AI Today (Aired 10-16-2024) : Mastering AI Integration in Business

[00:00:00] Speaker A: SA Foreign. I'm Dr. Alan Badeau. Welcome to another great show of AI today. Here we're exploring how AI can be applied to businesses, how you can use it to save a lot of time and even in your personal life. And we're also looking at some of the nuances and some of the challenges that, that we run into often when we're trying to deploy AI into, into our system. And this week's show is a little bit different. We're gonna, we're gonna have one of my favorite guests on the show, Ms. Jen Go Day, who's gonna help us understand, even from the business side, some of the ramifications and challenges that, that we may run into. And, and of course, some of the opportunities so that you can actually use it to gain a strategic advantage. Now, we all know, and I've said this many, many times, that AI can impact any type of business, really, anywhere in its maturity. And it is a huge, huge game changer if it's used the right way. Now, there's been a lot of negative press out there about, you know, companies that are starting to pull back on some of their AI investments or, you know, companies that are, you know, not getting as much ROI as they expected. Now, we've talked about this, and if you've watched the show, then you're already, you know, ahead of the game because, you know, don't over promise, don't try to do too much with it. Really pick your battles and where you want to deploy it, and if you follow those simple strategies, you're going to be very, very successful. Now, one of the important things that we're going to look at with Jen as we walk through some of, you know, some of these opportunities is, you know, how do you pick a tool? How do you figure out what you want to do? How do you figure out, you know, what your team is going to do with it after you've chosen one. And so those are some of the basic business decision topics that we're going to look at. We're not going to necessarily dive deep into the technical. We've done that a couple of times and we'll continue to do that. But in the next, you know, next show, we're going to look at how we can take, you know, our normal processes, how we can make a good choice and which one do we choose? Because, you know, quite honestly, you know, everybody has to, to walk through it for themselves. They've got to figure out what's the best thing that's going to work for their business. And we always say not one tool works for everything. And so Jen's going to help us from the human side to look at, you know, the processes and how you adapt. You know, some of those things we're going to talk about how do you make sure you, you hire the right people? Because that is a challenge. You know, there's not a lot of universities that are teaching, you know, really what I would call practical AI. And by, by that I mean, you know, how do you deploy it into a big environment, how do you use it, how do you, you know, operate it, you know, really productize, you know, AI. They're teaching them a lot of great stuff, how to develop algorithms, you know, how to develop software around that. But oftentimes, like challenges that we've had in the past, we forget that there's a human side to AI. That's really the only way that we're going to be successful, especially in business. Right. I mean, it's, it's, it's trying to make sure that we've got the right pairing of the human with the AI. And it's the exact same thing if you're trying to bring AI into your business so that you can use it. We're going to talk about, you know, look at some of the basic programming things and you know, what, what decisions we have to go through to arrive at that. And then also, you know, how we can really compound it, add a whole bunch of AI things together to solve a larger problem. And so the human element for today's show is really going to be driven home and we're going to work through that with, with Jen now taking a step back really quick and looking at some of the non technical requirements that are going to be out there. You know, I, I always tell people when I hire folks, you know, I am looking for really, you know, the non technical skill sets as opposed to the technical ones. And why is that? It's because, you know, AI is so new. I'm going to teach them the things that I want them to know. So think about that. You know, if you've got a great organization, you know, you already know where I'm coming from on this. The realities are that I want people that can solve problems, I want folks that are creative. They've got to have some sort of innovative, you know, capability, you know, in there. And then also they've got to be able to communicate because the realities are if you can't communicate with a human, it's a lot harder really to communicate with AI. And the reason is is because, you know, we talk about prompt engineering all the time, but it's hard to get the computer to do what you want it to do. You know, ChatGPT and some of those other tools that are, that are out there, cohere, like I said, cohere. And you know, Claude and Perplexity and all those other ones that are out there, they're fantastic at really helping the human along to, to drive some of the messages home and help with prompt engineering and heck, you know, some, you know, I know chat, CPT and a few others have a, you know, help me with my prompt type capability now. And that, that really has gone a long way. But I am going to teach the folks that I hire how to use the AI, how to use the tools that I have, how to develop around the tools that I've developed, how to, and really how to make sure that the human is in there and there's a lot of skills and it doesn't matter what the, you know, what the field that you're in. It's pretty much all the same, right, because there's always going to be some nuances and some specialties that we're going to look at. So we're going to, we're going to talk a little bit about that, you know, as well, and then looking at some industry, you know, specific knowledge on, you know, really, you know, applying it to, you know, you know, certain, certain types of fields and those sort of things. So today's show is really going to lay the foundation for that. You know, these are topics that we could spend, you know, three, four or five shows on. And we may, as we, as we deep dive into some of those things. But, you know, the primary goal of today is to say, okay, you know what? I know I need AI. I know I can use AI. I know I can save money and I know I can. The people that I have, I can have them do so much more work that, you know, it's, it's kind of silly for me to still be on the sidelines with, with some of those things. Now, of course, it depends on, you know, your industry in some cases or on the government side. I, I, you know, I get that, but it's trying to figure out, you know, how do I one, not scare my employees to think that, you know, oh, you know, they're bringing in AI, that means that our days are numbered. Right? That's usually the first response that we often get. And, you know, you can understand that from a variety of perspectives. Right. You know, because, you know, One, oftentimes managers don't communicate very well. And so when you bring in something that either they don't expect or that is a new technology, that's always going to be their first conclusion. And so, you know, how do you communicate to your team that, you know, you're bringing AI in for a specific reason, and that's so that you can really expand in your market and do more without having to go hire a bunch of people? That's, that's one of the first challenges. And then it's like, now that I have AI, you know, in there, how do I get my team to embrace it? How do I get them to use it? How do I make sure that there are folks that are not trying to sabotage the deployment of AI simply because they didn't get a choice, they didn't have a say in the tool that was picked. There's a million different reasons out there why, but we all know that sometimes those are going to be the folks that no matter what you do, you're going to have a challenge on your hand with the human perspective. And so know, walking through some of those ideas and what you have to do in order to really make sure that everybody in your organization is bought in. Huge, huge challenge, very difficult from the human side. And we're gonna, we're gonna talk through some of those things. And then also, you know, how do you, how do you really organizationally use it to its full potential and to get the most out of it? Now, I can tell you from my experience, you know, when I first brought in, you know, AI into my organization and, and previously and some of the other ones that I worked at, it really was a challenge at times. And not just, you know, technical. The technical parts were easy. Picking the tool was, was pretty easy. You know, you go down through, you've got a whole bunch of checklist things that you want it to do, and when it does it, you say, yeah, that's great, it can do that or this other tool can't. So it's out. Right? You know, that's, that's pretty cut and dry. It's easy when you're human to say, oh, no, we don't like that tool, or it's gone. We're not using that easy. But then when you have humans that you're going to want to use it, then of course that's where the barriers will often, you know, really pop up. And you've got to be careful in how you do that. And so, you know, we're going to talk about you know, after a tool has been chosen with the team, then you know, what's that process look like that, that you're going to roll it out and that you're going to use it. You know, the realities are that the first time your team hears that there is, you know, a new AI tool that they've already selected and that they're already bringing in, you're in trouble. There's no other way to put it. You're in trouble. You've, you've not embraced the golden rule of AI for humans and that's letting others that are going to use it have a little bit of, say, have a little bit of, you know, some ideas on how they would want to use it. If you don't get buy in before you are doing that, you're going to have some challenges. So we're going to deep dive into that and I think that's going to help a lot of folks, you know, really get past that first step and saying, okay, you know what, you know, what do I do first? What's the, is it the chicken or the egg? Is it the AI or the human? Is it the tool or, you know, the boardroom, whatever? We're going to give you some, some tips and really try to help you, you know, overcome some of those and really some lessons learned on the best way to, to do those, those sort of things. And then the last piece we're going to look at is, you know, you know, how do you, how do executives of an enterprise really start to, to make sure that they're, they understand how their team is using it as well as how they're using it themselves? You know, I'm lucky enough, the, you know, CEOs that I've worked with in the past, very technology forward, they loved it, they would use it, you know, they play with it, you know, as much as I would. And that's, that's a huge advantage. But you know, it's really hard though, if you're a technologist or you're on a beta, you know, or a, you know, your first deployment team inside the company to, you know, you know, understand sometimes what the CEOs thinking if they haven't even tried some of those tools. So, you know, it's really focusing on how to get the executives to, to buy into it, to use it and to really showcase it from the top down. That's going to be a huge important thing. And then also, you know, as you, as, you'll see people with different personalities have different ways of using the AI. And in some cases they feel more empowered, in other cases they're a little bit more gun shy because they have a hard time sometimes picking, you know, an answer. They get surrounded, they want more data. They want more data. Well, guess what? AI is going to give you a lot of data. And so being able to really help folks pull that answer out, look through all the AI data, overcome some of those challenges is going to be key. So stay with us. We've got an exciting show for you this week and you know, Jen Godet will be with us and you know, stay tuned and we'll, we'll see you in a few foreign. Welcome back to AI Today. I'm your host, Dr. Alan Badot. We're talking about AI. The great thing that we've done is we've really started to integrate and, and show folks how it can really be used live, you know, on your, on your, you know, different activities, you know, inside of your business, how you can save time and how you can do, you know, a lot of other things with it that, you know, chat, GPT, just can't do. And so, you know, I've got a lot of emails, a lot of questions about, you know, what else can we do with AI in our business and, or, you know, just some general ones around, you know, what are some of the impacts of that. And so I'm lucky enough to have one of our first guests that we had on the show, Jen Godet is back with us and she's going to help us do that. Jen, thanks for being here. [00:14:42] Speaker B: Absolutely. A pleasure. [00:14:44] Speaker A: So Jen, we've, we have seen some negative publicity recently around businesses that have tried to use AI, have not done very well with it. What do you think? From a high level, the, the biggest reason for that is. [00:15:00] Speaker B: Well, there, there's a couple of things that I see in failed applications here. The very first and the biggest is they didn't have a strategy to begin with and by that it might be they didn't have an overarching business strategy and understanding of what they wanted, achieve, wanted to achieve with AI. Rather they just wanted to throw AI at a problem and expected a magical solution. But the reality is, is if we don't start with a solid business strategy and have an understanding of where we're going and then look at that strategy and ask ourselves what operational efficiencies or where do I want to accelerate this or improve this either it's time, revenue, human capital, what have you. If we don't have an understanding of the strategy, plus what we're trying to improve, then we don't know and we're basically throwing spaghetti at the wall with an AI application. So it really comes to, we require a strategy first and it's okay if you don't have that. There are people like myself who do this for clients all day, every day is establish full business strategy and then also incorporating and marrying the AI strategy to the business strategy. Because you have to understand the business use case that you're trying to solve with the application. And the other big problem that I see, Alan, and I know you and I have talked about this before, is they have, they are not set up for success. They don't have great data, they don't have SOPs or they have outdated SOPs. And let's be real, if we're making an inefficient process more efficient, that's really not going to solve a problem for us. That's right, it's outdated. So I think those are the biggest fails that I have personally seen. [00:16:43] Speaker A: So on the flip side of that though, what are some of the biggest successes that you, you've gone through with some of your, your clients, you've been doing this for a while. You've got a fantastic reputation out there. I know your, your, your time is in demand. All, you know, all, all the time from some of these companies. Was it a specific vertical that you were helping somebody with or was it a specific task? What, what can you tell some folks that are gonna, you know, give them a little bit of confidence that they're, you know, they're on the right path. [00:17:15] Speaker B: Yeah. So as far as industry, I'm fairly industry agnostic, but most of the people I've worked with have been in professional services. Why? Because professional services are very knowledge based. So think engineering, legal, medical, financial, private equity is a space that I've had some successful integrations in and worked with. And it's that way because we sit down, we understand what are we looking at and what are the bottlenecks in our business? So say you have all the, all the ducks in a row, you have great SOPs, you're, you're totally ready for an integration. It really comes down to what are the bottlenecks in our business and how am I going to reclaim the most time or human capital or improve my bottom line by, by operational efficiency? Those are the, those are the questions that we ask and we always implement. And the most successful implementations have been the things that free up human capital and time first. And let me tell you why, because it's counterintuitive A lot of people want to go for what's going to have the bigger financial bang for your buck. However, time is money and if you find an application that's going to free 50%, 70% per employee's time on a task, you are literally multiplying your, your ability to do volume, whether it's the predictions and the financial piece of private equity and being able to source and sort through deals and screen them much more rapidly or whether you're in medical and you're saving time and getting that, yes, that pre authorization or whatever you need on the billing side more effective, efficiently. I mean, we had a medical practice with 17 clinics that integrated that whole clinician practitioner to submission of insurance and was able to save seven FTEs across their clinics. And instead of having to hire and train, now he was able to put those people, he was able to promote them and put them in other growth phases of the business. So that's really where we've seen the success. It truly is a per business use case scenario. And it comes from understanding where you are, where your bottlenecks are. And then also we like to say what are the next three bottlenecks that occur when you integrate this? Because a lot of good it does to pour leads into a business if you don't have anybody to sell. So that's, that's kind of how we approach it and we look at it and we solve for not just that bottleneck, but the next two or three down the line. So we have a successful flow, input and exhaust. [00:19:49] Speaker A: Yeah, that's great. You know, I think, I think one of the other challenges too, and it's, it's great that, you know, you are also a coach. Right. Because there are human aspects that owners that, you know, business investors have to have to face when it comes to using AI, integrating it the right way, making sure they don't micromanage the AI because you're going to spend, you know, twice as much time then as you did before. So what kind of advice do you have for business owners when they, you know, are really going to take that plunge and jump into it? [00:20:24] Speaker B: Well, the first part and the biggest mistake that I have seen that you can easily mitigate is the top dictating it and not communicating with the end users. You have to get the messaging across and be transparent that this is the direction you're moving in and mitigate fears of your team members who are going to be leveraging the tool. And if that doesn't happen 100% of the time, it's cost more time, more money and sometimes been a failed integration. So getting buy in for the people who are going to leverage the tool is key. And this requires open, transparent conversation and a lot of times bringing someone else in because fear is the biggest hurdle. And let's be real, I have people do a self assessment and say, does your team come to you vulnerably and openly all the time with all of their concerns? And the answer for most managers and leaders is no because they're afraid they're going to lose their job. And even though we not, we don't retaliate or whatever, there's always a little bit of fear. There's. So bringing someone outside, whether it's myself or someone else in during this process can be invaluable because you get that objective perspective and you're removed as the leader. You get the real nitty gritty of what the fears are, the apprehensions and what level your team is from a skill set and what training will be needed for a successful integration. So I think that's a consideration to definitely play into. And then the other thing is we have a lot of fear as entrepreneurs because AI is new in small business, relatively speaking, and so there's a lot of concerns. And that requires letting go, which is already the hardest thing for entrepreneurs to let go. But that's right, letting go of control. And nine times out of 10, an excellent coach can help you with that. It's a mindset shift and if you're struggling with that or you're feeling like you want to micromanage as you, as you, as you said before, Alan, it's time to get someone in to help you overcome whatever is causing you to have that iron grip in that micromanaging aspect. [00:22:23] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a great perspective on that because we see that all the time. You forget about the human aspect of these things because you think that the AI is just going to be able to do it and it's going to be fantastic. And it will be if folks do it the right way. So that's an important thing for everybody to keep in mind is they're really trying to gain that strategic advantage over their competitors. Jen, where's the best place for, for folks to be able to get a hold of you? [00:22:54] Speaker B: Absolutely. Thank you for asking. I recommend if you're looking for more business, I, I have a show here on this network. It is power CEOs we air on Mondays, I believe, 5 Central Time. You can check me on that. But it's now media and we interview Leaders and industry, industry leaders and bring real business content. And you can always reach out to me on LinkedIn. It's Jen Gode. You'll see me on there. I am responsive. I am the only one who holds the keys to, to that DM as well. Feel free to reach out to me. I'm happy to have a conversation. [00:23:27] Speaker A: Yeah. And I really encourage our audience to go out and look because Jen is extraordinarily active. I don't know how she has that much time to, to really pull that off, but great material that she puts out there all the time, very knowledgeable in this space and you can gain so much from that. You know, with that. Thank you, Jen, for, for joining the show. And with that we'll go to a commercial break. Welcome back to AI Today. I'm your host, Dr. Alan Badot. You know, we've been talking about AI and the tools that we use to, you know, either accelerate something that we're trying to do in our daily lives or track something a little bit better or dive into it. But when you start to think about how's a business going to use it, well, that's one piece. But then how are you going to use it internally for your teams? How are you going to roll it out to your teams? You know, generally you have an, you know, an IT strategy and you'll stick to that. But because AI is so new and we're always trying to focus on the users, it really is a little bit scary for a lot of managers and how are they going to integrate that into their day to day activities? And so, you know, we're lucky enough to have back to the show Jen Godet, who is, you know, AI extraordinaire. You can find her everywhere on LinkedIn. You know, she is probably one of the most sought, sought out AI advisors out there and she's going to help us pull that onion back and help you feel a lot more comfortable as you roll that out. Jen, thanks for being on the show this week. [00:25:12] Speaker B: Absolutely. A pleasure. Happy to be here. [00:25:15] Speaker A: Yeah. So we, we've got our tool set, Jen. We're ready to go. How do we pick the people that we're going to actually let use it that, that first time so that we don't scare off everybody else that we want to use it. [00:25:30] Speaker B: So first things first, if we are the entrepreneur, owner, if we're the executive, we need to be transparent that it's coming and understand that we're going to have a couple of different responses when we say, hey guys, we're Going to leverage AI. You're going to have the people go, yes, I can't wait. This is so excited. I've been waiting to have this opportunity and we're going to have the people who are going to sit back and they're going to go, there is no way you're going to get me to do that. I don't trust it. I'm afraid of it. It might replace my job. I'm going to sabotage it. So we're going to. And we'll have everything in between. So, yes, let's address what does that mean for us as we try to integrate. Well, we have to get buy in and we're never going to buy in from these people. Right off the bat, we have to just accept that that's the case and we have a job. We have to overcome their fears. Maybe it's, I'm old and I don't want to learn new tricks. Maybe, maybe it's, you know, a fear of whether I'm going to be capable of doing. There's a whole lot of fear and we have to unpack that. But that's not who we're going to necessarily start with. Those people when you say, hey, look, I'm bringing in this application and they go, yes, I can't wait for this. What we are going to do is we're going to take those people and they are going to become our brand ambassadors of this AI integration. Why? If they're excited about it, if they've been reading about it, if they've been playing with it and they're downtime, then they are going to be very hungry to learn. And that's our user experience. They'll help us, give us feedback, they'll dive in and they'll start using the technology first. Okay. And what these guys are going to do is they're going to watch and they're like, they're going to fall in their face and I'm going to be the one still employed. That's exactly what's going through their mind. I've done this a bazillion times. You're going to have the people who are fearful and they're just waiting to see the first people who do this fail. However, when our brand ambassadors are in and they're learning, yeah, they're going to have some mistakes and all along the way when they succeed and all of a sudden they're able to accelerate their production, then these people start looking to go, maybe I can do this. Maybe there is something. And when we, when we do this, and we start to see that shift. We have our brand ambassadors trickling down, teaching the next level. So there's always the people in the middle, right, that are not going home, but they're also not back there. They're kind of neutral, and they're like, I'm not sure, and they need a little bit more help. We're going to talk to them, and we're saying, okay, what are your misgivings? What are the challenges or what are the fears that you have? And we're going to work with them, and we're going to pair them with our brand ambassadors, because a brand ambassador who's got it is going to be a better endorsement than, you know, the CEO who. Who writes their, signs, our paycheck. So we're gonna help layer in, and it's gonna trickle down. And as those middle people come, you have more people who are exposed, who can help lift the people up, who are waiting until the very end and needed that extra assurance that, hey, look, these people are not losing their jobs. They're able to do this faster, and I hate doing this anyway, so I guess it's time for me to get on board. We're still gonna talk to them about their fears and, and address that, but we're gonna wait on them. They're going to kind of be like the third phase of integration so that they can see the proof in the pudding that this is going to work and it's not going to be a real big hassle. And what that does is it helps them from micromanaging the entire process. And, Alan, you and I were talking about the people who, like, check a check, a check a check, and they don't trust. And they don't trust. Mitigate that problem so that you don't have extra work above and beyond learning the tool and how to integrate it. And it helps mitigate some of their fears before we have to physically address them. [00:29:06] Speaker A: Yeah, and that's. That's so important. You know, if you don't have that first set that you are going to make successful, that they're going to use it, that they're going to. To really be your messenger, then you are. You're dead in the water right there. And a lot of companies struggle with that because they haven't either planned for it the right way or they haven't picked the right people. Know what I tell folks when I'm, you know, rolling out, you know, these kind of tool sets, you know, ask them what they do during their day, and if you've Hired an engineer and you want the engineer to design stuff. He's probably spending 60% of his time doing non engineering stuff. That's not really what you hired him for because there's all that other stuff in the back. So figure out a good process, Figure out a good pilot for those guys to, to come through on. So when you do have that portfolio of people that are, you know, really your, your, your, your messengers, do you pick them from the same team? Do you always, always start with the HR folks or do you always start with the engineers? What, what kind of advice do you have for, you know, business owners that are trying to get spun up on these things? What's that demographic really look like? [00:30:23] Speaker B: So I'm going to say you don't want an echo chamber, so you don't want them all in one one film. And if we've already picked an integration and we haven't talked to our team and decided who our brand ambassadors for this implementation are, we're doing it wrong. We have to talk about that before we pick what we're going to do and before we set that engineering piece in process. Because if you don't have any brand ambassadors, if you have no one excited about this, it's not going to be a good integration. [00:30:49] Speaker A: Yeah, it's not going to go well. [00:30:52] Speaker B: So, so it's doing that work in the beginning. And I'm a big fan of bringing anybody who it's going to impact to the table and finding the most, most excited people and taking a random smattering of them and creating that sort of board. That way you don't have an echo chamber. You have the engineer who's like, wait a minute, I need to know what's the worst case scenario. I'm excited about this, but I'm going to contingency, contingency, contingency plan. And I want the salesperson who's going to be the one who's going to rile up the team and, and be able to really say, hey, look, this is what happened, this is the result. And I no longer have to do any of this mundane stuff. And I want to highlight something else that you said because it is really, really important when we go to our team prior to considering an integration, whether it's any tech that's been out there or AI or really any change in process, when we go to our team, it's important that we ask all of them, what are the things that, if I took that off your plate, you would love your job. It would immediately improve your satisfaction and Your desire to get here each day and do your job because they will tell us and then we use that to as leverage. And so the grumpy people we were talking about earlier, if, if the mundane task is the same and we solve that problem for them, we're going to get faster buy in. So it's really worth, just like with everything else in business, when we go to our teams and we find out what are the things that they hate to do that are, that are repetitive or that we can give to AI and we make the decisions based off of what's going to free their time so they can do what they love more of everybody wins. So I wanted to kind of enhance that and highlight that because it's so incredibly important that we are looking at our teams as the first client. Because happy team members mean happy clients mean happy business owners. [00:32:46] Speaker A: That's exactly right. And if you look at the dynamics that are taking place today, even with the longshoremen going on strike, it's not because of pay, it's not because of health insurance, it's because they're worried about automation and nobody's talked to them about it. And there's no plan for anybody to talk to them about it. It's scary. And so that's really where you've got to have some sort of, you know, like everything else, bad data in, bad results out. If you have a bad organization that you know won't talk to each other, your results aren't going to be very good, you know, either. And so how do you, how do you help executives really overcome those, those challenges to, to really allow people the freedom to be able to express their opinions openly early on in the process so they can really get buy in. [00:33:38] Speaker B: Well, the first thing is, is communication and creating a, I call it a psychologically safe space. I know that's kind of like a woo woo buzz term right now, but it's so true. We come I, I'm Gen X, so I came from the. There's no emotion in business. It's all business. No, but like, so that's a very different business climate than what we live in. We have to create a space for conversation with our employees, our team members that they feel psychologically safe to bring up their concerns and we have to actually listen and validate their concerns. And that's something that a lot of leaders have forgotten about along the way or maybe they were not really good at it. We see a lot of and I'm not picking on engineers, but traditionally speaking, engineers are not the best Communicators. [00:34:24] Speaker A: No, we're not, we're not, you know. [00:34:27] Speaker B: Super, super amazing skill sets. But that's not a strong point. So what we do a lot of times is we do coaching at the executive level and at the managerial level, a leadership standpoint on how to create that safe space. The open ended questions and we actually, it's almost like we're training them to be coaches so that they can draw out in a way that doesn't feel confrontational what the concerns are so that we can actually have the leverage in the negotiation as we decide to push forward in attack or in our. Take our business to a new level or even on an. We see it a lot in exit. I do a lot of exit and mergers and that kind of thing. And so it is a, it is a conversation and that's where communication is everything. Training people on, if some people say it's, it's innate. Charisma is not necessarily innate. We can learn that skills and it's about active listening, learning how to communicate in a way that's clear, concise, compassionate and going to give that validation to the fears and hear what people are saying and then say, great, I hear, I understand. And this is the direction we're taking now. And that's really, it's a process, but that's where coaching really comes into play. And having that outside objective perspective is tremendous in these situations. [00:35:37] Speaker A: Yeah. And you know, what you just, what you just said is so important. You know, executives always forget that the human element of AI because it's so communicative around, you know, how it says things, how it interacts with the users. They forget about that human element. And it's easy to pick the tool. It's hard to convince your team that they really should leverage it, use it because it's, it's really a pair, it's a team. You're trying to increase your capacity to do more work, not necessarily replace folks. And you know, that's a tough message. It's a hard message to sell. You got to do it early and, and don't try to do it yourself. If you're especially, I'm the first one to say, as an engineer, not, not my forte, just like, you know, poems, drawings, that sort of stuff. No, I'm not good at it. I know that. Go get some help. Call Jen, she'll be able to, to help you, you know, as well. Jen, where's, where can people get a hold of you? [00:36:41] Speaker B: Yeah, so the easiest way to get in touch with me is LinkedIn. Send me a DM. Follow me. I answer all of my messages. It might take me a little bit of time, but I do do that. And then, of course, come watch the show Power CEOs. It airs on Mondays on this network. I'm always interviewing industry leaders, movers and shakers, and we talk about what's working and what's not in business so that we can all grow together. And that's always a resource for everyone here. [00:37:10] Speaker A: Well, thank you for that. Great having you on the show again. And everybody stick around for our next segment. We'll be right back. Welcome back to AI Today. I'm your host, Dr. Alan Badot. We've been talking about the different aspects of choosing a tool. You know, like I talk about on the show regularly. Don't, don't only pick one. You know, there's a lot of flexibility. There's a lot of different things these tools are good at, and they're not all good at the same thing. And so being able to really have a lot of different, you know, tools in that tool belt that you can reach into is exceptionally important. I'm lucky again to have Ms. Jen Goday on our show who is an expert in human relationships and really that hr, that human capital that goes into really being able to use these tool sets and get prepared for them. And, you know, Jen, thank you for being on the show with us this week. [00:38:18] Speaker B: Absolutely. It's a pleasure. [00:38:20] Speaker A: So one of the things that we all think, it's a technology challenge. You and I both know that's not the case. We talk about it all the time. There are so many different aspects in being able to roll this type of capability out to the enterprise. And it is a challenge. I've talked about the technology piece, but what about the human piece that goes along with that? How do you align yourself and make sure you're choosing the right one with so much volatility in the market today? [00:38:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's an excellent question, and thank you for asking it. Because when we think about, I mean, I would liken it to this. You have a business and you choose your vendors. What are the, what are the guidelines that you use to pick who your vendors are? Because your vendors represent your brand. And in today's world, brand is everything, especially with the younger demographic buyers. They are buying based off of values. They want to see your values, and they're choosing to vote with their dollars in many cases. And so as we build our own brands and our own companies, when we look at what tech companies we're going to partner with who are going to be our tech suppliers as we, as we move forward, we have to apply the same rules, guidelines that we would apply to business partners, strategic alliances. And so from a relationship standpoint, I always go to values. If you don't align with all of my values as a human running a business and your business does not align with all of the values that I have as a human and as a company, then I can't do business with you. Why? Because I'm on television, I have very large audiences, I speak on stages, I've been on five continents. I have a strong brand in both the investor community, the entrepreneur community, and I'm a coach. So if I align with someone who does not align with my values, that is going to bring my brand down and people are going to go like, oh, she sold out. I'm going to use a complete example right now. We're watching it. We are literally watching it unfold. As you know, OpenAI is shifting to a public company, a for profit company, and so their values have shifted. There are different values in nonprofit and for profit companies. And if you're doing business with a company because it's a nonprofit that's really out for the science and the discovery and the growth of it, that's a very different set of values than if you're looking to go public and listen to shareholders and make sure that your, your profitability is up. There's nothing wrong with that. But if my brand is, I work with nonprofits and I'm all for education and impact that is out of alignment with, I want to pay shareholders. And that's a very basic sort of breakdown. And there's nothing wrong with either way. But if my brand is, I am here to maximize your profit, then I am going to look at alignment in that vein as well. So it's important that you know your values and that you apply those things first because values are really important. And then I look at, is this company going to be here long term? Because if they're looking at just building to exit in the next six to nine months, then it doesn't matter what their values are because they're exiting. And that's right company that buys. So understanding what, where they're headed is part of the relationship building process. You have to ask these questions, questions and if you can't find the answers, then you walk away and you go somewhere else. Because the worst thing that can happen and this has happened is a mistake that I made in this space. Companies come in, they, they don't tell you their plan and. And you think if you're not intact. I was never intact. You think that's normal and that they're just protective over their ip? No, you need to know if they're planning exit in nine months and what happens when they do is everything. And so there's those kind of questions that are important, just like we would with any other alliance. [00:42:22] Speaker A: Yeah, and what you just said is so important to the business owner that is a technologist, because, you know, it's important just in general to understand that. But from a technology perspective, we like to go with the cool, with the neat, with the state of the art, with the greatest capability. But in the long run, that could be very detrimental to what your business is doing and what you, you know, your own roadmap and your own technology play. And so being able to understand that is so important. You know, you can't teach some of those things, Jen. So how do you try to coach an executive team to make sure that, you know, they're not only looking at the technology, that they're going deeper? [00:43:10] Speaker B: I love this question, and I am an investor in a VC space for tech companies. And one of the biggest challenges we find with tech founders is they're really good at the technology, but they're not really good at driving the business to the next level because they lack these specific skills. And it's not, it's not a fault. It's. We weren't learned. We didn't learn this. When I was in medicine, I had to be taught business. I had to learn relationship management because in medical school, guess what? They don't teach you business. They don't have founders, they don't teach you business, they teach you technology. And so it's important that we hire or we take, like, whether we go to courses and train, whether we hire a coach, whether we have a consultant come in to teach those soft skills and to really help us become the CEO of our business, not just of like the inventor and founder of cool technology. That's the difference between truly the companies that start and never really make it to the next level versus the ones that really take off. It is understanding who you are, what your values are as a human being. Because business, even technology, business folks. And I know there's a lot of academics out there who are going to argue until they're blue in the face, but the reality in this world is people do business with people they know like and trust, including technology. So if we don't know what our values are, it starts with an internal look in and figuring out what are the three most important things to me. Like, I'll tell you, for me, integrity and confidentiality are my top two. I was in Madison. I'm never going to tell anybody anything that happens in any coaching session because confidentiality is utmost to me. You won't even find who I do business with unless they've shared it, because that's one of my top values. So what are your top values? And we need to articulate that. And yes, it means social media and all the other places, because when we articulate what our values are, that's how other people come to know, like, and trust us as a brand. And so starts with us. [00:45:11] Speaker A: Yeah. And I would say it's even harder for AI companies now to pick that right alignment. If you try to just say, oh, I'm going to map out the roadmap, all these folks, and I'm going to choose the one that has the best technology path, they still could be gone tomorrow for whatever reason. Their number one product could fall off the, off the deep end, you know, by the end of the week because somebody else released a better model. And so, you know, it's, it's even more important now to look at those business aspects of IT versus just a pure technology play. I think those days are, are long gone from an AI perspective and trying to, to align in the, in the right place. So as, as you work through that process, Jen, is it, is it one session where you try to put something up on the board to try to help the, the team or, you know, how do you walk them through? You know, some of the things that you know from your experience are going to make them successful and it's going to give them the best opportunity. Nobody's ever 100% right, but it gives them the best opportunity to, to choose the right one. [00:46:17] Speaker B: From, from an AI vendor standpoint, it's, it's about relationships. I mean, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna be frank and I'm gonna, I'm gonna liken it to something that everybody can understand. Okay. Does McDonald's make the best hamburger? [00:46:31] Speaker A: No, I'm not going to, I'm not going to answer. [00:46:33] Speaker B: I'm not even sure it is a hamburger. But do they make the best hamburger? The answer is no. No one polled will say that's the best hamburger on Earth. But, but who sells the most hamburgers on earth? [00:46:44] Speaker A: That's right. [00:46:46] Speaker B: Why? It's because they started with values. They created a brand. Everybody knows some of the things that have now, that has shifted over time, and I'm not going to go into that whole brand evolution, but it's a very simple thing with technology companies. Just because it's the coolest tech, if they don't have the brand that is going to have legs, that's going to attract people and get that human buy in, they're not lasting long. And I can tell you, as an investor, they're not getting our money. They're not getting our money. And so they run out of Runway. And so how do I choose? I build relationships. I understand that whether or not they are getting coaching, because most of these companies have tech founders. Nothing wrong with tech founders. I understand how they're bettering themselves, what are they pitching, how are they evolving, if they're coachable. I continue to develop the relationship because that is a weakness in most tech companies. And then I look at is it going to be a right fit for what business solution that we're looking? And then I look at the most important factor for me as an investor and an entrepreneur in multiple industries, who coaches and is looked at for, hey, who do you use? Are they viable? How much Runway do they have if they're a startup? Because startups are very risky. And I don't want to go down a path of an integration only to six months later have to start and reinvent the wheel. And so I'm, I'm asking the hard questions of my potential partners and that every, everybody should do. If it's a publicly traded company, you can find this out online, you can research it. But if you're looking at going into a bespoke option or really doing an overhaul, go to your tech partners and ask the hard questions. Ask where they're headed. Ask how much Runway they have before they need to have another raise. Because that's telling. And right now, guess what, folks? Money's hard to come by. [00:48:35] Speaker A: It sure is. Yeah. [00:48:37] Speaker B: So, I mean, are they going to be around? [00:48:40] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think, you know, even, you know, AI is different. Even with these big companies, I think we all are starting to see the impacts of overselling, of over promising, of over everything. And now some of the folks that you thought were gonna be there for the long haul probably aren't gonna be. And, you know, that's a challenge for folks to be able to be able to leverage that other skillset and not just look at the technology piece. So, Jen, where can people get ahold of you at? I know. I mean, you're on LinkedIn, you've got your own TV show. You know, on, on no media. What's the easiest way for people to reach out to you? [00:49:19] Speaker B: I would prefer you reach out on LinkedIn. You can send me a DM. I, I look at that. Don't. You can send me an email but it might go into an abyss because I get about 18,000 of them every day. But LinkedIn, I check regularly. That is the best place to reach out to me. Jen. Goadette. You'll find it there. I'm all over the place. And check out power CEOs on Mondays where we actually dive into the business so that you can grow along with us. [00:49:44] Speaker A: That's great. I appreciate you being here as always. Jen. Fantastic information for our, our viewers. Remember some of the things that she said, you know, especially around looking at the values piece because that at the end of the day is what's going to make you successful. Thank you for being here. And Jen, great. Great as always. We'll be right back after a short commercial break. This has been a NOW Media Networks feature presentation. All rights reserved.