Neil Sahota of ‘Own the AI Revolution’: 5 Things You Need to Know to Become a Great Author

An Interview With Theresa Albert

…Write the book for your audience, not yourself. This is a common trap I often see for aspiring authors. I was lucky in that I wanted to write my books to help people. That’s why I’ve had an easier time maintaining an audience-oriented focus. I helped two aspiring authors frame and outline their first books, and they were very fixated on what they wanted to read. Great authors write books for other people, so you really have to understand your target audience. After providing this feedback, both aspiring authors went out and researched their audiences. This resulted in major pivots to their outlines and even personal stories to share. In the end, they both felt they had written much better books as a result.

As part of my interview series on the five things you need to know to become a great author, I had the pleasure of interviewing Neil Sahota.

Neil Sahota is a futurist and leading expert on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other next-generation technologies. He is the author of Own the AI Revolution (McGraw Hill) and works with the United Nations on the AI for Good Global Summit initiative, which uses AI to solve 116 global issues like poverty, homelessness, and more. Sahota is also an IBM Master Inventor, former leader of the IBM Watson Group, and professor at the University of California at Irvine. His work spans multiple industries, including legal services, healthcare, life sciences, retail, travel, transportation, energy, utilities, automotive, telecommunications, media, and government. Sahota has spoken at various speaking engagements, including a TEDxUCIrvine Talk and the International Telecommunication Union’s Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR) in Geneva. He is a designated Gravity Speaker and was named one of the top A.I. speakers to have at your event by readwrite; he is also a regular Forbes contributor.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you share a story about what brought you to this particular career path?

Growing up, I really disliked writing and found it to be a challenging homework assignment, something I didn’t particularly enjoy until I was a high school senior. In my last year of high school, I had some significant life experiences that opened my eyes to the power of writing, I realized that everyone had a story to tell. In my first personal writing decision, I entered the short story competition with an entry titled “The Hole in Nothing.” Surprisingly, I was awarded third place and got published. That sparked my interest in learning more about writing. I read several books on how to write, and more importantly, frame a story. By the time I was in college, I had dreamed that one day when I was “older,” I would have a great story to share and become a published author.

Can you share the most interesting story that occurred to you in the course of your career?

My most interesting story has quite a global journey. It started in Washington D.C. At the request of my great friend Stephen Ibaraki, I collaborated with the Financial Services Roundtable on how the biggest Financial Services companies in the world could tap into emerging technology to transform their businesses before they got disrupted. After D.C., I left for Milwaukee to take care of some client business. While there, Stephen called me to express his gratitude for the help and told me he had an exciting opportunity. The United Nations (UN) was very interested in having me speak to them about Artificial Intelligence (AI). I had one of those moments where I took a step back and couldn’t believe this was being offered to me. (Truthfully, I didn’t believe it. I seriously thought Stephen was playing a joke until he forwarded me the invitation from the Secretary General.)

One of the biggest challenges I faced was that most of the world leaders (at that time) thought of AI as “Terminator Time,” meaning machines would conquer the world and eradicate humanity. So, I decided to focus on shifting this perspective by giving a very uplifting keynote on what AI is and how it is being used for public service and sustainable development goals. My speech was very well received. That night, I was approached by several world leaders and people from the UN leadership, including the Secretary General. The consensus was that my talk opened up their eyes to possibilities, and they wanted to do something while momentum was there.

But the question was, what? After many critical discussions, we chose to create AI for Good — an initiative to use AI and emerging technology for Sustainable Development Goals. Almost five years later, we boast a global ecosystem of partners and volunteers with 116 projects inflight with an unfathomable amount of positive social impact. I would have never guessed anything like this would’ve been possible as part of my career.

What was the biggest challenge you faced in your journey to becoming an author? How did you overcome it? Can you share a story about that that other aspiring writers can learn from?

My biggest challenge to becoming an author was time. I spent two years thinking about this amazing book I wanted to write for business leaders that would help them unlock innovation from artificial intelligence. I had it all in my head and would think of unique, relevant stories to share. I would reflect upon something I did that would be inspirational for my readers and jot down a link to something I wanted to reference. Yet, I found I never had time to “put pen to paper.”

Looking back, I now realize that I never made the time to work on my book. Thinking is not doing. This was a powerful lesson learned for me. When I decided to take a year of sabbatical to work on my book, I had finally committed to making the time to write. This is when things started to flow in my mind, and more importantly, on paper. All that time I thought I had a stellar book in my head, I quickly realized it was a jumble of stuff rather than a coherent story. Just organizing my thoughts and ideas into a detailed outline took six weeks! Even rounding up my notable friends like Steven Kotler and Peter Diamandis for interviews took a lot of time, preparation, and patience. All the effort was well worth it as I would have an incredible book written about four months later and a fully published book five months after called, Own the A.I. Revolution. Moreover, I knew the book was an immense value-add by all the personal thanks I got from readers, as well as winning Soundview’s Best Business Book award. Nevertheless, none of this would have happened unless I made the time to write.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

For my first book, I wanted to finish the manuscript before even thinking about reaching out to publishers. I figured with all the competition, let me have a firm product in hand as a first-time author, and I truly expected to self-publish. Imagine my surprise when the United Nations found out I was writing a book and offered to host the book launch at their Global AI for Good Summit. With the Summit about five months away, I really needed a great publisher. Imagine my chagrin when some of my author buddies (who have published 10+ books each) told me it takes eight to ten months for a publisher to get a book ready. Uh oh!

Luckily, I found a few publishers who were very interested in my book and willing to perform an accelerated publishing cycle to have the book in time for the United Nations Summit. I remember the editorial team asking when the book would be ready. I indicated five months because that’s when the event is. I remember one person saying, “We’re not miracle workers. We’re in publishing, so more 19th-century speed of business.” I realized my misunderstanding and let them know the manuscript was 95% done already. They were relieved, and then I quickly learned why it takes so long to publish a book. We went through an intense, accelerated editing process, fact checking, artwork, endorsements, marketing, etc., in half the average time. Now when some asks the release date of my next book, I always say, “Stay tuned.”

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I get asked a lot about how I can be such a change maker and bring forth so much disruption into business. Like most innovators, I usually say, “You have to think differently.” The problem is everyone says that, but no one teaches you how to do it. From my own work, I created a disruptive thinking framework that I successfully used at several Global Fortune 500 companies. Sensing a real chance to help people, I’m taking my framework, called TUCBO™, and sharing it with the world through my next book and corporate workshops.

TUCBO™ stands for:

1 THINK DIFFERENT — Ideation

2) UNDERSTAND DIFFERENT — Develop

3) CREATE DIFFERENT — Enable

4) BE DIFFERENT — Actualization

5) OWN DIFFERENT — Normalize

TUCBO™ gives organizations the framework and the techniques, models, and tools to create viable ventures with meaningful, value-add innovation with an executable, disruptive idea. I’m 85% done with the manuscript. As for the release date, stay tuned.

Can you share the most interesting story that you shared in your book?

In Own the A.I. Revolution, I shared a story that many people told me they found surprising for two reasons. Let’s start with the story. An international, multibillion-dollar law firm asked for my help in figuring out some AI projects. They shared a list of twelve ideas with me, and I was frank in my feedback: none of these projects really need AI and don’t actually unlock the value from the technology. So, one of the Managing Partners then commented on all the hype and was wondering what the big deal about AI is. So, I said, “Let’s figure something out.” Employing my TUCBO™ framework, I asked what the firm’s biggest problem was. It turns out it was talent management. From there, we developed a couple of AI solutions that proved very successful for the law firm.

Now, surprise number one for people was that I would actually tell clients that AI isn’t really necessary for all use cases. I’ve received many comments the past couple of years from readers who thought such a statement is self-sabotage. I don’t see it that way. I wanted to portray a fair and balanced view on AI to help people understand what it can do and what it cannot do. This was the only way to help people figure out meaningful solutions for their companies.

Surprise number two was the ease I showed in thinking differently during the story to find value in talent management for the firm. Many people have claimed that I must have “light bulb powers” or an AI myself to discover such disruptive ideas — A key reason why I’m writing my next book on TUCBO™.

What is the main empowering lesson you want your readers to take away after finishing your book?

After reading Own the A.I. Revolution, I want my readers to feel educated, empowered, and enabled. When writing the book, there was a lot of fear-mongering or super technical descriptions about AI that many business leaders were frozen. They didn’t know how to leverage the technology. They didn’t want to be the one who creates Skynet (from the Terminator movies). They were waiting on the savvy technologists (who may not understand the problems of the business) to tell them what to do.

That’s why I wrote Own the A.I. Revolution. In plain-speak and real (not hype) uses, I wanted to educate business leaders by showing them what is possible and not possible. I wanted them to know that they could solve problems and create innovation through their own knowledge of the domain. I wanted them to understand how to work with technologists to build value-add solutions and enable them to be solutionists.

Based on your experience, what are the “5 Things You Need to Know to Become a Great Author”? Please share a story or example for each.

First, make time to write. As I shared in my “biggest challenge” story, this is a huge hurdle to overcome. If you want to be a great author, it takes a MASSIVE amount of time to write, produce, and market a quality book.

Second, write the book for your audience, not yourself. This is a common trap I often see for aspiring authors. I was lucky in that I wanted to write my books to help people. That’s why I’ve had an easier time maintaining an audience-oriented focus. I helped two aspiring authors frame and outline their first books, and they were very fixated on what they wanted to read. Great authors write books for other people, so you really have to understand your target audience. After providing this feedback, both aspiring authors went out and researched their audiences. This resulted in major pivots to their outlines and even personal stories to share. In the end, they both felt they had written much better books as a result.

Third, discipline is a must-have, not a nice-to-have. Being productive as an author can be a challenge because of the number of distractions. When it comes to our books, we are accountable to ourselves. No one is pushing us each day to get our writing done. As a result, some aspiring authors may constantly prioritize their personal indulgences over work. I had a former colleague that kept talking about this wonderful book she was going to write. She set up a nice home office space to pen the next great American novel, as she put it. She created a meditation garden, scouted coffee shops for a “change of scenery” writing option, went on travel trips to get in the mood, watched more movies and television for inspiration, etc. Basically, she did a lot of fun things except write.

Fourth, get ready to sell. Today, authors have to do the lion’s share of marketing and selling their book, even if they have a publisher. When I was getting ready for the release of Own the A.I. Revolution, I worked with a PR agent to get time on tv shows, references in news articles and did around thirty podcasts in the span of thirty weeks. Then, there is the social media blitzkrieg I did as well as a massive outreach to my network to help share posts and links with their networks. Even months after the release date, I worked hard to promote the book at speaking engagements, corporate retreats, even more podcasts, etc. Writing a book takes a tremendous amount of work. Successfully selling your book is even more work than writing it.

Fifth, be prepared to let go. Not everything works for a book. There may be a great story that doesn’t fit into the book’s theme or a cool factoid that just doesn’t weave into the narrative. If it doesn’t work, then cut it out. I’ve learned this the hard way… and this is why an editor is so important! Like movies and television, we only have so much we can put into our content, and we need to be mindful of story and pacing. There are examples, use cases, nifty facts, and so forth that I had to cut out reluctantly. I will freely admit that making these choices did improve the overall quality and flow of my books, articles, and writing in general. So, don’t get too attached to anything in your book, including your title. I originally wanted to call Own the A.I. Revolution by the title: Uber Yourself Before You Get Kodaked! However, my publisher hated this title, and their market research did show issues with it.

What is the one habit you believe contributed the most to you becoming a great writer? (i.e. perseverance, discipline, play, craft study) Can you share a story or example?

If there is one habit that contributed most to my becoming a great writer, it is discipline. I was willing to take a year sabbatical to write, publish, and promote my book. I made it happen. It was essential and I committed to it, so my discipline really kept me focused and muted many possible distractions. It’s not always easy, but I do believe in the inch-stone planning model. Keep the big goal (write my book) in mind but focus on the next small milestone.

Which literature do you draw inspiration from? Why?

I really enjoy history books that are written in a narrative style like Peter Hopkirk or Brian Kilmeade. These authors do an incredible job of essentially teaching you history but doing it in a gripping storytelling style like you’re watching a movie or television show. As a result, it doesn’t feel like you’re learning, but you get so vested in the book that you remember a lot of it. That’s one of the techniques I try to employ in my writing when possible. I want my content to be useful and executable for people. So, rather than give them a lecture, I try to provide them with an immersive experience.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Oh wow! I think I have already done this with my collaboration with the UN to create AI for Good. This an initiative to use AI and emerging technology for the Sustainable Development Goals. Almost five years later, we boast a global ecosystem of partners and volunteers with 116 projects inflight with an unfathomable amount of positive social impact. We’ve helped millions of people so far! And we’re continually growing it. Does that count? Or do I need to find another initiative to work on? Hmm…I’d love to hear what the readers think!

How can our readers follow you on social media?

There’s several great ways to follow me:

Website: https://www.neilsahota.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilsahota/

Twitter: @neil_sahota

Instagram: @neil_sahota

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM9N97dyw7EwnCrXn3uac-w

Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilsahota/

Podcast: https://www.ctscast.com/

United Nations Podcast: https://www.ctscast.com/artistic-intelligence/

Thank you so much for this. This was very inspiring!