flyer would never take flight again beyond that historic first day.
Nature has a way of reminding us who is in charge - that would be enough progress for one day.
What is lesser known is that the Wright Brothers had other siblings beyond Wilbur and Orville - their sister Katharine delivered their telegram announcement back home in Dayton, Ohio of their success to their brother Lorin, who would serve as their press agent upon taking flight.
And a strange thing happened - the press didnât seem to care. One hometown editor scoffed at their accomplishments measured in seconds, exhorting them to come back once they had flown for an hour.
I see parallels in that news editorâs reaction to what I refer to as the five stages of AI Grief, which I will explore in future episodes here on Urelevant, but that first stage of AI Grief is denial, and this is exactly where I see that many people are at with AI. These are the ones who are quick to quip âAI will never :â fill in the blank.
And that blank is usually filled in by some skill that they have spent considerable time developing. The sunk cost facing them keeps them in denial that somehow AI can detect cancers better than trained doctors, and AI can beat the best chess players in the world, but somehow AI will be unable to master their rare and special skill? Ok - good luck with that.
That talk of âAI will neverâ reminds me of those experts from another era who confidently proclaimed that mankind would never accomplish flight. But the Wright brothers had many things going for them that made their success inevitable.
The Wright Brothers triumph of their first flight is akin to the philosophical tree falling in the forest with no one there.
Does it make a sound? Does anyone notice? And does anyone care?
The truth is that most people could care less about trees falling, unless it improves their view, or one falls on them.
Likewise, many of our firmly held beliefs regarding artificial intelligence and its limitations have been dropping like dominos recently, like trees in the forest
But, many arenât heeding the warning signs. And many more are lacking clarity as to what to do in the face of the uncertainty being brought forth by AI.
So I offer these principles, which I will call the âWright Brother Principlesâ as markers or milestones in your own AI Pivot journey - where you can learn the lessons the Wright Brothers figured out so that you too can achieve flight in your own seemingly impossible pursuits into the great untried and unknown.
This three-episode series is an exploration of principles they put into practice that we can learn from. This is to provide you much-needed clarity in charting your AI Pivot. The goal is to get out of todayâs AI danger zones and improve our view of the future in this emerging era.
I will be drawing extensively from David McCulloughâs substantial masterpiece of a book âThe Wright Brothersâ to draw a total of 15 principles I came away with for their practical application in any era.
So in this episode, we will explore the first five principles, starting with Wright Brothers Principle #1
#1 They Didnât Know Better
Not knowing what you donât know can be a blessing and a curse. The Wright Brothers had a vision of flight, and a burning conviction it could be achieved.
Yearâs later, post-flight, they could enjoy 20/20 hindsight, to inventory all of the obstacles they had to overcome - the long summers of sacrifice, and the tragedies that were to unfold along the way ⌠which spoiler alert! I will cover their sacrifices and tragedies in the final episode of this three part series.
Our inability to truly know the future, all at once, empowers us to take the next step - driven forward by an ultimate goal, but keeping blinders on and focused on the immediate task at hand. Had Orville and Wilbur Wright been able to see just how much they didnât know, all at once, their dreams of flight would have likely come crashing down at lift off.
There is safety in not knowing everything, all at once, so just take the next step.
And Iâd like to offer up a book recommendation related to this point - âSlow Productivityâ by Cal Newport. There he explores the concept of working at a natural pace and not rushing your important work. You may find this book helpful in exploring paring down your commitments to that which matters most, obsessing over quality and getting that which matters most done with time to spare!
Now onto the next principle
Wright Brothers Principle #2 - They Werenât Well- Funded, They Were Self-Funded
The Wright Brothers eradicated the phrase âIf OnlyâŚâ from their vocabulary. What is not so well known about this time, is that the Wright Brothers were not the only ones trying to accomplish flight.
One notable figure trying to beat them into the air was the Smithsonian Instituteâs Secretary, Samuel Langley, and his Langley Aerodome, which suffered a very highly publicized failed attempt at flight as it immediately plunged into the Potomoc River upon itâs attempted launch via catapult from a houseboat on October 7, 1903.
Had Langley been successful, he would have beaten the Wright Brothers to flight roughly two months earlier than they. A second Langley attempt was made and failed again on December 8, 1903 - just 9 days prior to the Wright Brothers successful four flights at Kitty Hawk. The press was there on both of Langleyâs failed attempts and memorialized them as âLangleyâs Follyâ heaping scorn on him for wasting public money.
Samuel Langley had received a US War Department grant of $50,000 in 1898 to build his aerodome - that equates to roughly 1.85 million dollars today! So the Wright Brothers were competing with those that were well funded for sure.
And I would venture to guess that many of you listening today, if you found yourself as a Wright Brother at the turn of their century would entertain giving up once you heard about prominent well-funded experts entering the race to flight.
The derision and ridicule from the âflight is impossibleâ crowd on one side and the intimidating presence of the formidable and funded players on the other would encourage you to fold like a lawn chair in a windstorm.
But here is the advantage to Principle #2 of being self-funded, not well funded.
You can toil in anonymity and not have divided interests and undue self-induced pressure. Those that are well-funded now have watchful eyes and expectations which weigh them down and they are obligated to deliver at all costs and simply cannot afford slow productivity - which I mentioned in the previous principle.
The well-funded donât hold leverage but ARE leverageD.
Having all the money and resources in the world is no match to the visionary who hungers to disrupt and has deep wells of ability to make their vision a reality through their reservoirs of blood, sweat and tears equity.
As I said, they eradicated thinking like âIf onlyâŚwe were funded like Langley. Or If onlyâŚwe had more time. Or If only we were younger. If only we had college degrees.â
Instead you can flip âIf Onlyâ to âOnly Ifâ and say things like âI will achieve my goal ONLY IF I figure it out, Only IfâŚmake it happen, Only IfâŚI keep working a day job to fund this project.
This leads me directly into the headwinds of Wright Brothers principle #3
#3 - Donât Quit Your Day Job
Although Kitty Hawk, North Carolina was where the Wright Brothers achieved flight, their home town and base of operations was in Dayton, Ohio. And their industrious beginnings can be traced back to the formation of the Wright Cycle Company in the Spring of 1893.
The brothers sold bicycles in their own store. They eventually took a very important step to one day taking flight by starting to manufacture their very own model of bicycle. Their model was known as the Van Cleve, named in honor of their Great-Great Grandmother on their Fatherâs side.
Their marketing motto was that the âVan Cleve gets there firstâ - a hint of their goal of flight a decade later - to get there first.
Their nascent entry into the industry of human transport was two wheels on the ground, long before it grew to two wings in the air.
Bicycles are finicky mechanical beasts, and especially in their early days. There was great room for improvement as is the norm for anything new. Also common with anything new and noteworthy is there will be increasing competition. That competition dictates ingenuity and advancements and updated models year over year.
This annual rhythm would be easily followed and ingrained into the Wrightâs core years later with continual new and improved flyers.
Technology never stands still - whether the bicycle, or those early fliers, the human drive always demands higher, farther and faster. Remember âVan Cleves Get There Firstâ
The Wright Brothers day jobs equipped them with invaluable experience with machining and manufacturing and creating their own mechanical inventions and improvements, part by part.
Running their own business taught them how to find the intersection of their creative vision and market demands and the common sense concept of turning a profit.
Remember, the Wright Brothers werenât well funded, they were self-funded.
They toiled each winter making next yearâs model and building up inventory to fund each step of their path towards flight.
Their day job had meaning and purpose for their passion project. How this applies to your AI Pivot is that although few will make world-altering accomplishments like the Wrights, each of us has the power to change our own world and circumstance, not by fleeing where you are, but by taking inventory of it.
What is the market repeatedly telling you?
Where are you finding positive reinforcement and feedback?
There are clues around you and the market does inform you - where do you find yourself gravitating toward?
Donât eschew this as being pigeonholed, but perhaps these are tells to your special and unique abilities that you wield and leverage to make fine-tuned adjustments and course corrections.
Take note of recurring verticals and industries and job roles on your resume. Also take stock of pain points and friction in your surroundings for yourself and others - you can use AI to help you forward-cast what changes are likely coming and how you can get out of the danger zone - remember the trees falling in the forest and you want to get out of the danger zone and on a higher ground with an improved view or outlook - a perch of safety born out by attaining relevance in the age of AI, basically.
How this is done or accomplished practically is the next principle
Wright Brothers Principle #4 - Get Familiar with Your Transferable and Adjacent Skills
The brothers built bicycles. They understood that the best machines in the world, in this instance a bicycle, was nothing more than a glorified doorstop if its rider did not have the requisite skill to ride it.
We now say that many things are like riding a bike - once you learn that skill, it becomes second-nature and you can return to it after protracted seasons off of the bike. So about that skill of riding a bike - what that entailed was a certain time and trial and error on the part of the rider until they grew their coordination and command of balance and equilibrium.
What the Wright Brothers discovered in their early versions of their gliders is that one could steer it while suspended lying flat on their stomach, using equilibrium and balance and their hips to make large course corrections with the slightest of imperceptible shifts, much like that on a bicycle.
Simply put, if the Wrights did not have deep expertise and practical knowledge related to equilibrium and balance on two wheels, they never would have been able to unlock the secrets of flight.
They knew that the winning equation was man AND machine working in concert, finding equilibrium and balance, empowering an experienced and skilled navigator to take command of the mysterious machine.
The same holds true for you today in this age of AI - our generationâs mysterious machine of the moment.
There are many skills you already have, and many more adjacent skills in the emerging Skills Graph that you can quickly command.
This may be the first you have heard of the Skills Graph, or you may be curious what it is. I will touch on the Skills Graph more during principle #14 in final episode of this three-part series here on Urelevant. All the more reason to subscribe!
Now, all the years that the Wright Brothers toiled in their bicycle shop was not wasted, but instrumental.
The same is true of your own Skills Stack.
The time has not been wasted. Your Skills Stack can serve as scaffolding from which you can stand from as you build your next creation that only you can.
Think of this as next yearâs model of YOU, new and improved for these changing times, so start studying the skills graph, skills taxonomies and skills adjacencies - these will serve you well into the AI era and you will find that these small shifts can sway your fortunes.
And for a book recommendation related to tiny changes bringing remarkable results, I would be remiss to not put in a plug for James Clearâs âAtomic Habitsâ.
Think of iterating yourself, building next yearâs model TODAY. This clarion call to experiment, to try to improve may scare you, because hypothesis without testing only leads to unproven theories. You have to experiment and put those new skills to the test to confirm you can acquire them or not..which may lead to failureâŚwhich we will strive to redefine in the next principle.
Wright Brothers Principle #5 - They Didnât Care What Other People Thought
While making the transfer from bike to eventually planes, the Wright Brothers exhibited what many onlookers thought were suspect behaviors. Wilbur & Orville were obsessed with birds and they watched them in flight almost religiously.
They drew birds. They mimicked birds movements, noting that the slightest change to the tip of a wing, or their head positioning. They marveled at how effortless birds made flight look and how long they could glide from a single flap of their perfectly aerodynamic wings.
Their relentless pursuit of flight led them to doing things publicly that would, and did invite ridicule. They simply didnât care what others thought.
In this age of always on social media and connected-less connections, a social contagion grips most when trying something new. The fear of failure and the fear of what others will think.
To borrow from Stephen Sondheimâs song from âCompanyâ called âAnother Hundred Peopleâ - every single day another hundred damaged dreamers get off the bus and settle in to lick their wounds and to commiserate what could have been, and their chorus begins with âIf Onlyâ instead of âOnly ifâ
These damaged dreamers now exist to spit on those delusional dreamers who dare to try something new, to commit the unforgivable sin in the social graph - to fail.
What these detractors have lost sight of is that their victories do not hinge on othersâ defeat or vice versa.
And perhaps you fear the slings and arrows being launched by strangers, or worse still, from friends and family, who, come to find out, donât actually want whatâs best for you, but for them.
The Wright Brothers consumed their time with overcoming obstacles and not opinions or objections.
Their first flier now resides in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. Others opinions and mocking hangs in the air of history, not making a sound, much like a tree falling in the forest with no one there to hear it.
What must the well-funded Langley have thought of them before his own doomed attempts at flight. And of note is that the Wrightâs didnât celebrate Langleyâs defeats because they knew too well just how hard what they were trying to accomplish was.
I am reminded of Thomas Edisonâs famous quote âI have not failed 10,000 times - Iâve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.â - and here Iâd like to recommend the book âThe Wizard of Menlo Parkâ by Randall Stross, for more on Edisonâs 10,000 ways.
You will likely need to pivot soon, thanks to AI.
With any pivot, there is a time of dual track to be laid.
You have who you have been, and the confines of your own platform, and what I mean by that would be your connections and professional experience represented on the social graph i.e. LinkedIn, Facebook Instagram, TikTok or wherever you have elected to try to build a presence or communicate what matters to you, and how you represent yourself to the world at large.
And then there is the second rail of where you would like to head.
Finding an alignment and smooth transfer from Now to Next can be negotiated.
Although this journey into the great unknown of AI is riddled with blind turns, you can learn from history.These Wright Brothers principles can help you pivot as seamlessly as possible into the right direction instead of careening into irrelevance.
Letâs recap these first 5 Wright Brothers Principles:
1 - They Didnât Know Better
2 - They Were Not Well Funded - They Were Self-Funded
3 - Donât Quit Your Day Job
4 - Get Familiar with Your Transferable and Adjacent Skills
5 - Donât Care What Others Think
There is much, much more to unpack and learn from the history of the Wright Brothers to inform our paths today. But donât just take my word for it - here is a quote from the back cover of the Wright Brothers book from CEO of Google Sundar Pichai âA story that resonates with anyone who believes deeply in the power of technology to change lives.â
Be sure to like, review and subscribe to this podcast so you are alerted to future episodes on Tuesdays!
Next up are Episode 3 - Doubters in Dayton followed by Episode 4 - Flight Fanatics in France to round out this 3-part series. Thank you for joining me here at Urelevant!
