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

• 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

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

• Gemini 2.5 - Incredible 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

• Midjourney - Best for pictures and video

• HeyGen - AI Video Avatar

• Runway - Text to Video

• Google’s Nano Banana - 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

• Figjam - Whiteboarding Ideas | Brainstorming | Organizing

Briefing: Innovation, AI, and the Agentic Era

Executive Summary

This document synthesizes key insights from innovation strategist Shawn Kanungo on the profound impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the mortgage industry. The central argument is that the sector is on the cusp of a new "agentic era," moving beyond generative AI for content creation to agentic AI that can autonomously act and make decisions. This shift presents both an existential threat and an unprecedented opportunity. For mortgage professionals, survival and success will depend on a dual strategy: aggressively adopting AI to automate tasks and create new efficiencies, while simultaneously doubling down on the irreplaceable human element of "friction"—creating meaningful, memorable, and trust-building experiences. Kanungo urges professionals to overcome fear through immersion, advising them to "work scared until you become scary," and challenges established leaders to "unlearn" the habits that made them successful and be willing to "become a rookie again." Ultimately, the greatest competitive advantages in an AI-driven world will be profoundly human: the ability to build trust, the willingness to be bold, and a culture of deeply caring for both employees and clients.

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1. The Agentic AI Revolution

Kanungo posits that the period from 2022 to 2024, focused on generative AI for content creation (e.g., refining emails, creating images), was merely a prelude. The next phase, beginning in 2025, is the "agentic era," which will unlock extraordinary value for professionals.

• Defining Agentic AI: This new form of AI has "agency," meaning it possesses the power to act and make decisions. It moves beyond simply generating content to getting things done.

• The Spectrum of Agency: True, 24/7 autonomous agents are not yet fully realized, but a spectrum of agentic tools already exists. These range from simple workflows (summarizing a client conversation and sending an email) to more complex, decision-making systems.

• The Democratization of Creation: The core message is that "the most dangerous skill in the world is just coming up with an idea." Tools now exist to turn ideas into functional applications in seconds, a process that previously took teams months or years.

Practical AI Demonstrations for Mortgage Professionals

Kanungo presented several real-world examples of how agentic AI can be applied directly to the mortgage business:

Application

Description

Tools Mentioned

Key Takeaway

Voice-Enabled CRM

An AI agent that populates a CRM entirely through voice commands, eliminating manual data entry. The system can then send proactive text notifications.

Lovable

"A human being should never touch a CRM ever again."

Specialized AI "Ninjas"

Using a feature called "Skills," an AI model was trained on DLC's specific mortgage lending criteria from its website. It could then analyze a client's synthetic financial data and generate a detailed assessment and conditional approval.

Claude (by Anthropic)

Professionals can create a team of specialized AI "ninjas," each an expert in a particular task, to augment their capabilities.

24/7 Client Education Agent

An AI agent was created for the sponsor FCT to answer client questions about title insurance in real-time, functioning "24-7" and in multiple languages.

Custom Agent

Anything digital—an app, a website, a process—can be replicated and reinvented by AI.

Client Visualization

AI was used to create a realistic visualization of a "Four Seasons Room" for his wife by combining architectural plans, voice descriptions, and furniture ideas.

Image Generation AI

AI tools can be used to help clients visualize their future homes in powerful new ways.

Workflow Automation

Inspired by a Malaysian store owner who used WhatsApp to manage employees, Kanungo demonstrated building a system to send automated WhatsApp notifications and manage workflows.

Lindy

Complex business automation can be built and managed through simple, text-based interfaces that employees already use.

2. A New Mindset for Work and Innovation

The availability of powerful AI tools necessitates a fundamental shift in how professionals approach their work, their skills, and their fears.

• From "Begin" to "Build" with the End in Mind: The old adage was to start with a vision and work toward it. The new model is to "build with the end in mind" by using AI to generate 100 potential final outputs (reports, marketing campaigns, analyses) at the beginning of the process. This creates a more tangible starting point and accelerates execution.

• Redefining Power and Skill: In a world where an AI copilot provides universal access to information, knowledge is no longer the primary source of power.

• Embracing Discomfort: Overcoming Fear with Action: Kanungo argues that fear of AI is directly correlated with a lack of hands-on experience. Every person he has seen immerse themselves in the technology becomes empowered, not scared.

3. The Human Element in an AI World

While embracing AI is critical for efficiency, the ultimate competitive advantage for mortgage professionals lies in intentionally cultivating the human elements that AI cannot replicate.

• The "F Word": Bringing Back Friction: Modern society is built on frictionless, transactional efficiency (e.g., food delivery, one-click ordering). This has eroded trust and human connection. Kanungo advocates for reintroducing the "F word": Friction.

    ◦ Friction Defined: In this context, friction means "to double down on humanity" by making things more "meaningful and magical and memorable." It is the opposite of a purely transactional, seamless experience.

    ◦ Costly Signalling: The concept that "delight is inefficient." By putting in extraordinary, inefficient effort (like a realtor bringing donuts and champagne to an open house), a professional signals deeper meaning and builds significant trust.

• The Duality of Future Success: Organizations will thrive at two opposite ends of the spectrum:

    1. Fast & Efficient: Utterly seamless, on-demand services (e.g., McDonald's).

    2. Slow & Experiential: Focused on craftsmanship, experience, and deliberate friction (e.g., Hermès, Four Seasons). The most dangerous position is the "black hole of mediocrity" in the middle. The competitive advantage for mortgage professionals is firmly in the second category: making things "incredibly easy" by "holding someone's hand through the most difficult decision of their entire lives."

• The Ultimate Strategy: "Deeply Care": Kanungo asserts that the greatest business strategy is to "deeply care." He illustrates this with a story of a Dubai hotel that offered to gently knock on his door if he missed their wakeup calls. This level of care was a direct result of the hotel's leadership deeply caring for its staff, which created psychological safety and a culture of innovation.

4. The Call to Action: Disrupt Yourself

The final challenge is for individuals and leaders, particularly successful ones, to actively dismantle the thinking and processes that brought them to their current position.

• From "0 to 100" to "100 to Zero": While growing a business is exciting, the most challenging and rewarding work is reinventing it—going from 100 back to zero. This requires unlearning past successes.

• Overcoming Nostalgia: Leaders often become nostalgic or "romantic" about the business models that worked in the past. This is a primary obstacle to innovation. The imperative is to ask: "Knowing everything that we know about technology today, how would you reinvent?"

• The True Catalyst is Action: A speech can be inspiring, but it is not the catalyst for change. The only true catalyst is evidence and "receipts" gained from putting in the work every single day—trying a new tool, finding a way to create friction, or disrupting a small part of one's process.

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.