Grounding AI

Are B2B Leaders Making AI More Confusing?

Episode Summary

With all the excitement around AI, are we forgetting some of the business lessons that helped us become successful leaders in the first place? In this episode of the World Innovators Grounding AI Podcast, I talk about something I have been thinking about a lot lately. AI may not be what is creating confusion inside our companies. As leaders, we may be creating some of that confusion ourselves.

Episode Notes

With all the excitement around AI, are we forgetting some of the business lessons that helped us become successful leaders in the first place?

In this episode of the World Innovators Grounding AI Podcast, I talk about something I have been thinking about a lot lately. AI may not be what is creating confusion inside our companies. As leaders, we may be creating some of that confusion ourselves.

We have spent years learning how to lead, communicate, build trust, make decisions, and understand our people. Those lessons still matter when we introduce AI into our businesses.

I look back at lessons from four business books that have influenced how I work:

• Start With Why by Simon Sinek
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
• Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
• The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling

These books were not written about AI, but the leadership lessons apply.

Before asking your team to use AI, do they understand:

• Why you are bringing it into the company?
• Do they know what you are trying to accomplish?
• Are you using it yourself?
• And are you continuing to coach your team after the initial training?

One of the most important things I learned as a swim coach was that you cannot coach everyone the same way. The same applies to AI. Some employees are excited to try every new technology. Others need more time, examples, and guidance. Good leadership means understanding the people on your team and helping each person move in the right direction.

In this episode, I discuss:

• Why AI adoption starts with leadership, not technology
• How to explain the "why" behind AI to your team
• Why leaders need to define what they actually want AI to accomplish
• How different employees may need different levels of AI coaching and support
• Why leaders need to model the AI behavior they want from their teams
• How regular AI discussions can encourage learning and implementation
• Why human experience, judgment, and business knowledge still need to guide AI
• How inconsistent AI use can eventually affect your marketing, sales communication, and customer trust

A Simple Action to Take at your next team meeting, ask: Why are we using AI in our company?

Then ask: What do we actually want AI to help us accomplish?

Listen to your team's answers. You may find that people are not as aligned as you thought.

AI should not make your business more confusing. Used with clear leadership, good judgment, and the business knowledge your team already has, it should help people work and communicate more effectively.

If your team is trying to determine how AI fits into your business, I would be happy to talk through it with you.