People change. Things change. Business models change. But honestly, Dennis Rodman stays the same.
When I was a child (literally three years old), my mom and dad decided it was time for our first family holiday.
My mom called a real estate agent, gave a list of requirements - nothing too loud, close to the beach, lowish price point (they just had triplets, let’s BFFR), etc - and the real estate agent booked a place.
My parents showed up to Newport Beach with three children and a big problem.
The house was next to Dennis Rodman’s.
(And if you don’t know who Dennis Rodman is, he’s a super effusive Chicago Bulls basketball player from the nineties).
My mom was like WTF. And my dad was like this is awesome.
Okay.
IDK if Dennis just like peeked through the window or something, but he saw my mom and her sister in the kitchen and apparently decided it was a good idea to walk on in and say, “Hi I’m Dennis.”
To which my mom replied, “Hi I’m Molly, and my kids are napping.” And don’t worry! Dennis confirmed that my mom did indeed know “who Dennis Rodman was.”
Okay.
Since my mom wasn’t a single lady, Dennis turned his attention to the kids.
He decided that I (a lady in distress) needed an autograph on my forehead. And my mom - a lady of action - kicked Dennis Rodman out of the house. (As he was etching his name into the bedroom wall since my forehead was off limits).
I’m telling this story because:
1). I think it’s funny
2). It’s a testament to paradigm shifts
3). If you know my dad, you know he proceeded to party with Dennis Rodman the rest of the weekend
OKAY.
Let’s talk about paradigm shifts. (Which, BTW, is really just a fluffy term to describe things that categorically change the way we behave).
In today’s world, we book through Airbnb, review through Yelp, and easily transact online.
In tomorrow’s world, we’ll probably book through ChatGPT (paradigm shift).
That’s because - ChatGPT is trained against Airbnb and VRBO and booking.com and every other publicly available data set (assuming these all become plug-ins for ChatGPT). You just tell it what you want - nothing too loud, close to the beach, lowish price point. And ChatGPT will spit out exactly what you want. Your output is only as good as your inputs, and ChatGPT has some realllly good inputs.
In today’s world, we care about brand. In tomorrow’s world, we’ll care about efficiency. The entire shopping experience is about to change. Ever since the digital revolution, we’ve relied on marketplaces (like Amazon.com and Airbnb) to complete transactions.
But what if the brand no longer matters?
What if ChatGPT becomes the brand and the search engine? Will companies like Airbnb partner with ChatGPT to stay competitive?
I really like this article by Rex Woodbury.
Okay.
It’s so easy to think the world is always getting worse.
Sure - ChatGPT will disrupt a lot of industries. But it will also pave the way for a lot of new industries. (Like how we no longer need real estate agents to book short term rentals, but that real estate has a lot of opportunities he/she didn’t have in 1996).
Oh, also.
I don’t actually know what Dennis Rodman is like today. But sometimes I see him in Newport. And his hair is dyed tie-dye. And he’s literally a giant waving back at me on the Pacific Coast Highway.
So I feel like he’s still the same. And honestly, it’s comforting to know that some things never change.
And that’s the skinny.