Managing Your Business

in Times of

Great Uncertainty

ABOUT

AI-eCoach

This website was started in mid-2020 to help business owners, executives, managers, and entrepreneurs deal with the unprecedented challenges of the chaotic “new abnormal” — a world of rapid change, huge uncertainty, and great unpredictability

AI-eCoach is a fully online business that offers three primary services:

Blog A blog-based learning center intended to build a valuable and growing resource for business leaders who are looking for guidance as they deal daily with rapid change, uncertainty, and unpredictability.
Tools & Examples For subscribers, free access is provided to a range of simple but powerful management tools all designed to understand and address today’s chaotic business environment.
Coaching For those readers who might find value in a coaching process for their specific business situation, a fully online eCoaching service is available at a modest cost.

The website focuses on a new and urgent management practices set dealing with managing a business in times of great uncertainty. Unprecedented changes in the business environment worldwide beginning in 2020 have made traditional practices (way back before December 2019) not just obsolete but potentially damaging.

Business can no longer be done as it has been for decades. But far from obvious is what may be needed to move forward into unknown times.

Many new practices will be developed, tested, and adapted by each business as it copes with the world as it now is.

AI-eCoach Logo Achievement Insights

AI-eCoach is primarily aimed at achievement – getting real results. Goal-setting is often secondary or simply inferred. Action planning may be mostly situation-driven and immediate, as in our battlefield skills analogy (link).

Today, many businesses are sharply focused on survival. I guess that this is a goal in some respects but it is inherently multi-dimensional and may have evolving scope and changing focus. Achievement in this context may be just keeping a positive cash flow while avoiding obstacles.

A secondary focus is on long-term survival, which might be thought of as thriving. This may be growth but it may also be business reinvention.

Artificial Intelligence

The artificial intelligence meaning in “AI” refers to our use of systems dynamics methodology with a simple, heuristic learning capability. Systems dynamics falls within the general definition of artificial intelligence.

Gerry Allan has a broad background in technology, consulting, and general management.

His education includes a doctorate in business decision analysis from Harvard University, an MBA in applied economics from University of California Berkeley, a master’s degree in electronics engineering, and an undergraduate degree in engineering physics. He studied and worked for two years with Harvard Medical School’s Dr. Harry Levinson who wrote the definitive book “Organizational Diagnosis”.

As an independent management consultant, he assisted clients in areas from supply chain management to quality assurance systems, profitability improvement programs, distribution system redesign, operations reorganizations, and service quality improvement, and a precursor to Zillow.

His management experience provided firsthand knowledge of most business functions in both large and small companies. Positions held include start-up CEO and tech entrepreneur, COO for a software developer, CFO for a fast-growing electronic components manufacturer, VP of marketing/sales for an industrial microwave systems manufacturer, purchasing manager for one of Canada’s largest gas transmission companies, and VP of operations for a pioneering metallurgical company.

Executive Coaching Insights
This short book is intended for executives and managers who want to learn about the fast-growing, rapidly-evolving practice of executive coaching, how the coaching process actually works, and how one might go about choosing an executive coach. Executive coaching is changing dramatically, driven like so much of life today by technology. What was not long ago predominantly an onsite, face-to-face personal interaction between client and coach, is moving toward electronically-enabled, remote interactions that are often separated in both time and distance. Anytime, anywhere. “>Amazon-Kindle eBook is intended for executives and managers who want to learn about the fast-growing, rapidly-evolving practice of executive coaching, how the coaching process actually works, and how one might go about choosing an executive coach.

Executive coaching is changing dramatically, driven like so much of life today by technology. What was not long ago predominantly an onsite, face-to-face personal interaction between client and coach, is moving toward electronically-enabled, remote interactions that are often separated in both time and distance. Anytime, anywhere.

Privacy

Privacy policy describes what we do with any data collected from users of this website.

We do not collect data on how you use the site, such as would be collected for Google Analytics. We do not use Google Analytics nor any equivalent. You must however register to comment on posts as required by WordPress.

If you register to use our tools, any data you enter is stored securely in our website MYSQL database. Your data is identified on the database only by a hash value of your login credentials.

Cookies: We do not use cookies to identify users. If you have subscribed to enable use of our tools, then any data you enter will be stored in our website database using a hash value for your login credentials. This means that you have to login for each tool use session so we can generate a hash value both for identifying you as a user and for storing any new or changed data.

Hash Values: Hash values for any data item are generated by a standard cryptographic algorithm. The data item cannot be derived from the hash value. For example, my login hash value is: 66d9a8f06e8f3710b34259f8d88d51f3d2e57c24b55fcf478ffca614fc266a2e. Your login credentials as stored will look like this one.

Sharing Your Data: We do not share your data with any other party. It is used only on this website and within our various tools.

Security policy addresses the way in which we handle data collected on this website. Privacy policy explains how we use any data collected.

Data is collected only from subscribers who use tools available on this website. See “Privacy” for how this data is stored.

We communicate with site users only over a secure SSL transport link.

Data Retention: We store tool user data until either the user unsubscribes or is inactive for more than a year. In both cases, user data is deleted.

Disaster Recovery: We currently use SiteGround (www.siteground.com) to host our website and user data. Daily backup is provided. Please go to their website for details or contact us with questions.

“Company”, “we”, “our”, or “us” in this website refers to AI-eCoach, LLC, a Massachusetts corporation.

“Use” includes anything that you do within this website. Uses are primarily Services:

“Services”: AI-eCoach offers three main services, two of which* are completely free: (i) Learning center*; (ii) Management tools*; (iii) Business coaching

Account: If you are a subscriber, you are responsible for maintaining the security of your username and password. The Company cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage from your failure to comply with this security obligation. You are responsible for all content posted and activity that occurs under your account.

Liability: You expressly understand and agree that the Company shall not be liable, in law or in equity, to you or to any third party for any direct, indirect, incidental, lost profits, special, consequential, punitive or exemplary damages, including, but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses (even if the Company has been advised of the possibility of such damages), resulting from: (i) the use or the inability to use the Services; (ii) unauthorized access to or alteration of your transmissions or data; (iii) or any other matter relating to this Terms of Service or the Services, whether as a breach of contract, tort (including negligence whether active or passive), or any other theory of liability.

Coaching Services are offered to website users who may find value in a coaching process. These services are fully online and utilize a written “email” application (Slack) as a means of interaction.

Written coaching communications provide an extremely valuable process narrative that is largely unavailable in most verbal coaching processes. See my Executive Coaching Insights book for much more detail on this. The coaching examples included on the Coaching page provide a good picture of how this type of process actually works.

Slack-based Coaching: Slack as you may know is one of the currently most popular business communications and collaboration platforms, with millions of active daily users. Slack was chosen for AI-eCoach because of its huge user base and and because it offers:

Open for everyone
Friendly user interface
Easy asynchronous conversation
iOS and Android apps
Powerful customization abilities
Excellent search