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7-16Mia: The common wisdom during any gold rush is to sell shovels, not dig for gold yourself. But the East India Company in the 17th and 18th centuries offers a different perspective. While others sought direct extraction, the Company focused on controlling key trade routes and ports, effectively redirecting wealth. Their true innovation was creating detailed maps of wind patterns and ocean currents, which significantly improved their navigation and reduced losses.
Mars: So, instead of just trying to get rich directly, they focused on controlling the infrastructure and information that enabled others to do so, making them incredibly powerful.
Mia: This distinction between shovels and treasure maps is highly relevant to today's enterprise AI market. Many AI providers are selling shovel solutions, focusing on automating existing tasks faster, like generating presentations or emails. While this offers immediate productivity gains, it often leads to incremental improvements and a competitive landscape where everyone has access to similar tools.
Mars: Exactly. When everyone is just digging faster with better shovels, the competitive advantage disappears quickly, pushing companies into a price war.
Mia: The real game-changer, then, isn't just doing what you already do, but faster. It's about using AI to discover what you should be doing differently, fundamentally altering your strategy.
Mars: Precisely. It's the difference between improving execution on a known path, and finding a completely new, more valuable path altogether. Think of how BlueDot identified the early stages of COVID-19 by analyzing news and flight data – that’s a treasure map revealing an unseen threat.
Mia: So, it's clear that the shovel approach to AI is a trap, leading to commoditization. The real power lies in the treasure map approach, which offers strategic direction and unlocks hidden opportunities. This brings us to the critical question: how do companies actually implement this treasure map mindset?
Mars: Well, this shovel versus treasure map dynamic isn't new; it’s a pattern seen throughout major technological shifts.
Mia: That’s a great point. Consider the adoption of barcodes in the 1980s: Kmart used them as shovels to speed up checkouts, while Walmart treated them as treasure maps to revolutionize its supply chain visibility and inventory management.
Mars: Right, Walmart essentially became barcode-native, rebuilding its entire operational model around that data.
Mia: Another powerful example is Michelin. While the company initially created detailed road maps for civilian travel to encourage driving, Allied forces later used these same maps as critical treasure maps during the Normandy invasion, planning troop movements and logistics with unprecedented accuracy.
Mars: That’s fascinating. It shows how a dataset, with the right judgment and reframing, can become a powerful strategic tool, even for entirely different purposes than its original creation.
Mia: So, how do companies actually build these treasure map capabilities with AI? It seems to boil down to three key elements: curiosity, curation, and judgment. Curiosity, like George Harrison's exploration of rock formations leading to the Witwatersrand gold discovery, is about seeking out new patterns.
Mars: And curation is about filtering that information to reveal what's truly important, much like how Matteo Ricci selectively introduced European knowledge to the Ming court to gain influence.
Mia: And finally, judgment is where the real strategic advantage lies. It’s about applying that curated information to reframe problems and change the competitive landscape, similar to how Stripe Radar uses fraud data to enhance customer experiences.
Mars: It’s about moving from simply identifying risks to strategically leveraging that information for business advantage.
Mia: This has been a really insightful way to reframe the whole AI conversation. So, to wrap up, what are the main takeaways our listeners should remember?
Mars: I think it boils down to a few core ideas. First, see AI primarily as a navigation tool—its real power is showing you what you should be doing differently. Remember historical parallels like Walmart using barcodes not just for checkout, but to map their entire supply chain. That's the mindset. And building this capability requires a mix of curiosity to find new insights, curation to filter what matters, and judgment to apply it. Ultimately, the lesson is clear: in this new gold rush, don't just sell shovels. Sell treasure maps.