KEY TAKEAWAYS (an AI-Output with Hallucinations)

MY #1 USED AI TOOL

• Wispr Flow - I don’t type anymore, I just voice everything

AI AGENTS & AGentic workflows

• Atlas - AI Browser by OpenAI

• 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

• Gemini 3 - The Best LLM on the planet right now

• OpenAI’s Deep Research - Absolutely the best research tool out there right now

• Manus - Most comprehensive AI agent in my opinion

• Claude Skills - Claude Skills is the best skills agent - this allows to be more deterministic with your agents.

• Grok 4 - Equivalent to o3 from ChatGPT - awesome for X data

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

• Midjourney - Best for pictures and video

• HeyGen - AI Video Avatar

• Runway - Text to Video

• Google’s Nano Banana Pro - Best Image Generator

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

Briefing: Innovation, AI, and the Agentic Era

Executive Summary

Executive Summary

The Grow Canada 2025 conference convenes under the theme "Meeting the Moment," positioning Canadian agriculture as a strategic driver of economic growth, sustainability, and innovation amidst significant global and domestic challenges. The opening session established a clear focus on partnership, Indigenous reconciliation, and engaging the next generation of leaders.

The keynote address, delivered by innovation strategist Shawn Kanungo, provided a provocative and urgent analysis of the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) on the agriculture industry and beyond. Kanungo's central argument is that the current era represents a fleeting window of opportunity—a moment to be seized. He contends that AI is ushering in an "agentic revolution," shifting from a "system of record" to a "system of intelligence" where technology can not only analyze but also execute tasks. This transforms industries like agriculture, which he defines as fundamentally a "data business."

However, this technological acceleration creates a "frictionless trap," where the relentless pursuit of efficiency erodes trust and meaning. Kanungo's counter-strategy posits that organizations will succeed by either becoming radically frictionless or by deliberately reintroducing "friction"—meaningful, human-centric experiences. He argues that the ultimate competitive advantage lies not in technology alone, but in a culture of deep care for people, a willingness to embrace failure, and the courage to self-disrupt. The core challenge for leaders is to move beyond optimizing the past and instead focus on creating the future, reframing strategy not as a plan but as "energy" that inspires action.

Conference Opening and Context

Land Acknowledgement and Indigenous Food Systems

The conference began with a formal acknowledgement of the traditional territories of the peoples of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, delivered by Collie Wood of the National Circle for Indigenous Agriculture and Food.

• Territories Honored: The acknowledgement specifically recognized the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Siksika Nation, the Tsuut'ina Nation, the Îyârhe Nakoda Nations (Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Goodstoney), and the Métis Nation (Districts 5 and 6).

• Historical Context: Wood provided the Indigenous and colonial history of the Calgary area. The Blackfoot name for the area is Mochkinstsis (meaning "elbow"), while the Métis name is Otoskwunee. The name "Calgary" is of colonial origin, from a castle in Scotland.

• Indigenous Agriculture: A central message was that these lands have been part of vibrant Indigenous food systems for thousands of years, characterized by sophisticated stewardship of bison, prairie ecosystems, and sustainable relationships with the land.

• Call to Action: Wood called on attendees to partner with Indigenous nations to advance Indigenous agriculture, support producers, strengthen land-based economies, and promote food sovereignty, stating, "Indigenous knowledge systems remain essential to the resilience and sustainability of our agriculture future here in Canada."

Grow Canada 2025: Theme and Participants

The conference theme, "Meeting the Moment," frames Canada's current position as a pivotal opportunity to leverage its agriculture and food sectors as strategic drivers of national prosperity and global food security.

• Grow Canada Partnership: The conference is hosted by a coalition of 19 of Canada's leading agriculture-related organizations. Three new partners were welcomed, extending the coalition's reach along the value chain:

    ◦ Canadian Produce Marketing Association

    ◦ Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada

    ◦ Spirits Canada

• Key Delegate Groups: The audience included several noteworthy groups, highlighting the conference's broad influence:

    ◦ Dignitaries: The Honourable Senators Mary Robinson and Rob Black.

    ◦ Youth Delegation: Approximately 90 members of 4-H from across Canada, identified as the "next crop of leaders."

    ◦ Food Influencers: Registered dietitians and nutrition professionals, bringing consumer and culinary perspectives.

Keynote Address: Shawn Kanungo

Keynote speaker Shawn Kanungo, a globally recognized innovation strategist, delivered a presentation centered on AI, disruption, and the indispensable role of humanity in a technologically accelerating world. His stated purpose was not to provide answers, but "to provoke."

Core Theme: Seizing the Moment in a Closing Window

Kanungo framed the current period as a critical, time-sensitive opportunity for Canadian agriculture to assert global leadership, driven by global instability and the rise of digital agriculture.

"At this precise moment, the door is closing... This is our moment to take advantage to show the world what this country is really all about to feed the world."

He warned against complacency, noting that the opposite of seizing the moment is looking back in 18 months and realizing "what we've been doing... is optimizing the status quo."

The Agentic Revolution of AI

Kanungo argued that AI is evolving beyond simple content creation into an "agentic era," where software has agency—the power to act and "get stuff done."

• From Record to Intelligence: For decades, technology has primarily created more elegant "systems of record" for storing and retrieving data. The current AI revolution is different because it provides a "system of intelligence" that can act on that data.

• Practical Demonstrations: Kanungo provided several live examples of the agentic power of current AI tools:

    ◦ Application Building: He built a functional "crop analyzer" application capable of identifying plant diseases from images using Google's Gemini 3 model, emphasizing that in 2025, "the most dangerous skill in the world is just coming up with an idea."

    ◦ Data Analysis: He used Claude (a large language model) and its Excel integration to download a raw dataset of crop yields and instantly create a predictive model and simulator, effectively giving every organization a "10x financial analyst."

    ◦ AI Agents: He showcased a personalized AI agent using his likeness that could answer questions and connect users to specialists, demonstrating the potential for 24/7, intelligent customer interaction.

• Agriculture as a Data Business: Citing a visit to Titan Land and Cattle, Kanungo concluded that "agriculture is actually a data business." He described farmers and operators as data scientists constantly working to improve efficiency and value. This data-rich nature of the industry makes it uniquely positioned to benefit from AI.

Navigating the Human Side of Disruption

While championing AI's potential, Kanungo also issued stark warnings about its societal impact and outlined a human-centric strategy for navigating it.

1. The Frictionless Trap and the End of Trust

• AI Marks the End of Trust: The ability of AI to generate hyper-realistic content has blurred the line between real and fake. This erosion of trust is a fundamental societal challenge, requiring a greater emphasis on critical thinking.

• The Rise of Baseline Expectations: Technology continuously raises consumer and stakeholder expectations, turning everything into its most efficient, "frictionless" form (e.g., clickbait over newspapers, TikTok sounds over albums).

• The F-Word: Friction: In a world optimized for seamlessness, Kanungo argues for bringing back "friction"—deliberately slowing down to create meaningful, memorable, and human-centric experiences. He posits that future success will belong to two types of organizations: the hyper-frictionless (e.g., Amazon) and those that masterfully employ friction (e.g., Four Seasons). The middle ground is a "black hole of mediocrity."

2. The Ultimate Strategy: Deeply Care

Kanungo asserted that the most powerful strategies are rooted in humanity, not just technology.

"The greatest strategy in the world is to deeply care. Is to deeply care about the people around you. And in turn, they will they will care deeply about their stakeholders."

• Culture of Innovation: True innovation, he argued, stems from "ultimate empowerment," which is a combination of two elements:

    1. A deep commitment to people.

    2. A willingness to embrace failure.

• People over Profits: He recounted a pivotal moment in his career where a leader at Deloitte was willing to lose a project rather than cancel an employee's pre-scheduled vacation, demonstrating the principle of putting people first.

3. Recruiting the Next Generation Through Status

Kanungo challenged leaders to reframe how they approach recruitment.

• The Wrong Question: "How do we recruit more young people?"

• The Right Question: "How do we show young people that they can improve their status in this particular industry?"

• Redefining Status: Status is not about wealth or luxury, but about being valued, respected, and admired. He argued that for the younger generation, status is tied to upward mobility, ownership, and freedom—all of which the modern, technologically advanced agriculture industry can offer.

A Call to Action: Disrupt Yourself

Kanungo concluded with a challenge to the industry's successful leaders: to have the courage to disrupt themselves.

• Strategy is Energy: He defines strategy not as a document but as "energy"—an imaginary theory that "has to set people on fire." An AI can generate a strategy document, but it can never generate energy.

• Go from 100 to Zero: The most difficult but rewarding path is not scaling from zero to 100, but reinventing from a position of success—to "become a rookie again."

• The Coca-Cola Lesson: He used the example of Coca-Cola, a company that became so focused on optimizing its well-oiled machine that it risked losing its "remarkable" edge and now must actively work to reinvent itself.

Kanungo's final message was a call for courageous action in the face of uncertainty:

"The most dangerous person in the room is a 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.