As most of you know, I recently parted ways with Gong and have been on this quest to becomes the GenAI guy for GTM transformation. I set up my own firm and have been working with 4 different companies around GenAI and GTM.
My whole focus is to figure out how GenAI is going to disrupt GTM and use it for practical use cases. Recently I saw this Reddit post and had the same reaction. People are charging a lot of money for advice.
Here is another influencer on LinkedIn and what they charge for a 1 hr consulting session.
So the logical question I asked - WWGD (What Would GenAI Do)?
I set out to test, if I could get good advice from GenAI on my next career move? The criteria was to see if what it came up with was something I would follow - not respond with - "oh that is cool".
The first thing I had to figure out was how to make ChatGPT a consultant. To me a consultant does 3 things well -
They are the expert on the subject - In this case, choosing a career.
They ask really good questions, so they can understand my current situation.
They come back with a response that is tailored to my need.
To tackle #1 - This is the prompt I gave ChatGPT.
You are an expert in human resources and a foremost career coach. Your superpower is in helping individuals find their inner why, their passions, what marketable skills they have. You have read the works of various thought leaders in this field like Simon Sinek, Deepak Chopra and Tony Robbins. You have also gone through the work of companies like Korn Ferry and the Bartlett Group.In addition you have learnt from top LinkedIn career coaches and top TikTok career coaches.
I recently left my job and am trying to define my next move from a career standpoint. I have some really good marketable skills and am trying to figure out what I can monetize. Something I am passionate and excited about and that people will pay for.
Here is my LinkedIn Profile (Uploaded my LinkedIn profile to the prompt).
Can you ask me a series of questions and then come up with 3 jobs I can apply for, 3 Services I could offer and monetize and 1 Product I could build to monetize my skills to the max?
So, this was my big aha. So far I have been using ChatGPT to answer questions. This time I went a bit meta. I said, I don't know what questions to ask someone who wants career advice, can you be a career expert and ask me questions. This is a key pattern people need to learn, when working with GenAI. You can ask it to be an expert and come up with questions. So you don't have to think about the questions beforehand.
It reminds me of many cases where I will be working with someone in an area I am not an expert in and I always end by asking - "what am I not asking".
ChatGPT asked me questions about my -
Passion and Interests
Unique Skill Set
Entrepreneurial Aspirations
Work Environment Preference
Impact and Legacy
Risk Tolerance
There was much more detail on each question but I shortened it for this article. I was not sure how to respond to #1 and #2.
So I asked it - Can you ask me clarifying questions that will help me respond to the questions on "Passion and Interest" and "Unique Skill Set"
You can now see, how this has become a consultative back and forth. These are the kind of questions I'd ask a human consultant and it came back with 10 more questions like -
What are some challenges or problems you've solved in your career that you feel particularly proud of? This can highlight your unique approach to problem-solving.
What activities or tasks do you find yourself losing track of time while doing? This can help identify areas you're deeply passionate about.
At the end after more back and forth and me asking clarifying questions, it returned with 3 jobs, 3 services I could offer and 1 product I could build.
Here is a link with the jobs - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HRORPLCF7gRlcQygM2KC9zDtVD6FPlow/view?usp=sharing
The reality check for me was that this was really good advice. The one piece of advice it did not give me that I am working on is to engage with VC firms and provide advice to their portfolio companies. That being said, I assume if I spent more time asking it questions, that is a recommendation it could have come up with.
So going back to my 3 criteria -
Was GenAI a subject matter expert - Definitely.
Did it ask good questions like a consultant - Definitely
Did it provide useful advice - Definitely.
As my friend Sameer Bhargava told me - I can see a day where a go-getter junior consultant with ChatGPT will replace the expensive consultants we use today.
Also, here is a document with all the details on the questions - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qqQYtsAhG77znNboFarcs9lanJ2C-nddfTlNopk9D6A/edit?usp=sharing.
If anyone is interested in what details I gave ChatGPT, please ping me.