May 16, 2025 • 28 mins
If AI can help you move faster… can it also make you sound just like everyone else?
In this episode—recorded live at Transform—Rhona sits down with Trent Cotton, HR executive, content creator, and certified AI nerd (his words, not ours), to talk about the real risks of letting AI take over your voice.
They get into what authenticity really means in content creation, how to tell if someone’s phoning it in with automation, and why the messy middle—between efficiency and originality—is exactly where creators should be working.
What We Talk About:
➡️ The red flags that give away AI-generated content
➡️ How to use AI for ideation without losing your voice
➡️ Why “smart cuts” beat shortcuts in content creation
➡️ The AI myth Trent wants HR tech vendors to stop selling
➡️ Why Trent won’t follow jargon-filled posts (even yours)
This episode is for anyone navigating the line between helpful tools and hollow content. Whether you're hiring, building a personal brand, or just trying to keep up—this conversation will make you think twice before hitting “generate.”
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RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODE
→ Why HR Leaders Need to Create Content - with John Baldino
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Trent Cotton (00:01):
If you're really trying to be a voice in the
conversation, you need to havesome authenticity in there.
Rhona Pierce (00:06):
What happens when an HR leader, content creator,
and AI advocate decides he'sdone playing it safe online? In
this episode, recorded live atTransform, I sat down with Trent
Cotton to talk about content,tech, and what it really means
to have a voice in the age ofAI.
Trent Cotton (00:24):
I went into saying I want to help lead
conversations because I did havea very different point of view.
But the thing that surprised methe most of this journey is how
much I've learned from otherpeople.
Rhona Pierce (00:34):
Whether it's calling out fake AI tools or
defending his comments sectionlike it's private property,
Trent's hair to challenge yourcontent habits and maybe your
hiring strategy too.
Trent Cotton (00:45):
If I see that you use two sentences with a
semicolon and you use landscape,demystify, and unprecedented,
I'm not gonna follow yourcontent.
Rhona Pierce (00:54):
This is an episode for anyone wanting to build
thought leadership withoutlosing their voice. Let's get
into it. So I'm so excited thatyou're here on the pod today and
in person here at Trans form.
Trent Cotton (01:07):
I know. It was so nice meeting you in person in
January, and so it's like atreat to see you twice in one
year. Yeah. I know. We've gottaget you to move to Atlanta so we
can make this more of a regularthing, but I'm I'm a huge fan.
Rhona Pierce (01:19):
So we're putting this on the Internet, and I'll
share this episode with myhusband so that he can see like,
gosh.
Trent Cotton (01:24):
She needs to come to Atlanta. Great food. I'll
help y'all find a place. Don'tworry about it. Just pack your
bags.
Let's go, puppy.
Rhona Pierce (01:31):
Operation Rona should move you up, Ladria. Yes.
Okay. So you describe yourselfas not your normal HR executive.
I saw that in your in yourLinkedIn.
What makes it different from therest of the HR executives?
Trent Cotton (01:46):
I define HR very differently. Alright? I don't
even like using the term HRbecause like resources to me
dehumanizes the human part,right? So I prefer human
capital, which I know doesn'tmake it any better. But for me,
I had to had to find my role asthe person that is in charge of
(02:06):
the largest asset producingrevenue and the largest expense
in the organization, which ishis people.
So every decision I make as anHR executive goes through that
line, you know? Yes. Is thisgoing to make us more revenue?
It will in the short term, butour people are gonna be
negatively affected by it. Soeverything that we make in the
next three months, we're gonnalose in the six months after.
(02:27):
So that's not a good decision. Ithink that into my mouth, I
don't really come across as agreat professional HR person.
Anyone that's heard me speak,you know, what I think comes
out. But whenever I was a lineleader, you know, so because I
got into HR because I hatedworking with HR as an executive
on the business side. And thething that I wanted the most was
(02:51):
authenticity, you know?
And not just saying no. And myinternal clients or even my
clients that I coach and stuff,whenever they come on and
they're like, this is what Iwanna do. I'm like, okay, let's
find a way to make this rightfor everyone involved. Whereas
the HR that I had to deal withwas, no, you can't do that.
(03:11):
Well, what can I do?
You know? So I'm I'm very I takemore of a consultative approach
and advocate for the people, butalso have a fiduciary
responsibility to make sure thatwe're profitable.
Rhona Pierce (03:23):
And a lot of people in HR like to separate
from the HR isn't only there forthe company. And I like that
approach like you said, it'slike, no, I'm there for both
people. And I'm able to do thatbecause I'm human and I'm able
to do more than one thing at thesame time. I'm not only there
for the company and I'm not onlythere for the employee. But at
(03:43):
the end of the day, everyone whoworks at a company, you're there
for the company too.
So I don't know why HR gets thebad rap.
Trent Cotton (03:49):
I don't either. And you know, it's kinda funny
because my daughter's 21 yearsold and we're very close and I
love that. She calls and tellsme stuff that a lot of daughters
don't tell their fathers becauseI created that safe place for
her. But there have been timesthat I have to remind her, I am
your father first and yourfriend second. To me, that's the
way that you approach HR andtell the employee, I have to
(04:09):
protect you.
I am your voice on the executiveteam, but I also have to have a
fiduciary responsibility. Andthere's a there's a balance that
can be achieved. It's not a it'snot a binary decision. Yes, no,
black and white. Right?
Rhona Pierce (04:21):
Exactly. So your background is HR. It's talent
acquisition, analytics, butyou're also a content creator,
which I love and is really oneof the big reasons why I I have
you on the pod I invited you tothe podcast. How did you start
integrating AI into your workand what got you hooked on it?
Trent Cotton (04:43):
So I have always been a proponent of any
technology that makes me lookefficient and be lazy. Alright?
Because I'm a I'm a thinker. Ilike to take the time to like
really unpack something andresearch and do all of that. But
there's a trade off on time.
So the way that I started usingAI was more for ideation. Okay.
I like to be able to take thingsout of what's going on in a
(05:05):
current event and apply it toHR. Because a lot of times, you
know, somebody is a career HR.They may not make the connection
of Apple being behind in the AIrace.
You know, who would have thoughtApple being behind like I never
would have heard that. And Iwanna bring that in and say,
what does that mean for HR? Youknow, do you want to be the
apple or do you want to be thechat GPT, the the perplexity,
(05:27):
all these ones that aretrailblazing? So I kinda use it
for ideation. I use it a lot forresearch.
So I built my own agent thatgoes out and it looks and it
ranks all of the top HR trends,workforce trends, AI's impact on
resource on the workforce andany kind of statistics like BLS
statistics, workforce stuff. I'ma data guy. I love data. And
(05:49):
what it does is it it kind ofgives me some some suggestions
and says here's some things thatyou could probably write about
and here's the spin that you cantake. Now I like to maybe use it
to help me create an outline,but I like to do the writing.
I love it. You know, I lovebeing the voice. I love kind of
challenging the status quo, youknow, putting a little different
spin on it. But then on the backend, I do use plot and say, hey,
(06:12):
read through this. Did I keepthe same tone?
Did I I have a tendencysometimes to negate myself with
the same blog post, you know? Sopoint that out. Be a good
proofreader for me. And then onthe SEO and stuff, I've got all
of my content and then I say, Iwant you to put in four related
backlinks, especially if thereis a stat. I want you to go and
find the stat and link it.
(06:33):
And then put in some otherresources so that way you know I
can continue to engage thereaders and content. But I do
not let it write and let me justgo ahead and say if I see that
you use two sentences with asemi colon and you use
landscape, demystify, and what'sanother one? There's another
Unprecedented. Unprecedented.Just understand I'm not gonna
(06:53):
follow your content because I'lljust go and ask AI, what does it
say about this?
I'm not gonna go listen to RunIt. The reason I follow you is
because you have a voice, and Ilike that voice. I like your
perspective. Why would younegate that with AI?
Rhona Pierce (07:07):
Like you, I also a lot of the things I've done in
my career and in my life, it'sme trying to find a shortcut.
Yes. Or a smart cut.
Trent Cotton (07:14):
I like that smart cut. Let's go. Yes.
Rhona Pierce (07:16):
There is a book called Smart Cuts. It's really
good book. I never finished it,but the part that I You took a
smart cut out of the smart cutbook. I took a smart cut out of
smart cut But I love theconcept. But, yeah, that's
always been my thing.
It's always like, how can I belazy and get what I need to be
done? Because that's just howI've done things. So a lot of
(07:38):
people I think are taking thesuper shortcut, and not the
smart cut with AI. We can tell.It's like when I speak to you
and when I read your content, itsounds like the same person.
Trent Cotton (07:50):
Mhmm.
Rhona Pierce (07:51):
But there's so many people who you meet face to
face, and it's like, oh, that'snot how you talk online.
Trent Cotton (07:56):
You can't put together two sentences
coherently. How did you writethis 5,000 word blog post that
has perfect grammar? Come onnow.
Rhona Pierce (08:04):
Or I've seen the opposite, actually. I've seen
someone who when you talk tothem, they're so put together.
They're like, have a share agood perspective. And you read
their content, and it's like solike Exactly. It's like so
surface level.
AI doesn't go deep. AI issurface level.
Trent Cotton (08:21):
No. And you know, we were we were talking earlier
about AI, and I think there is aplace for it. I use the metaphor
of Ironman a lot. I know you'veheard me use it, but that's how
I look at AI in the business.Whenever I'm looking at the
employee life cycle and wheneverI'm looking at my life, where's
that Jarvis that can take meinto that superhero realm, but
(08:44):
I'm still driving?
You know, I'm still getting thedata. I'm still the one that's
actually driving theconversation because AI can help
you research. But if you say goand write this, it's going to
pull from people like me and youthat are actually putting out
original content and then themtrying to spin it. And I get
that flattery is the ultimate.What is it?
Rhona Pierce (09:04):
Imitation.
Trent Cotton (09:04):
Imitation. Yes, is the ultimate form of flattery.
But if you're really trying tobe a voice in the conversation,
you need to have someauthenticity in there.
Rhona Pierce (09:14):
Right. So, let's talk about AI in hiring.
Trent Cotton (09:17):
Okay.
Rhona Pierce (09:18):
It gets a lot of buzz. Everyone's talking about
it. We're here at transform.Every vendor, everyone's talking
about AI and how they'veintegrated it. Right?
Some say it's the future. Otherpeople say it's just automation.
Fancy way of automation thatwe're going back and talking.
And two, what's the biggestmisconception that you see with
how we're talking and using AIin hiring?
Trent Cotton (09:43):
Okay. So I do not disagree that a lot of
automation is being sold as AIright now. Okay, so one of the
things I'm working with a, theAI Council and one of the things
that we're trying to figure outis how do we create a baseline
of understanding of HR? Sowhat's the different types of
data? What's the different typesof AI?
(10:04):
So that way we can create moreeducated buyers within the HR
space. Because if you don't knowthe questions to ask, you'll buy
an automation thinking of it asAI. Alright, so I do think
there's a lot of misconceptionout there and unfortunately, and
this is a call to the vendors.Be for real. Okay?
If if your AI is just a a plugin with ChatGeVT, just say it.
(10:26):
You know? So what I'm the futurethat I see is agentic. Alright?
I know I'm gonna get a lot offlack for this and and it's
okay.
But I think in 02/1930, TA hasalready taken just a beat down
over the last eighteen months.And any other ones that have
been in the market for a while,they're like, I need to go and
(10:46):
open up my own agency. So that'sfantastic. You're buying
yourself tire. That's all you'redoing.
What are you doing to level upso that way you become that
talent advisor? How are youusing AI to go and develop the
candidates, analyze, do it likeyou gotta do things differently.
And I think that if we look into02/1930, the foresight that I
foresee having is learning anddevelopment is also being
(11:10):
greatly affected by AI. Thinkabout content. You can go and
get AI to help.
You you build the outline. Itgoes and does the research, puts
out I mean, hell, they even gotvendors here that are looked at
that will build the course foryou, you know? So there's a huge
deficit of talent that's goingto be out there in L and D. Same
thing in TA. And I really thinkthat the the future is someone
(11:33):
who is an adviser of talent fromexternal, internal to the hiring
manager.
Once they come on board, thinkabout recruiting. I used to tell
people all the time whenwherever you say I do, I'm done.
Once you say yes to the offer,I'll hand you off direct ops and
I'm off to my other littlething. That's no longer gonna be
acceptable. I'm gonna own youfrom the time that you start
(11:56):
until you retire.
So your learning and developmentplan, your coaching, your
performance and all of that. SoI do think that that some of the
recruiters who have maybe havebeen doing this for a while,
they're a little bored. I thinkthat there's a place in there
that that we're gonna be able tokind of take that to the next
level. So the misconception isthat HR tech are telling you
it's AI and it's reallyautomation. That is true.
(12:18):
The other misconception is thatyou can just hide from AI.
Believe it or not, there arepeople out there like, this is
just a fad. Yeah. Not so much.It's crazy.
I mean, but just think, 2023.Okay? ChatGPT. It took it ninety
days to hit 500,000,000 users.It took seven years for
Instagram to hit 1,000,000,000.
(12:39):
I think it was like seventeenyears or something for like
LinkedIn. It did it in ninetydays. Like, come on people.
Rhona Pierce (12:45):
I mean, everyone wants a shortcut and that's what
AI is. I think that I I've heardsome recruiters say like, oh,
it's going away. It's it's justa fad. Because we've heard so
many fads. Oh, the chatbots, andoh, the this and this.
We we are an industry with veryfad based
Trent Cotton (13:02):
Yes.
Rhona Pierce (13:03):
Industry.
Trent Cotton (13:03):
And we're cynical.
Rhona Pierce (13:05):
Yes. But AI isn't a fad. It's like there's so much
money behind it. There's so muchbenefit behind it that so many
other industries are doing. Andlike you said, anyone who's
hiding from it right now, it'sjust delaying the inevitable.
Trent Cotton (13:18):
It really is. It is. And even if you don't wanna
do AI because you're like, hey,I'm four or five years out from
retiring. I don't wanna learnanything new. I totally get it.
But you need to have some kindof understanding, not just for
the HR tech, not just for jobpreservation, but also your
candidates are using you. Youknow? So if you really want to
(13:39):
be the good recruiter, you'regonna have to kinda look
through. And I've I've calledcandidates on it before, you
know? I I don't do a lot ofrecruiting anymore, but, you
know, every once in a while fora position, I'll say, want to I
want to be a part of thisbecause it's a very critical
role within the organization.
And I've asked Kenneth, it'slike, did AI write this resume
for me? Yeah. Okay. I mean, thisis just a conversation that I
(14:00):
never thought that I would behaving in my lifetime.
Rhona Pierce (14:03):
Yeah. I just want the robots that clean my house.
That's what I keep saying. Igrew up on the Jetsons. That's
really where I want, but we gotto AI before.
It is beneficial.
Trent Cotton (14:14):
Right. So I'm actually doing a a talk in
Arizona called The Seven DeadlySins at HR in the Age of AI. And
I actually opened with one of myfavorite TV shows growing up.
You said The Jetsons. Do youremember Knight Rider?
Rhona Pierce (14:27):
Yes. I
Trent Cotton (14:27):
Okay. So I start with that that clip. And that I
just remembered, I don't knowhow I saw it. And to me, was
like, that's whenever itclicked. I was like, I have
always been interested in this.
I just never, like you, I neverthought in my lifetime I would
have, like right now, six agentsgoing and doing all kinds of
stuff for me and sending me a arecap at end the day saying,
these are the decisions I madefor you. I am here for that.
Rhona Pierce (14:50):
Yes.
Trent Cotton (14:50):
You know?
Rhona Pierce (14:50):
Yes. So one of the big fears about AI is that it
removes the human element fromhiring. How do you think we can
use AI to enhance rather thanremove the human connection in
hiring?
Trent Cotton (15:06):
So you and I were talking a little bit earlier
about Brad Owens mentioned, andand I love this. AI can help you
focus on the human. So you needto be asking this process, this
step, know, this candidatejourney, employee journey, is
there a way that AI could dothis part of it so I can spend
more time here, which is thehuman connection that needs to
(15:26):
be had, right? So there's a veryfine line because AI is still
relatively new. Candidates, youkind of have a fiftyfifty shot,
right?
Some of them are okay. I know myhusband's been in the market
since September. I think he'dlove to work with an AI
recruiter because at least hecould ask, you know, where am I
in the process? And it would behonest and quick and answer him.
Can't say that now.
(15:47):
But I do think that there is apart that if you focus on AI
kinda handling some of thosemundane tasks that none of us
that are love talent and lovethe recruiting part of HR, they
can take care of that so I canactually do the stuff that I do
like. Have those conversations.Where do you see yourself in
five years? And actually listenand evaluate, okay, this job is
(16:08):
not in line with that. So let'stalk about this one over here.
I think he might be a good fit.That's the adviser. Not check,
check, check, Luloy. And I thinkthat's where people think that
AI is going to go. And I stillthink that we need a human in
the work.
Rhona Pierce (16:22):
Agree. So let's switch gears a little bit.
You're not only a HR leader.You're also a speaker, an
author, and a content creator.How has, like, sharing your
expertise online helped shapeyour career?
Trent Cotton (16:37):
I think the biggest surprise so I went into
this saying, I want to help leadconversations because I did have
a very different point of viewat the time. And over time, I've
kind of found my voice and mybrand and everything. But the
thing that surprised me the mostof this journey is how much I've
learned from other people. I'llput something out there and I'm
one I mean, you know me. Someonecomments.
(16:59):
I mean, don't come for me. TryJesus. Don't try me. You know?
Because I'm I'm gonna come rightback at you.
But in those conversations, I'veactually had sidebars where
people said, hey, do you havetime? I wanna unpack the comment
that you said. I I need tounderstand where you're coming
from. Or someone has reached outbecause of the content and said,
here's a problem I'm trying tosolve. Have you ever done it
before?
I may wanna go no, but let'ssolve it together. You know,
(17:20):
that's that's the communityaspect that I love so much. It's
so bidirectional. And I thinkthat to me, and I'm not saying
this to because this is my pointof view. I know you're this way.
I know several other people thatare kind of out there having the
conversations that have thisapproach of going, I'm learning
from my audience as much asthey're learning from me. There
(17:41):
is a subset, let's say, that'sout there just speaking and they
don't want to help theiraudience. They just want to be
seen. And I hate it for thembecause they're missing out on
the best part, right?
Rhona Pierce (17:53):
Yeah, they are. And that's also part of touching
on what you were saying earlier,why you really have to be
authentic and can't be likeletting AI be the person who
does your content, or writesyour talks for you, or your
books for you, because I'm surethat's happening at some point.
Because it's really the beautyof it, is the connections that
(18:14):
you make, and the conversationthat I've learned so much from
people that initially, we didn'tagree about something online,
and respectfully disagree.Because I'm kind of like you as
well. Like, my comment sectionis my comment section, and we
won't
Trent Cotton (18:31):
You're on my property. That's called
apparently, you're on myproperty.
Rhona Pierce (18:33):
We will moderate accordingly. Yes. Your first
comment back is is a decision ofI'm I gonna delete and block, or
am I gonna engage in thisconversation?
Trent Cotton (18:44):
Because sometimes people are pushing you and you
need to challenge theirparadigm. You know? And then
there are other people that justwant to comment to see, you
know, if they can get adifferent side of you. And and I
will say that in my journey, Ihave shown them and I'm
regretful because it's it made Ilooked worse than they did, you
know? But I'm like, you're notgonna beat me at going to the
dirt.
You know? I'm I'm gonna teachyou how it's done. But I do
(19:06):
think though those conversationsand the connection. So one of
the things I love about being atransformer, there are so many
people that I had connectionwith that I've never met in real
life. And to be able to sit downand and have a coffee with them,
the two of us sitting around andtalking, I didn't realize how
much I missed that until I gotto this.
And same thing at RecFest. Youknow, having those little
(19:28):
sidebar conversations, that'sthat's where the connection is.
Yeah. And content can help youget there.
Rhona Pierce (19:34):
Yes. For sure. So where do you see AI fitting into
content creation for HR leaders?
Trent Cotton (19:42):
Definitely on ideation. So I run into this a
lot. I'll get like a fleetingdoes this happen to you? A
fleeting idea. And it's like,don't focus on it long enough
and I'm afraid I'm gonna loseit, but I have just that part of
it.
But I know there's all this overhere. I love taking that little
fleeting and going, hey, myaudience is HR professionals and
business leaders. Here's whatI'm thinking. I've talked to AI
(20:06):
like as a human. It's likeunpack it for me.
Where should I go with this? Andthen it gives me ideas. And I
go, okay, cool. What's some datapoints that support this? What
are some data points that negatethis?
Because to me, I like to be ableto present both sides. And I
think that part is good. Causeit's it's just like if you were
to come to me and say, I'mthinking about talking about
(20:26):
this topic, we would have aconversation. I wouldn't be
anywhere as smart as AI. But,you know, having that that
initial ideation, I think isgood.
Definitely going in and proofingyour work. And and let's also
not forget, Claude, GPT, Gemini,all of these, you can train it
on your voice. So if you'vewritten I mean, I've I've
written a couple of books. Youknow, I've got a lot of blog
(20:47):
posts out there. It's got myvoice in there.
And I actually use it becausesometimes I can get a little too
academia and it will call me outand go, this doesn't sound like
your voice.
Rhona Pierce (20:57):
Oh, wow.
Trent Cotton (20:58):
And so I'll go back and I'll rewrite it. So
there is a way that you can useit the right way without it
being AI producing the endcontent.
Rhona Pierce (21:09):
Any tools that you're testing out or like
really liking right now?
Trent Cotton (21:13):
So for video, I love Opus and it's funny because
I've tried to do it on my own.Like I like I know the clips
better. Opus, I don't know whattheir algorithm is, but it is on
fire, right? I recently found ascript which I like because you
and I were talking before wewent on that you're Okay talking
just to the camera. I stuttermore like whenever I'm doing it.
(21:35):
I make my husband put hisAirPods in so he can't hear me
mess up that often. But I likethe script because I'm just
going delete the text and itfixes the video for me. I like
Claude. I like perplexity forresearch and I like Gemini Deep
Research. Those are kind of mymy little things.
Now I've been playing with N8Mso you can go and actually
(21:57):
create your own agents, your ownworkflows, and it's connected to
all these different things. Soit's very frustrating because
I'm not a developer and I workfor a AI software company. And
so, there's some benefit therebecause I'll ping someone and
go, what am I doing wrong here?You know, they just look at it
and go ding ding ding and itworks. It pisses me off.
But hey, everybody has theirtalent. But that I think is
(22:19):
probably where I'm going tostart going is saying, let me
chart my cycle. Where do I wannaput AI in so that way I can
really kinda go in and make thismore human capitalist. Right? So
it's gonna be fun to watch.
Rhona Pierce (22:33):
Descript is the funny tool because I used to
hate Descript. I used it when itwas first out. Okay. And I just
hate it. I don't know why I hateit.
Really? And everyone loved it.And recently, like a couple of
months ago, I'm like, you knowwhat? I'm gonna give Descript
another chance because I sawthat they had this feature where
they fix the eyes Your the eyes,and there's lots of other tools
(22:55):
that fix the eyes. But Descriptwas the one that was the most
like, made the most sense for mycompany.
Because I we use all thesetools. Right? Sure. I love it
now. Like, I literally use itevery day.
Because like you said, you canjust go in and visually remove
the stuff. Yes. And all theother tools can do it, but
Descript does at best.
Trent Cotton (23:13):
It's just easier. I mean, if you're a video
editor, Clip Champ Clip Champ, Ithink, is one. You know, you can
use it. You can put some stuffin there. But for those of us
that just really wanna get thecontent out and have a couple of
now I don't have the bling thatyou do.
I mean, ma'am, you've got you'vegot some crazy creative stuff.
I'm not at your level. But, youknow, Descript does kinda help
(23:35):
with the the stuttering aspectof it. And I don't start and
then go back and edit orwhatever. I'm just gonna, undone
it.
Yeah.
Rhona Pierce (23:43):
Yeah. Yeah. So much. So if you were advising a
company today on how tomodernize their hiring strategy
with AI and just with usingcontent, where would you tell
them to start?
Trent Cotton (23:58):
First, map your employee journey. Whenever I say
employee journey, I'm includingthe candidate. Okay? Because
they may not be an employee now,but they may be an employee
later. And also, they could be abuyer later.
So you need to you need to havethem in mind. But in my mind,
it's the eventual employee allthe way through retirement or
(24:18):
they decide to go to somethingbigger and better. You need to
start there. Because a lot oftimes whenever I sit down with
companies, they're like, well,we want to do it here. We want
to do it here.
I said, where are the painpoints? Because that's what
you're trying to solve for. Andif you don't have that journey
where you know you've got thisis a pain point they're not
feeling, you know, Pat Waterstalked about it today. This is
not the sentiment that I want myemployee to have at this point.
(24:40):
That's what you tackle first.
So start with that. I think thenext part of it is there's some
education that needs to be inthere. So definitely spend some
time in HR. It's okay to go toyour engineering and say, what
is the difference betweentraditional, normal AI and
agentic? Okay?
You're talking to someone who Ikept hearing agentic, agentic,
(25:03):
agentic, I asked our CA, CTO,who's like 29, gray guy, and our
VP of engineering. I have one onones with them. We just kinda
talk about staff and andstrategy and stuff. I was like,
okay, guys. I gotta what isAgenTic AI?
I keep hearing it. And they go,it's agents. Son of a bitch. I
feel even more stupid. It's inthe word.
You know? It's actually in theword. Don't be afraid, though.
(25:25):
Like, you know, they actuallywent one step further and said,
well, let me help you understandthe difference. So there's an
education, and then itestablishes a relationship.
I think on the content side,give your employees the mic. No
one will tell your brand storybetter, more authentically, more
creatively than your teammembers. So case in point, we
(25:47):
had a very large projectinternally for a client, and it
was 13 different employees from,I wanna say, five different
countries because we have Latamand The US. To celebrate, like
all of them, it was a toughproject. And so when they got to
the kind of toward the end, theywere like, we all wanna get
together.
So they all met in MedellinColombia. And like no direction
(26:11):
from us, they all met on theirown, had a couple of meetings,
they went to Cartagena. And theytook a picture that I loved, and
we posted it on LinkedIn. Thereason I loved it is because it
said more about our culture thanI could ever say on the video.
All of them had little signsthat said their name and their
country.
(26:32):
We had someone from India. Wehad someone that lived in the
German like, it was a beautifulstatement. And I think that the
more that you can give youremployees the opportunity to be
able to tell your story, thebetter the story is willing to
be.
Rhona Pierce (26:42):
Yes. For sure. So this has been a great
conversation.
Trent Cotton (26:46):
I love talking to you. Like, let's just we just
need to do this like once amonth. Yeah. Just chat, you
know?
Rhona Pierce (26:50):
Truly do. Where can people find you?
Trent Cotton (26:52):
LinkedIn. Of course. I love hanging out on
LinkedIn. You can also go toTrentCotton.com. And I'm also on
YouTube, Human Capitalist, whichyou're going to be on.
We've gotta get that gotta getthat booked. It's free. Where I
talk a lot about, you know, AI,the impact on the workforce,
where HR is going, and then alsoto try to bring in some of the
recent HR tech, and I ask themthe questions that nobody else
(27:14):
will. Like, is this really AI?
Rhona Pierce (27:16):
Perfect. Thank you so much.
Trent Cotton (27:18):
Thank you so much. I really enjoyed it. Thank you.
Rhona Pierce (27:20):
That's a wrap on my conversation with Trent
Cotton, recorded live atTransform twenty twenty five. If
you're not already followinghim, go do that now. He's one of
the most honest and insightfulvoices out there on the future
of HR, TA, and AI. And if youliked this episode, you're
definitely gonna wanna stickaround for the next one. Next
(27:42):
week, I'm sitting down with MikePadito.
You might know him from hisviral job search videos. We're
talking about his leap from fulltime TA leader to full time
creator. How he handles hate atscale and why stirring the pot
can actually build trust. Trustme, you're not gonna wanna miss
it. Thanks again for listeningto Workfluencer, the podcast for
(28:05):
professionals who are changinghow we talk about work.
Workfluencer is produced byPerceptible Studios. Learn more
about how we can help youattract, engage, and retain
qualified talent using video atperceptiblestudios.com. If
you're enjoying the Workfluencerpod, share it with someone who's
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(28:29):
episode gave you ideas orinspiration, leave us a five
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they make my day.
Thanks for listening, and I'llchat with you next week.
If you're really trying to be a voice in the
conversation, you need to havesome authenticity in there.
Rhona Pierce (00:06):
What happens when an HR leader, content creator,
and AI advocate decides he'sdone playing it safe online? In
this episode, recorded live atTransform, I sat down with Trent
Cotton to talk about content,tech, and what it really means
to have a voice in the age ofAI.
Trent Cotton (00:24):
I went into saying I want to help lead
conversations because I did havea very different point of view.
But the thing that surprised methe most of this journey is how
much I've learned from otherpeople.
Rhona Pierce (00:34):
Whether it's calling out fake AI tools or
defending his comments sectionlike it's private property,
Trent's hair to challenge yourcontent habits and maybe your
hiring strategy too.
Trent Cotton (00:45):
If I see that you use two sentences with a
semicolon and you use landscape,demystify, and unprecedented,
I'm not gonna follow yourcontent.
Rhona Pierce (00:54):
This is an episode for anyone wanting to build
thought leadership withoutlosing their voice. Let's get
into it. So I'm so excited thatyou're here on the pod today and
in person here at Trans form.
Trent Cotton (01:07):
I know. It was so nice meeting you in person in
January, and so it's like atreat to see you twice in one
year. Yeah. I know. We've gottaget you to move to Atlanta so we
can make this more of a regularthing, but I'm I'm a huge fan.
Rhona Pierce (01:19):
So we're putting this on the Internet, and I'll
share this episode with myhusband so that he can see like,
gosh.
Trent Cotton (01:24):
She needs to come to Atlanta. Great food. I'll
help y'all find a place. Don'tworry about it. Just pack your
bags.
Let's go, puppy.
Rhona Pierce (01:31):
Operation Rona should move you up, Ladria. Yes.
Okay. So you describe yourselfas not your normal HR executive.
I saw that in your in yourLinkedIn.
What makes it different from therest of the HR executives?
Trent Cotton (01:46):
I define HR very differently. Alright? I don't
even like using the term HRbecause like resources to me
dehumanizes the human part,right? So I prefer human
capital, which I know doesn'tmake it any better. But for me,
I had to had to find my role asthe person that is in charge of
(02:06):
the largest asset producingrevenue and the largest expense
in the organization, which ishis people.
So every decision I make as anHR executive goes through that
line, you know? Yes. Is thisgoing to make us more revenue?
It will in the short term, butour people are gonna be
negatively affected by it. Soeverything that we make in the
next three months, we're gonnalose in the six months after.
(02:27):
So that's not a good decision. Ithink that into my mouth, I
don't really come across as agreat professional HR person.
Anyone that's heard me speak,you know, what I think comes
out. But whenever I was a lineleader, you know, so because I
got into HR because I hatedworking with HR as an executive
on the business side. And thething that I wanted the most was
(02:51):
authenticity, you know?
And not just saying no. And myinternal clients or even my
clients that I coach and stuff,whenever they come on and
they're like, this is what Iwanna do. I'm like, okay, let's
find a way to make this rightfor everyone involved. Whereas
the HR that I had to deal withwas, no, you can't do that.
(03:11):
Well, what can I do?
You know? So I'm I'm very I takemore of a consultative approach
and advocate for the people, butalso have a fiduciary
responsibility to make sure thatwe're profitable.
Rhona Pierce (03:23):
And a lot of people in HR like to separate
from the HR isn't only there forthe company. And I like that
approach like you said, it'slike, no, I'm there for both
people. And I'm able to do thatbecause I'm human and I'm able
to do more than one thing at thesame time. I'm not only there
for the company and I'm not onlythere for the employee. But at
(03:43):
the end of the day, everyone whoworks at a company, you're there
for the company too.
So I don't know why HR gets thebad rap.
Trent Cotton (03:49):
I don't either. And you know, it's kinda funny
because my daughter's 21 yearsold and we're very close and I
love that. She calls and tellsme stuff that a lot of daughters
don't tell their fathers becauseI created that safe place for
her. But there have been timesthat I have to remind her, I am
your father first and yourfriend second. To me, that's the
way that you approach HR andtell the employee, I have to
(04:09):
protect you.
I am your voice on the executiveteam, but I also have to have a
fiduciary responsibility. Andthere's a there's a balance that
can be achieved. It's not a it'snot a binary decision. Yes, no,
black and white. Right?
Rhona Pierce (04:21):
Exactly. So your background is HR. It's talent
acquisition, analytics, butyou're also a content creator,
which I love and is really oneof the big reasons why I I have
you on the pod I invited you tothe podcast. How did you start
integrating AI into your workand what got you hooked on it?
Trent Cotton (04:43):
So I have always been a proponent of any
technology that makes me lookefficient and be lazy. Alright?
Because I'm a I'm a thinker. Ilike to take the time to like
really unpack something andresearch and do all of that. But
there's a trade off on time.
So the way that I started usingAI was more for ideation. Okay.
I like to be able to take thingsout of what's going on in a
(05:05):
current event and apply it toHR. Because a lot of times, you
know, somebody is a career HR.They may not make the connection
of Apple being behind in the AIrace.
You know, who would have thoughtApple being behind like I never
would have heard that. And Iwanna bring that in and say,
what does that mean for HR? Youknow, do you want to be the
apple or do you want to be thechat GPT, the the perplexity,
(05:27):
all these ones that aretrailblazing? So I kinda use it
for ideation. I use it a lot forresearch.
So I built my own agent thatgoes out and it looks and it
ranks all of the top HR trends,workforce trends, AI's impact on
resource on the workforce andany kind of statistics like BLS
statistics, workforce stuff. I'ma data guy. I love data. And
(05:49):
what it does is it it kind ofgives me some some suggestions
and says here's some things thatyou could probably write about
and here's the spin that you cantake. Now I like to maybe use it
to help me create an outline,but I like to do the writing.
I love it. You know, I lovebeing the voice. I love kind of
challenging the status quo, youknow, putting a little different
spin on it. But then on the backend, I do use plot and say, hey,
(06:12):
read through this. Did I keepthe same tone?
Did I I have a tendencysometimes to negate myself with
the same blog post, you know? Sopoint that out. Be a good
proofreader for me. And then onthe SEO and stuff, I've got all
of my content and then I say, Iwant you to put in four related
backlinks, especially if thereis a stat. I want you to go and
find the stat and link it.
(06:33):
And then put in some otherresources so that way you know I
can continue to engage thereaders and content. But I do
not let it write and let me justgo ahead and say if I see that
you use two sentences with asemi colon and you use
landscape, demystify, and what'sanother one? There's another
Unprecedented. Unprecedented.Just understand I'm not gonna
(06:53):
follow your content because I'lljust go and ask AI, what does it
say about this?
I'm not gonna go listen to RunIt. The reason I follow you is
because you have a voice, and Ilike that voice. I like your
perspective. Why would younegate that with AI?
Rhona Pierce (07:07):
Like you, I also a lot of the things I've done in
my career and in my life, it'sme trying to find a shortcut.
Yes. Or a smart cut.
Trent Cotton (07:14):
I like that smart cut. Let's go. Yes.
Rhona Pierce (07:16):
There is a book called Smart Cuts. It's really
good book. I never finished it,but the part that I You took a
smart cut out of the smart cutbook. I took a smart cut out of
smart cut But I love theconcept. But, yeah, that's
always been my thing.
It's always like, how can I belazy and get what I need to be
done? Because that's just howI've done things. So a lot of
(07:38):
people I think are taking thesuper shortcut, and not the
smart cut with AI. We can tell.It's like when I speak to you
and when I read your content, itsounds like the same person.
Trent Cotton (07:50):
Mhmm.
Rhona Pierce (07:51):
But there's so many people who you meet face to
face, and it's like, oh, that'snot how you talk online.
Trent Cotton (07:56):
You can't put together two sentences
coherently. How did you writethis 5,000 word blog post that
has perfect grammar? Come onnow.
Rhona Pierce (08:04):
Or I've seen the opposite, actually. I've seen
someone who when you talk tothem, they're so put together.
They're like, have a share agood perspective. And you read
their content, and it's like solike Exactly. It's like so
surface level.
AI doesn't go deep. AI issurface level.
Trent Cotton (08:21):
No. And you know, we were we were talking earlier
about AI, and I think there is aplace for it. I use the metaphor
of Ironman a lot. I know you'veheard me use it, but that's how
I look at AI in the business.Whenever I'm looking at the
employee life cycle and wheneverI'm looking at my life, where's
that Jarvis that can take meinto that superhero realm, but
(08:44):
I'm still driving?
You know, I'm still getting thedata. I'm still the one that's
actually driving theconversation because AI can help
you research. But if you say goand write this, it's going to
pull from people like me and youthat are actually putting out
original content and then themtrying to spin it. And I get
that flattery is the ultimate.What is it?
Rhona Pierce (09:04):
Imitation.
Trent Cotton (09:04):
Imitation. Yes, is the ultimate form of flattery.
But if you're really trying tobe a voice in the conversation,
you need to have someauthenticity in there.
Rhona Pierce (09:14):
Right. So, let's talk about AI in hiring.
Trent Cotton (09:17):
Okay.
Rhona Pierce (09:18):
It gets a lot of buzz. Everyone's talking about
it. We're here at transform.Every vendor, everyone's talking
about AI and how they'veintegrated it. Right?
Some say it's the future. Otherpeople say it's just automation.
Fancy way of automation thatwe're going back and talking.
And two, what's the biggestmisconception that you see with
how we're talking and using AIin hiring?
Trent Cotton (09:43):
Okay. So I do not disagree that a lot of
automation is being sold as AIright now. Okay, so one of the
things I'm working with a, theAI Council and one of the things
that we're trying to figure outis how do we create a baseline
of understanding of HR? Sowhat's the different types of
data? What's the different typesof AI?
(10:04):
So that way we can create moreeducated buyers within the HR
space. Because if you don't knowthe questions to ask, you'll buy
an automation thinking of it asAI. Alright, so I do think
there's a lot of misconceptionout there and unfortunately, and
this is a call to the vendors.Be for real. Okay?
If if your AI is just a a plugin with ChatGeVT, just say it.
(10:26):
You know? So what I'm the futurethat I see is agentic. Alright?
I know I'm gonna get a lot offlack for this and and it's
okay.
But I think in 02/1930, TA hasalready taken just a beat down
over the last eighteen months.And any other ones that have
been in the market for a while,they're like, I need to go and
(10:46):
open up my own agency. So that'sfantastic. You're buying
yourself tire. That's all you'redoing.
What are you doing to level upso that way you become that
talent advisor? How are youusing AI to go and develop the
candidates, analyze, do it likeyou gotta do things differently.
And I think that if we look into02/1930, the foresight that I
foresee having is learning anddevelopment is also being
(11:10):
greatly affected by AI. Thinkabout content. You can go and
get AI to help.
You you build the outline. Itgoes and does the research, puts
out I mean, hell, they even gotvendors here that are looked at
that will build the course foryou, you know? So there's a huge
deficit of talent that's goingto be out there in L and D. Same
thing in TA. And I really thinkthat the the future is someone
(11:33):
who is an adviser of talent fromexternal, internal to the hiring
manager.
Once they come on board, thinkabout recruiting. I used to tell
people all the time whenwherever you say I do, I'm done.
Once you say yes to the offer,I'll hand you off direct ops and
I'm off to my other littlething. That's no longer gonna be
acceptable. I'm gonna own youfrom the time that you start
(11:56):
until you retire.
So your learning and developmentplan, your coaching, your
performance and all of that. SoI do think that that some of the
recruiters who have maybe havebeen doing this for a while,
they're a little bored. I thinkthat there's a place in there
that that we're gonna be able tokind of take that to the next
level. So the misconception isthat HR tech are telling you
it's AI and it's reallyautomation. That is true.
(12:18):
The other misconception is thatyou can just hide from AI.
Believe it or not, there arepeople out there like, this is
just a fad. Yeah. Not so much.It's crazy.
I mean, but just think, 2023.Okay? ChatGPT. It took it ninety
days to hit 500,000,000 users.It took seven years for
Instagram to hit 1,000,000,000.
(12:39):
I think it was like seventeenyears or something for like
LinkedIn. It did it in ninetydays. Like, come on people.
Rhona Pierce (12:45):
I mean, everyone wants a shortcut and that's what
AI is. I think that I I've heardsome recruiters say like, oh,
it's going away. It's it's justa fad. Because we've heard so
many fads. Oh, the chatbots, andoh, the this and this.
We we are an industry with veryfad based
Trent Cotton (13:02):
Yes.
Rhona Pierce (13:03):
Industry.
Trent Cotton (13:03):
And we're cynical.
Rhona Pierce (13:05):
Yes. But AI isn't a fad. It's like there's so much
money behind it. There's so muchbenefit behind it that so many
other industries are doing. Andlike you said, anyone who's
hiding from it right now, it'sjust delaying the inevitable.
Trent Cotton (13:18):
It really is. It is. And even if you don't wanna
do AI because you're like, hey,I'm four or five years out from
retiring. I don't wanna learnanything new. I totally get it.
But you need to have some kindof understanding, not just for
the HR tech, not just for jobpreservation, but also your
candidates are using you. Youknow? So if you really want to
(13:39):
be the good recruiter, you'regonna have to kinda look
through. And I've I've calledcandidates on it before, you
know? I I don't do a lot ofrecruiting anymore, but, you
know, every once in a while fora position, I'll say, want to I
want to be a part of thisbecause it's a very critical
role within the organization.
And I've asked Kenneth, it'slike, did AI write this resume
for me? Yeah. Okay. I mean, thisis just a conversation that I
(14:00):
never thought that I would behaving in my lifetime.
Rhona Pierce (14:03):
Yeah. I just want the robots that clean my house.
That's what I keep saying. Igrew up on the Jetsons. That's
really where I want, but we gotto AI before.
It is beneficial.
Trent Cotton (14:14):
Right. So I'm actually doing a a talk in
Arizona called The Seven DeadlySins at HR in the Age of AI. And
I actually opened with one of myfavorite TV shows growing up.
You said The Jetsons. Do youremember Knight Rider?
Rhona Pierce (14:27):
Yes. I
Trent Cotton (14:27):
Okay. So I start with that that clip. And that I
just remembered, I don't knowhow I saw it. And to me, was
like, that's whenever itclicked. I was like, I have
always been interested in this.
I just never, like you, I neverthought in my lifetime I would
have, like right now, six agentsgoing and doing all kinds of
stuff for me and sending me a arecap at end the day saying,
these are the decisions I madefor you. I am here for that.
Rhona Pierce (14:50):
Yes.
Trent Cotton (14:50):
You know?
Rhona Pierce (14:50):
Yes. So one of the big fears about AI is that it
removes the human element fromhiring. How do you think we can
use AI to enhance rather thanremove the human connection in
hiring?
Trent Cotton (15:06):
So you and I were talking a little bit earlier
about Brad Owens mentioned, andand I love this. AI can help you
focus on the human. So you needto be asking this process, this
step, know, this candidatejourney, employee journey, is
there a way that AI could dothis part of it so I can spend
more time here, which is thehuman connection that needs to
(15:26):
be had, right? So there's a veryfine line because AI is still
relatively new. Candidates, youkind of have a fiftyfifty shot,
right?
Some of them are okay. I know myhusband's been in the market
since September. I think he'dlove to work with an AI
recruiter because at least hecould ask, you know, where am I
in the process? And it would behonest and quick and answer him.
Can't say that now.
(15:47):
But I do think that there is apart that if you focus on AI
kinda handling some of thosemundane tasks that none of us
that are love talent and lovethe recruiting part of HR, they
can take care of that so I canactually do the stuff that I do
like. Have those conversations.Where do you see yourself in
five years? And actually listenand evaluate, okay, this job is
(16:08):
not in line with that. So let'stalk about this one over here.
I think he might be a good fit.That's the adviser. Not check,
check, check, Luloy. And I thinkthat's where people think that
AI is going to go. And I stillthink that we need a human in
the work.
Rhona Pierce (16:22):
Agree. So let's switch gears a little bit.
You're not only a HR leader.You're also a speaker, an
author, and a content creator.How has, like, sharing your
expertise online helped shapeyour career?
Trent Cotton (16:37):
I think the biggest surprise so I went into
this saying, I want to help leadconversations because I did have
a very different point of viewat the time. And over time, I've
kind of found my voice and mybrand and everything. But the
thing that surprised me the mostof this journey is how much I've
learned from other people. I'llput something out there and I'm
one I mean, you know me. Someonecomments.
(16:59):
I mean, don't come for me. TryJesus. Don't try me. You know?
Because I'm I'm gonna come rightback at you.
But in those conversations, I'veactually had sidebars where
people said, hey, do you havetime? I wanna unpack the comment
that you said. I I need tounderstand where you're coming
from. Or someone has reached outbecause of the content and said,
here's a problem I'm trying tosolve. Have you ever done it
before?
I may wanna go no, but let'ssolve it together. You know,
(17:20):
that's that's the communityaspect that I love so much. It's
so bidirectional. And I thinkthat to me, and I'm not saying
this to because this is my pointof view. I know you're this way.
I know several other people thatare kind of out there having the
conversations that have thisapproach of going, I'm learning
from my audience as much asthey're learning from me. There
(17:41):
is a subset, let's say, that'sout there just speaking and they
don't want to help theiraudience. They just want to be
seen. And I hate it for thembecause they're missing out on
the best part, right?
Rhona Pierce (17:53):
Yeah, they are. And that's also part of touching
on what you were saying earlier,why you really have to be
authentic and can't be likeletting AI be the person who
does your content, or writesyour talks for you, or your
books for you, because I'm surethat's happening at some point.
Because it's really the beautyof it, is the connections that
(18:14):
you make, and the conversationthat I've learned so much from
people that initially, we didn'tagree about something online,
and respectfully disagree.Because I'm kind of like you as
well. Like, my comment sectionis my comment section, and we
won't
Trent Cotton (18:31):
You're on my property. That's called
apparently, you're on myproperty.
Rhona Pierce (18:33):
We will moderate accordingly. Yes. Your first
comment back is is a decision ofI'm I gonna delete and block, or
am I gonna engage in thisconversation?
Trent Cotton (18:44):
Because sometimes people are pushing you and you
need to challenge theirparadigm. You know? And then
there are other people that justwant to comment to see, you
know, if they can get adifferent side of you. And and I
will say that in my journey, Ihave shown them and I'm
regretful because it's it made Ilooked worse than they did, you
know? But I'm like, you're notgonna beat me at going to the
dirt.
You know? I'm I'm gonna teachyou how it's done. But I do
(19:06):
think though those conversationsand the connection. So one of
the things I love about being atransformer, there are so many
people that I had connectionwith that I've never met in real
life. And to be able to sit downand and have a coffee with them,
the two of us sitting around andtalking, I didn't realize how
much I missed that until I gotto this.
And same thing at RecFest. Youknow, having those little
(19:28):
sidebar conversations, that'sthat's where the connection is.
Yeah. And content can help youget there.
Rhona Pierce (19:34):
Yes. For sure. So where do you see AI fitting into
content creation for HR leaders?
Trent Cotton (19:42):
Definitely on ideation. So I run into this a
lot. I'll get like a fleetingdoes this happen to you? A
fleeting idea. And it's like,don't focus on it long enough
and I'm afraid I'm gonna loseit, but I have just that part of
it.
But I know there's all this overhere. I love taking that little
fleeting and going, hey, myaudience is HR professionals and
business leaders. Here's whatI'm thinking. I've talked to AI
(20:06):
like as a human. It's likeunpack it for me.
Where should I go with this? Andthen it gives me ideas. And I
go, okay, cool. What's some datapoints that support this? What
are some data points that negatethis?
Because to me, I like to be ableto present both sides. And I
think that part is good. Causeit's it's just like if you were
to come to me and say, I'mthinking about talking about
(20:26):
this topic, we would have aconversation. I wouldn't be
anywhere as smart as AI. But,you know, having that that
initial ideation, I think isgood.
Definitely going in and proofingyour work. And and let's also
not forget, Claude, GPT, Gemini,all of these, you can train it
on your voice. So if you'vewritten I mean, I've I've
written a couple of books. Youknow, I've got a lot of blog
(20:47):
posts out there. It's got myvoice in there.
And I actually use it becausesometimes I can get a little too
academia and it will call me outand go, this doesn't sound like
your voice.
Rhona Pierce (20:57):
Oh, wow.
Trent Cotton (20:58):
And so I'll go back and I'll rewrite it. So
there is a way that you can useit the right way without it
being AI producing the endcontent.
Rhona Pierce (21:09):
Any tools that you're testing out or like
really liking right now?
Trent Cotton (21:13):
So for video, I love Opus and it's funny because
I've tried to do it on my own.Like I like I know the clips
better. Opus, I don't know whattheir algorithm is, but it is on
fire, right? I recently found ascript which I like because you
and I were talking before wewent on that you're Okay talking
just to the camera. I stuttermore like whenever I'm doing it.
(21:35):
I make my husband put hisAirPods in so he can't hear me
mess up that often. But I likethe script because I'm just
going delete the text and itfixes the video for me. I like
Claude. I like perplexity forresearch and I like Gemini Deep
Research. Those are kind of mymy little things.
Now I've been playing with N8Mso you can go and actually
(21:57):
create your own agents, your ownworkflows, and it's connected to
all these different things. Soit's very frustrating because
I'm not a developer and I workfor a AI software company. And
so, there's some benefit therebecause I'll ping someone and
go, what am I doing wrong here?You know, they just look at it
and go ding ding ding and itworks. It pisses me off.
But hey, everybody has theirtalent. But that I think is
(22:19):
probably where I'm going tostart going is saying, let me
chart my cycle. Where do I wannaput AI in so that way I can
really kinda go in and make thismore human capitalist. Right? So
it's gonna be fun to watch.
Rhona Pierce (22:33):
Descript is the funny tool because I used to
hate Descript. I used it when itwas first out. Okay. And I just
hate it. I don't know why I hateit.
Really? And everyone loved it.And recently, like a couple of
months ago, I'm like, you knowwhat? I'm gonna give Descript
another chance because I sawthat they had this feature where
they fix the eyes Your the eyes,and there's lots of other tools
(22:55):
that fix the eyes. But Descriptwas the one that was the most
like, made the most sense for mycompany.
Because I we use all thesetools. Right? Sure. I love it
now. Like, I literally use itevery day.
Because like you said, you canjust go in and visually remove
the stuff. Yes. And all theother tools can do it, but
Descript does at best.
Trent Cotton (23:13):
It's just easier. I mean, if you're a video
editor, Clip Champ Clip Champ, Ithink, is one. You know, you can
use it. You can put some stuffin there. But for those of us
that just really wanna get thecontent out and have a couple of
now I don't have the bling thatyou do.
I mean, ma'am, you've got you'vegot some crazy creative stuff.
I'm not at your level. But, youknow, Descript does kinda help
(23:35):
with the the stuttering aspectof it. And I don't start and
then go back and edit orwhatever. I'm just gonna, undone
it.
Yeah.
Rhona Pierce (23:43):
Yeah. Yeah. So much. So if you were advising a
company today on how tomodernize their hiring strategy
with AI and just with usingcontent, where would you tell
them to start?
Trent Cotton (23:58):
First, map your employee journey. Whenever I say
employee journey, I'm includingthe candidate. Okay? Because
they may not be an employee now,but they may be an employee
later. And also, they could be abuyer later.
So you need to you need to havethem in mind. But in my mind,
it's the eventual employee allthe way through retirement or
(24:18):
they decide to go to somethingbigger and better. You need to
start there. Because a lot oftimes whenever I sit down with
companies, they're like, well,we want to do it here. We want
to do it here.
I said, where are the painpoints? Because that's what
you're trying to solve for. Andif you don't have that journey
where you know you've got thisis a pain point they're not
feeling, you know, Pat Waterstalked about it today. This is
not the sentiment that I want myemployee to have at this point.
(24:40):
That's what you tackle first.
So start with that. I think thenext part of it is there's some
education that needs to be inthere. So definitely spend some
time in HR. It's okay to go toyour engineering and say, what
is the difference betweentraditional, normal AI and
agentic? Okay?
You're talking to someone who Ikept hearing agentic, agentic,
(25:03):
agentic, I asked our CA, CTO,who's like 29, gray guy, and our
VP of engineering. I have one onones with them. We just kinda
talk about staff and andstrategy and stuff. I was like,
okay, guys. I gotta what isAgenTic AI?
I keep hearing it. And they go,it's agents. Son of a bitch. I
feel even more stupid. It's inthe word.
You know? It's actually in theword. Don't be afraid, though.
(25:25):
Like, you know, they actuallywent one step further and said,
well, let me help you understandthe difference. So there's an
education, and then itestablishes a relationship.
I think on the content side,give your employees the mic. No
one will tell your brand storybetter, more authentically, more
creatively than your teammembers. So case in point, we
(25:47):
had a very large projectinternally for a client, and it
was 13 different employees from,I wanna say, five different
countries because we have Latamand The US. To celebrate, like
all of them, it was a toughproject. And so when they got to
the kind of toward the end, theywere like, we all wanna get
together.
So they all met in MedellinColombia. And like no direction
(26:11):
from us, they all met on theirown, had a couple of meetings,
they went to Cartagena. And theytook a picture that I loved, and
we posted it on LinkedIn. Thereason I loved it is because it
said more about our culture thanI could ever say on the video.
All of them had little signsthat said their name and their
country.
(26:32):
We had someone from India. Wehad someone that lived in the
German like, it was a beautifulstatement. And I think that the
more that you can give youremployees the opportunity to be
able to tell your story, thebetter the story is willing to
be.
Rhona Pierce (26:42):
Yes. For sure. So this has been a great
conversation.
Trent Cotton (26:46):
I love talking to you. Like, let's just we just
need to do this like once amonth. Yeah. Just chat, you
know?
Rhona Pierce (26:50):
Truly do. Where can people find you?
Trent Cotton (26:52):
LinkedIn. Of course. I love hanging out on
LinkedIn. You can also go toTrentCotton.com. And I'm also on
YouTube, Human Capitalist, whichyou're going to be on.
We've gotta get that gotta getthat booked. It's free. Where I
talk a lot about, you know, AI,the impact on the workforce,
where HR is going, and then alsoto try to bring in some of the
recent HR tech, and I ask themthe questions that nobody else
(27:14):
will. Like, is this really AI?
Rhona Pierce (27:16):
Perfect. Thank you so much.
Trent Cotton (27:18):
Thank you so much. I really enjoyed it. Thank you.
Rhona Pierce (27:20):
That's a wrap on my conversation with Trent
Cotton, recorded live atTransform twenty twenty five. If
you're not already followinghim, go do that now. He's one of
the most honest and insightfulvoices out there on the future
of HR, TA, and AI. And if youliked this episode, you're
definitely gonna wanna stickaround for the next one. Next
(27:42):
week, I'm sitting down with MikePadito.
You might know him from hisviral job search videos. We're
talking about his leap from fulltime TA leader to full time
creator. How he handles hate atscale and why stirring the pot
can actually build trust. Trustme, you're not gonna wanna miss
it. Thanks again for listeningto Workfluencer, the podcast for
(28:05):
professionals who are changinghow we talk about work.
Workfluencer is produced byPerceptible Studios. Learn more
about how we can help youattract, engage, and retain
qualified talent using video atperceptiblestudios.com. If
you're enjoying the Workfluencerpod, share it with someone who's
changing how we talk about workor should be. And, hey, if this
(28:29):
episode gave you ideas orinspiration, leave us a five
star review. Reviews help otherlisteners find us, and honestly,
they make my day.
Thanks for listening, and I'llchat with you next week.
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