How to Beat Moore's Law

Good morning. Dr. Robyn McKay here and welcome to this week's episode of Mindset Rx. That's your place to be, if you are an emotionally intelligent leader who is ready to set the tone for a positive, productive and purposeful week, year, life, whatever dimension you wanna talk about today. That's what we're all about here. And today, I have a really fun, interesting topic that's relevant and timely, it's been in the press lately. Today we're talking about how to beat Moore's law. And in this episode, I'm gonna share with you what is Moore's law, some of you already know. Those of you who have raised your hand, and are attending, probably do know, but for the rest of us, I actually had to do a little bit of research on this, but it was enlightening and it gave me pause and it made me ask a question about how can I contribute to Moore's law, how can I contribute to what's going on in tech and in FinTech and in all of the other places where organizations are setting up high performance aspirational goals.

And in a time of great uncertainty where we're not sure what's gonna happen tomorrow, and people have been asked to do a lot of really interesting and challenging things in the last couple of years, and yet in spite of all the challenges we've had in the last few years, organizations are still coming forward and saying, Let's set these aspirational goals, let's go for something big, let's do a moon-shot, and that's where I come in, and I am so glad you all are here today.

I wanna say hello to my live listeners who are with me on the LinkedIn live broadcast, if you're with me, say hello, I'd love to connect with you here. If you're watching the recording or if you're listening to the podcast as well, I would love to hear from you and if you check the show notes, you'll see how you can do that as well. So with that, as we always do, let's go ahead and start by bringing our presence to the table, it's not enough anymore to just bring our bodies to the tables or our brains to the tables, we have to bring our full presence to the table in order to truly make the contributions that we're designed to make in our positions in this world. So, go ahead and breathe in and breathe out, notice your feet on the floor, notice your hips in the chair and pull your shoulder blades down and back, and breathe in and breathe out one more time, just bringing your awareness to this present moment, the present moment is where all of your power is, it's where your awareness to make great decisions, to have access to your intuition and your creativity is. It's so great to see those of you who are here with me live, thank you for joining me, and let's breathe in love and grace one more time. And let's go ahead and dive into Moore's law.

So let me give you a little bit of background about that. My team did a great job of putting this together, so I wanna just share with you what that is, the title of the course of today's talk is how to beat Moore's law, but Moore's law is actually a theory about the availability of transistors on integrated circuits in 1965 Intel's co-founder, Gordon Moore observed that the number of transistors per square inch on an integrated circuit had doubled each year since its invention, and Moore predicted that this trend would continue through the mid-2020s, the process of adding transistors involved shrinking the relative size of each transistor by half to create room rather than increasing the size of the circuit itself, this is why computer engineers have been able to create devices over time that are simultaneously smaller and more powerful than their predecessors. So today, what I'm gonna be talking about is Moore's law, and why I think it's possible to achieve Moore's law or even surpass Moore's law, if you will, but not in the way that it's been done in the past. Now, I have a couple of caveats here, because Pat Gelsinger, the CEO of Intel, had said that the company, that his company Intel, had been expecting to maintain or even exceed Moore's law in the next 10 years.

And that's where I come in. Now, I have a couple of caveats here. Caveat number one, I am not an engineer. Caveat number two what do I know about developing chips? Not much, in fact, actually nothing. As a Biology major at the University of Kansas, I took Physics One and Physics two. I studied and I prayed a lot for Bs, which I got. The caveat number three is this, I have a PhD in Counseling Psychology, so I know people, and very specifically, as you all know, I know the psychology of high-performing technical professionals in STEM, in medicine and in FinTech and so on. So I've got some things to say about Moore's law, not in the way that an engineer would talk about this, not even in the way that a CEO would talk about it, but in the way that I understand humanity and what it's actually gonna take to meet and exceed Moore's law, in the next few years. So with that, I wanna just check my notes here because I've been kind of tuning in and checking in with some of my colleagues who are in tech, just to see how they're responding to this, and I'm also drawing on my own experience of being a technical professional for the first 10 years or so of my life...

Not of my life, but of my professional life, I worked in Biotech, I worked in a biosafety level 3 lab, I worked as a medical writer in pharmaceutical industry, so I am pretty attuned, and I remember what it was like when my leadership would come forward with this big audacious goal, with... They weren't called moon-shots back then, but they were definitely those aspirational goals that as an individual contributor and even as a manager, I remember thinking, Dude, that is impressive, and it feels next to impossible, and so I wanted to see if that was actually the case and I would love to hear from some of you who are watching the live, what's your experience in your field when leadership comes forward with an aspirational goal, something that really pushes the boundaries of what even they know is possible for their people and their organization. How do you all respond to that? 

As I'm waiting for you to type in your comments, I wanna talk about some of the observations I've made. One response that our co-workers or colleagues and people who are working in those organizations are gonna have is one of skepticism. It's sort of that, "Oh, yeah right here we go again." Here's another marketing ploy by top leadership to get attention for the company, and now I've gotta do more work.

Alright, that's one response. Another one is doubt another response is, doubt, and the doubt, I think comes from looking at and understanding that this is a really challenging goal and understanding if you've been involved in a program which actually really did push the boundaries of what was possible, an innovative program that you were a part of... You can kind of start to understand why somebody might respond with doubt, especially if they've put blood, sweat and tears into the last program, into the last project that they did, and now they're being asked to do it again.

And after that, they'll be asked to do it again. There are organizations around the world, you all probably belong to them now, or have been part of them in the past, where there is a constant press for innovation, there's a constant press for what's next, to contribute something new, to whether it's to please the shareholders, whether it's to push the boundaries of what's possible on the earth, there are a lot of different reasons why organizations, why leadership and organizations will do this, but when you are a contributor, when you're part of the team, that's working on this. If you're feeling doubt well up within you, it's probably because you've already done that, and you know what it took to get to where you are today.

Another... Now, this is a positive one. Another response that people have is that of enthusiasm, they look at that challenge of, "Yeah, this sounds so exciting, I'm so looking forward to doing this." Typically, these are people who live and breathe their work, they are single-minded and very focused, they love their company, they love their organization, they're not burned out, and they know that not only do they have what it takes, they love to rise to the challenge, they love to rise to the challenge and to find out, to solve problems, to do something different than what's ever been done before, and those people I find especially are responsive to leaders who have some enthusiasm themselves, who have kind of that moon-shot attitude themselves. That attitude is contagious.

So if the leader has that expansive attitude of possibility and go for it, then probably the people around the leader are also going to have that, and that's gonna have a trickle-down effect with the people who are actually doing the work. The next response is that of relief. And here's what that looks like. So think about if you're not a technical professional, if you're not somebody who's gonna be assigned the task of meeting or beating Moore's law in the next 10 years, if you are in finance or human resources, or you're an administrative person at a tech company, there can be some relief like, Oh, thank God, I'm glad we're doing this, but I'm so glad that I don't have to personally be responsible for beating Moore's law.

Thank God. So there's relief. So I wanna just see what our comments are saying here, So Holly says skeptical most of the time, but if it's good, then I feel inspired. Yeah, if you can believe in the aspirational goal, if there's something inside of you that clicks that says, Yeah, that's actually... I really like that. That's inspiring, I'll go for it. I'll buy into it, that's a good place to be. Astrid said, you didn't believe them. When they would say what they wanted to do. And then let's see, Jeff McBride, I get excited, but I need to know what conditions are they willing to create for that success to happen? And that is what we're gonna talk about. I'm so glad that you brought that forward, Jeff. So let's talk about that. What are the conditions that need to be brought forward in order to make that happen? So let's start here. First of all, I understand how important innovation is to everybody who works in tech, from the shareholders to individual contributors and everybody in between, and fast, precise innovation is even more highly valued even in these most unusual times that we're living in. Did you notice that? 

I think that in most organizations that I consulted with over the past 18 months, there was a lot of compassion and understanding by leadership in terms of what their contributors, what their team members were having to endure and get sorted out as we were all asked to go home, to stay at home as we were asked to move through the process of a pandemic, not to mention the social and cultural and political unrest that a lot of us around the world have experienced over the past 18 months, and in the COVID era of innovation required that lead thought workers actually and Technical Professionals to perform much like Ginger Rogers when she was dancing with Fred Astaire, she used to say she had to do everything Fred did but backwards and in high heels. And in the case of this post-COVID innovation, thought workers and technical professionals are being asked to exceed high performance goals like beating Moore's law while wearing their full personal protective gear, working from home, never having met their colleagues in person, and of course, while enduring the seemingly never-ending uncertainties of all the things that I already mentioned, the pandemic and the roller coaster of the social and political discord that we've experienced.

So a good leader knows that top teams are gonna rise to the challenge, 'cause I have no doubt that the CEO of Intel understands what he's asking people in his organization to do, to dig deep and to find a way. Here's where I come in. And my question to that is, what is the cost of issuing such a fast-paced challenge, what's the cost? What's the cost to the humans, to the people who are actually going to be doing the work? And to Jeff's point, what are the conditions that are going to be created in order to bring about that, the fulfillment of that goal.

]Of course, with symptoms of the pandemic burnout on the rise and the challenge of filling vacant positions as a great resignation sweeps the globe, teams are experiencing more pressure than ever before, it's actually become a vicious cycle that's really difficult to get out of it, so there's burnout, there's people leaving, there's filling positions, and then there's back-filling positions because of the people who originally took the positions are saying, Thanks, but no thanks. And in all of this, what I've come to realize is that old habits, die hard, high achievers, when you first think about what you had to do last time that generated success, what did you have to give up, what did you have to give in order to bring about the innovation and the transformation that you were able to produce, they think about that, and those are the mindsets, the attitudes and practices that they're gonna bring to this next challenge, so they're gonna bring hard work, tenacity, grit.

What are some of the things when you think about meeting your next high performance goal. What are some of the attitudes, mindsets and practices that you bring from your past into this new challenge? Not to say that these are bad.

Of course, there's always a place for hard work, there's always a place for grit and tenacity, but we've gotta have something else in place here, otherwise... I just did a keynote address for the good people at Caterpillar yesterday, and I said, and I'll repeat it here, that we're gonna lose steam real quick, if that's all we have to bring to the table, if those are the only tools we have. Grit, tenacity and hard work. Burnout is gonna happen, and these high performance goals, these aspirational moon-shots are grind to a halt, so rather than taking that lather, rinse, repeat approach to a new goal, in other words, using those old methods that you use to create the success that you have in the past, we have to look at something different, there's an additional factor that you've gotta consider when you decide on the approach, so I want you to think about this for yourself as you're considering how do I approach a new high performance goal, how do I approach something like the challenge of Moore's law, regardless of where I sit in the organization, whether I'm in a support role, a human resources role, or if I'm a technical professional, what am I gonna bring to the table at this time that's different? 

So think about it, does the notion of working harder, longer hours, spending more time away from your family, sacrificing your personal goals in order to pursue the latest corporate initiative, does that light you up or does it deplete you? And if you said you feel depleted or exhausted or frustrated by that, know that you're not alone pursuing high performance goals at the cost of your mental, physical and emotional well-beings, seems not only exhausting, but also put in existential terms, which I love to talk about, what's the point and that's where a lot of our thought workers are right now, is they're thinking about what is the point to this, why do we wanna make something smaller and faster? What's the point? 

Because if it's only for the shareholders, if it's only to own a larger percentage of the market, that I don't think is enough to get somebody revved up for the challenge, you've gotta find something deeper inside of you. So, is everybody ready? I know we're over a little bit, but stay with me here because this is important stuff I think to consider for you, I wanna see what else. Let me just check the comments here and see what else we've got going on, Robin says, given scope for a new idea, but it explodes in scope, and it creeps up and overwhelms the team, How do you reign in our leader... How do you reign back in to realize that not everyone sees his dream or can do it on his timeline, we keep going back to the same few. And I feel a fear of a burnout. Yeah, for sure. It's an ongoing challenge, and that's where I think consulting at the highest levels of leadership in terms of what... Not only what is aspirational, What's the moon-shot, but then also what's...

I'm gonna use the word realistic, Robin, and I know that innovators don't like the word realistic, But optimistically realistic in terms of what are we asking our people to do. And then Jeff says, How do we help people self-disrupt mindsets that aren't useful and help them learn to cultivate a mindset that are useful, that starts with you with each individual person, even here on this LinkedIn live today, learning this new information and applying it to your own life and then transmitting it to your teams as well is gonna be the way that this goes forward, it's a grassroots movement. We can't legislate this, I'm using legislate in air quotes, but it is an invitation to think differently and to do differently, for sure. Thank you so much for your comments I'm really appreciating your participation in this today, it helps me be of higher service to you all and make a contribution that matters to you, so thank you, and so keep going, keep those comments coming and keep the questions coming.

Alright, so here's where I'm sitting with Moore's Law and again with any kind of aspirational moonshot kind of goal. So what's the point... That existential question of, what's the point of all of this? And of course, speaking of points, I'll get to mine right now, I actually believe that Intel can beat Moore's Law, but it's not gonna happen by doubling down on grit, tenacity and hard work, it's just not. And it's not going to come about as a result of the lather, rinse, repeat mindsets, attitude, work ethic of the past.

So that's the good news, because the old way of work has diminishing returns. When you're working in burnout, when you're depleted, and you're still being asked to be creative, to be innovative, to be safe, to be all the things and to do all the things, it becomes this arduous task rather than a joyful journey, and I think that... Listen, I don't know very many people who don't have to work, but I do think that our responsibility to ourselves and to the people on our teams, to the people in our organizations is to give them a place that they can work and express and contribute in a way that they're designed to do so, and it's not gonna come again.

Grit, tenacity and hard work are always going to be with us, it just is part of our human spirit to roll up our sleeves and get to work, and yet doubling down on grit, hard work and tenacity aren't the solution. I've been saying for a while now for... I did a keynote address earlier this year at Intel, where I brought this forward, that they've gotten us as far as they can get us that these attitudes of grit, tenacity and hard work. So it's time for something different. And I'm gonna share with you what I think the best approach is going to be.

So one is an acknowledgment that we need something different, if we wanna create something different, if we wanna beat something that's never been beaten before, they're gonna have to be some shifts internally, within ourselves, first and then within our teams, that gets transmitted out into the organization, so it's a culture shift as well, but what I'm saying to the people who are working with me privately in leadership, to the keynote addresses that I'm doing, to the correspondence that I'm having with the people who are in my community is, we need more flow.

Flow is a consciousness state that's associated with creativity and innovation, it's where you lose track of time, you become completely absorbed and engaged in the activity, and that's when the new ideas come through. You know, you've been in the shower, and I'm not saying you can be in flow in the shower, but you have those aha moments that come not as a result of you slaving away at your answering emails at 3:00 AM in the morning, but come to you spontaneously and at a time when you would least expect it. That's when the quantum leaps, I believe, in our organizations take place. It is not through punching a time clock, but by allowing yourself to experience your consciousness, your creativity in a way that if you don't give yourself the space and time and respect to be able to explore what's possible, you will never hear that inner wisdom, that intuition, that innovation that's sitting right here in your heart. So, flow, gratitude.

I know I work with technical professionals all day, every day, and you all don't like to talk about emotions, but we're changing that. Talking about gratitude doesn't mean that you just sort of casually appreciate somebody, something somebody's done for you, but really embodying a deep-seated sense of being grateful for your life, being grateful for the brain in your head, being grateful for your position, I believe that all things flow from gratitude. We know positive psychology, and its science tells us that the better you feel, the more productive you are, the more creative you are. And so gratitude as a lived experience supports the conditions for that success to arise.

So, coming from a place of gratitude is gonna be real helpful in this pursuit of these moonshot goals, and hope. I'm not talking about hopey changey Sarah Palin nonsense from the odds... The presidential elections way back. I'm talking about clear and specific pathways to achieving the goals, and then having a personal agency or a sense of willpower to bring forward into moving toward those goals as well. A leader's role, one that doesn't get talked about very often, but is becoming increasingly important, especially in technical professions, that role is to carry the vision.

Pat Gelsinger set a vision on the table for his organization to be able to see, not everybody can see it, because not everybody is designed to see it, but if you can see it, then it is your responsibility and your privilege actually to carry that flame forward into your teams.

I love the series Battlestar Galactica. I think it came out, it was when I was in grad school, so it was probably out in 2005, something like that. Of course, the old one from the 70s was awesome too, but I like this new one, and there's a point in Battlestar Galactica where the commander Adama has set course for earth, their worlds have been destroyed, he sets course for earth and he finally confesses to one of his confidants, he said, "I don't even believe that there's an earth, but my people need to believe in something, so I'm gonna hold this vision for them."

So, I want you to think about that. When you have a leader who comes forward with one of these big visions, with one of these big goals that they're still human, and they may not fully 100% believe in that either, but they're willing to stand up and take the risk of saying that "This is what I believe is possible for my organization, this is what I believe carrying the flame of what's possible," is a potent and powerful motivator. And if you or somebody who can also see that vision, even if it's just a glimpse of it, even if it's just a portion of it, to be able to carry forward that vision to your teams will be a game changer for you as well. So I wanna click back over here just for a second and see if there are any other comments.

That looks like, I'd love to know what you all are thinking about this, this is kind of... I'm a little bit of a disruptor in terms of what's possible, and I'm willing to have these conversations about something different other than hard work, grit and tenacity. And I'm willing to talk about emotions and the role of emotions for technical professionals, especially because we all have them, and we may as well access and use them in our work to disrupt the status quo. And isn't it fun and interesting to think about how we might be able to do that together? It's exciting. So here's what I wanna leave you with today.

Here's what I wanna leave you with today is disrupt your own mindset first, and to do that, you're going to have to recalibrate your relationship with time, with work and with money, so you have to start looking at how am I expressing my relationship with time, work and money? Am I hunkering down? Am I rolling up my sleeves and getting to work because that's what I've always done, and that's a socially sanctioned way of doing things? And if so, is that still working for me? Or am I experiencing diminishing returns? 

Diminishing returns in your professional life can be hitting glass ceilings. Maybe you used to be getting promoted every couple of years, and now that has slowed down, you might attribute it to something outside of yourself, but you can also look internally and say, is there anything that I want or need to be doing differently, thinking about differently in order to achieve my own next level, in order to achieve my own very best? So start with yourself, take a look at relationship to time, work and money.

If those three elements were people, what kind of relationship would you have with each of those? Once you start looking at your relationship with time, work and money, then that naturally then gives way for you to cultivate some of these mindsets that I've talked today, and experiences and practices that I've talked about as well in terms of flow and gratitude and hope. Optimism, which I just mentioned now, I haven't mentioned that before. Positive Psychology is going to be the science that shows us the way to move the needle on these big goals. That's what I know for sure. Now and in the future, that's what we're gonna be leaning into more and more as technical professionals. That is all I have for you today.

I appreciate you all being here with me, thank you so much. If this is something that you benefited from, please share it with your team, share it with your colleagues, let them know that there's a place that they can come to to get restored and to start having these conversations about how to bring more purpose and more productivity and more positivity into your work, and remember that when your organization comes forward with a moonshot goal, with a Moore's Law intention for the organization, pay attention to how you are feeling about it. And if it lands for you, awesome, but if you're feeling something other than enthusiasm, excitement, curiosity about it, know that you're not alone, and that's what has to be cured in order to actually accomplish that big goal. Alright, all my best for now, I will see you all next week on the Mindset Rx.