Jim Harris

Vistage Speaker, Productivity and Performance Expert, Certified Executive Coach, and TEC Canada Speaker

Jim Harris is one of North America’s foremost thinkers on AI, GenAI, tech and disruptive innovation. He presents internationally at 60 in-person and virtual events a year. Association magazine ranked him as one of North America’s top ten speakers.
His clients include American Express, Barclays Bank, Canon, GM, IBM, Munich Re, the Top 200 CIOs of India, the UK Cabinet Office, Swiss Re, Walmart, Zurich Insurance.
In February of 2024 he was named TEC Speaker of the Year by TEC Canada. Jim has been working with TEC for more than 30 years.

Jamie Mason Cohen

Leadership Coach

Elevate your event with Jamie Cohen: renowned Keynote Speaker and Leadership Coach. With a proven track record spanning 21 countries and accolades from prestigious organizations, Jamie transforms businesses worldwide. From unlocking unique leadership styles to fostering next-level communication, Jamie delivers unparalleled value. Join global leaders like SNL’s Lorne Michaels in shaping your organization’s future with Jamie Cohen.

Mitch’s Topics

Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies

By Jim Harris

On April 30, 1993 Tim Berners-Lee working at CERN in Europe released code that created the world wide web. The impact has been transformative as the web now profoundly influences our modern life. In the same way, Blockchain will have a transformative effect over the next 25 years.

Blockchain broke into global consciousness when Bitcoin spiked to $19,783 on December 17, 2017. At the time the market capitalization of all crypto currencies peaked at $853 billion. Because of this Bitcoin – and more widely crypto currencies – became the poster boy for Blockchain. But as we can see from the three examples above, crypto is just one application of blockchain. Here are three widely different applications to show how blockchain will transform widely diffentlydefiantly industries.

Spinach & Supply Chain
In 2006 three people died and 200 fell ill after eating spinach contaminated with E. Coli. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could not be sure which bags of spinach, from which sources, were contaminated, so it recommended that Americans avoid eating any fresh spinach altogether. The recall took two weeks to trace to the source of the problem and during that time all spinach on the shelves was pulled and destroyed. The crisis cost the industry US$74 million.

In reality, the contaminated produce involved one supplier’s production from one day on a single line. Blockchain use can avoid this wholesale recall and resulting loss.

And it took months for people to trust spinach in supermarkets.

Imagine a technology that could instantly trace the problem back. That is the promise of blockchain.

The supply chain and logistics industry is a $62 TRILLION annually. Blockchain will have a transformative impact on it.

Remittance Market
The remittance market is a $600 billion a year market. What is it? Well, if you have a Filipino nanny she will send $200 every other week back to her family in Manila. The banks and Western Union on average take 11.18% of that. That’s usurious!

The remittance market is actually larger than foreign aid from developed to developing nations. (I find that disturbing).

So why are the poorest people in the world paying outrageous fees?

Blockchain can facilitate that transfer for 0.25%. but your Filipino nanny is not likely to be a Bitcoin miner. So she will go to a service that will use a blockchain transfer mechanism with an underlying cost structure of 0.25% and charge her 2% – which is 5.5 times less than the traditional financial institutions.

Shaving Peak Electricity Demand
The time we use the most electricity in Southern Ontario is on hot summer days when everyone’s air conditioning is running. It’s called peak demand.

So how does the electric utility cope with peak? By building a $250,000,000 dollar peaker plant that runs only 8 hours out of 8,760 hours a year. Is that a good asset utilization?

But image instead, the utility reaches out to your WiFi connected thermostat – a Nest or the better Canadian equivalent an Ecobee – and says will you power down your AC for just five minutes and we will pay you $1.62 in the form of a credit on your next hydro bill?

The reason we need technology to do this is for $1.62 you can’t put a human in the middle of that negotiation. There isn’t enough margin. Secondly call center can’t scale. This negotiation would happen instantaneously with a million homes in southern Ontario.

So the first 333,333 homes would power down for the first five minutes. The second third for the next five minute slot, and the final third for the third five minute period. Then a 15 block has been built, which can be repeated four times dampening demand for one hour.

Blockchain technology would ensure that 1) my house actually powered down for the first segment and 2) that $1.62 was put as a credit on my account.

Which is more politically saleable – building a quarter billion dollar peaker plant that is used only 0.1% of

ChatGPT has exploded into the consciousness of the business community. AI (Artificial Intelligence) has become top of mind.
In the first five days, it attracted one million users. By comparison, Spotify took 30 times as long to hit that milestone and Instagram took 15 times as long. The stakes are high. Google launched Bard, its competitor to ChatGPT, on February 9th, 2023. In the announcement on Twitter, the bot answered a question incorrectly. The stock market immediately wiped out $100 billion in value from Google stock.

Many people are worried that AI will take away jobs. What is certain is that jobs changed, companies changed, people had to learn new skills and society as a whole changed. Secondly, people often think in polar opposites: it’s either people or AI. No. It’s going to be people AND AI. Companies that use people AND AI will outperform those that don’t. We will even see AI impacting our health care sector. ompanies and industries are crying out that they can’t find enough

qualified staff. What organizations need to do is deconstruct work and eliminate,

automate or delegate unnecessary work. Exponentially improving technology allows for this, but it is often an issue of mindset, training, and culture that limits embracing digital transformation and achieving dramatically higher productivity.

With such high stakes, it’s spurred an AI race. For executives this means the AI tools in the coming months and years will 1) be more powerful; 2) easier to use. Companies that embed AI in their corporate processes alongside people will outperform those that don’t. AI will be everywhere. I am advising the executives and organizations that I work with to begin playing with the technology now, so that they don’t get disrupted in the near future.

See Jim’s presentation to TEC: https://bit.ly/3SmCltw

Cybercriminals are costing businesses trillions of dollars a year globally.
Bad actors are using AI to increase the effectiveness of their attacks
CEOs have to reduce risk given the growing threat
This affects all companies and all industries
More than 80% of breaches involve human error, so training and development in this area are key
Insurance: Cyber liability insurance can mitigate financial losses. Coverage should align with your risk exposure.
Regular Security Audits: Cyber threats evolve rapidly. CEOs must mandate regular audits to identify vulnerabilities and update defences.

Uber is worth more than all North American taxi cab companies combined, but it doesn’t own any cars
• Skype facilitates more international long distance phone calls than all the world’s major telcos combined but it doesn’t own any phone lines.
• Airbnb provides has more accommodation than any hotel chain in the world, but it doesn’t own a single room
• The most valuable retailer in the world, Alibaba, doesn’t have any inventory. When you order something the supplier ships directly to you
• The largest provider of online content globally, Facebook, doesn’t create any content.
• The largest cable company in the world – Netflix – doesn’t own any cable.
• Ask a person on the street what about of innovation and they’ll likely answer – an iPhone. 75% of answers are a products and services. But products and services only deliver 10% of the value that innovation can. A staggering 90% of the value of innovation is in business model innovation – the above examples are of companies that have innovated in their business models, delivery channels – and yet from typical large corporations this only receives 10% of the focus.
• Jim’s book Blindsided! is published in 80 countries worldwide and is a #1 International bestseller. Blindsided! looks at the forces that are disrupting companies and industries and presents strategies for preventing it.

Life can be challenging. Customers go bankrupt owing us sums of money. Key people whom we rely upon in our business quit. The stock market takes a downturn. Our spouse falls ill or, conversely, we are riding high, filled with an excitement, making decisions from the emotions of roaring successes. How can we maintain a sense of calm, joy and serenity in the face of the victories and challenges that life throws at us?
Taoism is an ancient Chinese religion that speaks to the idea of serenity and fulfillment in challenging times. I understand the essence of Taoism through this fascinating story.

The Taoist Farmer
In a poor country village, there was a farmer who was considered to be rich. He owned a horse, which he used for plowing and transportation. One day his horse ran away. The villagers said, “What terrible luck, you have lost all your wealth!” The farmer simply replied, “Maybe.”
Two days later his horse came back bringing with it two wild horses. And the villagers said, “What incredible luck, you have just tripled your wealth!” But the farmer just said, “Maybe.”
The next day the farmer’s only son was out riding one of the wild horses, trying to tame it, when it bucked him off and he broke his leg. And 3,000 years ago a broken femur was life threatening. All the villagers said, “What terrible luck, your only son with a broken leg!” But the farmer just said, “Maybe.”
The day the Emperor’s men came through the village conscripting every young man to fight in a war, taking every young man to their certain death except for the farmer’s son. The villagers said, “What incredible luck.” And the farmer just said, “Maybe.”

We Only Understand Life in Hindsight
Sometimes what I think are the best situations in life turn out to be the worst, and sometimes the worst are the seedbed upon which magnificent things are built.
One of the funny things about life, is that we live it going forward, but only understand it in hindsight. Life gives us the exam first and the lesson later.
So why should I react with elevated emotion to situations in life? Is something really terrible? Or are we not at the end of the story yet. Perhaps in a few days, weeks, or months I will see this terrible situation as a huge blessing.
The real question for me is, how do I live life with the calm, joy, serenity and the maximum contribution of the farmer, despite what is happening – because I really don’t want my emotional life to follow the NASDAQ index!
Buddhists believe that all suffering is caused by attachment – attachment to people, places, things and outcomes of situations. When I am not attached to an outcome I can live life joyfully no matter what is happening.
The story of the farmer helps me to understand that I have to live life on life’s terms. In the Bible, Christ advises the reader to wear clothes loosely – meaning accept the twists and turns that life gives us. When I am not attached to an outcome, I can live life joyfully no matter what is happening. I read and study many religions of the world – and the principles of detachment are embedded in most religions. This philosophy helps me live comfortably amid a rapidly changing world.

Reframing
The Taoist Farmer demonstrates the power of re-framing – seeing a situation in a completely different light. I use re-framing in everyday life to cope with challenges. Let me give an example. Everyone knows what the fast lane is for on the highway – for people driving fast. When I am in the fast lane and there is someone driving slowly in front of me, rather than get upset and recklessly pass him on the inside (not that I have ever done this!), I try and think how they could be saving me a speeding ticket because perhaps there is a radar trap ahead. This, then, encourages me to slow down and keep within the speed limit.
I admire the Taoist farmer because he accepts the challenges and unpredictability of life. He is emotionally mature, capable of living joyfully despite challenge and capable of making

The AI Revolution:
The Fastest Adopted Tech in History is Creating Trillions of Value

By Jim Harris

AI is transforming business, government and society as a whole
· We’re seeing AI applications with 10X to 10,000X increases in productivity!

· AI will add up to $4.4 Trillion of economic value every year by 2030

· Many aspects of business, associations, government and society are being enhanced by this transformative technology.

This fast-paced, dynamic session will focus on proven, practical strategies, tactics, and actionable tools. It will highlight dozens of AI and GenAI apps and case studies focused on improving customer satisfaction, dramatically shortening cycle times, increasing sales and cutting costs. It will highlight benefits for many different functions within an organization: sales, marketing, customer service and finance.

In the US there are nearly 2 million job openings in health care alone. AI can save $386 billion a year if fully implemented in health care alone and while addressing the staff shortage.

Jim’s sessions have been described as “mind-blowing,” “riveting” and “eye-opening.”

The session will explore:

· What are the implications for TEC members?

· Where and how to begin?

· What resources are available to begin your AI journey?

See Ken in Action!

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