The Dinosaur Adviser is Here… Now!
Grandson #4 (of 5) knows a dinosaur when he sees one.
And – while I’m not nearly as smart – so do I.
“That’s T. Rex of course. Silly Grandad!” Says he.
“Well, how do you know that?” Says I.
“Because, silly,” (Quick as a flash, this one.) “He’s got MASSIVE teeth and TINY arms.”
Yes he does.
Or at least he did.
Question is… “Why those TINY arms.”
And in the answer you have a warning for our AI-driven world.
Because – whatever Evolution or Creation philosophy you hold to – Nature has a brutal way of dealing with ‘Things That Aren’t Used Much’.
When a creature doesn’t need to use its arms.
Well, Nature tends to shrivel them. Makes them useless.
Brutal!
And there you have it!
The problem every Personal Financial Services firm is facing.
Because there’s more than one way to becoming a ‘Dinosaur Adviser’.
The traditional Dinosaur Adviser remains entrenched as “Old School”.
You know what I mean…
Product driven.
Solution seeking.
Blissfully ignorant of the power of Holistic, Context-Creating Planning.
That behaviour has stood out, ever more starkly, during the last decade.
But now…
Now there’s a new kind of Dinosaur emerging.
One which won’t become obvious for quite a while.
Because there’s a more quiet, insidious threat to the brilliance of this profession.
Here’s a clue.
25 years ago – before Satnav and GPS – taxi drivers in London had to pass a gruelling test called ‘The Knowledge’
They engaged memory, awareness and projection to map that complex network of streets into their head.
In fact, studying the brains of Boomer Drivers…
We see that a part of their BRAIN actually GREW to cope with ‘The Knowledge’.
Take away their smartphones and Satnavs…
Today’s generation of taxi drivers… well they haven’t a clue!
Meanwhile, with their technology addiction… that part of their brain capacity… has, well, shrunk.
The problem…
The shrinking-arms risk (as all-encompassing and invasive as Climate Change)…
Has a name.
It’s called ‘COGNITIVE ATROPHY’.
It’s ‘Use It. Or Lose It!’
You see…
Cognitive Atrophy occurs not because we grow older…
But because we outsource too much of our thinking.
When leaders stop wrestling with ideas, stop grappling with complexity, and simply implement frameworks or mimic others…
they lose their edge.
They do so slowly, invisibly. And often irreversibly.
This danger is real in the world of financial planning, business building and leadership.
When we over-depend on other people’s solutions — even great ones…
When we let AI do too much of our creative thinking…
My own experience – particularly with ChatGPT recently – is that we risk:
Dulling our ability to think originally
Weakening our discernment
Losing touch with the uniqueness of our God-given genius
It’s not that others’ wisdom isn’t useful. it is.
It’s not an AI system like ChatGPT isn’t lightning fast and beguilingly clever. It is.
But both need to be carefully engaged with, not just adopted.
In other words:
The frameworks and algorithms generated by others are scaffolding.
They’re not replacements for deep, soul-led thinking!
Here’s what I’m observing already…
Those who will rise to lead this profession into the future will be those who have the wisdom to DISCERN:
When to ACT… with their human genius and unique emotional capacity.
When to OUTSOURCE ACTION… to more efficient tools.
It’s learning when to lean on personal revelation.
And when to lean on resource.
Because there’s a HUMAN question riding on this ability to discern.
The question is not:
“How attractive is the content I’m creating or the service I’m marketing?”
The question is this:
“What kind of person am I becoming in the work that I do?”
Therein, I believe, lies the quality of our future.
