Mark: A 2013 Oxford University study predicted that 47% of US jobs could be automated within two decades. That's eighty million people. Michelle: Whoa. Mark: What's scarier? The skills that made them successful are the very things making them obsolete. The new top skill isn't what you think. Michelle: That is a terrifying way to start a conversation. It feels like we're standing on a beach, and you've just calmly announced a tsunami is on the way. Mark: That's pretty much the feeling. That startling reality is the entire premise of the book we're diving into today: Humility Is the New Smart by Edward D. Hess and Katherine Ludwig. Michelle: And Hess is an interesting character to tackle this. He wasn't a lifelong academic; he was a senior executive in finance before pivoting to teach at top business schools. He's seen the corporate world from the inside out. Mark: Exactly. And that blend of practical experience and deep research is what makes this book so compelling. It's not just theory; it's a survival guide. He argues we're in a new technological revolution, as disruptive as the Industrial Revolution, and the old rules have completely changed. Michelle: Okay, a survival guide. I like that. So what are these 'old rules' that are suddenly so dangerous? What did we used to think 'smart' was?

Mark: The book calls it 'Old Smart.' It's the definition of intelligence we all grew up with, the one our entire education and corporate system is built on. Old Smart is about quantity. It's knowing the most facts, processing information the fastest, and making the fewest mistakes. It's being the human equivalent of a supercomputer. Michelle: Right, the person in the meeting who has every statistic memorized. The one who can recall a specific data point from a report six months ago. We've all been taught to admire that person, to be that person. Mark: We have. But here's the problem: that race is over. We lost. Machines will always know more, process faster, and make fewer computational errors than any human. Trying to compete with them on that field is like a person trying to outrun a car. It's a futile effort. Michelle: That makes sense for repetitive tasks, like data entry or assembly lines. But what about the high-level jobs? The ones that require strategy, intuition, creativity? Surely those are safe. Mark: That's the belief that this book shatters. And the most dramatic proof of this came in March 2016, in a five-game match that sent shockwaves through the tech world. It was a battle between the world's greatest player of the ancient game of Go, Lee Se-dol, and an AI program from Google's DeepMind called AlphaGo. Michelle: I remember hearing about this! Go is famously complex, right? More possible moves than atoms in the universe or something insane like that. Mark: Exactly. It's a game of profound intuition and strategic creativity. Experts predicted it would be at least another decade before an AI could beat a human master. In game one, AlphaGo won. The world was stunned. But it was in game two that something truly chilling happened. Michelle: Chilling? What did it do? Mark: On move 37, AlphaGo made a play that no human would have ever considered. At first, all the expert commentators were baffled. They thought it was a mistake, a rookie error. One even said, "That's a very strange move." Lee Se-dol, the master himself, left the room for fifteen minutes, he was so thrown off. He couldn't understand the logic. Michelle: So the machine glitched? Mark: No. The machine was being creative. It took the human commentators and Lee Se-dol hours to understand the move's brilliance. It was a move born not from memorizing past games, but from a deep, alien-like understanding of the game's structure. It wasn't just calculating; it was strategizing in a way humans couldn't comprehend. AlphaGo went on to win the match 4-1. Michelle: Wow. So it's not just about replacing factory workers anymore. This is coming for doctors, lawyers, strategists... the 'knowledge workers.' The AI isn't just a better calculator; it's becoming a better thinker. Mark: It's a better 'Old Smart' thinker. It can absorb all the data, see all the patterns, and make decisions based on that vast knowledge base far better than we can. The book argues that any job that relies on that kind of intelligence is at high risk. Michelle: Okay, that's genuinely unsettling. If we can't be smarter or faster in the traditional sense, what's left for us? What do we do when the machines are better at being 'Old Smart' than we are?

Mark: And that's the million-dollar question the book answers. What's left is a different kind of smart. They call it 'NewSmart.' Michelle: NewSmart. Okay, I'm listening. What is it? Mark: NewSmart is a total redefinition of intelligence. It's not about the quantity of your knowledge anymore. It's about the quality of your thinking, your learning, your listening, and your collaborating. It's about excelling at the things machines can't do. Higher-order critical thinking, innovation, and high emotional engagement with others. Michelle: That sounds good, but a little abstract. How do you get there? What's the secret ingredient? Mark: The secret ingredient is the most counter-intuitive part of the whole book. It's humility. Michelle: Hold on. Humility? In the cutthroat world of business and technology, you're telling me the key to success is... humility? That sounds... soft. In the real world, doesn't that just mean you get steamrolled? Mark: That's the common misconception, and it's exactly why the authors spend a whole chapter redefining it. This isn't humility as in being meek or submissive. They define Humility as a mindset that is open-minded, self-accurate, and 'not all about me.' It's about seeing the world, and yourself, as they truly are, not as your ego wants them to be. Michelle: Seeing the world as it truly is... that sounds simple, but I have a feeling it's not. Mark: It's incredibly difficult. Our brains are wired to do the opposite. We defend our beliefs, we deny evidence that contradicts us, and we deflect criticism. Our ego's primary job is to protect our self-image. The author, Ed, tells this fantastic personal story that illustrates it perfectly. He calls it the 'Ketchup and Mayonnaise Incident.' Michelle: I'm intrigued. Go on. Mark: He and his wife are at a museum cafe in London. She orders fries, and the waiter brings a small plate with a dollop of ketchup on one side. Ed immediately gets annoyed. He sees it as stingy—why only half a plate of ketchup? He's fuming internally, his mind racing with complaints he could make. He's so caught up in his emotional outrage that he just stares at this plate. Michelle: Oh, I've been there. The internal monologue of righteous indignation over something trivial. Mark: Exactly. Then the fries arrive, and his wife asks, "Do you want ketchup or mayonnaise?" And Ed looks down and realizes the other half of the plate, the half he was completely blind to, was filled with mayonnaise. His mental model—'fries go with ketchup'—and his emotional reaction literally prevented him from seeing what was right in front of his face. Michelle: Wow. He was cognitively blind. That's a perfect, and slightly embarrassing, example of how our ego and assumptions filter reality. Mark: It's a perfect example of why humility is so critical. Humility is the act of saying, "My mental model might be wrong. I might not be seeing the full picture." It's the only way to quiet your ego long enough to let reality in. Without it, you're just arguing with the mayonnaise you can't even see. Michelle: That makes so much more sense. So it's not about being a doormat. It's about being a scientist about your own beliefs. Treating them as hypotheses to be tested, not truths to be defended. Mark: Precisely. And this is not just a philosophical idea. The book points out that the most innovative companies in the world, like Google or the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, actively hire for this. They call it 'intellectual humility.' They want people who can step back and embrace the better ideas of others, people who are good at 'not knowing.' Because in the Smart Machine Age, knowing all the answers is impossible. Being the best at learning is everything.

Michelle: This sounds great in theory, but how do you actually do it? How do you practice humility and quiet your ego on a stressful Tuesday morning when your boss is challenging your idea in front of everyone? Mark: That's the final, and most practical, part of the book. It moves from the 'what' and 'why' to the 'how.' The authors break down NewSmart into four core behaviors that you can deliberately practice. They are: Quieting Ego, Managing Self (your thinking and emotions), Reflective Listening, and Otherness (emotionally connecting with others). Michelle: Okay, 'Quieting Ego' sounds like the Ketchup and Mayonnaise story. What does that look like in practice? Is it just meditation? Mark: Mindfulness meditation is a huge part of it, and Ed shares his own journey of learning to meditate. It's about training your attention to be in the present moment without judgment. When you do that, you start to see your thoughts and emotions as passing events, not as you. You realize, "I am not my anger" or "I am not my brilliant idea." This creates a space between a trigger and your reaction. Michelle: It detaches your identity from your ideas. So when someone critiques your project, it doesn't feel like a personal attack. Mark: Exactly. And that leads directly to the other behaviors. Take Reflective Listening. Most of us don't listen to understand; we listen to find a gap to insert our own point. Reflective listening is about quieting your own inner chatter and genuinely trying to understand the other person's perspective. It's about asking real questions, not just waiting to talk. Michelle: I think we've all been guilty of that. Formulating our brilliant rebuttal while the other person is still speaking. Mark: The book suggests a simple but powerful language shift to help with this, which they learned from the world of improv comedy. Instead of saying "Yes, but..." which negates everything that came before it, you train yourself to say "Yes, and..." Michelle: Oh, I like that. "Yes, but..." is a verbal roadblock. "Yes, and..." is a bridge. It validates the other person's point and then builds on it. It's collaborative by nature. Mark: It completely changes the dynamic from a debate to a co-creation. And this isn't just for individuals. The book argues that the most successful organizations of the future will be 'NewSmart Organizations' that are built on these principles. The best example they give is Pixar. Michelle: The animation studio. How do they do it? Mark: They have a process called the 'Braintrust.' When a director is working on a film, they'll periodically present it to a group of other senior directors and creatives. The rules are simple: the feedback must be candid and constructive, but the Braintrust has zero authority. The director is free to take or leave any of the suggestions. Michelle: Ah, so it's a psychologically safe environment. The feedback is about the work, not the person. Mark: Precisely. Ed Catmull, Pixar's co-founder, constantly preaches the mantra: "You are not your idea." This creates a culture of humility where brilliant people can give and receive brutally honest feedback without their egos getting in the way. That's how they turn good ideas into masterpieces like Toy Story or Inside Out. They've operationalized humility. Michelle: That's a powerful shift. It's about creating a culture where it's safe to be wrong, because being wrong is just a step on the path to being right. Mark: It's the only way to learn. And in an age where machines can know everything, the only thing that gives us an edge is our ability to learn, adapt, and create something new together.

Mark: So when you step back, the journey the book takes us on is pretty profound. We start with this existential threat from AI, this feeling that we're about to be made obsolete. Michelle: The tsunami warning. Mark: The tsunami warning. But then, instead of telling us to become more like machines—faster, more logical, more data-driven—it tells us to do the exact opposite. It guides us toward a new definition of smart that is built on the most human qualities we have: our ability to manage our ego, to listen with empathy, to connect with others, and to learn with an open mind. Michelle: The paradox is that to compete with super-intelligent machines, we don't need to become more like them. We need to become more deeply, authentically human. Mark: That's the core insight. The future isn't about man versus machine. It's about a new kind of human excellence, enabled by humility, that allows us to collaborate with machines and, more importantly, with each other in ways we never have before. Michelle: So a simple takeaway for our listeners could be to just try catching themselves before they say 'Yes, but...' this week. Just notice it. And maybe, if they're feeling brave, try swapping it for a 'Yes, and...' and see what happens to the conversation. Mark: That's a perfect, practical experiment. And maybe ask yourself a bigger question that the book leaves you with: in your life, is your ego serving you, or are you serving your ego? Michelle: A question worth pondering. This was fascinating. Mark: This is Aibrary, signing off.