Latest news with #TheGideonGroup
Forbes
4 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
The AI Gold Rush Is Real And So Is The Irrational Exuberance
Salman Khan, President & CEO of The Gideon Group. The world is high on AI. From Sand Hill Road to the GCC sovereign corridors, everyone wants a piece of the generative intelligence revolution. But let's cut through the noise. We are in a bubble, but not one born entirely of delusion. There's a structured wildness to this capital cycle that looks irrational only if you ignore the underlying megatrend. If the dot-com era was about digitizing information, this era is about digitizing cognition. That changes everything, including the nature of the bubble itself. Internet 1999 Versus AI 2025 The similarities between today's AI boom and the late '90s dot-com bubble are striking. Both saw intense hype, outsized capital allocation and a herd mentality. But the scale has changed, and so has the substrate. In the 1990s, 'every business needs a website' became the mantra. In 2025, it's 'every company needs an AI strategy.' Valuations have soared, companies are scaling without solid monetization models and the narrative is being used as a vehicle for inflated funding rounds. Just like the 1990s, we're seeing capital-chasing narratives, startups scaling without revenue clarity and talent hoarding before product-market fit. Only now, the numbers seem to be 10 times bigger, and the burn is faster. The Anatomy Of Today's AI Bubble AI companies are commanding multi-billion-dollar valuations without even a roadmap to sustainable revenue. This is a big red flag in my experience. The disconnect between genuine value and bloated valuations is real in 2025. Most AI startups are simply API wrappers on top of foundational models like OpenAI or Meta. They lack their own large language models, defensible data flywheels or unique training architecture. Yet they're raising capital as if they're chipmakers. The real gold rush is in GPUs. Amazon has earmarked over $100 billion for AI infrastructure. It seems to me that there's more heat in the compute market than in the models themselves. We're watching the mass appointment of chief AI officers with vague mandates and no technical remit. It's reminiscent of 1999's 'e-something' craze. Boardrooms are pushing AI mandates into product roadmaps without a lack of understanding about cost, latency or inference margins. Prompt engineering is the new day trading. Social media is saturated with self-appointed AI experts. Web3 influencers have rebranded overnight. YouTube channels and Twitter threads pump speculative large language models (LLMs) agents with zero use-case depth. The Smart Capital Playbook Despite all the hype around AI, the technology has played a role in reshaping logistics, pharma and cybersecurity. The technology itself is not the issue, but rather the timeline assumptions and our mentality around it. Compute costs are still prohibitive for broad-scale commercial deployment. Monetization models are duct-taped, especially in consumer AI. Regulatory frameworks haven't caught up, and that introduces systemic drag. Patience and due diligence are required to play the long game of sustainable growth and development within the industry. For leaders looking to navigate this AI gold rush, here's my strategic take: • Integrate AI where it monetizes. Don't just implement where AI demos well. Consider stack exposure across LLM orchestration, inference optimization and agent memory systems. If it doesn't reduce cost, increase throughput or give you pricing power, it's noise. Don't pursue vanity projects. • Forget building another LLM; consider owning the rails underneath. Infrastructure, orchestration, billing logic, compliance layers—that's where I believe the margins will sit. Consider capex-layer plays like chips, compute leasing and AI-ready data center infrastructure. The model race may not be the best pursuit unless you're sitting on sovereign-scale capital. • Your data layer is your moat. Treat it like capital. You don't need better prompts. You need structured, compliant, high-fidelity data pipelines. AI eats that for breakfast. • Optionality is the hedge. Vendor-lock can lead to stagnation. Stay multimodel, multicloud and modular. Anyone getting married to a single provider today may find themselves obsolete. • Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. You don't need to be first. You need to be resilient. Focus on building things that are inevitable five years from now, not impressive for five minutes. This wave will wipe out the loud and reward the precise. So play the long game. Own the rails. Stack the options. Monetize what others are still trying to understand. Final Thoughts Yes, we're in a bubble. But bubbles built railroads, fiber optics and mobile ecosystems. I believe that AI will be no different. What matters most is where you're positioned when this bubble bursts. Because this time, I believe some of these valuations will be vindicated. The rest? Burned for GPU fuel. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
Forbes
05-08-2025
- Business
- Forbes
20 Strategies HR Professionals Can Leverage To Attract Diverse Talent
Enticing diverse talent to join a business is not an easy task. With so many companies seeing the value in candidates from varied backgrounds with a wide range of skills and experiences, these job seekers are more selective than ever regarding where they apply. From sharing the company's mission and values in a straightforward way to actively highlighting current employees, making deliberate changes to career pages and throughout the recruitment process helps ensure diverse candidates feel truly supported, whether they join your organization or not. Below, 20 Forbes Business Council members discuss how HR professionals can improve their company's career page to ensure they're attracting a more diverse talent pool. Read on to learn more about proven strategies that can be implemented to boost the quality of candidates. 1. Take A Top-Down Approach HR can't create clarity if leadership breeds confusion. The truth is that no career page—no matter how inclusive or flashy—can fix a company where leadership is rigid, opaque or disconnected. If management is clear, communicative and aligned on DEI, HR becomes a creative force. Clarity at the top creates credibility at the bottom. That's the real strategy. - Salman Khan, The Gideon Group Inc 2. Publicly Commit To Being Inclusive A bold declaration is the best way to clearly convey the workplace culture and your hiring philosophies. For example, say, "All kinds of people are welcome here. We are not just accepting. We are actively antiracist, pro-women, and an organization that welcomes LGBTQIA+ people. Discrimination and unkindness of any kind will not be tolerated here at any level." This statement and competitive compensation will yield quality candidates. - Charles Stanton, Transient Consulting Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify? 3. Articulate The Value Of Diversity To attract a more diverse talent pool, the company must articulate the value it places on diversity. Each image and word should mirror the visitor's experience. Include quotes from employees citing how they feel valued, included and respected. Also, advertise to the right crowd. Your ideal candidate may not be part of your normal reach. Find out where they hang out and bridge that gap. - Loubna Noureddin, Mind Market 4. Be People-Centric We focus on people first. Our career page highlights real moments—team lunches, birthdays, training, client wins—that showcase our inclusive, growth-driven culture. With our motto, 'We want our employees to be our competitors,' we empower ownership. It's shared across social media, newsletters and on our Hall of Fame wall. - Kushal Chordia, VaaS - Visibility as a Service 5. Lead With Visual Representation The most effective way to attract a more diverse talent pool is by leading with visual representation. Showcase your culturally diverse workforce and how those employees belong in spaces they may not have traditionally seen themselves in. Representation isn't just a concept but proof. When people see someone who looks like them doing the work, it shifts their perception of what is possible. - Dennis DuFour, TDEC 6. Create A Culture That Values Diversity Go further than the career page by embedding diversity into the culture of the company. You can profess to support all sorts of things on a page, but any good potential employee does their research and the company's approach to equity, diversity and inclusivity will be evident in their reputation. Culture drives diversity. - Marian Evans, Elevate BC Ltd 7. Showcase Inclusive Language And Authentic Imagery Use inclusive language and authentic imagery that genuinely reflect your diverse team. It's about accurately portraying the environment you've built. When candidates visit our career page, we want them to feel like they belong here before they even apply. For us, it's always been about not just telling but showing that everyone has a place at Moneypenny with the right attitude. - Jesper With-Fogstrup, Moneypenny 8. Use Personal Stories And Videos Of The Current Team To attract diverse talent, HR should authentically showcase the current team via personal stories and real videos. Candidates need to see "someone like them." At my MMO and e-commerce businesses, our best strategy is a "Day in the Life" series through short videos or blogs where diverse employees share their genuine experiences. This helps candidates envision themselves thriving here. - Erik Pham, Bizreport 9. Ensure The Career Page Reflects Your Target Audience Your career page should reflect who you're trying to attract, not just who is already there. Use real photos, include inclusive language, and highlight your values in action rather than just as bullet points. Show what diversity looks like inside your culture. Representation isn't just ethical—it's magnetic. People apply where they feel they'll belong. - Dr. Christina Carter, Her Practice® 10. Demonstrate The Value Of Diversity At Every Level Highlighting leadership diversity and sharing executive statements on inclusion can make a big difference. Show a diverse leadership team to demonstrate that inclusion is valued at every level. Include statements from executives about their commitment to diversity. This builds trust and shows potential candidates the company is serious about fostering an inclusive culture. - Sabeer Nelliparamban, Tyler Petroleum Inc. 11. Actively Prioritize Human Sustainability HR professionals should play a more active role in human sustainability. It is essential to look after the interest of employees in terms of their mental health and career progression. Nurturing human sustainability will create a mindful atmosphere and provide employees with emotional wellness, reducing their stress levels. - Ramesh Arora, SIGNATURE HOSPITALLITY GROUP 12. Focus On Transparency Be transparent by highlighting your culture. Detail what you stand for (or what you want to stand for), and articulate where you are and where you want to go, even showcasing your awards if you have them. Complement your career page with an internship program. This will bypass any potential biases that may come from self-selection by a hiring manager or recruiter. - John Abusaid, Halbert Hargrove 13. Audit Job Descriptions Auditing job descriptions for age preferences is one way to ensure you are not unintentionally discouraging experienced candidates. Terms like 'tech-savvy' or 'digital native' can signal a preference for younger workers. A formal review to remove ageist terms broadens your talent pool and pays off, as older workers stay on the job three times longer than younger ones, offering stability and long-term value. - Gary A. Officer, CWI Labs 14. Avoid Relying On AI Filters For Applicant Screening Don't rely solely on AI filters during initial screening for employees. Many great candidates are overlooked because an algorithm deems them unfit based on rigid parameters. At our company, we ensure a human reviews each resume, allowing for a more nuanced and inclusive assessment that often reveals strong potential missed by automated tools. - Jekaterina Beljankova, WALLACE s.r.o 15. Provide Space For Anonymous Candidate Feedback We added an anonymous Q&A box right on our careers page. Candidates ask real questions, and we post unedited answers from our team to break the wall. Transparency beats perfection because people trust what they can challenge. And that trust is how you draw in diverse, sharp minds. - Michael Shribman, APS Global Partners Inc. 16. Develop A 'Belonging Mirror' Career Page Transform your career page into a "belonging mirror" where candidates can see themselves thriving. Beyond showcasing diversity, embed an interactive "belonging barometer" tool that presents questions like, "How would you navigate conflicting priorities?" with scenario-based responses. This tool powered by natural language processing lets candidates self-assess psychological safety before applying. - Adnan Ghaffar, LLC 17. Provide Thorough Company Information When interested people visit a career page, they are not only looking for employment opportunities but also for more general information about your business, corporate culture, history, and general reasons to join your company. The page should effectively and positively present the company via short stories about its values, mission, and culture by using real employee stories and testimonials. - Anton Alikov, Arctic Ventures 18. Utilize Marketing Principles HR teams can utilize core principles of marketing, including search engine optimization to attract better talent. When writing career page copy, do some research on trending searches and incorporate a mix of short- and long-tail keywords to appear in more candidate searches. Also, consider adding more copy covering company culture, compensation, and additional benefits to improve recruiting. - Emily Reynolds, R Public Relations 19. Highlight Authentic Internal Representation Representation is powerful. HR can attract diverse talent by sharing real employee stories, such as a neurodiverse team member thriving with workplace adjustments or a Black female leader sharing her career journey. These authentic examples show your culture values inclusion and help candidates feel seen, supported, and truly welcome rather than just tolerated. - Jack Hayes, Champions Speakers Agency 20. Walk The Talk Diversity starts from the inside out. A diverse leadership team signals real commitment, not just optics. On your careers page, showcase diverse executives, share authentic employee stories, and reflect inclusive values. Candidates can sense when it's performative vs. lived. - Paige Williams, AudPop
