Your AI Survival Guide E-Book

Sol Rashidi

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 349

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Practical and proven AI deployment strategies for non-technical business leaders

In  Your AI Survival Guide: Scraped Knees, Bruised Elbows, and Lessons Learned from Real-World AI Deployments, business executive and technologist Sol Rashidi delivers an insightful and practical discussion of how to deploy artificial intelligence in your company. Having helped IBM launch Watson in 2011, Sol has first-hand knowledge of the ups, downs, and change management intricacies that can help you with a successful deployment beyond all the AI hype. She walks you through various frameworks for how to establish your AI strategy, pick your use cases, prepare your non-technology teams, and overcome the most common obstacles standing in the way of successfully implementing AI in your business, based on her many years of deploying AI projects in businesses, which few can claim.

Sol demystifies the topic of artificial intelligence in a way that business leaders and business owners—and those who want to be more business minded—can easily understand. The book also offers:

• Real-world use cases from ten different industries, including retail, healthcare, energy, insurance, agriculture, and more; ten different functions, including supply chain, manufacturing, procurement, legal, and more; and personal stories, anecdotes, and insights gained from implementations
• Techniques for facilitating executive-level buy-in for your most ambitious and promising AI strategies
• Jargon-free and accessible language that simplifies a seemingly complicated topic
• And practical advice that’s not based on AI hype

Perfect for executives, managers, directors, founders, entrepreneurs, practitioners and other non-technical business leaders, Your AI Survival Guide is the ideal guide to help you deploy artificial intelligence in your business and increase your chances of success whether your business goal is top-line growth, increased productivity, or efficiency gains without having to add headcount as the go-to answer.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Table of Contents

Title Page

Foreword

CHAPTER 1: Overcoming the Inertia

Inertia

Who Is This Book For?

Organizational Benefits

Business Benefits

Business Growth

CHAPTER 2: The Rogue Executive

Why the “Rogue Executive”?

My Formative Years

My Transition to Artificial Intelligence

Joining the C-Suite Ranks

Where Rubber Meets the Road

CHAPTER 3: Bend the Rules, Don't Break the Spirit

The Framework

The Five Pillars

CHAPTER 4: How to Start

The Experience You Need

Framework for AI Initiatives

Phase 1: Conducting a Readiness Assessment

Phase 2: Your AI Strategy

Phase 3: Creating and Selecting Use Cases

Phase 4: Preparing and Designing

Phase 5: Selecting a Solution

Phase 6: Deploying and Going Live

CHAPTER 5: Your Project Killers: The Wrong People

Change Ain't Easy

Team Virtues

The 10 AI Archetypes

Change Management

The Dumpster Fire

CHAPTER 6: Human in the Loop

What is “Human in the Loop”

Responsible AI

The Six (6) Tenets of Responsible AI

Human in the Loop

CHAPTER 7: How AI Will Impact Every Industry and Function

The Tipping Point for AI

How AI Is Impacting Various Businesses

How AI Is Impacting Industries

How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Functions

CHAPTER 8: AI Jargon and Development

What Is AI?

What Is

Not

AI?

Jargon, Terms, and Definitions

How We Got Here

CHAPTER 9: What the Future Holds

What Keeps Me Up at Night

What's Next

APPENDIX: Sources

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Index

Copyright

Acknowledgments

About the Author

End User License Agreement

Guide

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Foreword

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

Appendix: Sources

Index

End User License Agreement

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Your AI Survival Guide

Scraped Knees, Bruised Elbows, and Lessons Learned from Real-World AI Deployments

Sol Rashidi

Foreword

Forget the buzzwords and ditch the hype. You hear AI everywhere, but what does it really mean? Is it robots taking over the world or something more practical?

As a seasoned tech entrepreneur and former NASDAQ space company CEO, I've seen my fair share of trends come and go. But trust me, AI isn't a fad. It's here to stay, and understanding it is crucial for anyone wanting to stay ahead of the curve.

That's where Sol's book comes in. Forget about dense technical jargon. Sol is a rare breed: someone who can explain complex concepts like AI in a way even “mere mortals” like us can understand. Think funny stories, real-world anecdotes, and practical advice, all rolled into one engaging read.

Here's why this book stands out:

Cuts through the BS:

Sol separates fact from fiction, giving you a clear picture of what AI is and what it can (and can't) do.

Actionable insights:

No more theory! Sol provides practical steps for deploying AI solutions in different industries, showing you how to put this knowledge to work.

Down-to-earth approach:

Even if you're a tech newbie, Sol's relatable stories and humorous writing style make you feel like you're having a conversation with a friend, not a tech guru.

Whether you're a CEO, entrepreneur, or just curious about the future, this book is for you. It's not just informative; it's fun! Think of Sol as your guide on an exciting journey into the world of AI. Trust me, you won't regret taking the plunge.

Dive in, explore, and emerge with a clear understanding of the AI revolution. Sol has got your back.

Richard Greco

Former NASDAQ CEO

CHAPTER 1Overcoming the Inertia

“In a world that thrives on conformity, standing apart tests your resilience.”—Sol

I'm no Elon Musk or Peter Thiel. I'm not a Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI) or even close to the geniuses who created neural networks or Watson and DeepMind. I'm not here to preach or prosecute on all the glories of artificial intelligence (AI), nor am I here to give you a technical dissertation on its intricacies. I'm not an academic or researcher, nor do I get paid to write code or promote vendors or tools.

I'm simply a practitioner who worked her way up through the corporate ladder—one who worked relentlessly with blind determination not knowing exactly where her career would go, one who eventually made it to the C-suite as the Chief Data Officer, Chief Analytics Officer, Chief Data and Analytics Officer, and Chief Data and AI Officer for many Fortune 500s, one who accidentally fell into the world of data in the early 2000s and into artificial intelligence in 2011 when I helped IBM launch Watson.

I never thought that doing AI deployments, I would face so many unexpected challenges, but the reality is that you can take a licking along the way because transformations involve change, and well…people are generally averse to change. This is why I have the scraped knees, bruised elbows, and wounded pride from my experience in real-world deployments. Over the years I've tried multiple approaches, implemented numerous strategies, and have had countless alignment discussions selling, convincing, aligning, conceiving, designing, deploying, training, monitoring, and measuring the successes and failures—trying to figure out the art of AI deployments and how to balance the messiness with the possibilities. The approach I share with you in this book is practical and realistic, and it's based on real failures and successes where I've captured the lessons learned over the years.

I believe in the “crawl, walk, run” approach because I've seen what happens when you try to run without crawling first. What I will share with you is very pragmatic and grounded. There will be no selling or advising on anything that pushes you too far, and nothing in this book is based on theory, heresy, or academia. I will be realistic with you about what artificial intelligence can and can't do (right now), and I will help you sift through the hype.

This book is intended to help you start your AI journey and succeed, while familiarizing you with and minimizing the friction points that I have experienced. Many books you read will mention that you need a strategy, you need to pick a use case, you need data, and you need governance. I will outline for you, step-by-step, how to select a strategy, how to ideate, and how to select a use case, and I will provide you with an “essentials lists” rooted in real, roll-up-your-sleeves work.

I know how to do AI deployments because I've had the tenacity to take on early, unproven, and questionable projects that disrupt the status quo. I think and do things differently, and I'm perfectly fine with pushing boundaries and pushing people who lack imagination. Building the reputation of a “rogue executive,” I developed intuition, an innate ability to see the “art of the possible” and the “art of the practical.” This, combined with my relentless pursuit for progress and need to make an impact, has brought me to this point. It wasn't easy; it came with many sleepless nights where I doubted myself.

Furthermore, where I am today in my career has nothing to do with how I started my career. I was in sales at first and then became a project lead. At one point I was even a financial advisor for Morgan Stanley (Series 7 certified and all). Somehow in the early 2000s tech found me, and I pivoted. The real change occurred, however, when I helped IBM launch Watson in 2011. I fell in love with AI and have been doing deployments for some very prominent companies, since.

I'll be the first to tell you I'm technical but not a “techie.” I'm business minded but not the president of a Fortune 5 company. What I am, however, is an executive who doesn't mind rolling up her sleeves and getting into the details while also playing a strategic thought leader. I can pivot quickly between the two worlds. I pride myself on having an entrepreneurial spirit and pushing boundaries where few have the energy. Over the years and through the trenches, I've built a backbone versus relying on a wishbone. I'm not afraid of the work or the challenges, and I stay grounded in my successes because I believe you're only as good as your last innovation.

With that, I will pass onto you the knowledge I've gained over the years. This book will give you real frameworks, techniques, how-tos, and approaches to make your AI journey a success beyond the hype of what you have read elsewhere. It's grounded in experience and from someone who has not been afraid of the work.

While some executives focus on self-promotion and preservation, I've focused on trying what most don't dare to do. I hope you like reading what I'm about to share!

Inertia

Like riding a bike, some things must be done before you can learn how to do them. You can read all the books and manuals you want, but nothing prepares you better than jumping in, trying, falling, and trying again! This is how AI is done. This is how life is done! AI is not a silver bullet! It's not a light switch that turns on! It is not a magical solution nor a quick fix. In fact, it can uncover some unpleasant realities about your business, its operations, your employees, and larger issues at hand.

I've been a business leader in the AI game since the days when flip phones were cool. From triumphs to face plants, I've seen it all. Learning AI for business? It's just like learning to ride a bike. It seems wobbly and impossible at first, but once you start pedaling, the most difficult part is done.

As mentioned earlier, I transitioned from a no-name project lead to an established C-suite executive (four times over) and fell into this space accidentally. I didn't study computer science or mathematics, and I sure can't write sophisticated code. However, I learned the ways, and you can too.

This entire book is crafted for you if you're:

A business leader wanting to explore the benefits of AI without all the messiness and failures I've had to go through

A business owner who thinks it will benefit the organization but don't know where to start

A practitioner who wants to make a case for AI but doesn't have the experience of developing a strategy.

A person who just wants to get into AI but doesn't know where to start

Someone curious who just wants to be informed and educated about how it's done

Regardless of your role and reasons, just know that 70% of the success of your AI deployment has nothing to do with the technology. As a matter of fact, the tech is the easiest part of the lifecycle. Most of the work is dealing with human capital and relationships, aligning with goals, overcoming fears, picking the right strategy, picking the right use case, and finding the ambition, the energy, and the rogue in you.

It's also important to note that this book is not a guide or a manual for:

large technology-based companies that are already deeply involved in AI innovation,

nor is it for the researchers who are shaping the future of cognitive computing and machine learning.

Instead, it is a call to action for business leaders, business owners, practitioners, and the curious, who serve companies where technology has played a supportive role rather than a leading one. This book will be your compass and serve as your call to action.

There will be less emphasis on technical know-how and more emphasis on business acumen. Together we will explore the different types of AI deployments and how they will amplify and accelerate your everyday work, regardless of your maturity.

As you progress through the book, consider each chapter as a building block. The book is structured in a way to discuss different facets of deploying AI in the following manner:

Chapter 2

is about leadership and finding the rogue executive within you. You must dare to be different to do this! There's a memoir of how I got started; I share with you my story so you know my humble beginnings and gain confidence in knowing that if I did it, you can too.

In

Chapter 3

, we'll progress into some key principles I learned along the way about bending the rules but not breaking the spirit. It's focused on how to introduce AI into your company by following these steps: 1) asking yourself why you want to do this; 2) learning to pace yourself through better forecasting; 3) thinking through a strategy; and 4) thinking big, starting small, and scaling quickly.

Chapter 4

is where we get into the weeds of things. It's long, it's detailed, and it will walk you through every step of an AI deployment. I felt getting into the details early in the book would be of value to you.

Chapter 5

is about knowing your biggest project killer: your team. We will discuss how to build one from scratch and how to work with people you've inherited. We'll talk about the virtues you want in people on your team, as well as the 10 AI archetypes of people you will consistently have to deal with but may not want to.

Chapter 6

is about making sure that your AI deployments have a “human in the loop.” This is about avoiding or creating any negative impressions or press internally, and externally.

Chapter 7

gets into inspiration. I share with you 60 use cases, three across 10 industries and three across 10 functions, to help you become knowledgeable about what's happening in the space. The goal is to educate, but mostly inspire you. The world of AI and its experimentation is big, so I've consolidated a list to save you time on research.

Chapter 8

is about AI jargon and its history. This chapter helps you understand the difference between machine learning and descriptive analytics. This foundation will then help you identify what is and is not AI; along with the evolution of the technology and how we got here.

We then end with

Chapter 9

on what the future holds and where we're headed. It also contains a wrap-up of key takeaways and essential lists.

Who Is This Book For?

As mentioned earlier, this book was written for business leaders, business owners, practitioners, people who want to get into AI, and the curious. Whether you're a C-suite executive, a mid-level manager, a data practitioner, working at a small company, or working at a large enterprise that is not tech-based, this book was written for you if any of these descriptions sound familiar:

You work for or have a business that currently does not lean on technology as the primary product or service.

You're in an industry that's legacy-based (i.e. transportation, insurance, brokerage firm, etc.), and bare-minimum tech was good enough until now, but you're expected to make investments and don't know where to start.

You're a business owner who has made it based on great marketing, relationships, and your network, and now you need to “level up” to stay competitive and relevant.

You have business pressures to increase profitability, improve consumer experience, increase personalized touch points, produce higher conversions, etc.

You work for a company, and you fear your job will be replaced by AI, so you want to upskill, versus resist the movement.

You're curious and want to learn how AI is shaping the world, but you need it described in approachable and non-techie terms.

You are a small or medium-sized business owner who wants to do more with technology.

You are an enterprise C-suite leader who is not a technologist and need to learn the practicalities of this space and how it may impact your domain.

You are an AI practitioner who needs to educate your boss or is often asked how to approach AI.

You want to get started in the AI space, but it's currently not connected to your career path.

Who this book is not for?

You're in AI and work for a tech-based company like Google, Meta, or OpenAI.

You're in deep research for an academic institution like MIT or Caltech.

Organizational Benefits

As a person new to this world, it's natural to think “Is it worth it?” or “Why go through all this effort?” This is especially true if things are fine the way they are. The simple truth is, if you don't, your competitor will. It's simply a matter of time. Staying relevant is a tough game. Putting in place practices that will maintain or grow your market share, increase your profitability, lower your cost of consumer acquisition, and enable efficiency and productivity is just good business practice. Whether you strive for growth, quality, or both, AI is a great solution.

By taking your first real step into exploring AI, it will do the following:

Force you to look at your business processes and operations in ways you haven't before. You will discover core issues, not symptoms, that plague your day-to-day work.

It will surface naysayers and those afraid to change from those who will help you evolve. You get a great view of your workforce and their attitude (and aptitude) toward change.

You quickly identify those who are resilient and those who fold at the first sign of an obstacle. You need more of the former and less of the latter.

It will test your own character and the type of leader you are. Are you cut out for leadership, and will you do whatever it takes to sustain and thrive?

Do you have a growth-based mindset? Are you willing to act and not just talk about the future?

It will test your ability to stay positive for your own well-being, your teammates, and your partners. Being known as “cheerfully resilient” (a term used to describe me during my Royal Caribbean days) is key. This stuff is hard, so how you react when trying something new will be observed by many.

Business Benefits

In addition to the organizational benefits, there are many business benefits. The business case for AI is that it gives business leaders and practitioners the information and resources they need without consistently relying on head count and investments as your typical business practices. You'd be amazed at how well it can help you accelerate, facilitate, and amplify your workloads and business processes with better consistency and quality. What's not to love? If you're still not convinced in overcoming the inertia of starting your first AI project, maybe this will help:

AI has proven to improve the productivity of 61% of employees.

Agents who use AI can handle 13.8% more customer inquiries per hour.

Business professionals who use AI can write 59% more business documents per hour.

Programmers who use AI can code 126% more projects per week.

54% of organizations state that AI has been a cost-effective measure for their business operations.

Netflix claims to have saved more than $1 billion annually using machine learning from its Netflix Recommendation Engine.

AI helps you become more efficient, allowing you to maintain and control head-count growth, as market demands fluctuate.

AI is great for capex investments. It allows you to make investments in an asset that can bring you long-term value.

Your company stays relevant, allowing it to maintain its competitive advantage within your industry and local communities.

You're taking a proactive step in evolving the business, which teaches your workforce the disciplines of adaptability, change, and thinking bigger.

You're strengthening and testing your leadership abilities for yourself and the organization.

You learn to do more with less. It's about working smarter, not harder.

It's only a matter of time before your clients ask you about AI. You can speak the truth only if you've done the work. As a result, you're distinguishing yourself from your competitors and proving to be a better partner for your clients.

If you have children, nieces, or nephews, it'll allow you to stay relevant and “cool.” Heck, they may even ask to come intern for you. Mad respect!

You will have better mastery over the politics of big projects. As brutal as the experience of failure is, the process of building teaches you a host of lessons.

Business Growth

And if all that isn't enough, here are some statistics of the space and its anticipated growth:

Eighty-three percent of organizations worldwide claim that AI is a top priority for their business.

The AI market is expected to grow twentyfold by 2030.

The AI market in the United States is expected to reach $299.54 billion by 2026.

Due to the adoption of AI, the global GDP rate will grow by $15.7 trillion by 2030.

The year 2024 is set to see the rise of 8.4 billion AI-powered digital voice assistant units, which exceeds the total global population.

Since 2000, investment in AI start-ups has grown 6 times. Goldman Sachs predicts the investment in artificial intelligence to soar to $200 billion by the end of 2025.

Gartner estimates that about 80% of enterprises will have used generative AI API’s and models by 2026 and/or deployed generative AI applications in production environments.

The industry value of AI is projected to rise by 13 times over the next 7 years, which is good news for AI-oriented businesses in 2024.

More than 80% of executives from the retail and consumer industry plan to use AI automation for their businesses by 2025.

China will be the world leader in AI technology with 26.1% of the global market share by 2030.

With an exponential surge in revenue from an estimated $86.9 billion in 2022, the AI market is poised for extraordinary expansion, expected to reach an astounding $407 billion by 2027.

By 2030, 1 in 10 vehicles will be self-driving.

The global revenue of the AI software market is currently more than $100 billion.

As you can see, the expansive growth of AI is not just a trend but a fundamental shift touching every aspect of our lives and the broader business ecosystem. The journey into AI offers more than just organizational and business advantages; it's a critical step in maintaining your market position and ensuring personal and professional relevance in the changing landscape.

So, I implore you to start now and not be afraid to overcome the inertia.

Remember, every expert was once a beginner. I started from humble beginnings and am now a translator between the business world and the technology world. You'll have the advantage of leveraging my 25 years of business experience, 20 years of technology experience, and 14 years of AI experience in the real world. I will share with you the lessons learned so that you can be successful and reduce the learning curve of what's to come.

Happy Reading!

CHAPTER 2The Rogue Executive

I've been in the business world for 25 years, in the technology world for 20 years, and in the AI world for 14 of those 20 years. My lens is very pragmatic, grounded, and uncomplicated as I grew up from humble beginnings. A child of immigrant parents with no wealth or last name to open doors for me nor, good looks or charm to carry me through, I had no choice but to lean into my stubbornness and extreme fear of mediocrity to carry me forward.

With that as my foundation, and a few pivotal career moments, I stepped into this world and built a reputation over the years. Some positive, some negative.

I'm a businessperson who is a technologist that speaks “plain English” when strategizing, planning, designing, and developing capabilities across a variety of functions and industries.

I'm a rogue executive. I never fit into any corporate culture or tribe. I learned to be comfortable with that, and eventually confident with it, and realized my role was to push boundaries and people so popularity wasn’t my priority, my job was my priority.

I'm a person who learns from failures, unfortunately.

I have served many industries and many functions, so I have a broad perspective of companies, regions, markets, and organizational cultures.

I push people past their comfort zone; some love it, others not so much.

The next few pages give you a closer look as to my humble beginnings and how I started. I decided it was important to share this with you. Why? Because I think it will build your confidence in taking the first step of your AI journey. If not that, it will at least give you a few laughs.

Why the “Rogue Executive”?

Why am I a “rogue executive”? Let's start with a snapshot of the past few years of my professional career, and then we'll pivot into my earlier professional years. This will help you understand how things came about and how all the stories, anecdotes, and suggestions connect.

To start, I joined the C-suite ranks early in my career because of my knowledge of data and artificial intelligence, both of which became “hot” in the mid-2000s. I am grateful of, and appreciate of, every opportunity, every leadership team, and every company that has hired me and took a chance with Data and AI as a strategic initiative.

In 2016, as one of the first newly appointed CDOs of the world, I opened the ranks and started the role of the Chief Data Officer (CDO), Chief Analytics Officer (CAO), Chief Data and Analytics Officer (CDAO), and Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer (CAIO) when I got my first C-suite break.

In addition to my technical acumen, it also helped that I had great storytelling abilities, which made it easier for the business to see and feel the innovation I was speaking of; my narrative resonated well with most (if not all). I built relationships quickly, and I was able to bring the business along for the journey if they had the maturity to see what I saw.

One could think, “All this sounds great, so what could go wrong?” The short answer is, nearly everything! Throughout all my roles and titles, I struggled. I struggled a lot. Why? Because what I was doing was new and different, so I faced objections, naysayers, people who lacked imagination, or individuals who didn't want to work harder than their 9-to-5 jobs.

I faced constant resistance and barriers due to people and culture; it drained me of both energy and inspiration. I was constantly in the business of selling internally because of the great divide between aspiration and perspiration. Here are themes I consistently witnessed across corporate culture:

Companies had the desire to transform and innovate but always got in their own way. They struggled to clear the pathway for new hires to innovate, so retention was an issue. They also didn't pass along mandates to evolve, making it more of a grassroots effort, which never works with legacy-based industries.

Companies had the desire to leverage AI to differentiate themselves, but they were not making the needed investments in infrastructure, data, or talent or making their strategic intent clear.

Companies had promised their board that “data was a corporate asset” and “AI was a strategic priority” but had overcommitted to too many things, and other competing priorities were getting in the way or people were stretched too thin.

To make matters worse, I personally felt isolated, misunderstood, and even ostracized at times because no one understood my space. So, while I was driving the agenda of the shiny new object with the board of directors, I was constantly competing for time, attention, focus, and funding.

Unfortunately for them (and me), I was also stubborn and never quit. Going back to my swimming, water polo, and rugby days, quitting was never an option, and pushing past the barriers, the pain, and the resistance was the norm. Little did I know, I would need it in my professional career. To sum it up, my competence and personality got me hired, my relentless pursuit in persuasion got the company started, and my determination got the company past the finish line, but always at a cost.

I had to exchange popularity for progress, and by corporate standards, this wasn't always good.

I was going rogue to corporate culture. Going rogue doesn't mean you're purposely going against the grain to be difficult; it's just that you are charged with a mission to change and innovate, so you must naturally be bold, progressive, and different.

You see the world in a different way and what could be. As such, you're having to constantly evangelize the benefits, stay positive when others don't believe, and manage your frustrations because some weeks or months feel like Groundhog Day.

Now, if you add in the fact that I'm a child of immigrant parents (so I'm not privileged or entitled), combined with the grit and resilience that's been developed over the years of playing sports, I naturally have a different approach. Giving up when times are difficult is simply not an option.

I've also developed the muscle for how things should look, not how they look. I'm not a futurist or anything; I haven't lost my marbles, but I can see the possibilities and put effort in realizing them. I can't count how many times teammates have come back to me after I've left a company only to say, “Sol, remember that thing you said two years ago? Well, it's actually happening now, and people are starting to see it.” My favorite was when a former vice president told me in conversation that “Anna” had publicly said, “Sol was right about a lot of things.” For context, Anna was a person who made my life hell. Even though I was an executive at a Fortune 100 company, she would reprimand me in meetings for not filling out an Excel spreadsheet the way she had asked. She would question my delivery frameworks and models, not from a place of curiosity or experience but from a place of doubt when she didn't have a lick of deliver experience. So, to hear her say “Sol was right about a lot of things” was simply validating.

All this is to say that “doing AI” is not a technology problem; it's a people problem and a mindset problem. It creates obstacles only a rogue leader can overcome. Over time, naysayers don't discourage rogues, and failures don't scare rogues. What scares rogues is mediocrity and not creating the value that they know can be achieved.

That is what AI deployments are all about: seeing what others cannot and working past what others reject. You need to find the rogue in you to do that.

My Formative Years

I never fit into any clique growing up. I operated mostly as an underdog and often underestimated. I never had a tribe or a community; I wasn't pretty, I wasn't a jock (although I did play sports), I wasn't a rebel, I wasn't an academic, and I wasn't a gamer. Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, these were some of the classic high-school archetypes (as depicted in the amazing movie Breakfast Club), and I wasn't any of them.

I was quiet. I listened to my elders, feared being reprimanded, and never disrupted the status quo. This is now ironic considering how I developed into a rogue executive.

To make matters worse, I never wanted to draw attention to myself because of the criticisms I received for my ugly looks and weird name. I grew up in a small town called Yorba Linda in Orange County, California. We moved from Los Angeles because every immigrant parent wants the best for their kid, and my parents’ version of “best” was a safe neighborhood, decent schools, and a place where kids would stay out of trouble.

From the time we moved there, it was clear: we were not the typical family. Everyone was blond-haired and blue-eyed; we were not. I was an immigrant girl who escaped the Iranian Revolution in 1978 named Solmaz Rashidi. Can you imagine growing up with a name like that when everyone in your class is either Jennifer, Rachel, or Melissa? Ugh! Also, since kids couldn't say my name, they often called me “Hey you” or “Fat Girl.” Sometimes I even got a racist name, but usually I wasn't familiar with those terms, so they never bothered me.

It wasn't until second grade that I actually got a name, a real identity. My second-grade substitute teacher went through roll call, calling out names: “David (here), Michael (here), Sarah (here), Jennifer B (here), Jennifer D (here), Jennifer S. (here), Melissa (here), S…S…Sul-miz?” I assumed that was me, so I said “Solmaz,” its phonetically sounding. My substitute teacher looked at me silently saying, “Are you serious?” He paused, waited, and then said, “You're Sol from now on.” He simply just chopped off the last three letters, and “Sol” it was. I've carried that name since second grade, and it's a part of who I am today.

With my new name, I had a new identity. I was Sol—the shy, fat, hairy, Middle Eastern girl. Elementary school, middle school, and high school were awesome, primed for someone who looked like me.

Next came academics. When you're an ugly duckling until your early 30s, there's not much else to do but study. Still, I was an average student at best. I worked hard to consistently get Bs. I survived elementary school and went unnoticed in middle school—all successes in my book.

Then came high school, the first game-changer in my life. I started freshman year without a hitch. Then one day my mother came out of the blue and said, “You're fat. Go join the swimming team.”

In case you don't have any Middle Eastern friends, this is very normal talk in our culture. We are not woke. “You're too skinny,” “You're too fat,” “That looks horrible on you” are common feedback. Persian parents and friends aren't worried about the sensitive nature and psychological well-being of their children; what doesn't kill them makes them stronger is the theme. Their view is each generation is much more privileged than the previous one, so it's a rite of passage to be cruel.

While I liked the idea of sports and my mother was somewhat right, I wasn't an athletic person. After all, we're Persians. Persians in the United States don't play sports. The only thing we consider a sport is driving our BMWs in the middle of LA traffic while closing a deal, shifting gears, and taking notes. We are masters of multitasking, not sports.

Sports

To lose weight, my mother suggested swimming. There was just one slight problem: I didn't know how to swim. I mean, I knew how not to drown, but I didn't know how to swim. So, when tryouts came, I showed up in my two-sizes-too-large Kmart swimsuit. Why? We immigrants had to save money and buy sizes we could grow into, not sizes we already fit into. I had no goggles, and I had my long, shaggy hair in a scrunchie. The coach and the kids looked at me in horror when I showed up.

Long story short, when tryouts were done, I was still struggling to finish my first lap. Needless to say, the coach blew the whistle and asked me to get out of the pool and had me sit on the bleachers. She asked why I was trying out for the swim team. We talked. The coach for some reason understood and had sympathy for me. She said, “Sol, you're a horrible swimmer; you're not even a swimmer yet. But I can teach you. Do what I tell others during practice and then stay an extra 30 to 60 minutes afterward, and I'll teach you technique.” So I did. After all, I had no social life. What else was I going to do?

Fast-forward three-and-a-half years, I was competing in state championships for 50-yard butterfly. Me, basic old me, the underdog went from nothing to something. Why? I didn't quit. The early seeds of a rogue were in me, and I just needed the experiences of life to bring them out.

Leveling Up

There are times in your life when you're tested, and if you pass, you level up.

When I joined the swim team, I was surrounded by smart, athletic guys and gals. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was the dumbest and slowest one on the team. As I became integrated into the swim team though, I started studying them, and adopting their ways. My grades went from straight Bs to having some As, then mostly As, and then straight As. Nothing had changed except who I surrounded myself with.

As a business leader, business owner, executive, peer, teammate, or practitioner, you quickly learn that who you surround yourself with has the greatest impact in your life. It's the number-one factor in shaping your present and future. Think of how teenagers pick up languages and habits from their friends. It's the same for us too. Leveling up is about the crowd and company you keep. If you're running a company full of naysayers or complacent teammates or, worse, find yourself surrounded by people who lack ambition, you're going to be as good as they are. Change your environment immediately! Your length of imagination and abilities will go only as far as the company you keep.

So, “leveling up” is about not limiting your own beliefs; it's about overcoming any apprehension that gets in your way by surrounding yourself with people who push you past the point of comfort. This is what Doug did for me.

Coach Doug

By the end of my senior year, things were looking good. I went from being an overweight and awkward Middle Eastern girl to a scholar athlete who swam in state champions and played water polo on a boys’ team. Yes, a boys’ team!

Title IX hadn't gotten wide implementation yet, so for any sport where there wasn't a women's team, we got to play on the men's team. In my case, I enjoyed swimming, but I loved water polo. There was a goal, a purpose, and a team comradery that was unmatched. The only problem was that there wasn't a girls’ team, so the only option was to join the boys’ team. This was problematic on many fronts.

We played in men's tournaments, so women's locker rooms were closed. I learned to “deck change” like the boys. This is tougher for us gals since we have more body parts to cover. I'm sure the boys got to see more than I would have liked, but thankfully no one ever commented on it.

Boys are stereotypically taller, so they have longer arm spans, which means more speed and more power. As such, I had to work twice as hard to even compete.

Some boys tried to get fresh with me under water, grabbing places they shouldn't. After all, all was fair in love and war, and I'm the one who chose to play on a boys’ team, so I thought it came with the territory. I didn't expect any sympathy.

My speed and strength were underdeveloped compared to the guys, so I stood out as the slow poke.

Finally, Coach Doug was

livid