SuperShifts: Future-Proofing Entrepreneurs in the Age of Intelligence with Ja-Nae Duane

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, the only daily show interviewing the world's top entrepreneurs seven days a week. Today, we'll be breaking down super shifts, future-proofing entrepreneurs in the age of intelligence. To drop these value bombs, I brought Janae Duane into EO Fire Studios. Dr. Janae is a behavioral scientist, award-winning innovator, and four-time entrepreneur. Her upcoming book, Super Shifts, is scheduled for release in April of 2025. So go pick it up now, Fire Nation. And today, we'll be talking about the upcoming super shift, why entrepreneurs must adapt now, and the nine super shifts.

0:39We'll go through a bunch of those and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Janae and our sponsors. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world. Start your business today with the industry's best business partner, Shopify, and start hearing... Sign up for your$1 per month trial today at shopify.com slash onfire. Go to shopify.com slash on fire. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software.

1:19Say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today. Janae, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Oh, John. Well, first of all, thanks for having me on. And I love, love, love this question. So I believe that success isn't about chasing that daily hustle and certainty and the stability. I used to think it was those things, but now that I have a few companies under my belt, I have totally shift my thinking as far as what it means to become successful. And so now it's all about, for me, how do I embrace uncertainty?

2:12How do I design for adaptability, even in my own thinking? Because most people, they're focused on control? What are my goals and my OKRs? How do I have that incremental progress towards those goals? And I just know that that no longer works, particularly with where we are headed with technology. So for me now, it's about that constant iteration. It's about strategic risk taking as well as having an anti-fragile mindset, you know, one that can really thrive in the face of exponential change. And so we can no longer say, what is my five-year plan? Because the future doesn't unfold that way. It's that thinking is too linear.

3:00So instead, at least for myself, what I ask is, okay, what is the next intelligent risk that I can take in order to achieve my goal and also to do so by leapfrogging over some steps that I think are in place? And if you can do that, not only will you be successful, but you will be way ahead of the competition. I love that word, anti-fragile. It's just so powerful. And Fire Nation, today we're talking about super shifts, future-proofing entrepreneurs in the age of intelligence. And I want to kick things off by talking about the coming super shift. Tell us more, Janae. Yeah, you know, we are really shifting from what we consider the age of engines to this age of intelligence.

3:47And there are some major, major implications for business. When we think about the age of engines, this was a 200-year cycle that was dominated by mechanical engineering as well as innovation, industrialization, centralized systems. So like our 9 to 5 work hour is really based on the factory model. Our educational system is based on the factory model. And you know this, I know this, those models no longer serve us. And we are now at the brink of a new 200-year arc that is really the turning point, if you will, for humanity and intelligence. It is shifting the way that we think as well as how we integrate with technology, but not only within our lives, but actually also integrate with technology in our bodies.

4:45So that is going to be extremely interesting as we think about the years to come. Entrepreneurs on fire. Obviously, my audience is made up of entrepreneurs who are literally on fire in a lot of ways. And you believe that we need to adapt now. Tell us more about that. You know, we are seeing disruption across every industry and the pace of change is only accelerating. Technological change today will never be at a slower pace than what we have right now, right this second. And so with this pace of change just accelerating so fast, our traditional business models cannot keep up. So for the entrepreneurs who are early adopters of AI, of automation, and of intelligence networks, you will see the shift happen in how they shape the future.

5:41Because businesses that resist that change will only become obsolete. And I know that that's scary. I mean, I'm an entrepreneur. I've been there, but entrepreneurs who can embrace that disruption rather than fear it will also see that there is a shift in how they think and how they incorporate AI and automation. And to me, honestly, the key question is, what will it take to make my business obsolete tomorrow? And then how can I lead that change? because entrepreneurs who are thinking about already changing their models on a continuous basis, they're already ahead of the game. And honestly, those entrepreneurs are really the ones who are looking to the future and understand where we're headed.

6:38And I think it is an amazing time to be an entrepreneur. Now, in your book, Super Chefs, you state that there are actually nine of these super shifts. Give us two of your favorites right now. And before I do that, let me also say for Fire Nation that when we think about what a super shift is, it's a fundamental force that's reshaping entrepreneurship. It's reshaping markets. It's reshaping really competition in this age of intelligence. It's driven by things like AI, by decentralization and changing societal dynamics that are really allowing us to re-imagine what these systems of the future are.

7:23And so when I think of some of the most exciting ones, the first one that really pops up to me is Reality Remix. Now, this is emerging of both physical and digital worlds through AR or augmented reality, as well as VR. And as we think about what the metaverse is, we will soon have digital twins or virtual overlays that are integrated into our daily lives in every single asset, whether or not we're talking about a house or where you work or even your car, we're already starting to see that. So to me, that's one of my favorite ones to consider. Another really great one that I think that Fire Nation will love is Intellifusion.

8:14And this is really about the hybrid AI human economy. And so AI is no longer a tool, right? It really is the co-founder of your business. It's a strategic co-pilot that can enhance decision making, can enhance creativity and problem solving. It can allow you to automate routine tasks that you didn't know that you actually could automate before and allow for the AI to make the decisions for you. And so really, when I think about Fire Nation and what this audience is focused on, it's really about how do we design almost AI first businesses that we can leverage and collaborate with to enhance our intelligence and really create innovative stuff.

9:08Fire Nation, I love how this is so focused to entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs because again, you're listening. You're an entrepreneur on fire. You are part of Fire Nation and we have so much more to talk about around these topics when we get back from thanking our sponsors. When I started building my podcast and business, I had to figure everything out on my own. Interview questions, my tech setup, branding, social media, all of it. Starting your own business can be really intimidating and lonely. And that's why I love tools that don't just help you do more, but actually make everything simpler.

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10:12Start your business today with the industry's best business partner, Shopify, and start hearing... Sign up for your$1 per month trial today at shopify.com slash onfire. go to shopify.com slash on fire. That's shopify.com slash on fire. Okay, let's talk about a platform that's completely changing how entrepreneurs are running their business. And they are also our featured partner, HighLevel. If you're an entrepreneur, coach, agency, or course creator looking to grow faster and smarter, HighLevel is the all-in-one platform that replaces your entire tech stack. Seriously, think ClickFunnels, Calendly, MailChimp, Kajabi, and even your CRM all rolled up into one powerful white label solution.

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11:30Seriously, every question that pops up, they will have your answer waiting. And if you visit my special partnership link, you'll get a free trial. So visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial and see why thousands of businesses are switching. That's highlevelfire.com where marketing, sales, and automation finally come together. High level, join the revolution. Now, Janae, we're back. And before the break, I just mentioned how I love this is so focused and keyed in on entrepreneurs. And you believe that there are some key forces that are currently reshaping entrepreneurship as we know it.

12:07Talk about those key forces. We have talked a bit about the technology piece of this. What we haven't really talked about are how we're seeing this erosion of power, if you will, from the centralized models that we have had in the past. And so as we're thinking about these future models, including business models of the future, really thinking about how can we identify decentralized mechanisms and models for our business? How do we incorporate our customers and our users into what it is that we're building so that they feel more ownership over where the company is going? How can you utilize and work with them so that they can help build governance structures?

13:01How can you identify different really micro economies within your business by really shaping what it is that that we, you know, we hold valuable? Is it that you value work or collaboration and can you utilize some of your customers or users in that way so that you're essentially allowing them to earn to learn or earn to work? Is it that you want them to help drive where the next iteration of this business is going? It's this powerful opportunity to really merge our thinking and different structures and move away from this hierarchical structure that we've had in previous business models that I think is really fascinating and something that entrepreneurs just need to leverage more of.

14:00Now, let's be real. What is currently being talked about most in this world is AI, automation, intelligence networks, especially when it comes to business, especially when it comes to the near present future. And of course, the future. I mean, it's just the direction that we're heading in. So we're entrepreneurs. How can we leverage AI? How can we leverage automation? How can we leverage intelligent networks? Yeah. So I would say first and foremost, to know this, AI powered businesses thrive, where AI resistant businesses really will die on the vine. And so there's some ways in which even today, all the entrepreneurs listening can start to leverage AI and automation and intelligence networks.

14:48Number one, look at your operations. Are there repetitive tasks that can be automated that you can utilize AI? Can you build out predictive workflows with AI or leverage AI co-pilots? You know, a great example of leveraging an AI co-pilot would be, say, to go through resumes and really identify ideal candidates. You can utilize a co-pilot to help you with your social media content and your calendar. There are so many different ways to incorporate a co-pilot. Also, think about the different touch points within your customer experience. Do you have AI chatbots yet? Can you utilize AI in order to hyper-personalize that customer experience for your customers and your users, as well as collect customer sentiment so that you can really analyze that later and use that to provide a really personalized experience?

15:52Because when we think about the future of business, it's really about this hyper personalized experience for every single user. And so when I think about key takeaways for Fire Nation, it's really about having entrepreneurs who understand that AI is not just a tool. Like it is truly a business partner for you. and really asking yourself, if AI advances 10x overnight, how can my business adapt? And how can I use AI to allow my business to adapt? Now, this really leads into what we were just talking about. But the reality is this. Disruption's going to happen whether we like it or not. It's just a fact of life.

16:45It is progress. It is change. It's going to happen. So share how we can stay ahead of this disruption. Yeah. So one of the things that I work with entrepreneurs on is getting them to think and scan at the edges. Because when we look at the horizon, that is where innovation occurs. It doesn't occur within the mainstream. So really identifying those weak signals that start to culminate into stronger signals is one thing that I would have you do. and something that you can have actually AI go out and even really scrape the web right now and collect some of those data points for yourself. From that, I then recommend mapping out different scenarios, really preparing for multiple futures or multiple possible futures, whether or not you see AI accelerating in a certain way, whether or not you see regulatory shifts happening, how can you map out those possible futures and then identify those threads that seem to occur throughout each of those scenarios, because that is what you're going to want to pay attention to.

17:56And then how do you re-engineer or reverse engineer, rather, the future and backcast from there so that you're staying ahead of the trends and you're really thinking far out, but you're able to adapt and you're able to adapt the business because of the fact that you are collecting a lot of these weak and strong signals along the way. And then finally, what I would say to Fire Nation is none of this occurs unless your mindset is there and is really changed from this traditional thinking. You know, for me, again, I go back to having an anti-fragile mindset, one that can really embrace and thrive under stress because we are not done, unfortunately, with the black swans of our lifetime.

18:51And so how can you thrive and how can your business thrive under that pressure? And then how can you really leverage that as a tool as you're moving forward and as you're thinking about how your business evolves. Now, your book, Super Shifts, came out on April 25th. Give Fire Nation a quick rundown of this book and where they can pick it up. Thank you, John. I appreciate that. So, I mean, when we think about this book, this book in many ways is about the future of humanity. We go through nine of the super shifts that we are seeing starting to converge now. We also help you, Fire Nation, identify how do you really identify a system through our transform method in which you can work, live, and also change the way in which you move forward within life in a positive some way.

19:52Because at the end of the day, we're all in this together. We're all trying to find a way to really collaborate with technology and move forth in a way that makes sense for all of us. And not only here on Earth, but also as we move into being interplanetary. So it's a really great way to plan for the future. And you can pick it up on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or supershiftsthebook.com. Mars, here we come. and Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with JD and JLD today. So keep up that heat. And for links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com.

20:36Just type Janae, that's J-A-N-A-E in the search bar and the show notes page will pop right up. Janae, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Oh, John, thank you so much for having me. And thanks, Fire Nation.

21:23Best Business Partner, Shopify, and start hearing. Sign up for your$1 per month trial today at shopify.com slash on fire. Go to shopify.com slash on fire. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software. Say hello to our featured partner High Level and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today.