Yellow Flags, New Dawns: Reflections for a New Year | Shimmy Says Ep. 39

Hey everyone, it's Shimmy. Thanks for joining me. I know this is a little rapid.

We just did one yesterday, but we're doing another one today. Welcome to what is my last Shimmy says of the year. And you know, I, I really put a lot of thought into this one and, uh, I call it yellow flags in New Dawns.

And it's, you know, it, it's, I think it's a balance. Look, it's fair and balance as we look back at this year and look ahead to what's ahead of us. Let me start off though, though, when I say we're looking ahead and looking back, we're looking back not at, you know, we're gonna talk about macro things.

We're gonna talk about big trends and megas and all that, but it's really about you. It's you, the people who watch this, it's people like you and I I talk to people like you all, all, all, uh, year long, right? Whether you're a DevOps person or a cyber security, uh, pro or a cloud engineer, a cloud native person, a platform engineer, whether you're a founder or executive C level, or a director, or just a single practitioner who reads on various tech strong sites.

What I'm about to say really is about you, the individual. That's who I wanted to reach today, right? It's been a crazy year, right?

And I think you are not alone. If you are thinking, boy, this has been a crazy year. I think we're all thinking about this.

And it's been a crazy year for a lot of reasons, right? There's so much going on in the world, there's so much going on in technology. But let's talk about bringing it home personally to each of us, right?

Because we, we were asking what will AI do to the jar market? But you know what, we're ending the year asking, what will AI mean to my job? What will it mean for me?

We're not, you know, we all, were wondering how companies are gonna react and how they're gonna adjust, but now we're wondering how are we going to adjust? And right there, that shift from worrying about other people and other things and big things to about our own livelihoods and our own futures, and what's is, what makes this both scary, exhilarating. And, and so god damn important.

So let, let's start right here. You know, I call this a yellow flag moment. It's kind of like the yellow flag they put out in an indie race or a NASCAR race when there's oil on the track.

And then they gotta clear things up before we could go full speed ahead. Well, we're going full speed ahead anyway, but we are very much sort of in this yellow flag area where we're at this boundary zone where things are happening, right? You're doing your job, you're delivering your work, but is that gonna be enough going forward in this brave new world?

You know, we're seeing layoffs all over the place, especially in tech. I have so many friends who come to me and ask to help for finding new jobs. It may not be your company that's doing the layoffs, but you're hearing about it from your friends and on other companies.

You know what, even your managers, they're trying to give you the, the, the optimistic everything's gonna be okay. But don't think that they're not sharpening up their resumes and checking LinkedIn to find out what's going on, just in case. What, what's behind all this?

Well, for the most part, it's ai, right? Not AI in the abstract, not AI for the industry, but AI as it relates to you, your jobs, your career, your livelihood, your stability. You know what, this is the first year where AI stopped being a cool story and got really personal.

It became a force that you've had to reckon with you didn't recognize. You didn't ask yourself. If you haven't asked yourself, rather, at least once, where do I fit in going forward in this AI future?

You weren't paying attention. 'cause I think we've all asked ourselves that, but this isn't a sign of fear. It's a sign of awareness.

If you did right, you asked yourself that. 'cause you recognize the writing on the wall. It's a sign.

You understand the gravity of the moment we're living in. And this is where, what it feels like when a new era arrives, and folks, this new era has arrived, right? It's been a such a strange choppy year, right?

Because we have ai, let's, let's zoom out a little bit, right? The year has been, you know, uncertainty to say the least. The global, global economics have, you know, flickered like a neon light at a cheap motel.

Um, the markets have shook. Forecast is, forecasts have shifted. Yeah, the markets have gone up.

But a lot of it is strictly due to seven or eight companies, 80% of the growth in the s and p 500, right? The logic coming outta the halls of power. Sometimes they feel less like policymaking and more like performance art.

At the same time, beyond ai, we're dealing worldwide with things like wars, diseases that we thought were done with, or back unrest, instability, sort of an authoritarian bend that we're seeing across the world that doesn't bode well for personal freedom on top of a crazy technological revolution. The likes of which we haven't seen before. It's almost, you know, I was, I've I was a child of the seventies in music, you know, the moody blues song Night and White Satin.

There was a point where breathe deep. The gathering gloom. Red is gray and yellow's white.

But we decide which is right and which is an illusion. That's where we are today, which is right, which is an illusion, which is real. Which way should we go?

Who should we be with? Because a lot of it does all feel like illusions right now. It's all shifting.

Nothing seems solid. But here's the part too often gets lost. This isn't just a moment of, of uncertainty, it's a moment of transition.

And that's what I keep coming back to. This is a moment of transition. I always, I said it, I wrote it in this article that accompanies this to me.

2025 feels like the first year of the 21st century. For the first 24 years of this, of the two thousands we've lived off of what we did in the 20th century. We've lived off technologies like the internet and the cell phone, right?

And, and the digital revolution. But those were really 20th century kind of inventions. And they've powered us for this first 25 years of the 21st century.

But you know what, think about it. We're a quarter of the way through this century. That's a good chunk of the way through this century this year with ai.

And a lot of what we're seeing, we are, we are moving forward into the next century. We are clearly in the 21st century, and it's time we stopped thinking our long, 20th century thoughts and start thinking really 21st century thoughts. And this, whether we're talking about what we're going to use for energy consumption, maybe what we've used in the 19th and 20th centuries doesn't cut it.

I'm talking about fossil fuels, you know, whether we're talking about digital and quantum and robotics, n ai and all these things. These are 20, they're gonna be 21st century technologies and whoever masters those are gonna rule the 21st century. And whoever they will be, who will rule it.

It's not gonna be people like me, right? I'm, I'm at the far end edge of the baby boomers, the last of the boomers, but our days passed, even most of my friends who are Gen Xers, we're in the back of the room. It's time, you know, not to go all John Kennedy on you, but it's time for the torch to be passed a new generation to the Gen Y, the Gen Zs, the millennials, the alphas, and whatever you call 'em.

It's these people who are going to make the decisions, who are going to utilize these new technologies, these new powers that are going to determine what your life is like in the next 25, 30 years for the bulk of the 21st century, right? Um, and here's the good thing. This new generation, they're not waiting for my permission or your permission.

They're stepping up. They're redefining what work looks like. They grew up in nine 11, they grew up with COVI, they grew up with the internet and their native, and now they're accepting ai.

They want to find for themselves what's normal, right? They don't care what we spent decades building up is normal. They're pushing the boundaries that we thought were unbreakable.

And you know what? I for one, love it. I think it's time we do it.

We need to do it. I spend a lot of time talking to people of this generation, including my own two sons. And let me tell you something, they're different.

And they're different in the best of ways. They're not intimidated by the complexity or, or importance of the moment. They're not nostalgic for the old ways and the old music and the old everything.

They're not romanticizing the inefficiencies that we've spent our entire careers trying to patch over. They are ready to take the baton and enter the world that is coming, not the one we're leaving behind. And they have the tools for it.

To them. AI isn't a threat. It's a partner, a lever, a multiplier.

It's something that frees up their time so they can focus on what humans actually do best. Creating a man, imagining, connecting and building. And it's not just ai.

They can't wait for quantum. They're embracing robotics. They're embracing change.

You know, we thought we embraced change, but at a very only at our speed. But let's talk about AI directly. Yes, it's changing jobs.

Yes, it's redefining work. Yes, it's unsettling. But this isn't the first time that technology has shifted the landscape.

And every single time it has, the shift ultimately created more opportunity than it destroyed. Maybe not immediately, but eventually not smoothly, but inevitably. So, AI may take some of our jobs.

It will take certain tasks, it'll define certain roles, it'll elevate certain people, and it's gonna displace a lot of us. But humanity's unique value, creativity, judgment, leadership, empathy. That's not changing in this new century, in this new era.

We're being repositioned, not replaced. And that's something that we can shape. And it's something that this next generation wants to stay, wants to shape.

We've gotta stay engaged. We stay curious, we stay adaptable. But you know, the old saying, right, if you don't learn the lessons of history, you're bound to repeat their mistakes.

So my advice to this new generation is learn from history. Don't repeat these mistakes. Build something better, stronger than was built before.

And that's why right now it feels like we're at the forge, the Black Smith station, and everyone knows you can't make steel without heat and without some banging. And I feel like that's what we're doing. You know, part of the craziness in the world.

Like I'm sure you guys all heard, you know, this insanity of Rob Reer and his wife being killed potentially by his own child, by their own son. And it is just nuts. And it caused me to really think back on Rob Reiner.

I, I loved Rob Reiner's work. I I didn't know him personally, but from his time as the meathead on, on Archie Bunker, all in the family, all through his acting career, the Wolf of Wall Street, you know, he was, uh, Jordan's dad and even directing movies. I mean, what a great talent Rob Reiner was.

And I'm reminded of a movie that he directed. Many of you may have seen the American President. Uh, it starred Michael Douglas.

And if you haven't seen that movie, it's an amazing movie and it's a great Rob Reiner movie. Go see it. But there's a scene in that movie where he, Michael Douglas is the president, finally steps up and basically lays down the gauntlet.

And I'm gonna paraphrase kinda what he said because I think it's really right on for where we are today. And it's this, you know what the bad guys, the, the crazies, the cronies, the stuff we've been dealing with, they've had their moment in time. They've had their 15 minutes.

It's time for them to get out of the way and let serious people get to work. And you know what? You are the serious people, my friends, colleagues, tech workers who are working it.

We are the serious people. We may not be the loudest voices, the flashiest, we're not the doomers of the heart or the hype artist, but we're the people who day after day are building this new tomorrow, building the system, the world, the systems that the world's gonna live on. You'll decide what this new era becomes.

You are the ones who are gonna shape how AI is used. You are the ones who are gonna keep us anchored in reality while we push forward. 'cause there is no other way.

The moment isn't calling for spectators, it's calling for contributors. I'm asking you this 21st century be contributors. Turn the page.

We're heading into a new year, right? Take this week, take a breath, rest, recharge. We've earned it.

It's been, it's been a year for sure. But come January, it's time for all of us together to get back to work. Not just to keep the pace with the world, but to help shape the world.

Because the future isn't something that happens to us. The future should be something we build. So I'm gonna get off my soapbox in just a second here.

On behalf of myself, my family, everyone here at Textron Group, our colleagues at the Futurum Group, I wish you all peace. I wish you health. I wish you quiet in the middle of this loud insanity that is our world today.

And I wish all of us, the wisdom and courage to step forward into what's next with purpose. Because this adventure is just beginning. It's far from over.

And folks, here's to going another one of my, uh, favorite TV shows, right? Here's to going where no person has gone before. Peace, happiness.

Happy New Year, everyone. I'm shimmy, I'm out. I'll see you next.

YearMy says.