March 18, 2025 • 28 mins
Nicky and Ness dive deep into the world of AI with Leanne Shelton, exploring how businesses can integrate AI without losing the human touch. We kick off the discussion by addressing the overwhelming pressure many feel in experimenting with AI tools and Leanne’s advice to start small. From simple tasks like email editing to gradually incorporating tools like Microsoft Copilot or OpenAI, she emphasizes the importance of easing into AI usage.
We then delve into the core principle of using AI to enhance, not replace human efforts. Leanne passionately discusses how relying entirely on AI can lead to generic, lifeless outputs and highlights the importance of training AI tools to reflect your brand’s distinct voice, style, and audience. This approach ensures that your unique expertise and experience shine through, maintaining the authenticity of your content.
Our conversation also touches on the irreplaceable value of human connection, especially in an era of advanced AI technologies like deep fakes. Leanne predicts a resurgence of traditional face-to-face interactions to build trust, which is becoming increasingly vital. She shares her insights on potential future trends, such as agentic AI, which aims to automate backend processes but still requires substantial human oversight to ensure quality and ethical standards.
The episode addresses the cautious approach of Australian and New Zealand businesses towards AI adoption, suggesting a slow yet inevitable shift as security concerns are resolved. Leanne offers practical advice for business leaders hesitant about AI, stressing that while tools may evolve, the fundamental concepts of responsible and effective AI usage will remain relevant.
Leanne wraps up with actionable steps listeners can take within 24 hours to become more comfortable with AI, such as experimenting with different tones and styles to see how AI adjusts its outputs. This hands-on exercise helps users understand the importance of precise input to achieve desired results.
Tune in for a rich discussion filled with expert tips, ethical considerations, and strategic insights to help you navigate the evolving AI landscape without losing your brand's human essence.
Leanne's website - https://humanedgeai.com/
Learn more about Nicky and Ness https://businesstogether.com.au
Buy a copy of Healthy Hustle: The New Blueprint to Thrive in Business & Life www.healthyhustle.com.au
Follow us on socials
Instagram - @b2businesstogether
Facebook - @B2BusinessTogether
Connect on LinkedIn
Nicky LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/connectwithnicky/
Ness LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessamedling/
Give us a call
Nicky Miklos-Woodley 0403 191 404
Vanessa (Ness) Medling 0400 226 875
Or send us an email hello@businesstogether.com.au
Music by Jules Miklos-Woodley
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Nicky (00:04):
Welcome to the Smart Business Growth Podcast with
Nicky and Ness.
Ness (00:11):
We would like to acknowledge the traditional
custodians of country, theTurrbal and Bunurong people of
Brisbane and Melbournerespectively, where Nicky and I
both work and live.
Today's guest is Leanne Shelton.
(00:32):
Back in 2023, with hernine-year-old SEO copywriting
agency struggling to convert ina tough economic climate, leanne
made the ultimate businesspivot.
She decided to embrace, notescape, her shiny new and free
competitor, chatgpt, byeducating herself on the topic.
With decades of writing,marketing and training skills in
her back pocket, leanne startedto teach non-techie business
(00:56):
leaders about AI, promptengineering with a human touch.
Leanne quickly became asought-after keynote speaker for
summits and conferences, withmultiple requests to run
webinars, workshops, one-on-onesessions and in-house
organisational training.
These days, her core focus ison team and one-on-one training
(01:16):
sessions for marketing purposes.
Based entrepreneur is a newlyconverted, running enthusiast
lover of dance, daily meditator,occasional yogi, engrossed
reader and audible consumer ofbusiness books and psychological
thrillers, a dedicated wife andfrazzled mum of two daughters.
(01:36):
In our conversation today,leanne helped break down this
topic of chat GPT how it canreally help us as leaders in
business, and also answers thequestion what won't ChatGPT
replace?
I trust that if you're a leaderor a business owner, this
conversation on ChatGPT is goingto be really helpful for you to
(01:58):
get your head around how thisproduct can really help your
business and have some waysaround how it might be hindering
your business.
Anyway, let's jump straight inand enjoy.
Hello.
Nicky (02:10):
Leanne, we're so excited to pick your brain about all
things, not just AI, but how wecan keep the humanness right in
AI, how it can help ourbusinesses, but also getting
really clear on how it won'thelp or what it won't replace.
So, if I can just kick off witha question around, what's your
best thoughts and advice around?
(02:31):
How do we push through becauseyou talk about pushing through
this AI overwhelm while stillmaintaining humanity.
How do we do that?
What's your best tips andadvice as a starting point on
how we do?
Leanne Shelton (02:43):
that, yeah, great, great starting question.
So, yeah, the thing is is thatthere's just so much hype around
AI and all this pressure toexperiment with all these tools
or find the best tools to suityour purposes, and so this is
what contributes to overwhelm.
We've already got enough on ourplates, let alone I've got to
try and brace this thing, which,for a lot of people who aren't
(03:03):
technical, it's just completelyleft field, right.
So I just say, to start it slow, just start with opening up
your Copilot, chatgpt, whateverjust a standard thing is, which
you don't bit of a trustedsource, microsoft Copilot or
OpenAI, which has becomewell-known.
Just start small, so don't gobig.
(03:24):
Just think okay, I want justhelp with fixing up this email.
I've thrown off this email.
How can you just improve it?
How can you just like, juststart with small little tasks
like that, just to getcomfortable with it and realize
it's not so scary.
So that is really what you haveto do, but just don't get
sucked into.
Oh my gosh, I'm overwhelmed.
(03:49):
I'm overwhelmed.
I'm overwhelmed.
I have to get no, no, no.
Just pull it right back anddon't think about creating all
these new projects now that youhave this capacity with AI.
People keep saying no, startsmall.
Just do work on a task that youneed help with.
Or you're procrastinating ongetting that article started, or
you need to put a marketingplan and you haven't quite got
there yet.
Just use it as a starting pointand then just go with it from
there.
Nicky (04:05):
I'm really curious also to understand what are the
different ways that we can usethis AI to keep the hustle
healthy.
You know that's kind of.
We've talked about the factthat there can be some really
good benefits in terms of time.
So to move through theoverwhelm, you just start taking
some steps.
What are some bigger ways thatyou see that we can actually use
AI to keep the hustle healthy?
Leanne Shelton (04:26):
Yeah.
So, coming back to what yousaid about humanity, I don't
want people to be using AI toreplace them.
My little catchphrase is wewant AI to enhance us, not
replace us.
So there's too many people whoare just overwhelmed, exhausted,
burnt out, and so they just go.
All right, I'm just going touse AI tools to just replace my
thinking or just hand it over.
I need to write this email,this article.
(04:47):
I'll just get AI to do it.
That is not the right way,because the quality is just
going to be lacking.
It's going to come out generic,robotic, lifeless.
You'll sound like everyone elseand you want to ensure that it
remains unique to you, so youwant it to be like basically
pulling out your expertise andexperience and using like
amplifying that with the tool.
So what I recommend is to workwith it by training it up, which
(05:10):
a lot of people don't realizeyou can do.
Train up these tools, so thelarge language models like
Copilot and ChatGPT and Gemini.
So start with training up onyour business.
This is what we're about.
This is our products, ourservices, our mission, vision,
mission vision, values, all thatkind of stuff, our story, and
then go great.
Remember that like, upload yourstyle guides, whatever you've
(05:30):
got.
And then the next step is thenteaching your brand voice.
And look, I come from acopywriting marketing background
.
Right, and brand voice was soimportant for content marketing,
for copywriting, but it's justbeen lost with AI.
People forget that that was thedriving force of getting a
copywriter most of the time toget it to sound good and sound
like them.
So you want it to also soundlike you and not like everyone
(05:50):
else.
So that is the next thing youhave to train up on.
And then you want it to ensurethat it knows who your audience
is, who your customers are, yourcurrent or potential customers.
So if it doesn't know that, onceagain the output is just going
to miss the mark.
So you need to train up tounderstand those three core
(06:11):
things, to ensure quality andthat actually complements what
you're all about and notreplacing you, and then you can
then take over and challenge theoutput it gives you.
Like you can test those things.
Yes, I agree what it's givingme, no, and as you go through
time of using it, you'retraining it up.
So mine, after like two yearsof consecutive usage of
Chatsbury Tea, it can nail mybrand voice and I can write an
article in an hour that I feelcomfortable putting out to the
(06:32):
world because it sounds like me,but I've had enough input in it
that it's still me.
Ness (06:37):
That's so important, isn't it?
That we don't lose that, and Ithink that's a key if you are
putting out content into theworld, and I know that there are
clients that use AI to helpthem with proposals and to help
them with, you know, reports orwhatever it is back to their
clients or seeking work, but wecan't lose us within that.
(06:58):
And I think what you said isreally important there around
training it up to understand whoyou are, because that is what I
didn't like about chat GPT whenit first came in it was.
It just sounded awful and itwas like but I would never say
things like that, and so I feltlike at the beginning I would
spend just as much timerewriting something as what it,
(07:21):
you know like, said there was inmy head.
There were no time efficiencieswhatsoever, and I think my
lesson in that was I didn'tactually like I was just doing
it intuitively instead ofperhaps going and finding out,
well, how do I make it work bestfor me and what's everything
you've just said?
You know I didn't.
I didn't have that in myknowledge bank when I first
opened it up, so but I see ourclients, you know, using it.
(07:45):
Particularly helpful aroundgetting started with training,
with job descriptions, with adsfor, you know, positions
available.
There's so many different waysthat I can see business owners
and leaders can really be usingthis to start to help them, and
I so relate to theprocrastination or overthinking
(08:06):
thing that if I had that when Istarted my first business, it
would be, you know, like justgive me something, because
staring at a blank page isreally hard to get started
working with.
I'm really curious.
So if that is freeing us uptime and we're able to find ways
for AI to work for us, what isit that you think AI is not
(08:26):
going to replace?
Because a lot of people arequite fearful that AI is going
to take over the world andnobody will have a job.
And you know all these things,given your expertise, you know
and you can see where the futureis going with this.
What's it not going to replacefor us?
Leanne Shelton (08:42):
Oh, 100%.
It is not going to replace thehuman connection, and I'm
currently writing a book aboutthis called the AI Human Fusion,
and, yeah, you guys are goingto be featured In that book.
I'm really saying that humanconnection is going to be so
vital, even more so with AI,because when things like deep
fakes come out and people caneasily replicate your voice on
(09:05):
the phone, whole no like trustfactor, like ensuring trust
before you make a transaction,is just going to be harder and
harder.
So we're going to actually haveto go old school, traditional
meeting up with people face toface more often, I think for
networking, for, like you know,some Asian cultures they only do
sales transactions in person.
I actually think it's going tohappen, rather than hiding more
(09:27):
behind the screens, from acybersecurity point of view as
well, as we just want to havethat human interaction, and I
actually mentioned the book.
It's so ironic with during COVIDtimes, even the most
introverted person still wantedto talk to people, to humans, at
one point.
Some people are using AI tojust write and comment on
LinkedIn, for example, and I'mlike we don't want bots talking
(09:50):
to bots, like how does thatserve us as people and you know
just what you're saying as wellabout.
You know, things like jobdescriptions, or even I've heard
, with award writing and stuff,award applications, that people
just use AI and hand it all over.
No, we need to see the humancome through that.
We need to make sure yourexpertise, your experience, is
coming through those things.
So what's going to be reallyimportant is having humans
(10:11):
managing the tools, not justletting the tools run rampant.
I'm seeing that especially forlike marketing.
I, as a copywriter who's been inthis space for a couple of
years, I can easily see ifsomething's AI generated and
more and more people are alsodeveloping the sixth sense.
And so you want to be aware offalling into that trap of
thinking oh, I'm being soproductive and thinking about
(10:34):
them, how the tool's helpingthem, and not think about how
it's being received.
And that is the problem.
They're not thinking about howit's going to come across.
They're thinking I just smashedout that in five minutes.
How good am I?
It's going to affect your brandpotentially.
Or people won't go for that jobbecause it sounds generic and
they don't think a human reallycares enough.
(10:54):
Maybe it reflects the culture,I don't know.
This is kind of the vibes youjust might put across.
Or I know of awards submissionsI've heard from judges totally
just ignore all the submissionsthat obviously are generated
because there was not enoughhuman.
So the humanity, ironically, isgoing to be even more important
.
Nicky (11:11):
We've had clients who have been recruiting and they
received cover letters that werepretty much identical, so it
was obvious that it was using.
Ai and immediately.
They don't kind of get along.
Leanne Shelton (11:21):
Yeah, they'll get along too 100%.
So don't think, oh great, I canapply for this job and not no.
I mean, look, you can use AI topotentially help you that way,
but you need to put a lot ofwork into it and make sure it is
you and it's not just yousaying, hey, see, what they've
asked for here.
Can you just answer this andmake me sound good Like?
(11:42):
Authenticity is just soimportant and that's just
something that it's beenoverlooked with the whole hype
around AI, which reallyfrustrates me.
Nicky (11:49):
So we have to think about what are we inputting, what's
the brief?
And then what are we?
How are we working with theoutput of that as well?
Ness (11:56):
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(12:17):
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Nicky (12:23):
I'm really curious about what are the trends you're going
to see, or what are the trendsyou're seeing that we're all
going to see, because even thatshift to more face-to-face I
mean that sort of makes sense,even coffee chats, but there is
that convenience of Zoom, googleHangouts, you know, whatever it
might be, but that deep fake isscary, the voices I don't even
like saying hello, Nicky.
(12:44):
Well, I don't even say helloNicky speaking when I, if you
call me, if anybody rings me,I'm sorry, but it's going to be
really different answering ofthe phone to what it would have
been like three years ago, whereit's like hi, Nicky speaking,
dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, causeI'm like I don't know are they
recording me?
So I'm going to start a trendnow.
So what else do you think aresome of the key trends that
you're projecting for the future?
What's going to shift in theworld of business?
Leanne Shelton (13:05):
when it comes to AI, yeah, so there's a lot of
talk around agentic AI, so likeagents, so AI agents basically
doing all back-end stuff.
So say, one bot does theresearch and the other bot
writes the article, another botputs in the SEO, another bot
repurpose it in the social, andthat's just like a marketing
point of view.
Or there could be other stepsas well.
(13:26):
If it is recruitment purposes,it could be this bot reviews all
the resumes and then this botthen picks out the best ones
based on the criteria and thisbot then sends out Zoom links to
the lineup meetings or whatever.
So this kind of stuff will needa lot of human input, though,
to make sure that they're doingthe right things and, once again
, the person on the other sideis getting the best experience.
(13:49):
But that kind of stuff is goingto come out more and more and at
the moment, like, I haven'tplayed around with it because it
seems very fiddly and techie.
So you know, I'm assuming it'llevolve and become a lot more
accessible and easy for theeveryday person to set up these
things.
Same with yeah, like I knowsomeone who's got a phone agent.
She's already had a virtualphone agency for years and now
(14:11):
introducing AI ones.
I'm not a fan of getting an AIvoice of me pretending to be me
on phone calls or anything.
I do not believe in that.
I don't believe in digitalavatars pretending to be me.
I prefer to have one that I'vemade up that calls itself my
assistant, rather than a replicaof me.
Wow, but that can be done.
It can be done.
This is the thing it can be done.
(14:34):
And I see some of the other AIexperts going oh how cool is
this?
This is the digital avatar ofme and it sounds like me and I'm
like why are you making this athing?
I do not agree with it.
Like I said, I'm aboutauthenticity and I don't because
then people start to questionis it even Leanne running that
webinar, or is it a replica ofher?
And is it actually what, leanne?
(14:55):
Is it Leanne's script, or didsomeone else randomly put that
script and just slap my name onit and say I did it?
Nicky (15:00):
also, how much easier is it then for someone else to take
your avatar that's it like didyou were you even involved in
creating the avatar.
Okay, this is freaking me outnow.
Leanne Shelton (15:09):
Yeah, so this is where I say don't fall down
that rabbit hole going shinyobjects so cool, just be, look,
I've I've had, you know, there's150 episodes of my own podcast
plus probably another 50podcasts I've been a guest on.
People can easily take my voiceand do it if they wanted to.
I'm not going to make anythingeasier, but look, just don't get
(15:30):
caught up in the fear factor.
We just got to trust thatenough government regulations
start coming in and these peoplewill be heavily penalized if
that starts to happen.
But yeah, agentic AI is goingto be a trend.
There's definitely going to bea lot of focus around
responsible and ethical usage.
So I'm going to put emphasisonto AI policy.
This year.
I'm going to start working withan IP lawyer, so she'll be part
of my team.
(15:50):
If anyone wants to have an AIpolicy to really explain full
transparency at your company, atyour business, where you use AI
, where you don't use AI, howyou protect your client's data.
That's going to become a realcore thing this year.
And also about the wholesecurity of data.
That is a big thing.
It's also become focus as wespeak.
Deepseek just came out, china'sequivalent of ChatsBT, which
(16:12):
apparently can be taken offline,which is meant to be more
secure because all the data youinsert stays on your own
computer.
But that brings up questionsitself about how powerful is
your computer?
Can it handle it?
Do we need to then start to buyother computers that adjust for
AI usage?
Do we have to turn off theinternet every time we want to
use AI and is that going to work?
(16:33):
All these kinds of questions,and there's like sustainability
questions as well, likeenvironmentally, like there's a
lot of.
I won't go into it, but likethe data, the power, it needs to
be powered somehow and that'salso a cause of concern.
So, now that I think people arestarting to getting over the
you know, the initial excitement, now reality is starting to hit
in.
(16:54):
How's this going to looklong-term and people putting in
proper practices and just beingaware of how this is going to
work in the long-term?
Nicky (17:04):
It's interesting.
You bring up environmentbecause I wanted to ask you
about that, because I heardsomething about the
environmental impact.
And then now I feel guiltyevery time I put a something
into Chatty Cathy, which is ournickname for ChatGPT.
Like, is it that bad for theenvironment?
Like, even just every littletime I use it because I don't
know what to do with thatinformation.
Leanne Shelton (17:21):
I know I haven't looked into it like much yet.
I probably will need to putthat into my book somewhere but
I have been hearing all sorts ofthings about how this needs to
be developed and this needs tobe developed and every search
you do create is this much powerand as more and more people use
this stuff, we need to look atthis.
So really curious to see whereit goes.
And, yeah, like we've destroyedthe world enough as it is.
(17:44):
Hopefully AI doesn't do it more.
But there's a couple ofquestions that I want people to
just pause and think about.
Like I did put a post onLinkedIn about let's just pause
for a second, like deep seek,everyone's like, oh, it's so
easy to just get caught up inthis whirlwind of AI the
coolness factor and I say, look,just like I said, to start
(18:05):
small, just start dabbling withit.
Don't freak out too much.
Just don't over-invest in bigprojects and don't over-invest
in all the new tools or whateverand I mean it goes against
productivity if you're justconstantly playing with tools
anyway, but we just need to keepour human brain active and
thinking about it, not just getcaught up in it, and I think
that's something that active andthinking about it, not just get
caught up in it.
And I think that's somethingthat, yeah, it's very easy to do
, especially if you think it'sexciting and new.
But all right, there areimplications of this.
(18:32):
And especially if you do have ateam, you want to make sure
everyone's on the same page withit.
And, yeah, don't kind of justgo crazy with it before.
Like I'm saying with DeepSeekit's just been released, let's
just work out the bugs beforeeveryone dives onto it.
But yeah, I'll just get excited.
Ness (18:46):
Well, it's interesting because I wonder, when you look
at the sort of the businesslandscape, do you think that
there's a big uptake in businessaround AI?
Do you think some of the biggercorporates and you know some of
the communities out there ofsmall to medium businesses Do
you have any sort of stats onhow much of a take up that is,
how many percentage of peopleare actually utilizing that in
(19:09):
business?
Leanne Shelton (19:09):
nowadays it's probably lower than you think.
I did see some stats recentlyabout Australia and New Zealand
and we're way down the bottom interms of implementation, I
think because we're very waryabout it all.
I can't remember what the statswere, but definitely the big
organizations.
Just so much wariness aroundthe security and so, like I know
, my sister-in-law works at alarge accounting firm and
(19:30):
they're only just maybe startingto implement AI but being very
cautious with it.
So that's once we kind of getover the security thing.
Like I'm trying to do it for myown clients, even smaller
clients, like there's a legalclient, no-transcript how good
(20:01):
would that be.
But I don't want to use touchpotato to help them with their
training for their workshop.
I want to find a good, secureplatform.
So I feel comfortable, you know, saying it's okay for you to
use this because then it comesback onto me too.
So there's a lot of tiptoeingstill overseas.
Like there's an equivalent ofme, Heather Murray, who's a UK
(20:22):
copywriter turned non-techie AItrainer very similar and she
seems to be like goingeverywhere with these big
clients all over there becauseeveryone seems a lot more on
board than here.
It's very much like.
I had a conversation withTicketmaster the other day and
about doing a talk for them andthe next month and they're like
all the senior leaders are stilllike completely brand new, have
no idea.
And I'm like okay, so that's anexample of one of the companies
(20:44):
here barely using it still twoyears or so after Chachapik was
released.
Ness (20:50):
Yeah, yeah, because I would imagine you know you've
got your first fast followersand you and I think of that bell
curve always about there'salways going to be the laggers
and the you know the majority ofpeople who join at the same
time.
What piece of advice would yougive somebody who is listening
to this conversation, runs theirown business or is a leader in
(21:11):
business and is kind of like onthe fence going oh, I just do, I
invest time and effort andenergy, like for what purpose?
Because it's moving so quicklythat if I invest in getting my
whole team trained in something,is that something that's only
going to be relevant for thenext three months and therefore
it's just like why am I goingdown this path?
(21:32):
So I'm just curious if youcould talk to that for our
people who are sitting on thefence a little bit around AI.
Leanne Shelton (21:38):
That question actually is exactly what my
publisher said I have to talkabout in my first chapter.
Ness (21:42):
So I'm going to go into that.
Leanne Shelton (21:44):
Yeah, I think you need to.
It's not going to go away.
But you can also dig your headin the sand.
It is going to keep changing.
But if it's just like socialmedia, the internet, even like
electricity when that came outthere's only so long you can
(22:06):
just avoid it and then you haveto kind of come on board and
just kind of get your headaround it.
So what I teach in my trainingit's quite often just the basics
in terms of the mindset aroundit.
So like the ethics, responsibleusage, because also we're
writing my book and I make sureit's still relevant after it
goes to print, right?
So I'm talking more big picturewhich isn't going to change.
So just how you approach it,keeping it human, knowing when
you use it as a tool to supportyou.
When does the human just takeover, when are you falling into
bad habits?
(22:27):
And knowing like to recognizethat's happening.
But getting a training with yourteam, it's not a waste of time
because what I teach is verybasic.
It's like training up tounderstand your business.
It's honestly, it's justgetting their hands dirty and
seeing what's possible andwhat's and where the limitations
are.
Because, look, they're going tobe doing it anyway, whether you
(22:49):
know it or not.
Maybe they're completelydenying that you're using AI,
but they're using it or they'recompletely freaked out by it.
So the best thing you can do asa leader is just help ease
people into it.
Go, it's okay, safe space.
I know you want to use it.
I think it could be useful.
Let's do it properly.
Let's just start doing this andthis.
Yeah, just don't go overinvesting spending tens of
thousands of dollars on promisesof things that aren't quite
ready yet to trust, like toolsthat I wouldn't trust.
(23:11):
My business hand over.
That's what I would do.
So that's what my training ishonestly, just making everyone
feel going from like unpreparedbecause AI just kind of appeared
out of nowhere, to prepared andfeeling going from unclear and
having no idea what next stepsare, what tools to use, to much
more clearer.
And then going from, like youknow, being unskilled to skilled
(23:32):
and actually having the skillsand the confidence to give it a
go, but know when not.
Okay, it's given me thatstarting point.
I now know what to do to takeover, to prompt it or just take
it offline.
So that's so.
That's really what it is rightnow.
It's a mindset thing that youneed to work on with your team.
So don't go into training abouttools because they may be
redundant, irrelevant, boughtout six months, you don't know,
(23:56):
but the concepts that is notgoing to go away so important.
Ness (24:00):
And it was interesting what you just said then around
you know people are probablyusing it outside of work anyway.
So, as a leader, we want to beon the front foot because if we
bury our head in the sand andespecially our younger
generation, who are coming intothe workforce if they're all
over it and we don't have wehaven't stopped to think about
the repercussions or to talkabout how we use AI in this
(24:24):
business and, like you said, thepolicy around what is okay to
use it for and what is not, thenwe could end up in a really
sticky situation, with peoplewho know how to do it going
ahead and just, and then we'vegot those who feel intimidated
by the change, who may be a bitslower to learn and adapt, and
feeling that gap get bigger andbigger.
(24:46):
So it's definitely topical andit's definitely, you know, who
may be a bit slower to learn andadapt, and filling that gap get
bigger and bigger.
So it's definitely topical andit's definitely, you know, a key
thing that's not going away.
So we really need to work outhow we're going to use it the
best in our business.
Look, this has been afascinating conversation.
I loved our last conversationwe have.
It is opening my eyes more andmore to how we can use this in
our business, and I'm curious,as we wrap up, you know, we
(25:07):
often say at the end of ourpodcast, what's an actionable
action that our listeners cantake in the next 24 hours?
And I guess I want to kind ofmake it a little bit more
broader for, you know, dependingon who's listening, perhaps
make it more personal aroundwhat we can do to get more
comfortable with AI.
So can you think of somethingthat we could do within 24 hours
(25:27):
that would be helpful to justtake that one step closer to
understanding and using AI?
Leanne Shelton (25:33):
Okay, yeah, so one fun little exercise I get
people to do just to see thedifference with brand voice.
So I mean you want to train upand all that.
But what I recommend is justgetting to say, okay, say please
, I use please and thank you.
I think it's just good.
But I say, you know, saysomething like please write me a
500 word article on, insert arandom topic relevant to
industry, right, it's good to dothat, see what it gives you.
(25:55):
Then say thank you, pleaserewrite in a professional and
conversational tone.
Then see how it changesslightly.
The message will be there butthe wording will be different.
Then say, okay, please rewritein a professional,
conversational and quirky tone,or insert some other random word
, right, and see how it changesagain.
And this is a really funexercise to show you you putting
(26:18):
your input in how it changesthe output.
And it just gives you a reallygood example of when people just
go write me this generic but asyou just add this and you can
only imagine, if you say, youcan even add and write it for
women who are 50 plus in seniorleadership roles, and then see
how it changes again and thenyou'll realize how the context
(26:39):
of audience changes it.
So that's a little fun exerciseand you just see what I mean by
why you need to train it up andgive directions.
Ness (26:46):
Yeah, I love that so much.
You've just reminded me, atChristmas time we had my sister
and I were responsible for thefamily Christmas, for all the
fun activities, and we we hadall the logistics and all the
instructions of the things thatwe were doing over the Christmas
Eve, christmas day.
But we kind of wanted to jazzit up.
So we actually put it into AIand said create an invitation
(27:07):
for the family members and writeit in the voice of the Grinch.
And it was hilarious what itcame back with.
We loved it.
We had to.
You know, we had to send it offto my dad because it did say
he's that old, he's probablyremembers when Christmas was
invented and we're like, oh ouch, are we allowed to distribute
this amongst the family?
So so that was a lot of funthat we had with it and as we're
(27:30):
sitting there going well, wewant this to be a bit more
jazzier and a bit more fun thanwhat we.
Our brains were not in thatspace at all.
So I can see how doing that isis really useful.
And on this note I'll wrap up.
But I remember somebody tellingus it's like you've got to
think about AI, like yourhungover intern, like they're
super enthusiastic and they wantto help, but they're not 100%
(27:52):
on point today.
So be careful that what you askis, you know, like it's just
the quality of the question thatyou ask that is going to
determine the quality of theanswer.
Leanne Shelton (28:01):
Yeah, I say the assistant thing.
I haven't tried the hungoverone, but yeah, I like that too.
Ness (28:09):
Awesome.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
Goodbye from Nicky as well.
She had to shoot off just alittle bit earlier, but it's
been lovely having you here andwe'll be back in your listening
ears again shortly.
Thanks Leanne, thanks Ness.
Thanks for listening to today'sep.
If you loved what you heard,connect with us over on LinkedIn
and let's continue theconversation over there.
(28:29):
Did you hear?
You can now buy our bookHealthy Hustle the new blueprint
to thrive in business and life,at healthyhustlecomau.
Want us to speak to your teamor run a workshop on healthy
hustle in your workplace?
Send us an email or go oldschool and give us a call to
discuss.
Until next time, happylistening and here's to thriving
(28:50):
in business and life.
Welcome to the Smart Business Growth Podcast with
Nicky and Ness.
Ness (00:11):
We would like to acknowledge the traditional
custodians of country, theTurrbal and Bunurong people of
Brisbane and Melbournerespectively, where Nicky and I
both work and live.
Today's guest is Leanne Shelton.
(00:32):
Back in 2023, with hernine-year-old SEO copywriting
agency struggling to convert ina tough economic climate, leanne
made the ultimate businesspivot.
She decided to embrace, notescape, her shiny new and free
competitor, chatgpt, byeducating herself on the topic.
With decades of writing,marketing and training skills in
her back pocket, leanne startedto teach non-techie business
(00:56):
leaders about AI, promptengineering with a human touch.
Leanne quickly became asought-after keynote speaker for
summits and conferences, withmultiple requests to run
webinars, workshops, one-on-onesessions and in-house
organisational training.
These days, her core focus ison team and one-on-one training
(01:16):
sessions for marketing purposes.
Based entrepreneur is a newlyconverted, running enthusiast
lover of dance, daily meditator,occasional yogi, engrossed
reader and audible consumer ofbusiness books and psychological
thrillers, a dedicated wife andfrazzled mum of two daughters.
(01:36):
In our conversation today,leanne helped break down this
topic of chat GPT how it canreally help us as leaders in
business, and also answers thequestion what won't ChatGPT
replace?
I trust that if you're a leaderor a business owner, this
conversation on ChatGPT is goingto be really helpful for you to
(01:58):
get your head around how thisproduct can really help your
business and have some waysaround how it might be hindering
your business.
Anyway, let's jump straight inand enjoy.
Hello.
Nicky (02:10):
Leanne, we're so excited to pick your brain about all
things, not just AI, but how wecan keep the humanness right in
AI, how it can help ourbusinesses, but also getting
really clear on how it won'thelp or what it won't replace.
So, if I can just kick off witha question around, what's your
best thoughts and advice around?
(02:31):
How do we push through becauseyou talk about pushing through
this AI overwhelm while stillmaintaining humanity.
How do we do that?
What's your best tips andadvice as a starting point on
how we do?
Leanne Shelton (02:43):
that, yeah, great, great starting question.
So, yeah, the thing is is thatthere's just so much hype around
AI and all this pressure toexperiment with all these tools
or find the best tools to suityour purposes, and so this is
what contributes to overwhelm.
We've already got enough on ourplates, let alone I've got to
try and brace this thing, which,for a lot of people who aren't
(03:03):
technical, it's just completelyleft field, right.
So I just say, to start it slow, just start with opening up
your Copilot, chatgpt, whateverjust a standard thing is, which
you don't bit of a trustedsource, microsoft Copilot or
OpenAI, which has becomewell-known.
Just start small, so don't gobig.
(03:24):
Just think okay, I want justhelp with fixing up this email.
I've thrown off this email.
How can you just improve it?
How can you just like, juststart with small little tasks
like that, just to getcomfortable with it and realize
it's not so scary.
So that is really what you haveto do, but just don't get
sucked into.
Oh my gosh, I'm overwhelmed.
(03:49):
I'm overwhelmed.
I'm overwhelmed.
I have to get no, no, no.
Just pull it right back anddon't think about creating all
these new projects now that youhave this capacity with AI.
People keep saying no, startsmall.
Just do work on a task that youneed help with.
Or you're procrastinating ongetting that article started, or
you need to put a marketingplan and you haven't quite got
there yet.
Just use it as a starting pointand then just go with it from
there.
Nicky (04:05):
I'm really curious also to understand what are the
different ways that we can usethis AI to keep the hustle
healthy.
You know that's kind of.
We've talked about the factthat there can be some really
good benefits in terms of time.
So to move through theoverwhelm, you just start taking
some steps.
What are some bigger ways thatyou see that we can actually use
AI to keep the hustle healthy?
Leanne Shelton (04:26):
Yeah.
So, coming back to what yousaid about humanity, I don't
want people to be using AI toreplace them.
My little catchphrase is wewant AI to enhance us, not
replace us.
So there's too many people whoare just overwhelmed, exhausted,
burnt out, and so they just go.
All right, I'm just going touse AI tools to just replace my
thinking or just hand it over.
I need to write this email,this article.
(04:47):
I'll just get AI to do it.
That is not the right way,because the quality is just
going to be lacking.
It's going to come out generic,robotic, lifeless.
You'll sound like everyone elseand you want to ensure that it
remains unique to you, so youwant it to be like basically
pulling out your expertise andexperience and using like
amplifying that with the tool.
So what I recommend is to workwith it by training it up, which
(05:10):
a lot of people don't realizeyou can do.
Train up these tools, so thelarge language models like
Copilot and ChatGPT and Gemini.
So start with training up onyour business.
This is what we're about.
This is our products, ourservices, our mission, vision,
mission vision, values, all thatkind of stuff, our story, and
then go great.
Remember that like, upload yourstyle guides, whatever you've
(05:30):
got.
And then the next step is thenteaching your brand voice.
And look, I come from acopywriting marketing background
.
Right, and brand voice was soimportant for content marketing,
for copywriting, but it's justbeen lost with AI.
People forget that that was thedriving force of getting a
copywriter most of the time toget it to sound good and sound
like them.
So you want it to also soundlike you and not like everyone
(05:50):
else.
So that is the next thing youhave to train up on.
And then you want it to ensurethat it knows who your audience
is, who your customers are, yourcurrent or potential customers.
So if it doesn't know that, onceagain the output is just going
to miss the mark.
So you need to train up tounderstand those three core
(06:11):
things, to ensure quality andthat actually complements what
you're all about and notreplacing you, and then you can
then take over and challenge theoutput it gives you.
Like you can test those things.
Yes, I agree what it's givingme, no, and as you go through
time of using it, you'retraining it up.
So mine, after like two yearsof consecutive usage of
Chatsbury Tea, it can nail mybrand voice and I can write an
article in an hour that I feelcomfortable putting out to the
(06:32):
world because it sounds like me,but I've had enough input in it
that it's still me.
Ness (06:37):
That's so important, isn't it?
That we don't lose that, and Ithink that's a key if you are
putting out content into theworld, and I know that there are
clients that use AI to helpthem with proposals and to help
them with, you know, reports orwhatever it is back to their
clients or seeking work, but wecan't lose us within that.
(06:58):
And I think what you said isreally important there around
training it up to understand whoyou are, because that is what I
didn't like about chat GPT whenit first came in it was.
It just sounded awful and itwas like but I would never say
things like that, and so I feltlike at the beginning I would
spend just as much timerewriting something as what it,
(07:21):
you know like, said there was inmy head.
There were no time efficiencieswhatsoever, and I think my
lesson in that was I didn'tactually like I was just doing
it intuitively instead ofperhaps going and finding out,
well, how do I make it work bestfor me and what's everything
you've just said?
You know I didn't.
I didn't have that in myknowledge bank when I first
opened it up, so but I see ourclients, you know, using it.
(07:45):
Particularly helpful aroundgetting started with training,
with job descriptions, with adsfor, you know, positions
available.
There's so many different waysthat I can see business owners
and leaders can really be usingthis to start to help them, and
I so relate to theprocrastination or overthinking
(08:06):
thing that if I had that when Istarted my first business, it
would be, you know, like justgive me something, because
staring at a blank page isreally hard to get started
working with.
I'm really curious.
So if that is freeing us uptime and we're able to find ways
for AI to work for us, what isit that you think AI is not
(08:26):
going to replace?
Because a lot of people arequite fearful that AI is going
to take over the world andnobody will have a job.
And you know all these things,given your expertise, you know
and you can see where the futureis going with this.
What's it not going to replacefor us?
Leanne Shelton (08:42):
Oh, 100%.
It is not going to replace thehuman connection, and I'm
currently writing a book aboutthis called the AI Human Fusion,
and, yeah, you guys are goingto be featured In that book.
I'm really saying that humanconnection is going to be so
vital, even more so with AI,because when things like deep
fakes come out and people caneasily replicate your voice on
(09:05):
the phone, whole no like trustfactor, like ensuring trust
before you make a transaction,is just going to be harder and
harder.
So we're going to actually haveto go old school, traditional
meeting up with people face toface more often, I think for
networking, for, like you know,some Asian cultures they only do
sales transactions in person.
I actually think it's going tohappen, rather than hiding more
(09:27):
behind the screens, from acybersecurity point of view as
well, as we just want to havethat human interaction, and I
actually mentioned the book.
It's so ironic with during COVIDtimes, even the most
introverted person still wantedto talk to people, to humans, at
one point.
Some people are using AI tojust write and comment on
LinkedIn, for example, and I'mlike we don't want bots talking
(09:50):
to bots, like how does thatserve us as people and you know
just what you're saying as wellabout.
You know, things like jobdescriptions, or even I've heard
, with award writing and stuff,award applications, that people
just use AI and hand it all over.
No, we need to see the humancome through that.
We need to make sure yourexpertise, your experience, is
coming through those things.
So what's going to be reallyimportant is having humans
(10:11):
managing the tools, not justletting the tools run rampant.
I'm seeing that especially forlike marketing.
I, as a copywriter who's been inthis space for a couple of
years, I can easily see ifsomething's AI generated and
more and more people are alsodeveloping the sixth sense.
And so you want to be aware offalling into that trap of
thinking oh, I'm being soproductive and thinking about
(10:34):
them, how the tool's helpingthem, and not think about how
it's being received.
And that is the problem.
They're not thinking about howit's going to come across.
They're thinking I just smashedout that in five minutes.
How good am I?
It's going to affect your brandpotentially.
Or people won't go for that jobbecause it sounds generic and
they don't think a human reallycares enough.
(10:54):
Maybe it reflects the culture,I don't know.
This is kind of the vibes youjust might put across.
Or I know of awards submissionsI've heard from judges totally
just ignore all the submissionsthat obviously are generated
because there was not enoughhuman.
So the humanity, ironically, isgoing to be even more important
.
Nicky (11:11):
We've had clients who have been recruiting and they
received cover letters that werepretty much identical, so it
was obvious that it was using.
Ai and immediately.
They don't kind of get along.
Leanne Shelton (11:21):
Yeah, they'll get along too 100%.
So don't think, oh great, I canapply for this job and not no.
I mean, look, you can use AI topotentially help you that way,
but you need to put a lot ofwork into it and make sure it is
you and it's not just yousaying, hey, see, what they've
asked for here.
Can you just answer this andmake me sound good Like?
(11:42):
Authenticity is just soimportant and that's just
something that it's beenoverlooked with the whole hype
around AI, which reallyfrustrates me.
Nicky (11:49):
So we have to think about what are we inputting, what's
the brief?
And then what are we?
How are we working with theoutput of that as well?
Ness (11:56):
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(12:17):
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Nicky (12:23):
I'm really curious about what are the trends you're going
to see, or what are the trendsyou're seeing that we're all
going to see, because even thatshift to more face-to-face I
mean that sort of makes sense,even coffee chats, but there is
that convenience of Zoom, googleHangouts, you know, whatever it
might be, but that deep fake isscary, the voices I don't even
like saying hello, Nicky.
(12:44):
Well, I don't even say helloNicky speaking when I, if you
call me, if anybody rings me,I'm sorry, but it's going to be
really different answering ofthe phone to what it would have
been like three years ago, whereit's like hi, Nicky speaking,
dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, causeI'm like I don't know are they
recording me?
So I'm going to start a trendnow.
So what else do you think aresome of the key trends that
you're projecting for the future?
What's going to shift in theworld of business?
Leanne Shelton (13:05):
when it comes to AI, yeah, so there's a lot of
talk around agentic AI, so likeagents, so AI agents basically
doing all back-end stuff.
So say, one bot does theresearch and the other bot
writes the article, another botputs in the SEO, another bot
repurpose it in the social, andthat's just like a marketing
point of view.
Or there could be other stepsas well.
(13:26):
If it is recruitment purposes,it could be this bot reviews all
the resumes and then this botthen picks out the best ones
based on the criteria and thisbot then sends out Zoom links to
the lineup meetings or whatever.
So this kind of stuff will needa lot of human input, though,
to make sure that they're doingthe right things and, once again
, the person on the other sideis getting the best experience.
(13:49):
But that kind of stuff is goingto come out more and more and at
the moment, like, I haven'tplayed around with it because it
seems very fiddly and techie.
So you know, I'm assuming it'llevolve and become a lot more
accessible and easy for theeveryday person to set up these
things.
Same with yeah, like I knowsomeone who's got a phone agent.
She's already had a virtualphone agency for years and now
(14:11):
introducing AI ones.
I'm not a fan of getting an AIvoice of me pretending to be me
on phone calls or anything.
I do not believe in that.
I don't believe in digitalavatars pretending to be me.
I prefer to have one that I'vemade up that calls itself my
assistant, rather than a replicaof me.
Wow, but that can be done.
It can be done.
This is the thing it can be done.
(14:34):
And I see some of the other AIexperts going oh how cool is
this?
This is the digital avatar ofme and it sounds like me and I'm
like why are you making this athing?
I do not agree with it.
Like I said, I'm aboutauthenticity and I don't because
then people start to questionis it even Leanne running that
webinar, or is it a replica ofher?
And is it actually what, leanne?
(14:55):
Is it Leanne's script, or didsomeone else randomly put that
script and just slap my name onit and say I did it?
Nicky (15:00):
also, how much easier is it then for someone else to take
your avatar that's it like didyou were you even involved in
creating the avatar.
Okay, this is freaking me outnow.
Leanne Shelton (15:09):
Yeah, so this is where I say don't fall down
that rabbit hole going shinyobjects so cool, just be, look,
I've I've had, you know, there's150 episodes of my own podcast
plus probably another 50podcasts I've been a guest on.
People can easily take my voiceand do it if they wanted to.
I'm not going to make anythingeasier, but look, just don't get
(15:30):
caught up in the fear factor.
We just got to trust thatenough government regulations
start coming in and these peoplewill be heavily penalized if
that starts to happen.
But yeah, agentic AI is goingto be a trend.
There's definitely going to bea lot of focus around
responsible and ethical usage.
So I'm going to put emphasisonto AI policy.
This year.
I'm going to start working withan IP lawyer, so she'll be part
of my team.
(15:50):
If anyone wants to have an AIpolicy to really explain full
transparency at your company, atyour business, where you use AI
, where you don't use AI, howyou protect your client's data.
That's going to become a realcore thing this year.
And also about the wholesecurity of data.
That is a big thing.
It's also become focus as wespeak.
Deepseek just came out, china'sequivalent of ChatsBT, which
(16:12):
apparently can be taken offline,which is meant to be more
secure because all the data youinsert stays on your own
computer.
But that brings up questionsitself about how powerful is
your computer?
Can it handle it?
Do we need to then start to buyother computers that adjust for
AI usage?
Do we have to turn off theinternet every time we want to
use AI and is that going to work?
(16:33):
All these kinds of questions,and there's like sustainability
questions as well, likeenvironmentally, like there's a
lot of.
I won't go into it, but likethe data, the power, it needs to
be powered somehow and that'salso a cause of concern.
So, now that I think people arestarting to getting over the
you know, the initial excitement, now reality is starting to hit
in.
(16:54):
How's this going to looklong-term and people putting in
proper practices and just beingaware of how this is going to
work in the long-term?
Nicky (17:04):
It's interesting.
You bring up environmentbecause I wanted to ask you
about that, because I heardsomething about the
environmental impact.
And then now I feel guiltyevery time I put a something
into Chatty Cathy, which is ournickname for ChatGPT.
Like, is it that bad for theenvironment?
Like, even just every littletime I use it because I don't
know what to do with thatinformation.
Leanne Shelton (17:21):
I know I haven't looked into it like much yet.
I probably will need to putthat into my book somewhere but
I have been hearing all sorts ofthings about how this needs to
be developed and this needs tobe developed and every search
you do create is this much powerand as more and more people use
this stuff, we need to look atthis.
So really curious to see whereit goes.
And, yeah, like we've destroyedthe world enough as it is.
(17:44):
Hopefully AI doesn't do it more.
But there's a couple ofquestions that I want people to
just pause and think about.
Like I did put a post onLinkedIn about let's just pause
for a second, like deep seek,everyone's like, oh, it's so
easy to just get caught up inthis whirlwind of AI the
coolness factor and I say, look,just like I said, to start
(18:05):
small, just start dabbling withit.
Don't freak out too much.
Just don't over-invest in bigprojects and don't over-invest
in all the new tools or whateverand I mean it goes against
productivity if you're justconstantly playing with tools
anyway, but we just need to keepour human brain active and
thinking about it, not just getcaught up in it, and I think
that's something that active andthinking about it, not just get
caught up in it.
And I think that's somethingthat, yeah, it's very easy to do
, especially if you think it'sexciting and new.
But all right, there areimplications of this.
(18:32):
And especially if you do have ateam, you want to make sure
everyone's on the same page withit.
And, yeah, don't kind of justgo crazy with it before.
Like I'm saying with DeepSeekit's just been released, let's
just work out the bugs beforeeveryone dives onto it.
But yeah, I'll just get excited.
Ness (18:46):
Well, it's interesting because I wonder, when you look
at the sort of the businesslandscape, do you think that
there's a big uptake in businessaround AI?
Do you think some of the biggercorporates and you know some of
the communities out there ofsmall to medium businesses Do
you have any sort of stats onhow much of a take up that is,
how many percentage of peopleare actually utilizing that in
(19:09):
business?
Leanne Shelton (19:09):
nowadays it's probably lower than you think.
I did see some stats recentlyabout Australia and New Zealand
and we're way down the bottom interms of implementation, I
think because we're very waryabout it all.
I can't remember what the statswere, but definitely the big
organizations.
Just so much wariness aroundthe security and so, like I know
, my sister-in-law works at alarge accounting firm and
(19:30):
they're only just maybe startingto implement AI but being very
cautious with it.
So that's once we kind of getover the security thing.
Like I'm trying to do it for myown clients, even smaller
clients, like there's a legalclient, no-transcript how good
(20:01):
would that be.
But I don't want to use touchpotato to help them with their
training for their workshop.
I want to find a good, secureplatform.
So I feel comfortable, you know, saying it's okay for you to
use this because then it comesback onto me too.
So there's a lot of tiptoeingstill overseas.
Like there's an equivalent ofme, Heather Murray, who's a UK
(20:22):
copywriter turned non-techie AItrainer very similar and she
seems to be like goingeverywhere with these big
clients all over there becauseeveryone seems a lot more on
board than here.
It's very much like.
I had a conversation withTicketmaster the other day and
about doing a talk for them andthe next month and they're like
all the senior leaders are stilllike completely brand new, have
no idea.
And I'm like okay, so that's anexample of one of the companies
(20:44):
here barely using it still twoyears or so after Chachapik was
released.
Ness (20:50):
Yeah, yeah, because I would imagine you know you've
got your first fast followersand you and I think of that bell
curve always about there'salways going to be the laggers
and the you know the majority ofpeople who join at the same
time.
What piece of advice would yougive somebody who is listening
to this conversation, runs theirown business or is a leader in
(21:11):
business and is kind of like onthe fence going oh, I just do, I
invest time and effort andenergy, like for what purpose?
Because it's moving so quicklythat if I invest in getting my
whole team trained in something,is that something that's only
going to be relevant for thenext three months and therefore
it's just like why am I goingdown this path?
(21:32):
So I'm just curious if youcould talk to that for our
people who are sitting on thefence a little bit around AI.
Leanne Shelton (21:38):
That question actually is exactly what my
publisher said I have to talkabout in my first chapter.
Ness (21:42):
So I'm going to go into that.
Leanne Shelton (21:44):
Yeah, I think you need to.
It's not going to go away.
But you can also dig your headin the sand.
It is going to keep changing.
But if it's just like socialmedia, the internet, even like
electricity when that came outthere's only so long you can
(22:06):
just avoid it and then you haveto kind of come on board and
just kind of get your headaround it.
So what I teach in my trainingit's quite often just the basics
in terms of the mindset aroundit.
So like the ethics, responsibleusage, because also we're
writing my book and I make sureit's still relevant after it
goes to print, right?
So I'm talking more big picturewhich isn't going to change.
So just how you approach it,keeping it human, knowing when
you use it as a tool to supportyou.
When does the human just takeover, when are you falling into
bad habits?
(22:27):
And knowing like to recognizethat's happening.
But getting a training with yourteam, it's not a waste of time
because what I teach is verybasic.
It's like training up tounderstand your business.
It's honestly, it's justgetting their hands dirty and
seeing what's possible andwhat's and where the limitations
are.
Because, look, they're going tobe doing it anyway, whether you
(22:49):
know it or not.
Maybe they're completelydenying that you're using AI,
but they're using it or they'recompletely freaked out by it.
So the best thing you can do asa leader is just help ease
people into it.
Go, it's okay, safe space.
I know you want to use it.
I think it could be useful.
Let's do it properly.
Let's just start doing this andthis.
Yeah, just don't go overinvesting spending tens of
thousands of dollars on promisesof things that aren't quite
ready yet to trust, like toolsthat I wouldn't trust.
(23:11):
My business hand over.
That's what I would do.
So that's what my training ishonestly, just making everyone
feel going from like unpreparedbecause AI just kind of appeared
out of nowhere, to prepared andfeeling going from unclear and
having no idea what next stepsare, what tools to use, to much
more clearer.
And then going from, like youknow, being unskilled to skilled
(23:32):
and actually having the skillsand the confidence to give it a
go, but know when not.
Okay, it's given me thatstarting point.
I now know what to do to takeover, to prompt it or just take
it offline.
So that's so.
That's really what it is rightnow.
It's a mindset thing that youneed to work on with your team.
So don't go into training abouttools because they may be
redundant, irrelevant, boughtout six months, you don't know,
(23:56):
but the concepts that is notgoing to go away so important.
Ness (24:00):
And it was interesting what you just said then around
you know people are probablyusing it outside of work anyway.
So, as a leader, we want to beon the front foot because if we
bury our head in the sand andespecially our younger
generation, who are coming intothe workforce if they're all
over it and we don't have wehaven't stopped to think about
the repercussions or to talkabout how we use AI in this
(24:24):
business and, like you said, thepolicy around what is okay to
use it for and what is not, thenwe could end up in a really
sticky situation, with peoplewho know how to do it going
ahead and just, and then we'vegot those who feel intimidated
by the change, who may be a bitslower to learn and adapt, and
feeling that gap get bigger andbigger.
(24:46):
So it's definitely topical andit's definitely, you know, who
may be a bit slower to learn andadapt, and filling that gap get
bigger and bigger.
So it's definitely topical andit's definitely, you know, a key
thing that's not going away.
So we really need to work outhow we're going to use it the
best in our business.
Look, this has been afascinating conversation.
I loved our last conversationwe have.
It is opening my eyes more andmore to how we can use this in
our business, and I'm curious,as we wrap up, you know, we
(25:07):
often say at the end of ourpodcast, what's an actionable
action that our listeners cantake in the next 24 hours?
And I guess I want to kind ofmake it a little bit more
broader for, you know, dependingon who's listening, perhaps
make it more personal aroundwhat we can do to get more
comfortable with AI.
So can you think of somethingthat we could do within 24 hours
(25:27):
that would be helpful to justtake that one step closer to
understanding and using AI?
Leanne Shelton (25:33):
Okay, yeah, so one fun little exercise I get
people to do just to see thedifference with brand voice.
So I mean you want to train upand all that.
But what I recommend is justgetting to say, okay, say please
, I use please and thank you.
I think it's just good.
But I say, you know, saysomething like please write me a
500 word article on, insert arandom topic relevant to
industry, right, it's good to dothat, see what it gives you.
(25:55):
Then say thank you, pleaserewrite in a professional and
conversational tone.
Then see how it changesslightly.
The message will be there butthe wording will be different.
Then say, okay, please rewritein a professional,
conversational and quirky tone,or insert some other random word
, right, and see how it changesagain.
And this is a really funexercise to show you you putting
(26:18):
your input in how it changesthe output.
And it just gives you a reallygood example of when people just
go write me this generic but asyou just add this and you can
only imagine, if you say, youcan even add and write it for
women who are 50 plus in seniorleadership roles, and then see
how it changes again and thenyou'll realize how the context
(26:39):
of audience changes it.
So that's a little fun exerciseand you just see what I mean by
why you need to train it up andgive directions.
Ness (26:46):
Yeah, I love that so much.
You've just reminded me, atChristmas time we had my sister
and I were responsible for thefamily Christmas, for all the
fun activities, and we we hadall the logistics and all the
instructions of the things thatwe were doing over the Christmas
Eve, christmas day.
But we kind of wanted to jazzit up.
So we actually put it into AIand said create an invitation
(27:07):
for the family members and writeit in the voice of the Grinch.
And it was hilarious what itcame back with.
We loved it.
We had to.
You know, we had to send it offto my dad because it did say
he's that old, he's probablyremembers when Christmas was
invented and we're like, oh ouch, are we allowed to distribute
this amongst the family?
So so that was a lot of funthat we had with it and as we're
(27:30):
sitting there going well, wewant this to be a bit more
jazzier and a bit more fun thanwhat we.
Our brains were not in thatspace at all.
So I can see how doing that isis really useful.
And on this note I'll wrap up.
But I remember somebody tellingus it's like you've got to
think about AI, like yourhungover intern, like they're
super enthusiastic and they wantto help, but they're not 100%
(27:52):
on point today.
So be careful that what you askis, you know, like it's just
the quality of the question thatyou ask that is going to
determine the quality of theanswer.
Leanne Shelton (28:01):
Yeah, I say the assistant thing.
I haven't tried the hungoverone, but yeah, I like that too.
Ness (28:09):
Awesome.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
Goodbye from Nicky as well.
She had to shoot off just alittle bit earlier, but it's
been lovely having you here andwe'll be back in your listening
ears again shortly.
Thanks Leanne, thanks Ness.
Thanks for listening to today'sep.
If you loved what you heard,connect with us over on LinkedIn
and let's continue theconversation over there.
(28:29):
Did you hear?
You can now buy our bookHealthy Hustle the new blueprint
to thrive in business and life,at healthyhustlecomau.
Want us to speak to your teamor run a workshop on healthy
hustle in your workplace?
Send us an email or go oldschool and give us a call to
discuss.
Until next time, happylistening and here's to thriving
(28:50):
in business and life.
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