July 30, 2025 • 24 mins
What happens when $47 billion in AI investments meets human neurobiology? A costly disconnect that's destroying digital transformation.
The real AI adoption problem isn't technology resistance - it's neurological. When organizations deploy AI without understanding brain science, they trigger 'Project Apollo Syndrome': brilliant spaceships with no ground control.
Your workforce's amygdala hijacks rational thinking. The prefrontal cortex shuts down. People enter fight-or-flight mode. Traditional training fails because it ignores these neural realities.
The solution? Create emotional safety before technical training. This episode reveals the neuroscience-based approach that actually works.
Ready to transform your AI implementation? Start with your team's nervous system, not your technology stack.
#AI #Artificialintelligence #learningpodcast #DailyAI #leadershipcoach #executivepresence #BrainvsAI #neuroleadership #neuroscienceinleadership #Futureofwork #techtalk #innovation #AIpodcast #AIcafe #AIforeveryone #AIInsights #AItrends #AICaféConversations #ChatGPT #NewWaveAI #AIExplained #TechSimplified #AIforexecutives #AInotechrequired #HumancenteredAI
#AIForEveryone #OptimizeAI #AIChatbot #TechPodcast #UnderstandingAI #AIInteraction #PersonalizedAI #neuroscience #AIforexecutives #humancenteredai #notechrequired #AItoolsforexecutives #AIforexecutives #neuroscience #AICoachingtoolsforexecutives #AIleadershipdevelopmentforcoaches
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Welcome to AI Cafe Conversations, where
neuroscience meets artificialintelligence.
For executive leaders, I amSahar Andrade.
For executive leaders, I amSahar Andrade.
Ai training is failing yourworkforce, not because of
(00:36):
technology, but because ofneuroscience.
Right now, organizations haveinvested $47 billion billion
with a B, not million dollars inAI initiatives this year alone.
Yet adoption rates haveflatlined.
Teams are confused, middlemanagers are afraid to ask
(00:57):
questions and executives arewondering why their carefully
crafted AI strategies feel likepushing water uphill.
Today, we are exposing theneuroscience truth that
executives are missing andrevealing how to fix what others
(01:17):
can see, because this is what Ihave discovered coaching
leadership teams throughout AIrollouts.
You can't brute force behavior.
That's a given.
You have to wire for it, andthis is the missing link that
(01:41):
most organizations are missing.
They're doing it the other wayaround.
They're not looking at how thehuman brain is adopting new
changes, but they're trying tobrute force the behavior.
That's why they're failing.
So grab your coffee and let'sdive into the neural reality
(02:02):
behind ai adoption failures andthe executive playbook that
equally works.
Before I go through all that, Ijust wanted to share with you
something that happened thisweek for AI, that is, major.
Chatgpt released ChatGPT Agentthat allows ChatGPT to complete
(02:27):
complex online tasks on yourbehalf.
It seamlessly switches betweenreasoning and action, conducting
in-depth research across publicsites, uploaded files and
connected third-party sourceslike email and document
(02:47):
categories, and performingactions such as filling out
forms and editing spreadsheets,all while keeping you in control
.
It's now available for Plus andTeam plans and it has been
(03:11):
rolling out gradually for thePlus users.
I just got it yesterday.
I still didn't play with it.
I love it.
I'm gonna probably do somethingwith it this weekend.
So with ChatG gpt agents builtin virtual browser, the core
functionality of operator hasbeen integrated.
The standalone operatorexperience actually will be
(03:35):
deprecated in the coming weeksand this is awesome news because
it's going to make sure that weuse basically chat GPT at its
best.
This is uh.
To use chat GPT agent, you canselect agent mode and you can
find the agent mode in the toolsthose like little lines and
(03:58):
next to night right under whereyou enter your prompts.
They look like almost musicalequalizer waves or something
like that.
If you click on that, if yousee agent mode, that means you
have it.
If not, it's going to be therevery soon.
If you are a free account, ithas not been rolled out yet.
(04:20):
Once unable, just describe thetext you have liked to complete
and the agent will beginexecuting it for you.
It will pass to requestclarification or confirmation
whenever needed.
You can also interrupt themodel at any time to provide
additional instruction.
I got this from, actually fromthe help center of ChairGPT, but
(04:45):
I just wanted you to know.
This is huge, and the rumorsare that Sam Altman said that
ChairGPT 5 is coming out withinthe next couple of weeks
probably, so we'll see whathappens.
Going back to what we weretalking about, about the AI
integration in organizations andhow they are failing, I'm going
(05:08):
to start by talking about theproject.
I call it the Project ApolloSyndrome.
So let me tell you about Marcus.
I changed the name for privacy.
You know it's a client that Iwork with.
He is a VP at a Fortune 500company and when I asked him how
their teams were using their AItools, he looked down at his
(05:32):
notes and said honestly, I thinkeveryone's is just pretending
they know what they're doing.
The launch has been ambitiousslick branding, inspirational
keynotes, cross-functional taskforce.
They even called it ProjectApollo, and yet two months in
(05:56):
adoption had flatlined.
That's when it really hit me.
They built the spaceship, butthey forgot the ground control.
That is what I call the projectApollo syndrome.
It's everywhere in AI rolloutstoday.
(06:17):
There is excitement, money,headlines and a powerful engine
aimed at the future.
But if you remember whathappened to the Challengers and
later Colombia, you know thattechnical brilliance without
operational grounding can turninto a disaster.
(06:38):
Here is the neurosciencereality.
When people are overwhelmed bychange, especially change that
makes them feel stupid orobsolete, the brain goes into
protection mode.
The brain goes into protectionmode.
This is not laziness, this issurvival.
(06:59):
Specifically, the amygdalahijacks logic when it senses
uncertainty.
The prefrontal cortexresponsible for planning and
learning shuts down under threatand the nervous system enters
fight, flight, freeze or fawnstates.
Remember, the first function ofthe brain is to protect us
(07:24):
against danger, either real orperceived.
Now imagine launching AI toolsinto that storm of stress and
asking for innovation.
It's not resistance, it'sdysregulation, and no amount of
dashboards will fix that.
The data backs this up.
(07:45):
Recent studies show that 46% ofemployees are excited about AI.
Yay, double from six months ago.
Yet almost half of knowledgeworkers say they don't know how
to use it or what to use it for.
Why?
Because most AI training is nottraining, it's content.
(08:11):
One size fits all, webinars,future of work, slide decks, an
LMS course that checks thecompliance box.
It's the equivalent of givingyour team the spaceship manual
in French and asking them tolaunch.
You might find a couple ofpeople that speak French, but
(08:35):
not everybody does.
That's not empowerment, that'sabandonment.
As executives, we need tounderstand that.
It's not enough to strap yourteam to a racket.
You need clear communication,emotional readiness and
behavioral protocols that holdup under pressure.
(08:57):
Otherwise, what starts as amoonshot becomes a freefall.
Why do I keep talking aboutneuroscience?
I know I shared that with youbefore.
I am the only AI coach that hasmedical education and medical
(09:18):
background.
That's why I always go to thebrain.
I always go to the root of anyissue that we have.
Without going to the root andsolving the problem from the
root, it will never be solved.
You're going to be just dealingwith symptoms, a band-aid, and
that you will keep coming backto these symptoms that will
(09:42):
fester and will grow with time.
That's why I always go to theroot.
So how do we transition in AIleadership?
How do we transition blindnessin AI leadership?
Here is the brutal truth aboutchange that most executives miss
.
Leaders see systems.
People feel emotions.
(10:07):
Let me share Anna's story.
Anna was a talented manager ata Fortune 500 company who came
to me struggling with burnoutand constant stress.
Her organization had announcedrapid digital transformation,
emphasizing new processes andsoftware.
Leadership communicatedextensively town halls,
(10:29):
newsletters, videos, emails yetnewsletters, videos, emails yet
ignored individual emotionalresponses.
Anna, once vibrant and engaged,began retreating, overwhelmed
by constant pressure, unansweredquestions and perceived
insincerity from higher-ups.
(10:52):
She quietly disengaged.
She told me that other talentedpeers were following suit.
Productivity plummeted.
Leadership wondered why theircarefully crafted initiative
failed spectacularly.
Anna's story is your story andit's every leader's nightmare.
(11:13):
Here is what neuroscienceteaches us about this failure.
There is a critical differencebetween change and transition.
Change is situational a newoffice, revised role, fresh
technology.
Transition is psychological.
Is psychological.
(11:40):
It's the internal emotion ofheave humans experience adapting
to new realities.
Yet many leaders are impatient.
They are eager to push past themessy emotional status denial,
anxiety, confusion exceptexpecting teams to snap
immediately into alignment withthe renovated vision.
(12:00):
But this impatient isneurologically damaging.
It's like they think they havea wand that they will just, or
or magic dust that they willjust spread and everybody will
be under the spell.
It doesn't work that way.
Here is why Resistance is notdefiance, it's survival.
(12:23):
Change triggers a primal threatresponse, activating the brain
amygdala, the fear center.
Our brains crave certainty andpredictability.
The ambiguity inherent in AIadoption elevate cortisol levels
, amplifying stress andnarrowing cognitive capabilities
(12:46):
like creative problem solvingand rational decision making.
Ironically, the urgency withwhich leaders often present AI
changes amplifies theseneurological threats.
When we rush our teams throughemotional transitions, we
(13:08):
threaten their resistance,embedding anxiety deeper into
organizational DNA.
Then there is what I call thefake empathy trap.
Many leaders employ rehearsedempathy, trying to sugarcoat
bitter pills.
They probably attended a coupleof compassionate leadership
(13:29):
training without taking reallythe soul of the training away,
but they just took a couple ofexpressions and they will say I
know how hard this AI transitioncan be, they say, yet their
eyes betray urgency andimpatience.
This fake empathy triggerscognitive dissonance in
(13:53):
employees, deepening distrustand fueling disengagement.
Neuroscience explains whyHumans instinctively detect
insincerity.
Mirror neurons, which help usread emotional cues, fire
rapidly upon detectingmismatches between the verbal
expressions and body language.
(14:14):
When leaders mimic empatheticphrases without genuine feelings
, teams subconsciously recoil,cementing emotional barriers.
Your people can literally feelwhen you are not being authentic
about the AI journey.
(14:35):
So what's the nervous systemreality of AI adoption?
Let me paint you a picture ofwhat's really happening in your
organization during AI rollouts.
Imagine you have got a fullorchestra.
Every department has aninstrument, the AI system is the
sheet music and you, the leader, are supposed to be the
(14:56):
conductor.
But instead of creating harmony, when you are hearing is static
Because everyone's wearingnoise-canceling headphones.
Marketing doesn't know howsales is using AI, hr isn't
talking to IT, middle managersare afraid to ask questions and
(15:19):
individual contributors thelifeblood of your organization
are watching quietly from thesidelines, wondering if they are
about to be replaced.
The result Confusion, shame,silence and zero transformation.
Here is the neurosciencebreakdown of what's actually
(15:40):
happening in your people'sbrains during AI adoption.
When the nervous system isdysregulated, which happens
during in certain change, peopleenter one of four stages.
Like I said before, four F'sfight, flight, freeze or fa.
(16:01):
Fight looks like activeresistance or pushback against
AI tools.
Flight shows up as avoidance ormaking excuses not to use the
technology.
Freeze manifests as paralysisPeople simply stop trying.
And FON appears as compliancewithout engagement, going
(16:24):
through the motions without realadoption.
None of these states areconducive to learning or
innovation.
Yet this is the neurologicalenvironment most AI rollouts
create.
Here is the most importantleadership question.
No one is asking what emotionalstate is my AI rollout
(16:45):
producing in the workforce?
Because behavior followsemotion.
If your people feel curious,they will explore.
If they feel empowered, theywill practice.
If they feel safe, they wouldshare wins and ask for help.
But if they feel incompetent,they will hide.
(17:06):
If they feel afraid, they willfreeze.
If they feel alone, they willdisengage.
No policy can override that, noplatform can rewire that.
Only emotionally intelligentleadership can.
The uncomfortable truth is thisyour AI transformation is not
(17:29):
stalling because of tech.
It's stalling because peopledon't feel safe enough to try,
fail and grow.
Executive Neural RecalibrationProtocol.
So what works instead?
Here is a new blueprint for AIadoption that's grounded in
neuroscience, emotional safetyand behavior change.
(17:52):
First, train your nervous systemregulation.
Start with emotional readinessBefore teaching prompts.
Normalize confusion.
Name the fear in the room.
Build sessions that includestress, education and permission
to be a beginner.
Let people breathe before theybuild.
(18:14):
I worked with a client whostarted every AI training
session with this statementEveryone in this room will feel
confused at some point today.
That's not a bug, it's afeature.
Confusion means your brain ismaking new connections.
Second, make it personal androle-based.
(18:34):
Don't train AI skills.
Train use cases.
Show a marketeer how to writean ad.
Show a manager how to summarizea feedback.
Show a leader how to prep for aboard meeting with AI.
These 15-minute transformations, not 3-hour theory sessions.
The brain learns best in small,specific chunks that connect to
(19:00):
existing neural pathways.
Third, create internal AIchampions.
Find your curious few, the 5%to 10% who are experimenting in
silence.
Empower them, spotlight them.
Let them teach others.
Transformation doesn't trickledown from leadership.
(19:21):
It spreads sideways throughtrusted peers.
These champions become yourneural translators, speaking the
language of their departments,while modeling safe
experimentation.
Fourth, tie AI to identity, notjust an output.
People need to see AI not justas a tool, but as an extension
(19:44):
of their personal value.
How does it make them feelbetter, smarter, more creative,
less stressed?
If you don't tell that story,fear will tell another one, and
fear always wins in the absenceof clear narrative.
Fifth, lead with vulnerability,not vision boards.
(20:05):
Leadership is not about havingall the answers.
It's about modeling thelearning process.
Admit when you areexperimenting.
Share your awkward AI moments.
Ask your team how they arereally feeling about the changes
.
When your people see you safein the unknown, they will start
(20:26):
to follow.
Vulnerability createspsychological safety, and
psychological safety is whereinnovation lives.
Here is what this looks like inpractice.
One CEO I worked with startedevery team meeting by sharing
one thing he tried with AI thatweek, including what didn't work
(20:47):
.
Within a month, hisorganization had the highest AI
adoption rate in the industry.
The neuroscience is clearMirror neurons fire when we
observe behavior we want toreplicate.
If you want your team toexperiment with AI, they need to
(21:07):
see you experimenting first.
Here is what I want you toremember from today's
conversation People don't resistAI.
They resist the way AI adoptionmakes them feel.
Your role as an executive isn'tto be the smartest person in
the room about artificialintelligence.
(21:27):
Your role is to create theemotional and psychological
conditions where your peoplefeel safe to learn, experiment
and grow.
This isn't a software problem.
It's a somatic one.
It's about nervous systems, notjust systems.
It's about transitionpsychology, not just systems.
It's about transitionpsychology, not just change
(21:49):
management.
You build the spaceship.
Now it's time to build theground control.
Start by asking yourself areyou truly seeing your team's
emotional reality or are youblinded by urgency?
Are you speaking authenticallyabout your own AI journey, or
(22:11):
are your words empty scriptsfueling resistance?
The future won't wait and yourpeople can follow if they don't
feel safe to try Next week.
We are diving into anothercritical piece of the AI
leadership puzzle thatexecutives are getting wrong.
Until then, practice one act ofvulnerable leadership around AI
(22:36):
.
Share one thing you're stillfiguring out Watch how your
authenticity creates permissionfor others to be honest about
their own journey.
This is AI Cafe Conversations.
I am Sahar Andrade, your AIwhisperer.
(22:58):
Keep leading with bothintelligence artificial and
emotional, with bothintelligence, artificial and
emotional.
Before I close today's episode,I just wanted to share great
news, personal news that Iwanted to share with you my book
(23:20):
, the Coach's Brain Meets AI, isgoing to be released on Amazon
on August 8th.
Yay, I am so excited because ofwhat the book stands for.
I'm the only person writingabout AI coaching who actually
has medical education, whileother authors googled brain
science or took an online courseabout neuroscience, I studied
(23:44):
anatomy and neuroplasticityfirsthand.
There are fewer than 10 aicoaching books and none combine
medical expertise with practicalimplementation.
My book launches august 8 thefirst neuroscience basedbased
guide to AI coaching.
(24:04):
It works not only for coaches,but it works for leaders that
also want to build their teamsand it works for entrepreneurs.
I will be putting the link intodescription.
Look for it on August 8th onAmazon.
Till then, I wish you well andmore knowledge of AI.
Welcome to AI Cafe Conversations, where
neuroscience meets artificialintelligence.
For executive leaders, I amSahar Andrade.
For executive leaders, I amSahar Andrade.
Ai training is failing yourworkforce, not because of
(00:36):
technology, but because ofneuroscience.
Right now, organizations haveinvested $47 billion billion
with a B, not million dollars inAI initiatives this year alone.
Yet adoption rates haveflatlined.
Teams are confused, middlemanagers are afraid to ask
(00:57):
questions and executives arewondering why their carefully
crafted AI strategies feel likepushing water uphill.
Today, we are exposing theneuroscience truth that
executives are missing andrevealing how to fix what others
(01:17):
can see, because this is what Ihave discovered coaching
leadership teams throughout AIrollouts.
You can't brute force behavior.
That's a given.
You have to wire for it, andthis is the missing link that
(01:41):
most organizations are missing.
They're doing it the other wayaround.
They're not looking at how thehuman brain is adopting new
changes, but they're trying tobrute force the behavior.
That's why they're failing.
So grab your coffee and let'sdive into the neural reality
(02:02):
behind ai adoption failures andthe executive playbook that
equally works.
Before I go through all that, Ijust wanted to share with you
something that happened thisweek for AI, that is, major.
Chatgpt released ChatGPT Agentthat allows ChatGPT to complete
(02:27):
complex online tasks on yourbehalf.
It seamlessly switches betweenreasoning and action, conducting
in-depth research across publicsites, uploaded files and
connected third-party sourceslike email and document
(02:47):
categories, and performingactions such as filling out
forms and editing spreadsheets,all while keeping you in control
.
It's now available for Plus andTeam plans and it has been
(03:11):
rolling out gradually for thePlus users.
I just got it yesterday.
I still didn't play with it.
I love it.
I'm gonna probably do somethingwith it this weekend.
So with ChatG gpt agents builtin virtual browser, the core
functionality of operator hasbeen integrated.
The standalone operatorexperience actually will be
(03:35):
deprecated in the coming weeksand this is awesome news because
it's going to make sure that weuse basically chat GPT at its
best.
This is uh.
To use chat GPT agent, you canselect agent mode and you can
find the agent mode in the toolsthose like little lines and
(03:58):
next to night right under whereyou enter your prompts.
They look like almost musicalequalizer waves or something
like that.
If you click on that, if yousee agent mode, that means you
have it.
If not, it's going to be therevery soon.
If you are a free account, ithas not been rolled out yet.
(04:20):
Once unable, just describe thetext you have liked to complete
and the agent will beginexecuting it for you.
It will pass to requestclarification or confirmation
whenever needed.
You can also interrupt themodel at any time to provide
additional instruction.
I got this from, actually fromthe help center of ChairGPT, but
(04:45):
I just wanted you to know.
This is huge, and the rumorsare that Sam Altman said that
ChairGPT 5 is coming out withinthe next couple of weeks
probably, so we'll see whathappens.
Going back to what we weretalking about, about the AI
integration in organizations andhow they are failing, I'm going
(05:08):
to start by talking about theproject.
I call it the Project ApolloSyndrome.
So let me tell you about Marcus.
I changed the name for privacy.
You know it's a client that Iwork with.
He is a VP at a Fortune 500company and when I asked him how
their teams were using their AItools, he looked down at his
(05:32):
notes and said honestly, I thinkeveryone's is just pretending
they know what they're doing.
The launch has been ambitiousslick branding, inspirational
keynotes, cross-functional taskforce.
They even called it ProjectApollo, and yet two months in
(05:56):
adoption had flatlined.
That's when it really hit me.
They built the spaceship, butthey forgot the ground control.
That is what I call the projectApollo syndrome.
It's everywhere in AI rolloutstoday.
(06:17):
There is excitement, money,headlines and a powerful engine
aimed at the future.
But if you remember whathappened to the Challengers and
later Colombia, you know thattechnical brilliance without
operational grounding can turninto a disaster.
(06:38):
Here is the neurosciencereality.
When people are overwhelmed bychange, especially change that
makes them feel stupid orobsolete, the brain goes into
protection mode.
The brain goes into protectionmode.
This is not laziness, this issurvival.
(06:59):
Specifically, the amygdalahijacks logic when it senses
uncertainty.
The prefrontal cortexresponsible for planning and
learning shuts down under threatand the nervous system enters
fight, flight, freeze or fawnstates.
Remember, the first function ofthe brain is to protect us
(07:24):
against danger, either real orperceived.
Now imagine launching AI toolsinto that storm of stress and
asking for innovation.
It's not resistance, it'sdysregulation, and no amount of
dashboards will fix that.
The data backs this up.
(07:45):
Recent studies show that 46% ofemployees are excited about AI.
Yay, double from six months ago.
Yet almost half of knowledgeworkers say they don't know how
to use it or what to use it for.
Why?
Because most AI training is nottraining, it's content.
(08:11):
One size fits all, webinars,future of work, slide decks, an
LMS course that checks thecompliance box.
It's the equivalent of givingyour team the spaceship manual
in French and asking them tolaunch.
You might find a couple ofpeople that speak French, but
(08:35):
not everybody does.
That's not empowerment, that'sabandonment.
As executives, we need tounderstand that.
It's not enough to strap yourteam to a racket.
You need clear communication,emotional readiness and
behavioral protocols that holdup under pressure.
(08:57):
Otherwise, what starts as amoonshot becomes a freefall.
Why do I keep talking aboutneuroscience?
I know I shared that with youbefore.
I am the only AI coach that hasmedical education and medical
(09:18):
background.
That's why I always go to thebrain.
I always go to the root of anyissue that we have.
Without going to the root andsolving the problem from the
root, it will never be solved.
You're going to be just dealingwith symptoms, a band-aid, and
that you will keep coming backto these symptoms that will
(09:42):
fester and will grow with time.
That's why I always go to theroot.
So how do we transition in AIleadership?
How do we transition blindnessin AI leadership?
Here is the brutal truth aboutchange that most executives miss
.
Leaders see systems.
People feel emotions.
(10:07):
Let me share Anna's story.
Anna was a talented manager ata Fortune 500 company who came
to me struggling with burnoutand constant stress.
Her organization had announcedrapid digital transformation,
emphasizing new processes andsoftware.
Leadership communicatedextensively town halls,
(10:29):
newsletters, videos, emails yetnewsletters, videos, emails yet
ignored individual emotionalresponses.
Anna, once vibrant and engaged,began retreating, overwhelmed
by constant pressure, unansweredquestions and perceived
insincerity from higher-ups.
(10:52):
She quietly disengaged.
She told me that other talentedpeers were following suit.
Productivity plummeted.
Leadership wondered why theircarefully crafted initiative
failed spectacularly.
Anna's story is your story andit's every leader's nightmare.
(11:13):
Here is what neuroscienceteaches us about this failure.
There is a critical differencebetween change and transition.
Change is situational a newoffice, revised role, fresh
technology.
Transition is psychological.
Is psychological.
(11:40):
It's the internal emotion ofheave humans experience adapting
to new realities.
Yet many leaders are impatient.
They are eager to push past themessy emotional status denial,
anxiety, confusion exceptexpecting teams to snap
immediately into alignment withthe renovated vision.
(12:00):
But this impatient isneurologically damaging.
It's like they think they havea wand that they will just, or
or magic dust that they willjust spread and everybody will
be under the spell.
It doesn't work that way.
Here is why Resistance is notdefiance, it's survival.
(12:23):
Change triggers a primal threatresponse, activating the brain
amygdala, the fear center.
Our brains crave certainty andpredictability.
The ambiguity inherent in AIadoption elevate cortisol levels
, amplifying stress andnarrowing cognitive capabilities
(12:46):
like creative problem solvingand rational decision making.
Ironically, the urgency withwhich leaders often present AI
changes amplifies theseneurological threats.
When we rush our teams throughemotional transitions, we
(13:08):
threaten their resistance,embedding anxiety deeper into
organizational DNA.
Then there is what I call thefake empathy trap.
Many leaders employ rehearsedempathy, trying to sugarcoat
bitter pills.
They probably attended a coupleof compassionate leadership
(13:29):
training without taking reallythe soul of the training away,
but they just took a couple ofexpressions and they will say I
know how hard this AI transitioncan be, they say, yet their
eyes betray urgency andimpatience.
This fake empathy triggerscognitive dissonance in
(13:53):
employees, deepening distrustand fueling disengagement.
Neuroscience explains whyHumans instinctively detect
insincerity.
Mirror neurons, which help usread emotional cues, fire
rapidly upon detectingmismatches between the verbal
expressions and body language.
(14:14):
When leaders mimic empatheticphrases without genuine feelings
, teams subconsciously recoil,cementing emotional barriers.
Your people can literally feelwhen you are not being authentic
about the AI journey.
(14:35):
So what's the nervous systemreality of AI adoption?
Let me paint you a picture ofwhat's really happening in your
organization during AI rollouts.
Imagine you have got a fullorchestra.
Every department has aninstrument, the AI system is the
sheet music and you, the leader, are supposed to be the
(14:56):
conductor.
But instead of creating harmony, when you are hearing is static
Because everyone's wearingnoise-canceling headphones.
Marketing doesn't know howsales is using AI, hr isn't
talking to IT, middle managersare afraid to ask questions and
(15:19):
individual contributors thelifeblood of your organization
are watching quietly from thesidelines, wondering if they are
about to be replaced.
The result Confusion, shame,silence and zero transformation.
Here is the neurosciencebreakdown of what's actually
(15:40):
happening in your people'sbrains during AI adoption.
When the nervous system isdysregulated, which happens
during in certain change, peopleenter one of four stages.
Like I said before, four F'sfight, flight, freeze or fa.
(16:01):
Fight looks like activeresistance or pushback against
AI tools.
Flight shows up as avoidance ormaking excuses not to use the
technology.
Freeze manifests as paralysisPeople simply stop trying.
And FON appears as compliancewithout engagement, going
(16:24):
through the motions without realadoption.
None of these states areconducive to learning or
innovation.
Yet this is the neurologicalenvironment most AI rollouts
create.
Here is the most importantleadership question.
No one is asking what emotionalstate is my AI rollout
(16:45):
producing in the workforce?
Because behavior followsemotion.
If your people feel curious,they will explore.
If they feel empowered, theywill practice.
If they feel safe, they wouldshare wins and ask for help.
But if they feel incompetent,they will hide.
(17:06):
If they feel afraid, they willfreeze.
If they feel alone, they willdisengage.
No policy can override that, noplatform can rewire that.
Only emotionally intelligentleadership can.
The uncomfortable truth is thisyour AI transformation is not
(17:29):
stalling because of tech.
It's stalling because peopledon't feel safe enough to try,
fail and grow.
Executive Neural RecalibrationProtocol.
So what works instead?
Here is a new blueprint for AIadoption that's grounded in
neuroscience, emotional safetyand behavior change.
(17:52):
First, train your nervous systemregulation.
Start with emotional readinessBefore teaching prompts.
Normalize confusion.
Name the fear in the room.
Build sessions that includestress, education and permission
to be a beginner.
Let people breathe before theybuild.
(18:14):
I worked with a client whostarted every AI training
session with this statementEveryone in this room will feel
confused at some point today.
That's not a bug, it's afeature.
Confusion means your brain ismaking new connections.
Second, make it personal androle-based.
(18:34):
Don't train AI skills.
Train use cases.
Show a marketeer how to writean ad.
Show a manager how to summarizea feedback.
Show a leader how to prep for aboard meeting with AI.
These 15-minute transformations, not 3-hour theory sessions.
The brain learns best in small,specific chunks that connect to
(19:00):
existing neural pathways.
Third, create internal AIchampions.
Find your curious few, the 5%to 10% who are experimenting in
silence.
Empower them, spotlight them.
Let them teach others.
Transformation doesn't trickledown from leadership.
(19:21):
It spreads sideways throughtrusted peers.
These champions become yourneural translators, speaking the
language of their departments,while modeling safe
experimentation.
Fourth, tie AI to identity, notjust an output.
People need to see AI not justas a tool, but as an extension
(19:44):
of their personal value.
How does it make them feelbetter, smarter, more creative,
less stressed?
If you don't tell that story,fear will tell another one, and
fear always wins in the absenceof clear narrative.
Fifth, lead with vulnerability,not vision boards.
(20:05):
Leadership is not about havingall the answers.
It's about modeling thelearning process.
Admit when you areexperimenting.
Share your awkward AI moments.
Ask your team how they arereally feeling about the changes
.
When your people see you safein the unknown, they will start
(20:26):
to follow.
Vulnerability createspsychological safety, and
psychological safety is whereinnovation lives.
Here is what this looks like inpractice.
One CEO I worked with startedevery team meeting by sharing
one thing he tried with AI thatweek, including what didn't work
(20:47):
.
Within a month, hisorganization had the highest AI
adoption rate in the industry.
The neuroscience is clearMirror neurons fire when we
observe behavior we want toreplicate.
If you want your team toexperiment with AI, they need to
(21:07):
see you experimenting first.
Here is what I want you toremember from today's
conversation People don't resistAI.
They resist the way AI adoptionmakes them feel.
Your role as an executive isn'tto be the smartest person in
the room about artificialintelligence.
(21:27):
Your role is to create theemotional and psychological
conditions where your peoplefeel safe to learn, experiment
and grow.
This isn't a software problem.
It's a somatic one.
It's about nervous systems, notjust systems.
It's about transitionpsychology, not just systems.
It's about transitionpsychology, not just change
(21:49):
management.
You build the spaceship.
Now it's time to build theground control.
Start by asking yourself areyou truly seeing your team's
emotional reality or are youblinded by urgency?
Are you speaking authenticallyabout your own AI journey, or
(22:11):
are your words empty scriptsfueling resistance?
The future won't wait and yourpeople can follow if they don't
feel safe to try Next week.
We are diving into anothercritical piece of the AI
leadership puzzle thatexecutives are getting wrong.
Until then, practice one act ofvulnerable leadership around AI
(22:36):
.
Share one thing you're stillfiguring out Watch how your
authenticity creates permissionfor others to be honest about
their own journey.
This is AI Cafe Conversations.
I am Sahar Andrade, your AIwhisperer.
(22:58):
Keep leading with bothintelligence artificial and
emotional, with bothintelligence, artificial and
emotional.
Before I close today's episode,I just wanted to share great
news, personal news that Iwanted to share with you my book
(23:20):
, the Coach's Brain Meets AI, isgoing to be released on Amazon
on August 8th.
Yay, I am so excited because ofwhat the book stands for.
I'm the only person writingabout AI coaching who actually
has medical education, whileother authors googled brain
science or took an online courseabout neuroscience, I studied
(23:44):
anatomy and neuroplasticityfirsthand.
There are fewer than 10 aicoaching books and none combine
medical expertise with practicalimplementation.
My book launches august 8 thefirst neuroscience basedbased
guide to AI coaching.
(24:04):
It works not only for coaches,but it works for leaders that
also want to build their teamsand it works for entrepreneurs.
I will be putting the link intodescription.
Look for it on August 8th onAmazon.
Till then, I wish you well andmore knowledge of AI.
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