Greetings from the Amtrak quiet car,
Can you believe that we have just 19 workdays remaining in this calendar year? If you’re like many of my clients, you’re knee deep in team performance reviews and 2025 strategic planning.
While you’ve been mapping the year ahead, I have been traveling, speaking and interacting with different professional groups. I also led an executive briefing at the Voice + AI Conference.
Today’s issue summarizes what I’m hearing. This insight will help you make the most of your 19 productive days. It will also help you compare your priorities with peers.
The best part of the AI conference was spending time with my great friend, Charlene Li. Her keynote, “Winning with Generative AI,” captivated. She provided countless planning tools for C-level leaders and disruptors. We also grabbed an Uber to walk The Ellipse and witness Kamala Harris’ exuberant campaign rally.
In addition, learning from big brands such as Amazon, Verizon and Gannett made this a worthwhile session.
Here’s what cemented my understanding of the generative AI revolution…
I wandered the trade show floor, asking AI startups and enterprise SaaS companies what most people are asking about generative AI.
Care to guess?
The most common question they’re getting is “How does my organization get started?”
Why does this matter?
The barrage of news showcasing competing frontier models, AI founder drama, and agentic AI far outpaces most leaders’ ability (or willingness) to embrace AI as a core business differentiator or accelerant.
You have some time to catch up, and approach generative AI strategically.
I want to help you avoid common change leadership and planning traps in the process. That’s why I invested many months developing an AI Strategy Test Drive.
The Test Drive takes 4-7 minutes, and we keep your responses anonymous.
It helps you establish a baseline understanding of your current readiness to launch AI policies, proficiency, and platforms in your organization.
You can take this short survey here.
Some of my clients are using this survey as a discussion guide during their strategy meetings. Here’s how they are applying the results…
Each leader takes the survey independently, then compares their results to peers. This sparks healthy debate and assists with priority setting.
I also described the four key strategic AI categories in the “Leading and Learning in the AI Era” podcast this week. You can listen here. I’ve been a fan of The No BrAIner Podcast with Greg Verdino and Geoff Livingston for a while.
In the show, we covered:
📀 The four categories you need to guide any AI initiative.
📀 Examples of how my clients are cultivating curiosity versus fear.
📀 How you can access our new AI Strategy Test Drive survey (free).
📀 Career wins with generative AI – examples.
📀 My wisdom wish for the years ahead.
I hope these resources give your 2025 plans and teams an extra boost of inspiration and reality. And…if AI gives you more free time to cultivate community and wisdom, then it’s worth the investment.
For my USA friends celebrating Thanksgiving, here’s wishing you a calm and peaceful week of gratitude. On second thought, make it 19 days.
Copyright 2024, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.
This entire article and newsletter was written by me. I did not use AI to design nor write the content.