Opening
Your car gets upgrades. So does your laptop and your phone. You probably didn’t notice the last one because it happened overnight while you were sleeping. You woke up, noticed a few new features, and went on with your day. You didn’t argue with it. You didn’t ask what was in it. Why would you? You already know what an upgrade is for.
We do that for the machines every single day without a second thought. So here is what I keep asking.
When was the last time you upgraded you?
The machine does the task now.
Most of the conversation today is about the impact. The layoffs, the cuts, the hiring freezes, the entry-level jobs that never opened, the kid with the degree who cannot get a callback.
The world is calling it replacement. I’m here to set the record straight. You’ve been promoted. Not demoted. Promoted.
We make the decisions, govern the work, and define what the work even is. That definition belongs to human beings. That is the assignment.
The wealth keeps climbing.
Look at the AI boom and the wealth it has made since the pandemic. Then look at what the average person earns.
We are not developing people for this. The companies are not hiring for it yet. So we go first.
There is no school for maturing a human being.
We have frameworks for everything. Standards, methodologies, certifications, principles.
What is in us is what comes out. It pours into what we build, the services we deliver, the products we make. This era demands the best of our humanity, and the best of us is the hardest part to get out.
Our brains wake up looking for the negative. Technology learned that about us and amplified it. So we need principles strong enough that the negative does not overshadow what is best in us.
That is what 5Q is.
The five intelligences
Five principles for the next level of human maturity.
Not so the machines get the best of what is in us, though they will. So that people start getting the best from each other.
EQ
Empathy & Regulation
We Are Now Responsible for What the Machines Can’t Feel
We are building guardrails for machines that we have not built within ourselves.
HQ
Curiosity & Adaptability
Nobody Says I Don’t Know Anymore
A machine gets retrained by whoever built it. You are the only one who can retrain you.
MQ
Integrity & Fairness
Power Without a Conscience
How in the world are we going to build morality into machines when we haven’t done that work within ourselves?
DQ
Stewardship & Multiplication
The Standard Starts at Home
Whatever we build inherits what we came from. So a culture changes one house at a time.
TQ
Purpose & Vision
Building for People You May Never Meet
That is the design. We were built to be fulfilled by what we give away.
About the author
I’ve spent more than two decades building some of the most intelligent systems in the world. AI, IoT, digital twins, blockchain, and holographic technologies. I have led a thousand global implementations, held leadership roles at Microsoft and Salesforce, and today I’m building for physical AI systems.
And that’s why I am here.
I am in the rooms where these decisions get made, and I watch companies automate without asking what happens to the people. I can’t stand by anymore while humanity takes a backseat to technology.
So my assignment over the next decades is to share the good news about technology advancements. Instead of replacement, we’re all due for a promotion.
And there are more of us all over the world already leading the important work of upgrading humanity.
· · ·
I’m here telling you — you’ve been promoted.
Not demoted. Promoted.
Right now, the leaders are reacting. They’re investing in the technology instead of the people, and they wait for something to break before they hire for it.
So, we work backwards. We don’t wait to get the skills. We get the skills we already know are waiting for us.
I’m here to help you upgrade.
Because when enough of us are that valuable next to a machine, companies won’t be laying off.
They’ll be competing for us.
From the pages
We are teaching machines to be empathetic while people are still losing to their own anger, their ego, and their need to be right.
The more information people have at their fingertips, the harder it has become for them to say three words. I don’t know.
If we are morally lazy and we give that to intelligent machines, the machines do not fix it. They scale it.
The better we become in ourselves and in our families, the better the technology we build.
There is no way to feel fully accomplished by achieving things only for yourself. You can get all of it. The house, the title, the bank account, the recognition. And there will still be a space inside you that none of them fill.
Preorder
You are not behind. You are right on time.
The world has been asking for a human in the loop. This era is asking us to lead it. Reserve your copy now. Checkout runs through Stripe.
Shipping is free on every preorder. It is our gift for ordering early.
Not ready to preorder? Get updates instead.
Updates
Stay close to the book.
Release news, preorder windows, speaking dates, and notes on the five intelligences. Sent by Trice only when there is something worth saying.