It Starts With a Cabin in the Woods
I had one of those little AI moments this weekend that reminded me why I care so much about AI enablement.
My friend's husband is about as Minnesota as it gets — hunter, fisherman, outdoorsman. He doesn't need AI because someone tells him it is going to transform the world. But give him a tool that helps him visualize what his cabin could look like before he starts the next project? Now we have his attention.
I'm becoming more convinced that the first job of AI enablement isn't education. It's helping someone find their reason to care.
Because enterprise AI adoption will not be won by the people who are already excited about AI. They are already coming. The harder — and more important — work is reaching the person who doesn't think AI has anything to do with them yet.
That is how you bring a workforce along. Not one technology deployment at a time. One person at a time. And sometimes, it starts with a cabin in the woods.
A Different Kind of Independence
Most organizations treat AI Enablement as a function. Training. Communications. Governance. Change management… But what if we're looking at it the wrong way? What if AI Enablement is actually an enterprise product?
Product teams obsess over understanding users, reducing friction, driving adoption, and continuously improving the experience. AI Enablement is beginning to look remarkably similar. There's one important distinction, though. The product isn't AI. The product is human capability.
Maybe our customers aren't business units. Maybe they're employees. Maybe our roadmap isn't about deploying more AI. Maybe it's about empowering more people.
Accelerating the Dream-Build Loop
Once you start doing this you will be hooked!
Start small — see what you can dream-build with AI in a 45 minute walk/chat. Post what you're working on… no ideas are too small!
Leadership in a Year of Unprecedented Change
One of the most valuable reminders from Mastering Leadership Dynamics is that leadership is about influence, trust, adaptability, and the ability to bring people together around a shared vision.
As we navigate unprecedented change driven by AI, digital transformation, and evolving workforce expectations, the human side of leadership becomes even more important. The ability to listen, build alignment, lead through ambiguity, and create environments where people can thrive will continue to separate good leaders from great ones.
The Gap Is No Longer Access
It's clear now… the gap is no longer access — it's capability. And capability doesn't build evenly.
It comes from people and from experience, not training. From iteration, not instruction. Once people hit that “unlock,” in their heads things start to shift: work moves faster, new questions get asked, opportunities to rethink processes become more visible.
That's where meaningful value begins to show up. So do you let that capability evolve unevenly — or do you help scale it more intentionally?
And at the center of it all — it's people. People will unlock the change. People will orchestrate the value. People will define the boundaries. People will maintain the trust.
AI Isn't Failing Because of the Technology
Over the past year, working in AI business adoption, one thing has become very clear to me: AI isn't failing in enterprises because of the technology. It's failing because we haven't prepared our people to use it.
AI Business and Workforce Adoption doesn't come from big launches. It comes from small moments: someone trying their first prompt. A team sharing a real use case — the small ones resonate quickly. Curiosity replacing hesitation and building confidence.
That's when it starts to click. AI transformation isn't a technology rollout. It's a workforce shift — and most companies are still early. But not for long.
Two Prompt-a-Thons, 70 Associates
Today we ran two high-energy prompt-a-thons across 70 associates — and the results were outstanding.
What stood out wasn't just the creativity, but the speed at which teams moved from idea to working prompts that can actually drive impact. This is what real AI adoption looks like: hands-on, practical, and driven by the people closest to the work.
This wasn't just a hackathon. It was a signal of how quickly capability is building across the organization.
What the Atlanta Prompt-a-Thon Proved
Delivered our Atlanta Prompt-a-thon this past week — and the signal is clear: when you put the right tools in people's hands, capability scales fast.
Over a focused session, teams worked directly in Microsoft Copilot across M365 — moving quickly from basic prompts to real business use cases. It was practical, immediate, and measurable. Real workflows improved in hours, not weeks.
This is how adoption happens — hands-on, business-led, and outcome-focused.
One Year In
From leading a team advancing Strategic Remediation in CT&O to now driving AI enablement across the enterprise, this journey has been centered on transformation, scale, and impact.
Equally important has been establishing a leadership voice around AI — bridging strategy and execution, simplifying the complex, and helping teams navigate what's next.
Women in Tech, Charlotte
Enjoyed my first visit to NC Tech. As a new resident of the Charlotte area, it's a wonderful perk to connect with other women leaders just a few minutes from the office. I teamed up with a few local Truist leaders and supported Jennifer Hewit on a panel discussing tech, leadership, AI, and navigating career pivots.
One topic that particularly resonated with me was ruthless prioritization.
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