Sales Success

Defining Authentic Intelligence

If you want to get a technologist terrified and very excited at the same time, just mention AI. It’s changing everything about business, which is pretty much the definition of horrifying, but it also holds such promise that it’s almost impossible not to get excited about it. But what does AI mean?

Traditionally, AI stands for Artificial Intelligence, a phrase that was coined by John McCarthy back in 1956, when he held the first academic conference on the topic

But that’s not what Usherpa Co-founder Dan Harrington is talking about in his upcoming book: Authentic Intelligence. According to Dan, his AI is a powerful, yet often misunderstood, approach to technology implementation and strategic decision-making. 

“At its core,” he writes in his new book, “Authentic Intelligence is the fusion of technical expertise and real-world, experience-driven insights that enables organizations to build technology that truly works and delivers measurable results.”

Where are we seeing this today? In the business CRM.

It’s About the Drivers of Software Development

Traditionally, the development and deployment of business technology have been driven by a siloed, technology-centric mindset, where the focus is on the latest features and capabilities rather than the actual needs of the end-users. 

This disconnect between the technical experts and the practical realities of the business often leads to the implementation of overly complex, underutilized systems that fail to drive the desired outcomes.

Authentic Intelligence, on the other hand, seeks to bridge this gap by empowering business leaders to leverage their own experiences, lessons learned, and successful (as well as failed) strategies to guide the technology decision-making process. 

Rather than relying solely on technical specifications and features, Authentic Intelligence emphasizes the importance of understanding the real-world challenges faced by the sales teams, marketing professionals, and, ultimately, the customers themselves.

By combining this deep, experiential knowledge with the technical prowess of the IT department, organizations can develop and deploy technology solutions that not only meet the functional requirements of the business but also align with the realities of the market and the customer. 

Software Success Correlates to User Adoption

This approach helps to counteract the tendency of many organizations to overcomplicate their technology solutions, often in pursuit of the latest and greatest features, rather than focusing on the core needs of the end-user.

One of the key benefits of the Authentic Intelligence approach is its ability to drive measurable, bottom-line results. By automating the best practices and workflows of the top-performing sales professionals, Authentic Intelligence can help to improve the performance of the entire sales team, upending the traditional Pareto principle (the 80/20 rule) and enabling even the lowest-performing salespeople to achieve greater success.

Moreover, the Authentic Intelligence method has been proven to increase the adoption and utilization of the implemented technology, as it ensures that the final product is tailored to the specific needs and preferences of the end-users. This, in turn, leads to a higher return on investment (ROI) and a more sustainable, long-term impact on the organization’s overall performance.

As the business landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace, the need for effective, user-centric technology has never been more pressing. By embracing the principles of Authentic Intelligence, organizations can position themselves for success, building technology that not only solves their immediate challenges but also empowers their teams to drive sustained growth and better serve their customers.

To learn more, contact us today to get on the waiting list to receive Dan’s new book or to get your questions answered.