In 2017 Microsoft debuted videoconferencing and chat app Teams as part of its 365 subscription. Hundreds of thousands of workplaces immediately adopted it, sparking an antitrust complaint from Slack in Europe. Now, Microsoft will split Teams and Office worldwide.

With the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission targeting Apple and Amazon for alleged anti-competitive practices, Microsoft could be looking to avoid similar domestic headaches. If your organization wants to keep using Teams, it'll cost $5.25 monthly per user … or there's always Slack.

Today's Edition...

AI vs. EQ: Why soft skills are more important than ever

Old Spice: How it rebranded from "grandpa" to "classic"

Right Kind of Wrong: A guide to learning from failure

AI vs. EQ: Why Soft Skills Could Save the Workforce From Automation (For Now)

(Source: Shutterstock)

It's becoming a cliché: If AI doesn't make your job or business obsolete, the people who know how to use it as a tool will.

Goldman Sachs predicts that AI will eliminate 25% of jobs in the not-so-distant future. McKinsey foresees half of jobs disappearing by 2055. And last month, JP Morgan's AI cash flow management tool reduced the need for manual (read: human) work by a staggering 90%.

Young people are understandably concerned about whether their college degrees will still hold any value. The University of Pennsylvania is even rolling out a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in Artificial Intelligence this fall to prepare students "for jobs that don't yet exist."

So, is learning AI the only way to future-proof your career? Not necessarily.

For all the hype, AI-related job postings have declined since a 2022 hiring spree. According to a U.S. Census Bureau survey late last year, "While it may seem like AI is everywhere … only an estimated 3.9% of businesses used AI to produce goods or services."

Over on LinkedIn, 45% of all Premium jobs request applicants have strong communication skills. Top-sought skills in the World Economic Forum's latest Future of Jobs Report include creativity, resilience, flexibility, agility, motivation, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence.

"The number of jobs in soft-skill intensive occupations is expected to grow at 2.5 times the rate of jobs in other occupations," Deloitte explains.

On the day that ChatGPT learns those soft skills, we'll all need to worry about our hireability. There may even be a "Fifth Industrial Revolution", when humanity and AI work fully together, pairing its pattern recognition with our social intelligence to create entirely new kinds of jobs.

In the meantime, you can probably relax about the singularity … or apply for UPenn's AI degree, anyway.

70%

People who "would delegate as much work as possible
to AI to lessen their workloads"

[Source: Microsoft]

How Old Spice Rebranded From Grandpa's Smell to Classic Scent

(Source: Old Spice)

Old Spice debuted in 1937, establishing itself long ago as the Coca-Cola of male fragrance. But stability can be perceived as staleness, and by the early 2000s, Old Spice seemed like the exclusive domain of grandpas; Axe Body Spray had captured the youth market.

To recapture its lost relevance, Old Spice embraced over-the-top self-awareness, hiring the Wieden-Kennedy Media Agency to develop the now-iconic 2010 "Smell Like a Man, Man" campaign starring ex-footballer Isaiah Mustafa on a horse. Sales immediately jumped 107% and social traffic spiked up to 2,700%. The brand also struck comedic gold with the slogan, "If your grandfather hadn't worn it, you wouldn't exist."

Old Spice didn't try to change or deny what it was, but rather turned its biggest weakness (old-timeyness) into its biggest strength (nostalgia). That ironic approach hasn't changed since 2010, because — just like the scent itself — it continues to work.

Harvard Prof's Right Kind of Wrong Teaches How to Fail Well

(Source: Atria Books)

We hear it all the time: Failure is a necessary part of success. But few thought leaders have attempted to differentiate exactly which kinds of failures lead to valuable lessons … and which just lead to more failure.

In Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well, Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson breaks it down into three categories — basic, complex, and intelligent:

Basic failures occur during familiar, day-to-day tasks. These involve unnecessary mistakes that we can mitigate with better training or protocols.
Complex failures involve unusual situations that disrupt the norm (like a global pandemic, yikes). While these are often unforeseeable, good crisis preparation can prevent damage.
Intelligent failure may sound like an oxymoron, but it's Edmondson's gold standard: innovation, experimentation, and creative thinking that might not always work but is key to better products and services.

Edmondson takes us beyond the platitudes, providing data on how to foster a culture of big bets while limiting recklessness. There's always room for improvement, after all.