Most people are still treating AI like a software application or platform. That might be holding you back. Last week, we looked at how differently people accept change. This email is about what to do once they’re willing to change. I had a conversation this month with someone working hard to get more out of AI for himself and for his business. He's a smart guy, and he’s making progress quickly. But he was approaching these tools the way we all learned to approach software. You learn what it...
10 days ago • 2 min read
A handful of people on your team have already tried AI twelve different ways in 5 different tools. And that’s just this month. Others have not opened it once, and they won’t unless you ask them to. Both reactions are normal. Last week we talked about giving your team a story about AI. This one is about why the same story lands so differently depending on who’s hearing it. Your team hears the future differently Our People Development practice is built on the 5 Voices for Teams methodology, and...
17 days ago • 1 min read
A new way of working means new jobs, even for people who keep the same title. As AI systems start to take on more of your team's hands-on work, the humans around them will need to shift into a different role. Someone has to train these systems, give them context, delegate to them, and monitor what they do. That's not a small tweak. It's a different kind of work entirely. Knowledge workers start acting like managers. Less hands-on data entry, analysis, document creation, and report generation....
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
The new AI tools aren't going away. This isn't a fad you can wait out until things settle down or stop changing. (You know change is constant, right?) What's happened over the last three years is a fundamental shift in what computing systems can help us do. That's not hype. It's a new baseline. And it means the leaders and teams who figure out how to use these tools well are going to out-pace the ones who don't. Below are some of what I'm recommending. These are based on my experience with...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Everybody's convinced AI is coming for their job. The data tells a story that's not quite so clean cut. I've been listening to and digging into the latest research on AI and employment. And it's not quite as gloomy as the headlines promised us back in 2023 and 2024. Here's what's actually happening, and why it matters for how you plan your own team. Software jobs are growing, not shrinking. Look at some of the recent numbers coming out: The Bureau of Labor Statistics still projects 17% growth...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
You can't plan a good next quarter if you haven't been honest about the last one. This past week I sat down with a new client in Texas to kick off their Strategic Clarity work, and it reminded me how rare and powerful it is for a business owner to actually stop and review. A lot of leaders are already three weeks into Q2 without ever really wrapping up Q1. So here's a short framework you can use this week to fix that. Ask the honest questions first Before you plan anything new, sit with what...
5 months ago • 2 min read
I walked off a conference stage a few weeks ago and wasn’t sure how it had landed. After all, it was a talk on AI, and that's a fairly broad subject these days. Then I talked to a store owner afterward. She told me that people who had vowed — her word — never to use AI walked away saying “holy cow, I can do this.” That’s not what I expected to hear. And it’s been on my mind since. What Changed Here’s what I think actually happened in that room: People didn’t change their minds about AI. They...
6 months ago • 1 min read
Today is Veteran's Day, and we honor all of those who have served in our armed forces. We appreciate your service to us and to our country. Last Thursday, we hosted Recalibrate—our first annual mastermind event for executives and senior leaders. It was an amazing day. I originally designed it to be a space to pause, reflect, and realign before heading into 2026. It was a packed, energizing day with diverse insights and meaningful conversations. One of the attendees said afterward, "Yesterday...
10 months ago • 1 min read
We’ve never had more tools at our fingertips: AI and LLM chatbots Mobile tech in the palm of our hand Leadership frameworks and guides Personality and communication frameworks like 5 Voices You name it - we have it covered. And more tools are being created every day. Learning the Tools I was reminded of this while leading a breakout session at the shift_ed conference last week. It was a lot of fun. The energy was high, and so was the enthusiasm for tools I was teaching like 5 Voices, Voice...
11 months ago • 1 min read