Solving Complex Problems With AI

The hardest part about solving big problems is there are dozens of ways to solve them, and the best solution isn’t usually apparent.

A couple of PhDs known as prompt engineers (yes, it’s a job) created the Tree of Thoughts model to help with this.

This model gets ai to take problems, create multiple solutions and rank those solutions based on the likelihood of their success.

Here is how this process can be implemented for your problems.

1. Open ChatGPT

2. Enter the following prompt: “I have a problem related to [describe your problem area]. Could you brainstorm five distinct solutions? Please consider a variety of factors such as [Your perfect factors]”

   

   (This is an example of how this worked at Rugby Bricks)

   
   This will produce five solutions:

   

3. Enter the next prompt: “For each of the five proposed solutions, evaluate their potential. Consider their pros and cons, initial effort needed, implementation difficulty, potential challenges, and the expected outcomes. Assign a probability of success and a confidence level to each option based on these factors”

   
   You’ll then get a list of the pros and cons of each solution.

   

4. Enter the next prompt: “For each solution, deepen the thought process. Generate potential scenarios, strategies for implementation, any necessary partnerships or resources, and how potential obstacles might be overcome. Also, consider any potential unexpected outcomes and how they might be handled.”
   
   You’ll be presented with more insights and action points into the solutions.
   

   

5. Enter the next prompt: “Based on the evaluations and scenarios, rank the solutions in order of promise. Provide a justification for each ranking and offer any final thoughts or considerations for each solution.”

   

   
   You’ll now be able to peruse the whole chain of logic and decision-making in a matter of minutes.
   
   This can be used in any situation, personal or professional, and the results are often more succinct than if you or I had produced them.
   
   Notes: AI isn’t you; however, this process saves hours of time in evaluating and writing out multiple options. Use AI for what it is - an adjunct to your own critical thinking.
   

   P.S. I’m aware that last week I said to tune in today to learn how to create offers that people love, but this process has 5x’d my strategic output, so I had to share it ASAP.

What Happened To All Birds?

Let me let you in on a secret.

There's a ratio that can tell you almost exactly how good (effective) you are at operating your business (allocating resources).

It's called the operating expense ratio.

Let's use it to assess what's gone wrong with one of the great Kiwi success stories, All Birds. They went public after just seven years for $6 billion. But their stock price has crumbled since, and now you can take them private for just $225 million.

What happened?

Well, lots. But their main problem is, they're (sorry guys) shit operators. This year alone, they lost over $100 million.

See All Birds has an operating expense ratio of 0.76. That means they're spending $0.76 on operational costs for every $1 of revenue they generate.

Comparatively, Nike's operating expenses ratio is 0.3.

If All Birds was operated as effectively as Nike, they'd be profitable. And their share price wouldn't be down the shitter.

All Birds are top-heavy. They have an exorbitantly sophisticated and expensive operating structure. Because they don't know how to allocate resources effectively.

This isn't unusual for a venture-backed company. These companies often have awfully high operating expense ratios. They get flooded with capital they don't know how to use. And most of them never figure that out.

The best-case scenario for the early investors in these companies is an IPO where they can dump their stock onto bigger fools.

Anyway, I digress. The point is - astute operators have low operating expense ratios. Crappy ones don't.

P.S. - If you want to assess your operating chops, you can do this;

Look up your company's industry benchmarks on the N.Z. government's business benchmark tool and see how you compare. Or use Google, Perplexity A.I. and other search tools to find records of benchmarks within your industry for businesses of similar sizes.