S4E4: Leading in the Age of AI Without Losing the Human

AI is moving so fast that doing nothing is still a decision and it might be the riskiest one. We talk through what it actually looks like to lead in the world of AI, where search, writing, research, and even meeting notes are increasingly automated and your team is watching how you respond.

We start with a leadership lens: AI can make you faster at transactional work, but speed is not the same as leadership. We break down transactional vs transformational leadership (managing things vs leading people) and keep coming back to the same challenge: if AI gives you time back, will you reinvest it in coaching, trust-building, and developing your team, or will you just stack more admin on top? We also connect this to lean thinking and “value add” work, arguing that the highest-value work of a leader is transforming people, not polishing paperwork.

Then we get practical and honest about the watchouts. We’ve all seen AI-generated work that feels generic, sloppy, and unverified. We lay out guardrails that protect judgment and quality: transparency about when AI is used, psychological safety for learning, “trust but verify” habits, and clear boundaries around sensitive or restricted business information based on your company AI policy. We also share concrete AI use cases for leaders, from drafting a first pass of a policy or development plan to pulling action items from meetings and preparing for tough conversations without losing the human touch.

If you found this helpful, subscribe, share it with a leader on your team, and leave a review with your best rule for using AI at work. What would you protect as “human-only” in your leadership?

Follow us on Instagram or on Threads @LEADERSHIPEXCHANGEPODCAST. We'd love to hear from you! What topics you'd like us to explore with you? What questions on our topics do you have? Say hello and start the dialogue!

Transcript

Why AI Is A Leadership Test

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Everyone, this is Alex Airland.

SPEAKER_01 0:05

And this is the and this is we were talking about a lot of topics we wanted to potentially talk about. What do you guys think we should settle on?

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Yeah, Lupe, we're uh in in conversation last couple days, and I think the one that we really landed on yesterday or actually was Friday, leading the world of AI. And I like this topic just because it is every day something that myself as a leader am facing. And I would say that every leader listening right now is making an AI decision this week, uh, whether they know it or not. You know, some are making that decision by acting on it, some are making that decision maybe by avoiding using it or directing people away from it. In either case, it's everywhere as we see our regular search engines now starting to use AI. And so I think what was really kind of important in part of this conversation today, it goes back to an episode we had with Ron Crabtree. And Ron had made the statement that AI technology isn't a problem for leaders. It's a leadership problem that happens to involve technologies. And he also went on to say that leaders who lead are team members and people that will use AI will outperform those that don't. And as a leader, you have to be able to lead people through how to use AI. And I think that'll be a great conversation for us to have today. So with that brief introduction, let me throw it back to you and

Faster Manager Or Better Leader

SPEAKER_02 1:42

Alex.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Well, this is a very interesting subject. I think one of the biggest questions that comes to mind around AI is certainly there's case after case demonstrating how it can help automate tasks, how it can help with expediting some of the transactional activities that we all have in our day-to-day. But does it make you a better leader, or does it just make you like a faster transactional manager?

SPEAKER_01 2:16

I think uh you you hit on on a very important topic related to this, or element related to this, Alex. I think we have to dissect a professional manager or director or supervisor, whatever the title you may have, you have two aspects to that role. In my opinion, those aspects are the transactional side of you and what you have to do, and then the transformational side of you. And another way to look at it is the managing aspect of your role and the leading aspect of your role. And I think if people understand the difference between those two, then we can really do a laser focus on how AI can help the transactional or the managing aspect of leading. If you if you can, maybe one of you guys can describe the difference between those two. What exactly is transactional? What exactly is transformational? And then we can really start to move forward on how you utilize AI.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

I'll take a first cut at that. When I think about transactional, it is really using the tool and having team members begin to learn about the tool. And I I'll relate this back to a group I was working with probably about a year ago, and it was multi-generational, and I really felt that I would probably have more difficulty with people that were in their work career for a much longer time than maybe folks that were new coming in. And so I made a bad assumption there because it was just the opposite of that. The folks that I was working with that were 10, 15, 20 years into their career were the first to adopt quickly. And they adopted it very transactionally in that, hey, this is gonna make this task that much easier. Hey, my research is gonna be this much quicker. And on the flip side, I would say it was a younger generation that really was struggling to use it because there was no trust yet. And so I think for the transformational leadership, you have to look at this as a trust aspect of how can we utilize this technology? Because it's not that you you you can ignore it, it's how can you utilize it in a way that builds trust? And I think that's really important. So part of it is as a leader, I think your first job is not to pick the tools, but to really answer the questions that every team member is silently asking about them. Like, what does this mean for me? Is this gonna be something that takes away my work or the fun part of my work? And so I think that's really a big part of it.

Transactional Vs Transformational Leadership

SPEAKER_00 5:00

I do have a few thoughts on this because for our listeners, I think a simple way of defining the transactional leadership versus transformational leadership. So transactional, very heavily focused on managing performance. Well, in many cases, it's like an exchange-based style versus the transformational leadership that is focused around growing people. Well, you need both because transactional activities certainly have a place in running an organization, but the transformational side of things is really what inspires people to follow the leader. And and likewise, you know, the leader is focused on growing that person or the team.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

The difference between transactional and transformational is also the difference between managing and leading. So you manage things, right? You manage schedules, you manage budgets, you manage systems, but you don't manage people, you actually lead people. Or at least that's what I would recommend people think of is like, hey, I don't manage people, I lead people because you manage things. And so that that difference between the transformational and transactional, as long as you understand that, then you can really start to see AI as a tool for the transactional aspect of what you do. And because we have to do both of those, transactional and transformative, I'll say we should be doing those two. A lot of times we get stuck in this transactional mindset where we don't really spend a lot of work and effort on the transformative aspect. But for those of us that do, I think now with AI, AI is really going to help you eliminate or reduce some of that burden that is related to your transactional, the transactional aspect of leading.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

That's a great point, Luke. I think the way that I like to think about AI and how it can help me as a leader is okay, if it's assisting me with doing some of those transactional activities in a much more efficient way, what am I doing with the time that AI gives me back, right? Am I going to put that time back into, you know, doing more transactional activities so I feel super, super productive? Or am I using that time to spend with a junior leader developing them and spending time with the team?

SPEAKER_02 7:44

Yeah, and I just wanted to add to that.

Trust And Psychological Safety With AI

SPEAKER_02 7:46

I think as a leader, you know, we always talk about creating the environment for transformational leadership to take place and really just the environment to lead your team in a way that we all believe is the right way to lead. The the whole matter of you know letting people have the grace of learning versus this becoming a mandate, you have to use this new technology. We got to start with creating the the guardrails around how they can use it, giving some guidance around that environment creates the psychological safety in using these tools and getting people comfortable. And everybody learns differently. As I mentioned in that that group that I was working with not too long ago, it it was really interesting to see how quickly some adopted and and didn't. And even even those that were early adopters still needed some guardrails and guidance because it it got out of hand pretty quick. And I think that's as a leader, we're really managing change here versus managing AI as a tool or introducing a tool. It's it's no different than any other change management system or process that we would go through. And so I think that's really important to understand as a leader coming in. You don't have to be the expert in it, but what you have to do is you have to create that environment where people can begin to use it, learn, and use it in a way that's, as Alex mentions, productive, but also that is still human. And I think Lupa, you you talked about that the other day in a different conversation we were having, just the whole aspect of leading this transformation or any transformation with human intention.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

I was going to go in a slightly different direction there, Steve, because when you mentioned the managing change perspective, I immediately was nodding my head up and down, thinking that you know there's a lot of you will conflicting opinions about the role of AI, with some people really feeling that nope, this is not something good. In other cases, you've got leaders that feel AI is definitely safe and can be rewarding. But really, there's a lot of research out there that says those that are successful at using AI in their work as in just AI transformation are those that generally are at the forefront of championing change and that have a space for that innovation. So slightly different, Steve, but that was sort of what I was thinking

Value Add Leadership Through A Lean Lens

SPEAKER_00 10:35

about.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

One of the things that really started sticking out for me is for those that have that lean background, you know, you you really start to think about like value. What's value add, what's non-value add? Value would be it's a lean term that talks about what the customer is willing to pay for. There's a lot of other requirements that determine what value, what's value, and what's non-value. But basically, you have to be able to transform a project, a product. It's got to be done right the first time, and the customers got to be willing to pay for it. So that from a lean perspective is how value is defined. And if you use that in the context of leadership, you you think about like, okay, as a leader, how do I add value? Well, I don't transform the product. So technically I it's not value add. But if you think of the customer, the internal customer versus the consumer customer, then you really start to think of, okay, how do I add value to the team and to the people? And very much like, hey, you have to transform the product for it to be value. I would say that there's the transformational perspective of leading is where we add the most value. Everything else gets in the way of that. It doesn't mean that it's not important. There's a lot of important things that you have to do that are related to keeping the wheels of business moving. But then there's the transformational aspect, which is really you're transforming the team and the people in the team. And your ability to spend more time doing that and less time doing some of the administrative things that that can really consume a lot of your day. I would argue that if if you have more time to do that and you actually take advantage of it and spend more time, your team will be far better in the long run. They're going to be far better, far more capable leaders, maybe, or more capable people that will have more fulfilling work lives, et cetera, because of the fact that you are spending your time on them as individuals and helping develop their skill set. I

The Business Of People Mindset

SPEAKER_01 12:52

I like to ask uh leaders this question to get their mind frame in the right direction. And that is, what's the business we're in? It doesn't matter whether it was in retail or whether it was in manufacturing, whatever that may be. That ultimately the response by people in the room will be, oh, well, we're in the business of making aircraft, or we're in the business of uh providing banking services. And I shake my head, no, and I'm like, no, that's not what we're in the business of. And they they look at me like I'm a little a little crazy and and they're confused. And I'm like, the moment you became a leader, you are now in the business of people. And if we keep that mindset of, hey, um the people that we lead are the people that are making the product, are providing the service. That's their core function as individual contributors. But as a leader, you have to think of it very differently. And with AI, you've got to be able to leverage AI because it it can enhance you, as Ron Crabtree uh mentioned, Steve, right? It you're you're always gonna be a better leader if you're able to master some aspects of AI and help you with those transactional uh functions that you have to do day to day, week to week. But then you're gonna be a far better leader because of the fact that you have opened your time with AI to be able to focus on the value add aspects of your role.

SPEAKER_02 14:37

You know, the paradox is work becomes more automated, people feel like it can become more robotic, right? And less human. And I think to your point, you know, leadership has to become more human and more empathetic, you know, making those connections with their team as you you go through any change, because change is hard for all people. And when you think about AI, I mean, all the information that we're seeing is that it's changing every three months. It's it's compounding every six months into even more capability, really making sure that you understand that piece of it going in as part of the change management piece, but really leaning in to the human side, I think, is is where a leader will win. And I I think the other watch out there that we've talked about in our conversations, you Alex and myself, is that as teams start to use it, you still need to make sure you're leading that change by reviewing how they're using it, right? Because I think one of the challenges will be is that if people stop thinking and they just accept what answers they're getting from AI, that yeah, leads to a whole nother paradigm challenge for a leader. I don't know if you guys want to talk about that

Avoid Sloppy AI And Lost Judgment

SPEAKER_02 15:59

a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

I think on every team there's gonna be varied levels of experience or or fluency around AI, you know, as people become aware of some of the ways in which AI can be used. And it's unfortunate, but I have seen work product that does not seem to be very, I'm trying to find a diplomatic word to use.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Missing the human touch? Why why can't you just say it, Alex?

SPEAKER_00 16:33

Why do you No, I I mean I've seen work product that feels sloppy because it's super generalized and it just reeks of AI. No one bothered to really look through it, and and they allowed AI basically to provide the judgment, which that makes me a little bit nervous. I I think you're right, Steve. There has to be a way to really make sure that the human touch is there.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

Yeah, and that's a good point. Where's that line between you know healthy experimentation and kind of reckless abandonment in using the technology? What where would you guys put that at?

SPEAKER_01 17:17

I mean, there's extremes, right? And I think if we start there, then maybe we can work our way to the answer. One extreme, for example, it sounds like Alex has been dealing with some of these extremes, is where I I ask AI some questions, AI generates something, I copy and paste it into my document or my presentation. So that would be like absolutely the worst because there's no thinking that went into that. There's no proofreading. There's just, I'm just gonna go with what it says. I'm not gonna use my ability to reason to do critical thinking to make sure that it passes the sniff test, if you will. I think that's uh a little careless and I think it's a little lazy for people to do that. Uh on the other hand, maybe in that same situation, you as the individual, you're you're asking for a framework. Hey, give me the framework or the outline of of a topic, and then from there you start to kind of go through that iterative process of building on that. But you're guiding the build through questions and through you know adjustments versus hey, give me something and I'm just gonna use that and and go with it. I I think that that that's a way to use AI, but I would say that that's a really terrible way because the point that I think you're trying to make, Steve, is problem solving, for example, good problem solving, the those skills don't uh happen without practice. And you can't maintain them without practicing. So you have to keep that blade pretty sharp. And the only way you do that is by actually going through the thought process yourself versus giving it to AI to try and figure out. Now, I'm not saying don't use AI to problem solve. It can actually be very, very good at at doing that, but don't don't abandon the whole thing, the whole task to AI and just say, hey, whatever AI tells me is what I'm gonna go with. I think it needs to augment your process, but you need to be guiding it very specifically on on the on when you're trying to problem solve.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

Yeah, that's great points there, Lupe. And I just goes back to as a leader, you know, you have to really look at the the judgment as you start to use this tool and your team start to use this tool, because judgment really becomes a human skill, right? And Alex, you talked about a little bit, you know, if I just throw something back out that was generated in in AI without a review, right? That trust but verification, it it's it's gonna be junk. And I think Lupe, you and I talked a couple months ago a little bit about a study we had seen where groups that came in to solve problems, one group was given AI to augment the pro or to as part of their network for problem solving, another group was not given it, and the group that did not have it took longer, uh but it was better, and then the experiment went back to use AI and then take it out of use in conversation, like the follow-up data or process, and it created a tremendous solution in in that sense. So AI by itself was was not enough, people outperformed it, it took them much longer to get to the point where they could communicate what their thoughts were in solving this problem. But when they combined the two, it really became magical, I guess, so to speak. And so I think just as a leader learning how to to use it in that way, and then the old adage, you gotta trust it, but you have to verify so that you know what is kicked out is is factual, and and we we've all seen that, I think, Alex, your point. You know, you've seen product produced that was substandard and and probably not fully correct as well.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

Steve, I would argue that as a leader, we probably have as leaders, we probably have the least to worry about when it comes to like AI replacing us, right? Because I I sincerely believe that and as much as AI can event advance and evolve, the the ability for it to be emp empathetic, uh com show compassion, the these are some of the truly human aspects that I don't I would argue uh AI will never be able to like can you imagine AI building trust with within a team? Like I just don't I just don't see that happening. Maybe I'm I'm holding on to the status quo sum, but I I just don't see that. I I think transactional things, yeah, maybe. And even transactional things, they're they're finding more and more, right? Yeah. They they tried that in in like software development. They they got rid of all these people and said, oh, AI is gonna take care of that, and they're finding that it's not taking care of it, the the product quality is not as good. And and I I think that's kind of evidence of maybe where the technology is, but but also the fact that augmenting the human ass the human animal is probably what AI's real strength is versus replacing it. And I don't think that that's any, it couldn't be any more truer in in the the case of a leader in that role. I agree.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

Lupe, you said something about can you imagine AI replacing humans and the AI's capability with you know building trust? Here's something that I think might be helpful for our listeners is you might be able to use AI with coming up with like a sample or the first version of maybe like a tough conversation that you have to have with someone just to kind of visualize and and and really prepare for this conversation. Now you're not going, at least I hope you won't be reading from a sheet of paper word by word, line by line, but sometimes that framing that AI can help a leader with putting together is helpful. And then from there, putting it into your own words and really making it your own. As you said, you know, the empathy piece, that is a great way on how it might be able to help a leader.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Yeah, agree. Yeah. Maybe we come up with a few ideas or a few examples just to help our listeners.

Practical AI Uses And Team Guardrails

SPEAKER_01 24:10

A few examples of how you could use AI. Like we talk about, well, you could use AI on the on the transactional aspect of your job. What are you guys seeing out there that you feel like, okay, yeah, that's a good use of AI to reduce the amount of time, the amount of work and burden for leaders?

SPEAKER_02 24:29

Look, I'm gonna go back just to some general guidance that I think any leader will want to set the stage for early. And and part of it is just making sure that there's some transparency around when you're using the tool versus when you're not. I've actually seen this already in the workforce where people are trying to pass off their work product and saying, no, it was all theirs, that they hadn't did any research leveraging AI or that uh they didn't use AI to help them set up that framework that you were talking about. And so I I think it's really important to set that environment where you're letting people know when you're using it and sharing with them some of the information because as knowledge happens quick, the hoarding of knowledge and not sharing, how you're getting maybe you know, a better prompt to get a answer to questions. I think it's just gonna be really important. So transparency, I think, is one of the first things that kind of goes to the point that we were talking about a minute ago. How do you build trust? When you're using these tools and they're all behind the screen, you have to somehow create that transparency and honesty in what you're using it for, how you're using it. And I think as a leader, if you're able to do that and demonstrate that, it makes it easier for your team also to follow. So that that's one rule. You guys have another one you would want to throw out there?

SPEAKER_00 25:54

I do, and I might be taking some of Lupe's thunder here, but this was a great example he provided to me this week, and that is spending time with the team and those individuals that may not have the same AI access or the fluency and going back to building trust. Well, spending time with those team members, helping them gain exposure and understanding of the ways in which they might be able to leverage AI is a great way of demonstrating that you're you're interested in helping them, you're interested in growing their skills, and you're not leaving them behind.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

That's a great point, Alex. As a leader, our ability to help our team through this new tool and how to utilize it, and and maybe even to help them understand how not to utilize it, right? Some of the things we're talking about today. But to to me, simple things that can take a lot of time would be like, hey, I'm I want to do a tailgate on this topic. I can ask AI to give me the most common topics on ladder safety, for example. What are the most common types of injuries? And now all of a sudden, within a few seconds, I'm gonna get an outline of something I can talk to people about. I want to make sure I check my facts. I want to make sure that it's getting information from reputable uh sources. You don't want it to go off and and grab something from some wacky uh website that has all these conspiracy theories about ladders and uh and the and the deep state, that type of thing. But being able to do something like that now instead of before, that that's a struggle for some people. They don't have the computer skills, they're not able necessarily to type very fast. And so something like that, as simple as that, can be like something that would be several, several minutes of work. So I'm spending some time talking to the leaders. I'm having small workshops, small uh I'll say learning sessions where I help them understand the things that they can do on the administrative side now very, very quickly and very easily.

SPEAKER_02 28:18

I think that's a great point, Lupe. I just thinking through this as well, keeping it fun, right? So anytime we're learning something, it can be drudgery or it can be fun. And if it's fun, people adopt to it quicker. And I I think to the point of helping people maybe that haven't used it before, team members that are that are in a different place of access to the technology, how they can connect to it, because everybody's got a phone these days and and it's right there on your phone now, too, right? And so I I think that's the the important thing with the leaders is keep it fun. And I think a KPI that you can even consider is don't focus on measuring productivity improvements as this tool comes into the workplace only. You may want to measure some productivity, I get it. But think about measuring learning, right? Measure how teams are learning to use this tool. And again, it kind of goes back to that whole transparency thing so that it's people aren't hiding behind the screen. Instead, they're sharing how that learning is going and and what they've picked up. So, anyway, you know, I I think you guys are bringing up some really good points that a leader can uh take in this space.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

You know, some ways in which I found AI incredibly useful is in helping with drafting first passes of maybe a policy. I used it to help me with drafting up a first version of a development plan. It was sort of generic at first, right? Taking a job description, extracting the competencies from that job description, and translating that into a sample development plan. And that was incredibly useful. Now, obviously, it it's going to be customized for the individual, but it gives you a starting point, right? That's another way. I and I think even in helping leaders prepare for interviews, identifying action items coming out of a meeting when you've been running a note-taking uh feature to AI. Those are all some really good and helpful ways you take these transactional activities and free up time for more transformational activities.

What Not To Use AI For

SPEAKER_00 30:52

I do have one question for you guys though. And my question would be: what stands out to you as one thing that you're gonna protect with as distinctly an area where nope, you're not, you're not gonna use AI.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

Well, there's the personal aspect of of that question, and then there's the business perspective of that question. And I think that really prompts a great topic to ensure that everybody, all our listeners understand is you need to understand if what your company's policies are on AI, because some companies have policies, some companies do not, some are strict, some are not strict. Make sure you understand that because you do not want to be working in AI in a manner that your business is not supportive of or has a policy against that would be not good for you, potentially. So be careful because you know, some some of these AI platforms they gather that information and they share it publicly or they sell it publicly or do all sorts of different things. So you need to really understand that piece. And getting to your question, Alex, I like on the business side, I would not ever use information that's considered business sensitive or uh restricted information to feed into AI regardless of what I'm trying to get accomplished. So I would say that that's a big watch out for all our listeners. Make sure you understand those policies. Make sure that you're not you utilizing sensitive information. Some companies may have a special, I'll say, agreement with AI provider that maybe limits what they they use or don't use. And in that case, they may permit the use of some of these tools with what be considered sensitive information. I know, like, for example, a lot of companies are starting to use it to determine market trends and to understand what what the consumer is looking for, etc., doing that type of deep analysis. But uh the those are done under special conditions and not something that I would recommend somebody just start arbitrarily doing without the the knowledge and consent of their business.

SPEAKER_02 33:20

Great answers there, Lupe. Alex, I'm gonna take it a little bit different direction than uh Lupe, and and what I would not replace it with is that genuine person-to-person interaction. I think that going to the location where a situation has occurred or visiting someone just in in the pure sense of checking in to see you know how they're doing, the the human-to-human aspect, I think, is something that is so important. And it could be very easy to let AI try and communicate for you, because there actually are apps now that will send notes out to people and based on what you've put in the uh profile. And and I just think that there's something to be said for continuing to stay engaged with people directly and you know have conversations that are meaningful and and personable. So that's the area that I won't give up. And and

Staying Current Without Getting Overwhelmed

SPEAKER_02 34:19

I guess the question back to both of you, because we've seen AI evolve in our our world over the last two years pretty rapidly. Think about like five years from now, what what that's gonna look like. And it's um it's it's kind of mind-numbing, right? And so as a leader, what do you need to uh think about just to not get overwhelmed by the fact that it's evolving so quick? What would you guys do in that space to stay on top of or stay connected with the advancement?

SPEAKER_01 34:51

The first thing that that comes to mind is like anything else that that is related to leadership or related to the the the whatever industry I'm I'm in, I I'm always trying to stay current. And so making sure that I'm reading articles, making sure that I'm watching whatever my method of learning is, YouTube videos, podcasts, anything like that, staying in tune with that because it is a major tool. It's a major paradigm shift in in how you use it. Um there's a lot of different things that I could phrases that I could use to describe it. It's a big deal. And because it's a big deal and has the potential to really benefit or damage your team and and their their ability to do their work, your understanding of it, I feel is crucial. And making sure that you're you're able to know the watchouts, know the tricks, and be able to help your and guide your team. I I don't feel that you should ignore it. I I think that's a big mistake. And being able to stay ahead of it, it's kind of like with your kids, like understanding social media and and the influence it can have on your kids, especially at their young age, and and you know, all of those things, you can you can stick your head in the sand and say, well, I don't I really don't want to deal with that. I really don't want to think about it, I don't want to engage in that, I don't want to learn about it. That's fine. You can do that. But I would caution all of you if if you have that mindset. And same with this and and AI is be cautious because if you decide to ignore it, then it could potentially cause damage to to what your leaders do and to what the team does ultimately, because whatever the leader does can influence the rest of your team. So that that would be my my opinion on on that topic, uh Steve.

SPEAKER_00 36:53

What comes to mind is first and foremost, and this is this is my experience in that I it can be very easy to become overwhelmed with not just AI, but any tool if I'm you know trying to keep up versus really understanding that my role is more focused around keeping pace, right? So I don't need to learn every single latest and greatest AI tool or way in which it's being used, maybe focusing primarily on what are the things that are most relevant for my function and for my team, focusing more on maybe like two or three, a couple of ways in which I can use AI in a very practical way instead of trying to learn everything under the moon, right? Because then that can really become like just a quick spiral to overload.

SPEAKER_02 37:58

Here's what I would say is that as part of leader standard work, you have to invest in yourself. And I think just building into your weekly schedule the opportunity to learn, right? To to take a different part of this new world of AI and just learn a little bit more about it, and then think in terms of, okay, is this going to apply to my team? What would make the most sense for me to maybe learn more? And I I think then it really can even get down into, you know, what are the right tools I should be using and and learning more about? Because there's there's so many different ones out there. Had a good conversation with my son last week and we got a chance to spend a little bit of time together in Dublin, and you know, he was describing to me how as a company, his company uses four or five different tools based on the skills. So the one that is you know more analytical versus the one that is kind of inspirational or outward looking to even the ones that are really kind of art designed. And I I think you know, one of the things that any leader should start thinking about is the different tools, the mainstream tools that are out there, what is the best one for specific applications? Because I think you don't have to be an expert on the tool, but I think understanding which tools are are best to use in certain situations could really be a game changer as a leader, but also to help your teams. I think

Internet Moment And Final Takeaways

SPEAKER_02 39:27

we should figure out how to wrap this up. Here's a closing thought that I have is that when you think about the internet back in the 90s, the paradigm then was companies were saying, Do I do we really need to use the internet within the work environment? You know, do I need a website? What is that really gonna do? And and that was game changer, right? Fundamentally, those that that adopted early benefited early from it. You know, and I I think we're at that same transition here. This is a revolution taking place and it's gonna reward, I think, leaders and and companies that learn to use it in very human ways. My concern, and I'm I think the concern across the world is just you know, weaponization of this type of uh technology and and how we need to really make sure that as humans we're in charge of the technology. And I think if we go in with that mindset, um it'll be helpful, beneficial, and it's here, I think, is the other thing. There's no way to ignore it anymore. So as a leader, you you really need to start to understand it, figure out how you can support your teams in this space.

SPEAKER_00 40:37

Great point, Steve. And if I could add to that, I see this as leaders, it's not a question of do you use AI or do you not? It's really about what do you do with the time that AI gives you back? How do you choose to invest that time? I would want to emphasize the importance of spending time with the team in those transformational activities.

SPEAKER_02 41:05

I was saying it's about the beach, but I I see what you're saying. That's that's good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

And I think the the final the final thought I'll add to the great the great points you both made is that as leaders or yeah, as individuals, those those listeners out there, it this is completely within your ability to learn and and understand. We can we can use the approach of, hey, uh, well, my boss hasn't told me to, or my boss isn't sending me to training, isn't doing this. All this stuff is available out there on the internet. Uh all of this, you know, there's YouTube, whatever method you use to learn, you can go there on your own, teach yourself, learn about all of this, and be decent at it. And and I think that from a self-accountability standpoint, you you have that versus the excuse of, well, no one really taught me, no one ever, you know, you gotta kind of grab the bull by the horns and and and make it happen. So I'll say those words of inspiration to people is hey, go make it happen and and learn about this because it's coming whether you want it or not, and you can either be part of it and use it and and help your team be able to use it in a in an intelligent way, a meaningful way, or you can let it bulldoze you and and your team. And at that point, you know, who knows what can happen. It's a really great topic. I I think there's lots of different aspects of this that we'll probably visit in the future. Uh, but uh until then, this is Luca Munoz.

SPEAKER_00 42:51

This is Alex Aranda and I'm Steve McKinnon.

SPEAKER_01 42:54

Thank you for joining us today.