• GenAi

๐‹๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐๐š๐œ๐ค ๐ญ๐จ ๐Œ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž ๐…๐จ๐ซ๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐: ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐€๐ˆ ๐‰๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ฒ ๐ˆ ๐ƒ๐ข๐๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐๐ฅ๐š๐ง

I donโ€™t often stop to look back. An important person once told me, โ€œ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’โ€™๐‘  ๐‘Ž ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ค ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘ ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘’๐‘™๐‘‘,โ€ and I took that to heart.

But every now and then, a moment reminds me of where it all started. Wayland Baptist University recently featured my journey, and it brought me back to a pivotal time in my life.

I was working for the Department of Defense on a military base in San Antonio Texas, and Wayland had a campus right there. That mattered. They didnโ€™t just offer education, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ž, creating opportunities for professionals, military members, and government employees to grow without stepping away from their responsibilities. That approach stuck with me.

I wasnโ€™t chasing a title or a specific career path, I was navigating change. IT was evolving, roles were shifting, and I had to adapt. I didnโ€™t have all the answers, I just kept learning, adjusting, and moving forward.

That mindset still drives me today. ๐€๐ˆ, ๐š๐ฎ๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ข๐ญ๐š๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ฌ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐š๐ซ๐ž๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐š๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ž๐œ๐ก๐ง๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ฒ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฒโ€™๐ซ๐ž ๐š๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ž๐ง๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฉ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž, ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ ๐ง๐š๐ฏ๐ข๐ ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฑ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ, ๐š๐ง๐ โ€œ๐ฆ๐ž๐ž๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐š๐ซ๐žโ€. Thatโ€™s why I focus so much on education, mentorship, and breaking down AI into real, usable strategies.

I never set out to be a Forbes Technology Council member or a globally recognized thought leader, but looking back, the foundation was always there. ๐€๐๐š๐ฉ๐ญ, ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ง, ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ฒ, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ก๐š๐ซ๐ž. Thatโ€™s what I took from Wayland, and thatโ€™s what I bring to my work today.

If you want to know more about my backstory and how I got into AI and automation, hereโ€™s the article:

https://lnkd.in/g6wXaTKt

And if youโ€™re in the middle of a career shift, donโ€™t worry about having it all mapped out. ๐’๐ญ๐š๐ฒ ๐œ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ, ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ฒ ๐š๐๐š๐ฉ๐ญ๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ค๐ž๐ž๐ฉ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐.

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Doug Shannon

Doug Shannon, a top 50 global leader in intelligent automation, shares regular insights from his 20+ years of experience in digital transformation, AI, and self-healing automation solutions for enterprise success.