That Martech Girl
Where Martech meets culture- The business podcast with personality
That Martech Girl
AI Strategy Lessons: What Businesses That Survived Disruption Can Teach Us About the AI Revolution
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In this episode of That Martech Girl, host Rachel Gray explores what today’s leaders can learn from companies that survived major economic disruptions, and how to apply those lessons to the AI revolution. From the dot-com crash to COVID-19, businesses like Amazon and Costco thrived through clear strategy, focus, adaptability, and culture, while others like Kodak and Blockbuster failed to pivot.
Discover how to build a winning AI strategy, avoid common mistakes, and create long-term resilience in a time of rapid technological change. Perfect for marketers, business leaders, and innovators navigating digital transformation.
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Welcome and Life Update
Speaker 1Hello and welcome back to Episode 8 of that Martech Girl , the podcast where Martech meets culture , the business podcast with personality . I'm your host , rachel Gray , and today we are going to be discussing a topic that can help us learn from the past on how to inform the AI revolution . We're going to be dissecting what companies who have survived economic change and disruption can teach us about this era in history right now . But first let's catch up . Life for me has not gotten any slower . We're still just running around doing everything . It's going from work to school to lots and lots of travel , then the podcast , of course , and I always feel like I'm doing something and I'm extremely tired . Luckily , after nine hours of class yesterday that was a short day , by the way I got some rest . But everybody's always asking me like how are you doing everything ? How are you balancing everything ? And , to be honest , I know , I know I complain somewhat and I struggle sometimes , but a part of me actually loves this fast pace . I think it was sort of meant for it . My life is so exciting . It really is the people I get to have conversations with , the brains . I get to pick the philosophical ideas I get to explore in class and then immediately apply at work . I wouldn't trade it for anything . It's something I have wanted for a really long time and finally I get to do it . It's literally like becoming smarter in real time . I feel myself starting to really approach situations from a different perspective because of the conversations I'm having and the people I get to talk to . I really was thinking the other day about 10 years ago and the woman who I wanted to be , when I sat there daydreaming about the future and I've really turned into her and I'm proud of that . And now , as I sit here and I think about the woman who I want to be 10 years down the line , I know that I'm putting in my best effort to really become her and that in and of itself , it's so empowering that it keeps me going . It keeps me going , but I would be lying if I said this is easy , because it's not . It's . But that's the time when you know I lean on my support system . I maybe have an off day , allow myself to feel all the feels to be tired , and so , for everybody listening , even the most productive of us deserve a day to feel the feels and you know , be tired it's okay , we deserve
Learning from Economic Change
Speaker 1it . We deserve it .
Speaker 1The idea for this episode really started when I was in economics class . Again , these conversations are so in-depth and relate to what we're talking about on a day-to-day basis at Optimizely and what I am talking about with clients Immediately . The conversation was about what companies did differently when economic change and disruption happened and how they survived those times of turmoil , and my mind went to the conversations that I'm having , not only at Optimizely , but also with clients on marketing strategy and AI strategy and the problem that is happening right now , where there is so much inertia throughout organizations on what to do , on how to gain momentum . And I speak to people most often who are really wanting to take the leap , but they can't do this without the support of the entirety of the organization or the entirety of their team . Right , because AI now isn't just a separate initiative that we can just go for on our own . This is really organizational change and organizational transformation .
Speaker 1The truth is , in general , life is changing , right , industries are changing , and the speed of this is faster than has ever happened before . So I think it's really important that we use everything to our advantage right now , and I think one of those advantages is history . History is there for a reason . History is there to make sure that we don't make the same mistakes of the past . We learn it for a reason , and so I really want to go into really what companies did to survive past downturns and apply those lessons to the AI revolution today . So , taking a look at history , we have seen many moments of rapid economic change .
Speaker 1I'm thinking through times like the dot-com crash , where companies were completely wiped out thinkspetcom . Another instance of this is companies just trying to be everything to everyone . I'm thinking about Yahoo really losing focus of their primary objective . Another example is companies failing to pivot , and I'm thinking through Kodak having the technology for digital cameras but not pivoting in time right Then , of course , times like COVID-19 , I was in the thick of it then where it basically was adapt or fail , and it was then that digital adoption was really really taking hold , because where others did not embrace e-commerce or change their operating models quickly enough , costco was able to thrive , but their competitors have really , really struggled .
Speaker 1So with this in mind , the historical context set now let's talk about what separates the winners from
Winners vs. Losers in Disruption
Speaker 1the losers . One of the most important things here is strategy . No strategy is the worst strategy , even if you have a wrong strategy right , it's better than having no strategy at all , because some direction is really needed for an organization to work and to propel it forward right , even if you have to pivot . Having a strategy now is very , very important , is very , very important . The second thing that I've seen separate the winners from the losers in economic change has to do with focus . There are companies and we discussed Yahoo where a lack of focus is present , where they try to be every single thing to everyone and they have a problem saying no because you know it's nice and shiny , why not try it out ? And this is not to say don't experiment right , because you have companies like Amazon who experiment a lot but at the same time , they know when to cut their losses and move on and just say no and then focus on their core business model . So , yes , experimentation is great , it's good , but know when to say no , know when to cut your losses and move on .
Speaker 1The third thing that really stood out here was growth , one that is fairly obvious in companies like Blockbuster , where there is a failure to pivot right . So I'm thinking through Sears . This again relates back to Kodak . All of these companies are similar , where there was this window to adapt , but they did not , they did not adapt , but they did not , they did not adapt . And then , finally , one that has really stood out to me in the companies who have survived the test of time is culture , and Costco's model really stands out to me here because , from an outsider's perspective and I discussed this in class as well looking on my perspective is well , why don't competitors just adapt Costco's strategy and , you know , implement this ?
Speaker 1And something that came out in the discussion is that things like culture seem really easy to copy , but it's hard to replicate , because this is a top-down initiative and when you have a global company , it's really hard to replicate the same culture when you have different societal norms and different practices in different cultures . So this is something that is easily overlooked , especially when our focus is elsewhere . We're trying to implement an AI strategy , we're trying to do organizational transformation efforts right , and sometimes culture is lagging behind . But many times , though , if we have a culture that drives loyalty and adaptability , this will be what propels the change within the organization cross-departmental change that wouldn't be there otherwise . And you know , essentially , culture , it's not only something for your organization internally , but it's also translated to your customers and their loyalty and their adaptability as well .
Speaker 1Now let's tie this back to the AI revolution and the question that I get all the time from clients , which is where do I start and how can I add to really propelling the business forward and stopping the inertia that is happening within the organization around AI ? So here is how I see it , as four main points on what we can learn from history and apply to today's world during the AI revolution
Applying Historical Lessons to AI
Speaker 1. The first point is strategy . No strategy recipe to fail A strategy . At least you're on the right track , so lock yourselves in a room and create that AI strategy . Even if it's not perfect , it's better than just having no strategy at all .
Speaker 1Second thing focus , focus , focus , focus . Right now , staying focused on your ethos and not getting distracted is essential , especially if you have a thriving culture . Focusing on that ethos and that culture and sustaining and maintaining that culture is important . This is not to say ignore AI , ignore AI . No , that's not what I'm saying at all . However , I am saying that if you're not an AI company , there is no need for you to try to become one . Don't try to build an LLM from scratch . That is putting your resources in the wrong , wrong direction , when you could be focused on other things that really stabilize your company and cause you to shine even brighter . When you make those strategic partnerships with people who are great at AI right , with people who are investing their resources into AI because they are an AI company , now is the time to outsource and partner if you are not an AI company .
Speaker 1Another thing I've thought about is really the resources that you have dedicated to the strategy of AI . What we've seen is a lot of these resources are an afterthought , right . They're the C and D resources , the C and D teams , when they really should be the A team , right ? This is paramount to our success . So we really need to be putting our A team and our best and brightest on the strategy . It's not the ethos , but it is important , and our best teams need to have a footprint on moving this forward .
Speaker 1And that relates to the final point , which is leadership and structure . Leadership has to have a vested interest in AI , because it's more than just a chatbot and we've had conversations about this where , yes , it seems like chat GPT is what everybody knows how to use , everybody knows how to communicate with and kind of use like Google , but it's more than that . Right , we've talked about agentic tools , where now we're getting into AI doing the work for us . This is going to uproot longstanding workflows , processes that are happening not just within one organizational unit , but throughout the entirety of the organization . So a holistic look at AI is essential now more than ever , not just to different departments , but to the C-suite in general . So having leadership in full support and building a structure within this strategy that supports the entirety of AI throughout the organization is now more important now than ever , especially with agentic AI . So , in all , here's the takeaway Companies that survived the dot-com crash , the financial crisis , covid-19 , they were the ones with focus , culture and adaptability
Final Thoughts and Sign-off
Speaker 1.
Speaker 1They weren't the ones with the most money . They weren't the ones who were AI companies first right . They weren't those that changed their ethos completely , changed their culture completely . No , they were the ones who really focused down , they drilled down , they had their culture already implemented and they were able to adapt to these new situations with newfound purpose . And here , in today's AI revolution , these principles , they remain the same . It's not about doing everything . It's about doing the right things and getting your A-team the right people involved and making sure that you have the right culture . Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of that MarTech Girl . Please don't forget to follow us on whatever streaming platform that you're listening to this episode on , and follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn at that Martech girl . Your support is greatly appreciated . Have a wonderful rest of your week . Bye-bye .