Predicting Personality

Chapter ThreeTHE BIGGEST CHALLENGES TO SUCCESSFUL COMMUNICATION

We shared that earlier story about our first company not only to explain the origin of Crystal and our journey into Personality AI, but also to illustrate the entire reason this technology exists.

The clash that Walt had identified, between us and our board, was a tale as old as capitalism itself …

• Two parties see a shared goal.
• They decide to partner up in their pursuit of the goal.
• Something happens to lead one or both sides to stop trusting the other.
• Communication disintegrates.
• Both parties lose.

This situation certainly was not unique to us. Communication failures come in many different flavors, and while they are not always explosive; they're usually far more subtle and confusing than open conflict.

You may have experienced some of these failures, like:

• The customer who never appears to be satisfied, despite your most valiant efforts to appease them.
• The boss who micromanages your work and won't give you the autonomy you need.
• The prospect who seemed so excited to buy, but has since dropped off the map and will not respond to any of your emails or voicemails.
• The coworker who keeps making promises, but lets the details fall through the cracks while you pick up the slack.

We are software developers by trade, so our successes and failures are usually very clear cut. Does the app run? Yes or No. Does it do what it is supposed to do? Yes or No. Does it crash? Yes or No. If we make a mistake, we can quickly test ...