Thank you for being part of my session at Caribe Biz Forum 2025

The After Show

In the latest episode of The After Show, hosts dive into Shawn Kanungo's thought-provoking session at Caribe Biz Forum

DOWNLOAD PRESENTATION (WARNING - THIS IS 2GB+)

KEY TAKEAWAYS (an AI-Output with Hallucinations)

AI AGENTS & AGentic workflows

  • n8n - Workflow automation

  • Cursor - Coding agent

  • Comet by Perplexity - Best Agentic Browser - browse the internet with AI and get stuff done

  • Lindy - Build an AI agent - great for AI automation

LLM

Text-to-App

  • Lovable - Build any app with agentic reasoning (best at front-end)

  • v0 by Vercel - Text-to-Webpage (really good front-end)

  • Replit - Idea-to-App (best for full app)

Text-to-IMAGE/VIDEO

Research & other

  • NotebookLM - Research and the two AI podcast hosts that you see above :)

  • Google AI Studio - Real-time AI co-presence

  • Clay - AI Outbound Sales | Generating lists of emails and sending cold outreach

  • Figjam - Whiteboarding Ideas | Brainstorming | Organizing

Briefing: Innovation, AI, and the Agentic Era

Executive Summary

This document synthesizes the core themes from a presentation by innovation strategist Shawn Kanungo, focusing on the profound impact of Artificial Intelligence and a new paradigm for strategy. The central argument is that while AI represents the most significant technological revolution to date, its ultimate value is in accentuating, not replacing, uniquely human qualities.

The current era is defined by the shift from AI as a content creator to the "agentic era," where autonomous AI agents can execute complex tasks, fundamentally rewiring how work is done. This commoditizes technical skills and makes the ability to generate an idea the most potent skill. However, as AI-generated content becomes ubiquitous, the most valuable assets will be those that cannot be replicated by a machine: trust, originality, and meaningful human experiences.

Consequently, future-winning organizations will fall into two categories: those that are ruthlessly efficient and "frictionless," and those that strategically slow down to create memorable, high-touch experiences—a concept termed "strategic friction." The ultimate strategy in this new landscape is not technological, but human. It is to "deeply care" for employees, fostering a culture of "high-agency people" who are empowered to innovate. True strategy is defined not as a plan, but as "energy"—an imaginary theory that sets people on fire, built on bold ambition and a commitment to being remarkably different. The primary challenge for leaders is to embrace this change by being willing to disrupt themselves.

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1. The Dawn of the Agentic Revolution

The current technological shift is framed as the most important revolution humanity has witnessed, with its pace and scale far exceeding previous innovations. The rapid adoption of AI tools signifies a fundamental change in society and business.

• Unprecedented Speed of Adoption: ChatGPT achieved 800 million users in just three years, a milestone that took the internet 13 years to reach. This demonstrates the unprecedented velocity of the current AI revolution.

• The Shift from Content to Action: The period from late 2022 to 2024 was primarily characterized by AI's use in content creation. The next phase is the "agentic revolution" or "agentic era."

• The Agentic Enterprise: The year 2026 is projected to be "the year of the agentic enterprise." These are organizations powered by AI that place humans at the core of their operations.

• The Spectrum of Agency: "Agentic-ness" exists on a spectrum:

    ◦ LLM Workflows: Simple, recipe-like automations, such as a bot summarizing a conversation and sending a follow-up email.

    ◦ True AI Agents: Always-on, 24/7 systems that can make decisions and, for the first time in history, "actually get stuff done." Agency is defined as "the power to act."

2. Practical Applications and Core Implications

The presentation provided several live demonstrations to illustrate the tangible power of modern AI, highlighting its capacity to democratize creation and analysis while posing new strategic questions.

Tool/Platform

Use Case

Key Takeaway

Lovable

Created an Airbnb-style co-living platform for UniAtlántico students using a simple text prompt from ChatGPT.

In the near future, technology becomes a commodity. The "most dangerous skill in the world is just coming up with an idea."

Custom AI Agent

Developed a 24/7 agent for the Cámara de Comercio de Barranquilla to answer business tax questions in both English and Spanish.

AI can create specialized, always-available digital employees for specific organizational functions.

Claude (Anthropic)

Generated a 50,000-line synthetic customer dataset for Bancolombia and then created an advanced 360-degree customer risk and profitability model in Excel.

AI can overcome privacy barriers with synthetic data and perform complex financial modeling that would traditionally cost tens of thousands of dollars.

These capabilities lead to a core principle: "Anything that is digital today will be replicated and reinvented by AI." This necessitates a new approach to innovation.

• Old Paradigm: "Begin with the end in mind." Develop a vision and work incrementally toward it.

• New Paradigm: "Build with the end in mind." Generate hundreds of AI-powered solutions or apps upfront to serve as the starting point for the creative process.

• Critical Caveat: AI should be used as a starting point, not the final solution. "I would never trust AI as the final solution... to put it in front of a client or put it in front of a customer."

3. The Future of Work and Global Opportunity

The discourse around AI's impact on employment is reframed from one of job replacement to one of job expansion and empowerment.

• From Replacement to Augmentation: The relevant question is not "Will robots take our jobs?" but rather recognizing that "AI allows you to do any job." An accountant can become a coder, and a child can become a doctor, augmented by a specialist AI copilot.

• A Renaissance for New Grads: Young, hungry, and curious individuals learning to leverage AI agents will be the most valuable people in any organization. They are seen as more valuable than complacent industry veterans with decades of experience who are unwilling to learn and grow.

• The New Definition of Power: The adage "knowledge is power" is now obsolete. In a world with ubiquitous AI copilots, power belongs to "the people that are hungry, people that can innovate, people that can fight against the status quo."

• The Global Leapfrog Opportunity: It is argued that developing regions like the Caribbean can adopt AI faster than America. American companies are often hindered by complex, tangled legacy "tech stacks" and infrastructure, making radical change difficult. Regions without this technological baggage can "reimagine our business around AI almost faster." This is supported by an anecdote of a non-technical store owner in Malaysia who built a custom AI agent to manage her employees via WhatsApp.

4. The Paradox of Mastery: When to Use AI and When to Ignore It

While building proficiency in AI is critical, true mastery lies in understanding its limitations and knowing when human intuition and originality must take precedence.

• Overcoming Fear Through Action: Fear of AI stems from a lack of engagement. Every individual who immerses themselves in the technology becomes empowered, not afraid. The advice is to "Work scared until you become scary. Work scared until you become dangerous."

• The Gym Analogy: Learning AI is like starting at a gym—it's overwhelming initially. The key is to simply start using any tool. Mastery is achieved when the tools "become light in your hand."

• The Power to Ignore AI: One of the most important skills in the AI revolution is to "choose when to ignore it."

    ◦ Timbaland & Missy Elliott: If they had asked an AI to create a "hit song," it would have produced a formulaic result based on past data. Their actual number one song, "Get Ur Freak On," succeeded precisely because it broke every formula with its originality (Japanese intro, Punjabi bhangra beat).

    ◦ The Wright Brothers: An AI in the late 1800s, analyzing all available scientific data, would have concluded that human flight was impossible, potentially discouraging their efforts.

• The Ultimate Forces: "I believe AI is the most important technology that we've ever seen. But I believe that AI is the second most powerful force that we've ever created, and the first is our ability to ignore it."

5. The New Currency: Trust and Strategic Friction

In a world saturated with AI-generated content, the ultimate differentiator becomes that which is uniquely and authentically human.

• The Scarcity of Trust: When anyone can create a compelling AI song, video, or financial report, "the most valuable asset is what can't be generated." In a world of frictionless transactions, "trust becomes the ultimate currency."

• The "F Word": Friction: Contrary to the prevailing obsession with efficiency, the argument is made that "we need more friction." While frictionless service has its place, value is created through experiences that are "meaningful and magical and memorable and inspiring."

• Two Winning Business Models:

    1. Fast & Frictionless: Companies like Amazon and McDonald's that win on speed and efficiency.

    2. Slow & Experiential: Companies that deliberately slow things down to focus on craft, moments, and human experience. The luxury brand Hermès is cited as an example, prioritizing craft over industrial speed.

• The Experience is the Brand: A brand is not a logo or a website; it is "a story that's embedded in the hearts and minds and souls of your clients."

6. The Ultimate Strategy: Deeply Caring

The foundation of a successful, innovative, and resilient organization is not its technology or processes, but its commitment to its people.

• The Two Pillars of Trust: The speaker trusts only two things: "incredibly reliable technology and people that are deeply cared for."

• The Dubai Hotel Anecdote: An exceptional customer service experience (a proactive wake-up call with a backup gentle knock) was a direct result of an employee who felt deeply valued. The hotel demonstrated this by inviting the parents of all staff to stay for a weekend, fostering immense pride and dedication in employees like Mohammad.

• The Greatest Strategy: "As it turns out, the greatest strategy in the world is actually to deeply care. To deeply care about the people around you, and in turn, they will care deeply about their fans."

• Cultivating High-Agency People: This approach builds a culture of "high-agency people"—individuals who are "architects of their own outcomes" and "just get stuff done." This culture is created through two key actions:

    1. Giving people a reason to deeply care.

    2. Empowering them to embrace failure.

7. A Modern Framework for Strategy

Strategy in the age of AI must be redefined as a dynamic, human-centric force rather than a static document.

• Strategy as Energy: "Strategy is energy. Strategy is an imaginary theory that has to set people on fire." A strategy without this energy is "just called a PowerPoint."

• Four Ways to Create Strategic Energy:

    1. Bold Ambition: A vision that aims to set the world on fire.

    2. Deep Understanding: Relentless focus on where the world, technology, and customers are going.

    3. Making it Personal: Empowering team members to be innovators.

    4. Becoming Remarkably Different: Strategy is not about being the best; it's about being "a freak"—unique and standing out.

• The Personal Moat: Individuals should find their "personal moat"—their unique strengths and competitive advantages. An agentic organization is one where everyone operates from their strengths, and AI automates the rest. For the first time, "the software works for us," not the other way around.

• The Final Challenge: The core challenge for every leader and organization is to answer one question: "Are you willing to disrupt yourself?" This means having the courage to go from a position of success (100) back to the beginning (zero) to reinvent for the future.

"The most dangerous person in the room is the person who is most afraid — yet bold enough to move forward."

The AI Revolution:

  • Generative AI's Potential: Shawn highlights how AI, especially generative AI, is transforming work by democratizing it. He draws parallels with the internet's impact on knowledge, emphasizing that AI will revolutionize how tasks are performed.

  • Generative AI Era (2023-2024)

    • Shawn recaps how ChatGPT launched in late 2022 and captured the world’s attention.

    • 2023 and 2024 became the era of “generative AI,” with widespread use of tools like ChatGPT for writing, image generation, deep fakes, etc.

    Transition to 2025: The Agentic Era

    • The speaker asserts that the “generative AI revolution” is now “over.”

    • We’re entering a new wave in 2025, referred to as the “agentic” revolution, or the agentic era.

    • Key premise: AI agents will be the next huge disruptor, providing 10x to 1000x the value of generative AI alone.

    Why Agents?

    • An agent is software that can autonomously perform tasks on behalf of humans—mimicking what human employees might do but never sleeping or stopping.

    • Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang repeatedly referenced “agents” in his CES talk, highlighting their importance.

    Agents as the New Conversational Layer

    • In the ’90s, businesses needed websites.

    • In the 2000s-2010s, businesses needed apps and social media channels.

    • In 2025 and beyond, agents will become a critical “conversational layer” for organizations (internally and externally).

    • Companies will race to build their own brand-specific AI agents, and the challenge will be how to differentiate those agents.

  • AI marks "the end of trust" as it becomes harder to distinguish between AI-generated and human-created content. Shawn warns about the erosion of trust due to AI's ability to create indistinguishable deep fakes and simulations.

  • Shift from Knowledge Workers to Value Creators: As AI becomes more embedded in businesses, the most valuable jobs will no longer be knowledge-based but will center around creating value in new and innovative ways. Leaders must focus on being innovators, not just managing efficiencies​

  • We live in an age of "infinite leverage" where individuals can do more with less using various tools and resources.

  • AI as a Starting Point: The concept "the end is now the beginning" highlights a shift in how we approach creative and development processes. Rather than seeing AI-generated outputs as final products, they are considered starting points that inspire and guide further human creativity.

  • AI is the next communication layer: Just like the internet, websites, and apps, AI agents will become ubiquitous, transforming how we interact with clients and information. Kanungo predicts, "By the end of next year, every company in this room will have one AI agent or multiple or hundreds."

  • Iterative Creation: By generating numerous initial ideas or drafts using AI, the creative process becomes iterative. This allows for a broad exploration of possibilities before honing in on the final deliverable through human refinement and creativity.

  • Rapid Prototyping: The example of generating a hundred websites, apps, or analyses with the help of AI emphasizes the efficiency and speed with which initial concepts can be developed. This rapid prototyping accelerates the innovation cycle.

  • Creative Catalyst: AI serves as a catalyst for innovation by providing a multitude of starting points. It breaks the traditional linear progression of project development and encourages a more dynamic and flexible approach

  • AI-Driven Efficiency: Tools like Midjourney can generate multiple creative options for advertisements in seconds, providing companies with the flexibility to test and optimize their campaigns efficiently

The Concept of DEEPLY CARING:

  • Reliability and genuine care are foundational to building trust, both in technology and human interactions.

  • Exceptional service goes beyond basic expectations, creating memorable experiences that differentiate a business.

  • Personalized attention and proactive problem-solving significantly enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.

  • Investing in employee well-being and growth fosters a positive work culture, leading to increased job satisfaction and performance.

  • Recognizing and valuing employees' contributions, even extending to their families, can create strong emotional connections to the workplace.

  • Empowerment is a two-pronged approach: providing cutting-edge tools (like AI) and demonstrating deep care for individuals.

  • Genuine care is a strategic business advantage, driving both customer retention and employee innovation.

  • Creating a culture of care can transform service delivery, employee engagement, and ultimately, business outcomes.

  • The ripple effect of care extends beyond immediate interactions, influencing long-term relationships with both customers and employees.

  • Innovation thrives in environments where individuals feel valued, supported, and equipped with the right tools.

  • Care for Employees = Care for Customers: Organizations that deeply care for their employees tend to deliver superior customer service, as employee satisfaction directly translates to customer trust and satisfaction

    The Importance of Human-Centered Leadership

    • People Over Projects: A leadership philosophy that prioritizes people, such as letting employees take vacations despite client demands, fosters loyalty and long-term value for the business​.

    • High-Agency Cultures: Empowering people by combining technological tools with people-centric care creates "high-agency" employees who are proactive, innovative, and committed to the company’s mission​.

The Concept of Friction:

He advocates for maintaining trust through human-centric, meaningful, and memorable experiences.

  • Bringing Back Friction: In an increasingly frictionless world, Shawn argues for the value of friction in creating deeper, more authentic connections. He stresses that community management companies, unlike tech companies, thrive on trust and relationships, not just efficiency.

  • In a frictionless world, we need more friction.

  • Companies will win by being either extremely frictionless or extremely human - the middle ground is "the black hole of mediocrity."

Are you willing to look like a joke?

Shawn suggests that true innovation requires embracing uncertainty and discomfort - what he calls "the darkness." This idea challenges the common view that innovation is solely about achieving specific outcomes or results.

By focusing on identity rather than outcomes, Kanungo seems to be advocating for a mindset shift. He's suggesting that being an innovator is more about who you are and how you approach challenges, rather than just what you produce. This approach emphasizes qualities like curiosity, resilience, and willingness to take risks.

The question "Are you willing to be the innovator?" is provocative. It asks whether one is ready to:

  1. Embrace uncertainty and potential failure

  2. Challenge established norms and ways of thinking

  3. Cultivate a mindset of continuous learning and experimentation

  4. Persist in the face of setbacks and criticism

This perspective on innovation as an identity rather than just a process or outcome can be empowering. It suggests that anyone can be an innovator if they're willing to adopt certain attitudes and behaviors, regardless of their specific role or industry.

Disruption and Self-Disruption:

  • Leaders need to be willing to disrupt themselves.

  • Innovation isn't about thinking, it's about acting. It involves deliberately exposing yourself to challenges and suffering.

  • Small experiments and actions are key to starting the disruption process.

Embracing Innovation's Challenges

The Willingness to Look Foolish

  • True innovation requires embracing uncertainty and discomfort ("the darkness")

  • Focuses on identity rather than just outcomes

  • Requires qualities like curiosity, resilience, and risk-taking

Innovation as Universal Responsibility

  • Not a separate department but a mindset for everyone

  • Continuously asking how to improve

The Most Valuable Question

  • "What will you start today that scares you?"

  • Begins changing your story and challenging limits

Self-Disruption

  • The greatest challenge isn't scaling up (0 to 100)

  • It's having the courage to disrupt yourself and what's working (100 to 0)

Beyond Mountains

  • Success shouldn't breed complacency

  • There are always new heights after reaching what seemed like the summit

To Reach 5×, You Can’t Think 5 % Bigger—You Have to Go to Zero

Take any core process—finance approvals, R&D cycles, vessel maintenance—and ask: If we rebuilt this from scratch with today’s tech, what vanishes? What automates? What now demands more human warmth? Going “to zero” prevents incrementalism from smothering breakthroughs.

The Most Dangerous Person in the Room

It’s not the algorithm or the credentialed expert—it’s the individual who feels the fear, yet moves anyway. Bold + scared beats brilliant + stuck. Be that person, hire that person, partner with that person, and the future tips in your favor.

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