Blogs
The winner takes it all…
June 2025
My previous blog on our conference in Budapest mentioned how Artificial Intelligence will help us become more human. I now ask, will it make us become more competitive? Will we have to shine brighter than others to have our personal skills more greatly received (and perceived)?
I hear parents all the time saying to their children - “it’s the taking part that counts”. I’ve never been one to accept that. You cannot simply “take part”. I naturally don’t like losing and I’d encourage all to go for first place, to be the best. And then, if you come second or in the “Top whatever”, then you’ve done well, as you tried your best, you worked as hard as you could, aimed for first, and achieved something special. Then, I don’t believe the winner takes it all, as lessons are learnt from ‘not winning’ and we are made stronger for the next time.
Grateful to Russell Bedford Genève for the invite again, as main sponsor of the ATP Geneva Gonet Tennis Open. Last year Djokovic featured for the first time in this tournament and lost in the semi-finals. This year, I witnessed him play (on his birthday) some fabulous tennis in the quarter finals, needing to really find his top form during the mid-point of the match, and eventually he won that weekend in the final; claiming his first Geneva Open, which was his 100th career title.
Djokovic had reached a point in his career when he didn’t need to prove anything, yet you could see the determination of someone who certainly wanted to win; highlighted by him losing his temper and apologising for it afterwards.
His opponent will have learnt a lot during that match. There’s a lot that we, as providers of professional services, can take from wins and losses, from ups and downs, from highs and lows. And AI can help us “play our game”. Hawk-Eye has clearly enhanced tennis. (I’ll leave the debate on VAR in soccer to others.) But with more technology, we should not take our foot off the gas and become complacent; we should become more competitive and ensure we are even more focused and determined to deliver the greatest personal added-value service.
We talk of upskilling and retraining, but I’d like to think it’s also about ‘upping our game’. Just like Djokovic did in Geneva.
And, once we have learnt to truly embrace the machines, it will be the personalities, cultures and people values that will play the winning game.
And why do that alone when you can connect, collaborate, share experiences and grow together at Russell Bedford International yet, at the same time, maintain your independence!
Advantage us.
(For more pictures - visit my LinkedIn account HERE.)