The Thing No One's Talking About

Hey there, I know it's been a minute. If you're new, welcome. If you've been around awhile you know I took a bit of a hiatus from writing this past month. I've been traveling a lot so thank you for being with me here now. 

Hello from Palo Alto

This past week I was in Palo Alto leading three “Growing with AI” workshops. My attendees were a mix of interns, mid-career folks, and people thinking about retirement, all from different teams and levels. A true grab bag of humanity.

And honestly?
I walked away with more insight and joy than I expected.

There were several moments when the room felt so alive with people sharing fears, swapping ideas, getting excited, and laughing at the clumsy parts of being human and trying something new, even amidst all the chaos.

I found myself thinking:

This is the part AI can’t touch.
The eye contact.
The little head nods.
The “oh thank God it’s not just me” moments.

We can get information from AI.
But we get courage from each other.

The thing that no one is really talking about.

Everyone in those rooms was navigating something different on the topic of AI and change…

New tools.
New expectations.
New pressure to “keep up and just deliver.”

but the pattern I saw across every conversation?

People aren’t resisting change... they’re overwhelmed by the speed of it.
Especially when they’re already carrying heavy workloads with high expectations.

If you’re nodding right now… yeah. I see you and guess what, you're clearly not alone.

A small thing that surprised even me.

I kept asking myself:

What actually helps someone move forward when everything feels like too much?

And it wasn’t confidence.
It wasn’t technical skill.

It was this:

A tiny burst of curiosity.
Just enough to try one small experiment instead of trying to “get it right.”

That’s it.
That’s the whole momentum behind growth.

A moment I’ll probably remember for a long time

In one of my sessions, I had someone who was very up front with me at the beginning of the session that he was uncertain, unconvinced and totally resisting this "change to use AI". I had a moment when I had to say to myself... 

“Okay Heather, how can you show up in a big way for this person.”

It wasn’t about being perfect.
It wasn't about convincing him. 
It was about modeling the thing I was asking others to do, to take one small step into the unknown.

And later after my session, he found me and shared that because of what he just experienced he was now curious about exploring more and said he was willing to at least try... and that my friends was the biggest gift I could have been given. To see this person shift his mindset from being closed off completely to being open and curios. 

Your nudge for this week:

Are you playing small because it feels safe?
Or are you playing big in the ways that actually matter?

(And yes “big” absolutely counts even if it only takes a few minutes)

A simple but effective tip you can use right now.

Ask yourself:

“What’s one task I avoid because I don’t know where to start?”

Then drop that question, using the prompt [I avoid XX task because I don't know where to start and I feel XXX. Show me the first step for me to take that will deliver forward momentum to completing this task and make me feel better]  into your preferred AI tool (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.).

Let it show you the first step.
Start there with one small step.

Momentum follows clarity, not the other way around.

What I'm loving

🌊 A human-approved tip

Overwhelmed with catching up on articles or reports? Upload a long PDF or a giant doc into NotebookLM and turn it into a podcast version of itself.
Yes, it literally reads it back to you like an audiobook. Perfect for listening to on the go (as many of you know, I’ve got kids with an endless list of activities I’m driving them to and from, so audio podcasts save my sanity).
And of course, for all those “I’ll read this later” documents that sit in the digital black hole.

🌊 A simple pleasure

Find a simple pleasure and indulge this week. Mine right now is homemade marionberry jam on warm, fresh-baked bread.
I canned a ton this summer… and we’ve already eaten half.
Next year: double batch. Simplicity wins more days than I’d like to admit.

🌊 Books & pods

I’ve been listening to The AI Daily Brief Podcast — it’s my quick way to keep on top of what’s happening in AI in one place. It's a jam packed podcast with the latest news and occaisional deep dives. 

Small request: send me what you’re reading or listening to right now. I’m collecting everyone’s favorites for a future roundup for you.

Before I go...

If you’ve been carrying too much change, too fast, with too little space to process it, I really want you to hear this:

You’re not behind.
You’re not missing something.
You’re human.
And you’re doing the best you can with the speed of the world right now.

Hit reply and tell me one thing you’re curious about exploring this month or one topic you would really like to see in an upcoming edition. 

I’d genuinely love to hear from you.

Warmly,
Heather