Category: reflection

I’m fascinated by the seemingly contradictory passions around AI and data centers.

On one hand, the media is full of articles and predictions about the use of AI. It is the hottest topic, with endless coverage about how to use it, why it’s the next big thing, its many benefits, and how everyone needs to be prepared for AI to change how they do their work.

Next to these urgings are stories and protests about data centers. Municipalities are writing moratoriums preventing their construction in their towns. Neighbors are complaining about the noise, environmental impact, excessive use of water, and devaluation of their property.

But you can’t have it both ways. AI can’t permeate businesses, schools, and households without the infrastructure to support it, and that means data centers.

People did not (do not) want prisons, transitional housing, wastewater treatment plants, or transmission cables in their backyards either, yet concessions were made to create them and provide services that benefit the overall community. I suspect similar sacrifices will occur as municipalities wrestle with how to address the growing demand for the many facets of AI models and preserve the community’s culture and environment.

The AI genie is out of the bottle and putting it back is not an option. Now it’s time for human intelligence to create responsible guidelines for the next phase of generation and use.

France and England both had spectacular football (soccer) seasons. They won eight World Cup matches to reach the semi-finals, making them two of the top four teams in the sport. Unfortunately, they both lost in the semis, which is depressing enough, but now they must play another match to determine third and fourth place. This means one of the top teams in the world will end its season with two consecutive losses.

What is to be gained — other than money — by having a consolation match? Does it really matter if you are third or fourth in the world? For me, nothing about that game outweighs the sad ending of a brilliant season for the team that loses.

We think so much about the start of things, but not always about the ending. How do you help teams — not just in sports, but project teams, work groups, classes, or any prolonged effort — conclude their work gracefully? Not everyone can be in first place, but everyone can be a winner if it’s managed well.

There is a controversial proposal before our city council, and those in favor argue that “it can always be repealed if it doesn’t work out.” It’s hard enough to stop doing anything, let alone when there are no established or agreed-upon criteria for what “not working out” looks like. Once something is started, momentum and inertia alternate roles, but it keeps going unless there is a built-in stop mechanism.

For me, dot #5000 is that mechanism. I’ve had a decade-and-a-half of “daily” weighing on my mind, and have been looking forward to pushing the 5,000 reset button. It’s time to write when I have something to say, rather than when I’m staring at the screen because I have a deadline to publish something. I’m not stopping dots entirely, but moving to five days/week (no weekends), and maybe not every.single.day. during the week either.

Advice columnist Carolyn Hax has also recently reduced her daily schedule, writing that it’s “not all or nothing.” I like that intermediate compromise that keeps dots alive, and my love of doing them alive, too. I hope you continue to learn from reading them.

Today marks the start of the 15th year of leadership dots. Almost 5,000 entries. Over 1 million words. When I started this as a going-away gift for a colleague, I never thought I would still be doing it a decade and a half later.

Atomic Habits author James Clear wrote: “Writing is the superpower of humankind. It is our truest form of magic. Writing allows you to conjure up something of value where nothing previously existed. It costs little for you to write down the lessons of your life, and yet those few minutes spent writing can be life-altering for the right reader. As I once saw it put: “There is someone out there with a wound in the exact shape of your words.” Furthermore, writing is the foundation of nearly every technology and innovation because we have to record what we know before we can build upon it. And these innovations are passed down from generation to generation, allowing our children to inherit a richer intellectual fortune than what we were born into. The world is richer because we write, and nobody is made poorer in the process.”

I’m not sure about leadership dots altering anyone’s life except mine, but I hope that at least a few of the entries have caused you to think, sparked an idea, solved a problem, or resonated with something relevant in your life. Or, maybe the dots can inspire you to use your own superpower and put your words into the universe. A blog. A letter. A journal. Writing can clarify your thoughts in ways nothing else can.

Whether you write your own words or read mine, I hope the dots have equipped you with your own set of “dot eyes” that help you see connections you may not have realized before. Happy reading!

Quote from 3-2-1 Thursday newsletter by James Clear, January 2, 2025

March Madness has begun, and I always think about the high hopes that teams bring into the tournament. All the players have visions of holding that championship trophy high above their heads, basking in the glory of victory.

They never consider that all but one team in the tournament will end the season with a loss. Even three Number One teams will finish with an L in their final game.

Pinning all your dreams on an unpromised finish sets you up for disappointment. Enjoy the journey as much as the allure of a trophy at the end.

I have a friend who is in the process of downsizing his home and moving into an independent living facility. I think about when it’s my time to do that, and how hard it must be to part with the majority of your lifetime possessions. I’m reluctant to even get rid of my enrollment materials that I haven’t needed in a decade. How do you say goodbye to sentimental treasures?

I read a passage in A Gentleman in Moscow that resonated:

“From the earliest age, we must learn to say good-bye to friends and family…But experience is less likely to teach us how to bid our dearest possessions adieu…For eventually, we come to hold our dearest possessions more closely than we hold our friends. We carry them from place to place, often at considerable expense and inconvenience; we dust and polish their surfaces and reprimand children for playing too roughly in their vicinity — all the while, allowing memories to invest them with greater and greater importance.”

I look around my house and see treasures that have meaning only to me; things that could easily be tossed by someone cleaning out my home, but that I value. How do we get so attached to physical objects?

I was reminded of a passage from Gift from the Sea where the author spends a week at the ocean and collects shells on each of her walks. As she prepares to leave, she notes:

“One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can only collect a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few…For it is only framed in space that beauty blooms.”

Whether they be sentimental, valuable, or practical, in the end, things are just things. Create some space in your life to enjoy relationships, nature, and the intangible pleasures, rather than accumulating more “stuff.”

Source: A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles, 2016, p. 14 and Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindburgh, 1955, p. 114.