Elevate Your AIQ

By WRKdefined Podcast NetworkBusiness Technology Management

Elevate Your AIQ episodes

July 31Ep 129: Modeling Transparency and Earning Trust in Recruiting with Gerry Crispin
Gerry Crispin, founder of CareerXroads and a five-decade veteran of the talent industry, joins Bob to trace recruiting's evolution from paper resumes and fax machines to today's AI-driven hiring landscape. Gerry reflects on the origins of CareerXroads as a trusted peer community built on open sharing rather than competition, and explains why he sees knowledge hoarding as a losing strategy for the industry. The conversation turns to one of recruiting's most persistent failures, candidate ghosting, and how AI agents could actually make the process fairer and more consistent than overworked human recruiters manage today. Gerry and Bob close by imagining a future of verified digital twins that let candidates and employers build trust on their own terms, and why there is no going back to a pre-technology hiring era, only forward toward something more human-centric.
Keywords Gerry Crispin, CareerXroads, talent acquisition, recruiting technology, candidate experience, candidate ghosting, applicant tracking systems, AI agents, AI screening, digital twins, human-centric AI, social capital, responsible AI, candidate feedback, trust and transparency
Takeaways
Gerry Crispin's five-decade recruiting career and 30 years building CareerXroads trace the industry from paper resumes and fax machines to AI-driven hiring.

Real community differs from a network: people who call you back, not just first-degree LinkedIn connections.

Knowledge sharing creates a bigger pie for everyone; zero-sum thinking about proprietary recruiting practices holds the industry back.

Candidate ghosting remains rampant, and Gerry estimates more than half of US employers intentionally leave applicants without a response, despite ATS tools that could prevent it.

AI agents could bring more consistency, and even more humanity, to candidate communication than an overworked recruiter handling hundreds of applicants across dozens of open roles.

The best recruiters already give rejected candidates honest, constructive feedback quietly, without their employer's blessing. The goal is to make that the norm.

Gerry envisions a future of AI-verified digital twins that let candidates and employers exchange trustworthy information on their own terms, similar to how actors fought to protect their likeness.

Going backward to paper resumes and in-person-only interviews isn't realistic. The real work is reimagining recruiting for every stakeholder as trust-building technology matures.
Quotes:
"I believe and I've always believed that the expertise is in learning."

"A lot of people think in terms of zero-sum games: the more I share, the less of the pie I'm going to have. As opposed to the bigger pie we both create for all of us."

"A candidate says, 'I want a human to talk to.' It's not a choice between a human or a non-human. It's a choice between a non-human or nothing."

"There's an ability with the technology we have today to tell candidates we're not going forward with them... there's just no excuse not to do that."

"The question is whether we're doing the wrong things with new technology, or are we reimagining how we could do things more effectively."
Chapters:
00:03 Welcome and introduction of Gerry Crispin
01:10 CareerXroads' 30 years and owning your career
05:36 Fax machines, ATS pain points, and the internet's arrival
10:08 Building CareerXroads as a trusted peer community
12:23 Trust, community, and IBM's social computing guidelines
17:52 Working out loud, social capital, and the moving target of expertise
24:26 Ghosting, missing feedback, and a more humane hiring agent
42:02 Algorithms, consistency, and human centricity
46:28 Digital twins, boundaries, and a human-in-the-loop future

Gerry Crispin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerrycrispin
CareerXroads: https://community.cxr.works/home

For AI readiness advisory work and marketing inquiries:
Bob Pulver:⁠⁠ ⁠https://linkedin.com/in/bobpulver⁠⁠⁠
Elevate Your AIQ:⁠⁠ ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.com⁠⁠⁠
Substack: ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.substack.com⁠
54 min
July 24Ep 128: Owning Your AI and Capitalizing on Proprietary Data with Andrew Brooks
Andrew Brooks, CEO and Founder of Contextual.io, joins Bob to trace a career that runs from early-internet consulting through three exits (Seven Space to Sun Microsystems, a marketing company to ReachLocal, and SmartThings to Samsung) before landing on AI. Andrew explains Contextual's "own your AI" philosophy, why businesses should design, build, and operate their own systems rather than lock into a single model provider, and how real transformation comes from deepening a company's data, process, or relationship moats rather than chasing cost takeout alone. They dig into real client stories, from a commercial refrigeration estimator's tacit knowledge to a vacation rental company that discovered unexpected revenue recovery through AI-audited work orders. The conversation closes on what's shifting for engineering talent, why "human in the loop" needs more precision, and why waiting for the perfect model is a losing strategy.
Keywords
Contextual, Andrew Brooks, own your AI, agentic AI, AI orchestration, mid-market businesses, AI moats, model selection, Digital Greg, tacit knowledge, automation vs facilitation, human in the loop, agent sprawl, AI governance, private equity, Southfield Capital, system design, engineering talent, responsible AI by design, SmartThings, Seven Space, MCP, rational optimism
Takeaways
"Own your AI": build a system-agnostic layer instead of locking into one model or provider

Durable AI investments deepen an existing moat, whether data, tacit knowledge, or relationships, not just cut costs

Automation builds trust and adoption, but resist treating AI as a hammer for every problem

Well-designed systems surface second and third order value nobody planned for

Talent is shifting toward system designers who can spot edge cases and challenge AI outputs

Waiting for a "perfect" model is a losing strategy given the pace of change
Quotes
"The phrase we use is own your AI. Do not become too embedded in a single provider or a single model, because you need to be able to react to what's happening in the space."

"Not everything's an AI problem. Some things are process, and some things are just workflow."

"You can't wait for the perfect model. The models are revving every ten, fifteen days. The pace of change is just too fast. You need to get into the river."

"AI can be confidently wrong, and very confidently wrong. You've got to be able to see that and flag it."

"I'm in the rational optimist camp here. AI might change jobs, but we've been changing jobs for many, many years."
Chapters
00:01 Welcome and introducing Andrew Brooks
00:35 From Accenture to entrepreneurship: Seven Space, Reach Local, and SmartThings
03:45 Landing on AI and founding Contextual
04:41 Design, build, operate: how Contextual works with clients
08:33 Choosing the right model without over-committing to one provider
10:04 Beyond chatbots: agentic systems and finding your AI moat
12:36 Automation as an on-ramp to bigger AI thinking, and avoiding the shiny-hammer trap
17:58 Systems thinking, from Smart Things to agentic infrastructure
21:27 Responsible design, client collaboration, and unexpected value from clean data
28:19 Bad data, bad processes, and why waiting for the perfect model is a mistake
30:00 Where humans stay central and what "team superpowers" means
35:51 Vacation rental case study: audits, revenue recovery, and upsell insight
41:50 Getting acquired by a PE firm and what it means for AI adoption
45:20 Tool sprawl, governance, and rethinking "human in the loop"
51:45 Engineering talent, adaptability, and the Stripe MCP lesson in trust

Andrew Brooks: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewcarrollbrooks
Contextual.io

For AI readiness advisory work and marketing inquiries:
Bob Pulver:⁠⁠ ⁠https://linkedin.com/in/bobpulver⁠⁠⁠
Elevate Your AIQ:⁠⁠ ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.com⁠⁠⁠
Substack: ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.substack.com⁠
1 hr
July 17Ep 127: Restoring Trust by Advancing Human-Positive AI with KVJ
Katherine von Jan (KVJ), CEO and Co-founder of Tough Day and a longtime innovation leader across Lotus Development, IBM, Salesforce, and multiple startups, joins Bob to trace a career built on one consistent thread: putting culture and human potential at the center of technology. The conversation covers the perils of workforce surveillance AI, why "human in the loop" has become a nearly meaningless phrase without real definition, and how KVJ's Human Positive Company framework gives organizations a way to evaluate whether their AI and culture choices are actually earning trust. They dig into the ethical review process that killed a risky Salesforce AI project (and the better one that replaced it), how KVJ's earlier startup RadMatter tackled bias against non-Ivy League candidates, and what her team learned about great management while building the AI behind Tough Day. It's a wide-ranging, practitioner-level conversation about responsible innovation, moral leadership, and what it actually takes to build AI people can trust.
Keywords: human-centric AI, responsible AI, AI governance, workforce surveillance, human in the loop, AI ethics, Human Positive Company framework, Tough Day, Tuffy, RadMatter, Salesforce, IBM, Lotus Development, Irene Greif, talent acquisition, hiring bias, quality of hire, employee trust, ethical review, red teaming, collective intelligence, workplace culture, moral leadership, AI slop, skills-based hiring, retention
Takeaways:
KVJ's path from anthropology and Lotus Development (working for Irene Greif) through IBM, Salesforce, and now Tough Day traces one consistent thread: technology in service of culture and human potential

"Human in the loop" is losing meaning as a governance concept; every stage of a workflow, like a recruiting funnel, is a decision point that either includes or excludes real human judgment

Workforce surveillance AI, tools that flag "risk" signals across email, Slack, and HR systems, is a dangerous use case that erodes trust rather than building it

Responsible innovation requires research and ethical review before deployment, not just fast iteration; Salesforce's own attrition-prediction AI backfired until it was redesigned into a re-recruiting tool instead

KVJ's Human Positive Company framework evaluates organizations across three pillars: workforce ingenuity, positive-sum prosperity, and the ethical and humane use of AI

RadMatter, her earlier startup, aimed to give overlooked and non-Ivy-League students visibility with employers, a problem that still shapes bias in AI-driven hiring today

Building AI that reflects an organization's values starts with defining those values clearly and creating a real process, not just a poster on the wall, for employees to raise concerns

Great management often looks like curiosity, asking more questions before offering answers, a pattern KVJ observed directly while researching how to train Tough Day's AI
Quotes:
"A coalition is designed to go solve something." - KVJ

"You don't just go build the app. You build the research first." - KVJ

"A lot of organizations have values written on the wall and that's as far as it goes." - KVJ

"We're getting AI slop, and we're getting process slop, and we're getting application slop." - KVJ

"Every employee is responsible for understanding, what am I complicit in?" - KVJ

"Human in the loop is almost meaningless at this point. What is the loop? And where is the human in said loop?" - Bob
Chapters:
00:01 Welcome and introductions
01:00 KVJ's path into tech: anthropology, Lotus Development, Irene Greif, and IBM
08:09 The strange LinkedIn deactivation and the leap to Salesforce
12:26 Comparing culture and tools across IBM, Salesforce, and beyond
15:13 Early social network analysis and today's AI parallels
18:32 Where to draw the line: what AI should do, not just what it can
21:27 Workforce surveillance AI and the danger of thinning out the workforce
25:47 Responsible innovation and human-positive AI
29:34 Inside the Human Positive Company framework
33:32 Measuring what matters: retention, morale, and moral leadership
37:05 Rethinking human in the loop across the recruiting funnel
38:26 RadMatter and surfacing overlooked talent
43:26 Building governance: ethics committees and guardrails
47:06 Training Tough Day's AI on values, culture, and what research reveals about great management
57:20 Closing thoughts and a call to action

KVJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kvonjan
Tough.Day: https://tough.day

For advisory work and marketing inquiries:
Bob Pulver:⁠⁠ ⁠https://linkedin.com/in/bobpulver⁠⁠⁠
Elevate Your AIQ:⁠⁠ ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.com⁠⁠⁠
Substack: ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.substack.com⁠
59 min
July 10Ep 126: Aiming AI at Human Bias and True Potential to Succeed with Trent Cotton
Bob catches up with Trent Cotton, Head of Talent Insights and Analyst Relations at iCIMS, for a data-grounded look at why hiring feels so broken right now. Drawing on iCIMS workforce data, Trent unpacks a widening gap between job openings and actual hires, the rise of "job hugging," and application volumes falling below last year. The conversation digs into the real culprit behind entry-level frustration: a decades-old habit of confusing years of experience with actual skill, which AI is now exposing and scaling rather than causing. Trent makes the case for blowing up the traditional job ad in favor of a transparent scorecard, and for using AI to surface hidden bias and predict success rather than just automate the old process. They close on an optimistic note about Gen Z teaching themselves AI skills and why it may finally be time to retire the resume.
Keywords
talent acquisition, skills-based hiring, experience versus skills, job hugging, iCIMS workforce report, three-line report, entry-level hiring, Gen Z, early career, AI in hiring, recruiting bias, responsible AI, AI interviewer, job scorecard, job description, AI sourcing, quality of hire, retention, workforce data, future of work, Trent Cotton, Bob Pulver, Elevate Your AIQ
Takeaways
Job openings are rising faster than hires while application volume dips below last year, pointing to job hugging and recruiting teams stretched past their limits

The "experience" bar is often a poor proxy for skill, a problem that predates AI by decades

Skills-based hiring only works if organizations stop assuming years of experience are directly proportional to ability

The job ad should be rebuilt as a transparent scorecard that candidates see going in and that drives consistent scoring across every interviewer

AI does not create hiring bias so much as expose and scale the bias already there, and it can also help detect and coach against it (recency bias, manager patterns, and more)

AI sourcing can pressure-test unrealistic requirements before a role is ever posted, turning recruiters into advisors rather than order-takers

Gen Z is teaching itself AI skills and taking ownership of continuous learning, making it an overlooked and ready talent pool

Fixing retention starts in the hiring process, by confirming candidates are not just qualified but genuinely want the role
Quotes
"We've been looking at experience, assuming that skills are directly proportional to the number of years of experience."

"You can be working for 10 years at something and still suck at it."

"The only thing that's different with AI is it's gonna find them, expose them, and scale them."

"You just don't know until you give people a chance."

"The resume needs to be retired. It's well past its retirement age."
Chapters
00:02 Welcome and reconnecting
01:29 Trent's non-linear path from banking to HR
03:46 The unicorn role and the talent insights program
05:26 A new book and five mindsets for HR
06:40 What the market data reveals about hiring
08:53 Job hugging and a cautious candidate market
10:18 The experience trap and five years of LLM experience
14:01 Gen Z and the mid-level experience expectation
16:24 Skills versus experience and the self-taught coder
21:25 Blowing up the job ad and building a scorecard
29:17 The bias conversation AI is not having
36:26 A balanced narrative and smarter sourcing
44:43 Gen Z teaching themselves and the education gap
52:07 Retiring the resume and closing advice

Trent Cotton: trentcotton.com
iCIMS: icims.com

For advisory work and marketing inquiries:
Bob Pulver:⁠⁠ ⁠https://linkedin.com/in/bobpulver⁠⁠⁠
Elevate Your AIQ:⁠⁠ ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.com⁠⁠⁠
Substack: ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.substack.com⁠
59 min
July 03Ep 125: Democratizing Coaching and Strengthening Human Agency with Diane Weaver
Bob is joined by Diane Weaver, co-founder and COO of Baryons, who brings a career defined by translation — across languages, disciplines, and roles — to what she describes as the most important problem she has ever worked on: human flourishing in the age of AI. Drawing on her background in EdTech, linguistics, and startup leadership, including the founding and acquisition of CourseTune, Diane shares how a post-exit identity crisis and the release of ChatGPT converged to spark the idea for Baryons. The platform is a voice-based AI companion designed to support mental wealth, resilience, and human agency through four modes: daily check-in, checkout, thinking partner, and flourishing partner. Diane and Bob explore the science behind the product, the organizational dysfunction it is built to address, and why Baryons was designed from day one to get people off AI and back into meaningful connection with other human beings.
Keywords
Baryons, human flourishing, mental wealth, human agency, resilience, voice AI, executive coaching, organizational health, edtech, CourseTune, systems thinking, neuroplasticity, burnout, resonance report, team dynamics, responsible AI, technology stewardship, Diane Weaver
Takeaways
Baryons is a voice-based AI companion that supports individual and organizational health through four modes: check-in, checkout, thinking partner, and flourishing partner

The platform democratizes access to a daily practice long associated with high performers and executive coaching, making it available to every employee at $20 a month

Baryons uses a patent-pending approach to memory, allowing it to surface patterns and prior conversations in ways that build continuity and accountability over time

Weekly resonance reports give individuals and teams insight into energy levels, recurring themes, and early indicators of burnout — without exposing individual conversations

The product is built on six well-researched domains of organizational health: coordination, shared reality, early risk visibility, decision quality, engagement, and learning velocity

Diane frames the current moment not as a technology problem but as a human one, and argues that organizations fixated on productivity metrics are missing the signals that actually predict team resilience and long-term performance

Baryons is intentionally designed to be non-addictive and non-affirming — it is built to help users identify root causes and reconnect with human beings, not keep them talking to an AI
Quotes
"I really want to be working with people who want to be doing something that was impossible to do before."

"We talk about ourselves as being the first AI that is truly built and designed to get people off of AI and back connecting with human beings in the real world."

"The interface is more of your inner world than anything else."

"It doesn't matter that an individual resonance — or even a team — is always trending up. When everything's always trending up, you know as a leader they've gamed the system."

"Those six functions of the organization have to be repaired — or they may survive all of this tech disruption and still be dysfunctional."
Chapters
00:02 Welcome and introductions
00:46 Diane's background: from the family farm to edtech and entrepreneurship
10:11 The paparazzi story: Pat Weaver, the Today Show, and a legacy of democratizing technology
12:41 The genesis of Baryons and the post-ChatGPT moment
15:33 Human agency as the core design principle
18:26 How Baryons works: voice-first design and the check-in mode
21:48 Shifting from technology users to technology stewards
23:38 The checkout mode: cognitive offloading and ending the workday with clarity
26:01 The thinking partner and flourishing partner modes
29:48 Democratizing executive coaching and the value of a non-judgmental AI
36:47 Why voice is the right interface: psychological safety and trust
41:15 A user story: Baryons as a neutral mediator in a fractured friendship
43:29 Mental wealth vs. mental health: resilience as a daily practice
47:34 Resonance reports: individual and team insights, burnout signals, and the limits of productivity metrics
52:00 Choosing the right partners: ethical AI, organizational dysfunction, and the six domains of health
59:51 What's ahead: Baryons.com, community brain health initiatives, and keeping humans at the center

Diane Weaver: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weaver-diane
Baryons: https://baryons.com/

For advisory work and marketing inquiries:
Bob Pulver:⁠⁠ ⁠https://linkedin.com/in/bobpulver⁠⁠⁠
Elevate Your AIQ:⁠⁠ ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.com⁠⁠⁠
Substack: ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.substack.com⁠
1 hr 2 min
June 26Ep 124: Rethinking Content Discovery and Responsible Innovation with Daniel Sieberg
Daniel Sieberg, co-founder and CEO of Screen Genius, joined the show to discuss how his company is building what he calls a universal navigation layer for human curiosity. Coming from over a decade in broadcast journalism followed by six years at Google, Daniel brings a distinctive perspective on how we search, discover, and consume content. Screen Genius started as a B2C streaming guide and pivoted into a B2B discovery-as-a-service platform, helping companies with large digital catalogs, from books and art to retail and food, surface more relevant recommendations through conversational, intent-driven AI. The conversation covers the gap between what recommendation engines promise and what they actually deliver, the importance of building AI responsibly by design, and the concept of "Gen T," generation transition, as a framework for shared human responsibility in shaping where AI goes next.
Keywords
Daniel Sieberg, Screen Genius, discovery as a service, recommendation engines, conversational search, semantic tagging, human-centric AI, responsible AI, paradox of choice, content discovery, B2B middleware, personalization, digital catalogs, Gen T, generation transition, Google News Lab, AI hype cycle
Takeaways
Screen Genius pivoted from a consumer streaming guide to a B2B discovery-as-a-service platform after recognizing that its recommendation engine had broader value across verticals including books, art, food, and retail

Most recommendation systems ask users to search like a machine; Screen Genius is building conversational, intent-driven discovery that lets people search more like humans

The paradox of choice is a core design constraint: once options exceed roughly five, human decision-making breaks down, so narrowing a massive catalog to a meaningful few is the real product

Enterprise knowledge workers are a second use case: internal discovery tools to help employees navigate large data archives, not just consumer-facing recommendations

Daniel frames responsible AI not as compliance but as ethos, citing his family history and mission to leave something beneficial to humanity as the throughline behind the company

"Gen T," generation transition, reframes the AI debate away from generational blame toward shared responsibility for shaping what AI becomes
Quotes
"It feels like a rebellious act to fight for humanity these days."

"AI is now helping us to search more like a human, which I find fascinating in the discovery evolution of where this is all going."

"We like to call ourselves the universal navigation layer for human curiosity."

"Business is trust, money is trust, relationships are trust. You're going to need to talk to a human being."

"Gen T is generation transition, and we all have a shared responsibility in thinking that through."

"I hope that we champion this responsible AI flag for as long as we're in existence."
Chapters
00:02 Welcome and introductions
01:01 Daniel's career arc from journalism to Google to entrepreneurship
04:53 The origins of Screen Genius and the problem of content overload
08:38 From streaming guide to B2B discovery-as-a-service platform
13:02 Competing with Algolia and moving past the AI hype cycle
15:55 Personalization, intent, and the limits of recommendation engines
20:10 The paradox of choice and narrowing massive digital catalogs
24:14 Breaking down silos and building a universal navigation layer
30:33 Respecting human time and the enterprise knowledge worker use case
40:30 Why human relationships still matter more than vibe coding
43:05 Gen T, generation transition, and shared responsibility for AI's future
46:32 Responsible by design and the Screen Genius mission

Daniel Sieberg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielsieberg/
ScreenGenius: screengeni.us

For advisory work and marketing inquiries:
Bob Pulver:⁠⁠ ⁠https://linkedin.com/in/bobpulver⁠⁠⁠
Elevate Your AIQ:⁠⁠ ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.com⁠⁠⁠
Substack: ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.substack.com⁠
54 min
June 19Ep 123: Operationalizing Agentic Workforce Intelligence with Noelle London
Noelle London, founder and CEO of Illoominus, returns to Elevate Your AIQ just over a year after her first appearance to chat with Bob about what has changed and what Illoominus has built in response. The conversation covers how decision cycles inside organizations are compressing, why AI adoption has accelerated but also created new governance risks, and how the gap between individual experimentation and enterprise-ready deployment has become the defining challenge for people leaders today. Noelle details the launch of Illoominus Agentic Workforce Intelligence, a capability already in production with customers that delivers proactive, AI-generated insights directly into executive workflows rather than waiting for someone to go find them in a dashboard. The discussion closes on the importance of governed, secure AI environments as organizations move from pilots to scale, and why data alignment across HR, finance, and operations remains the foundation everything else depends on.
Keywords
Noelle London, Illoominus, workforce intelligence, agentic AI, people analytics, HR data, workforce planning, talent acquisition, data governance, AI adoption, decision support, workforce transformation, future of work, data literacy, AI readiness, responsible AI, executive reporting
Takeaways
Decision cycles across HR, finance, and operations are compressing rapidly, making real-time workforce data no longer a nice-to-have but a business requirement

The gap between AI experimentation at the individual level and governed, enterprise-ready deployment is where most organizations are getting stuck right now

Illoominus Agentic Workforce Intelligence delivers proactive, contextualized insights directly into executive inboxes, shifting the model from reactive dashboarding to continuous intelligence

Data alignment across functions, getting HR, finance, and ops working from a single trusted source, is the prerequisite for any meaningful workforce analytics initiative

Governed, secure AI environments are essential as agentic tools scale, particularly around access levels, data privacy, and agent-to-agent communication

Consultants are increasingly embedding Illoominus as the analytical backbone of engagements, shifting their own value toward change management and strategy
Quotes
"The puzzle pieces weren't talking, and so that's first and foremost, it doesn't really help to have something very interesting if it's not connected together."

"Every single week, every single person on their executive leadership team are getting AI-driven insights into their inboxes to help them understand what's going on."

"You're not getting graphics, you're getting the full understanding on are we good, or is this something that we need to pay attention to."

"HR doesn't have a different version of headcount than finance does. Those are very real examples of where we've seen some of these data initiatives stall."

"How do you make sure if you're using AI within the organization, it's governed properly so that you're not using these tools as a pass through for people that shouldn't have access to information."

"It's the end of everything as we've known it, and change management with the amount of technology that companies are adopting, that's a really interesting place for consultants to play."
Chapters
00:02 Welcome and guest introduction
00:46 Illoominus origin story and the data connectivity problem
04:25 How Illoominus complements rather than competes with consultants
08:07 A year of change: compressed cycles, AI adoption, and new organizational pressures
15:12 Expanding self-serve insights across the leadership team
21:29 Launching Illoominus Agentic Workforce Intelligence
26:17 Accelerating business cases through data alignment across HR and finance
30:22 The full data picture: talent acquisition, skills, engagement, and beyond
36:51 Industry fit and the profile of an Illoominus customer
39:28 How executives interact with agentic insights
43:52 AI readiness, governance, and moving from experimentation to scale
49:52 Closing reflections and what comes next

Noelle London: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noellelondon
Illoominus: illoominus.com

For advisory work and marketing inquiries:
Bob Pulver:⁠⁠ ⁠https://linkedin.com/in/bobpulver⁠⁠⁠
Elevate Your AIQ:⁠⁠ ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.com⁠⁠⁠
Substack: ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.substack.com⁠
52 min
June 12Ep 122: Championing Community and the Freelance Future with Yurii Lazaruk
Yurii Lazaruk built a decade-long career in community management before he even knew the profession existed, starting with a grassroots SEO forum in Ukraine and scaling to a 700-person sales conference before co-founding the Freelance Unlocked Conference in Europe. Bob and Yurii explore how freelancers are using AI to function as one-person teams of twenty, while warning that the same tools are eroding the human connections that make independent careers sustainable. They examine the tension between AI-driven hiring automation and the cultural fit that determines whether a freelancer truly succeeds with a client. Yurii's throughline is a conviction that human energy is something no tool can replicate or replace.
Keywords
Yurii Lazaruk, Freelance Unlocked, independent talent, freelance economy, community management, digital twins, AI in hiring, human connection, loneliness epidemic, solopreneur, co-opetition, AI literacy, second brain, talent acquisition, future of work
Takeaways
Freelancers embracing AI literacy are scaling from solo operators to multi-agent teams, but human judgment remains non-negotiable for quality and trust

The AI arms race in hiring, where both job descriptions and applications are machine-generated, strips out the human signal that determines cultural fit

Digital twins are already being used by freelancers to handle early-stage client conversations, creating efficiency gains alongside new credential fraud risks

Community is a structural necessity for independent workers, especially as AI-driven isolation deepens the broader loneliness epidemic

AI works best when you already understand the domain; without foundational knowledge, tools can mislead as easily as they assist

Pre-conference rituals including WhatsApp groups, LinkedIn introductions, and short pre-event Zoom meetups drive Freelance Unlocked's 50-plus percent return rate
Quotes
"I was doing community [work] for over ten years without knowing it was called community. I was just thinking it was meeting people and having fun together."

"There is an AI fight happening. Recruiters go to ChatGPT for job descriptions and applicants go to the same tools, and we are losing the human connection part."

"If your second brain is smarter than your first brain, you stop learning and move nowhere. You have to continuously grow."

"The more AI tools we have, the more disconnected people become, and the more they need community."

"You are not getting energy from your computer. You get energy from other people, and you share yours. It is always an exchange."
Chapters
00:02 Welcome and guest introduction
01:11 Yurii's background from risk analyst to community professional
04:50 Community as infrastructure for solopreneurs and freelancers
07:36 Freelance Unlocked and the co-opetition model
09:11 The fragmented freelance platform landscape and the case for a unified profile
13:59 AI in hiring and the arms race crowding out human signal
19:05 Digital credentials, second brains, and freelancer AI agents
22:24 Digital twins: efficiency gains and fraud risks
30:58 How freelancers use AI to scale output and prevent burnout
33:49 Responsible AI use and starting with the problem
43:29 The loneliness epidemic and community as antidote
44:53 In-person energy and the value of physical presence
49:50 Human-first networking and why pitching kills connection
51:17 Pre-conference rituals that build belonging before the event
56:02 Designing events where people come back to meet friends

Yurii Lazaruk: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yurii-lazaruk-community-consultant
Working with Yurii: https://yurii.community/

For advisory work and marketing inquiries:
Bob Pulver:⁠⁠ ⁠https://linkedin.com/in/bobpulver⁠⁠⁠
Elevate Your AIQ:⁠⁠ ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.com⁠⁠⁠
Substack: ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.substack.com⁠
1 hr 3 min
June 05Ep 121: Navigating Technology Convergence to Create Sustainable Abundance with David Kilzer
Bob Pulver sits down with David Kilzer, founder of Strategic Transformation Advisors, for a wide-ranging conversation on the convergence of AI and humanoid robotics and what it means for the future of work. Drawing on a career that spans GE, Digital Equipment Corporation, and decades of entrepreneurial practice, David traces the arc of technology convergence from integrated circuits to the internet to today's AI-powered machines. The discussion covers how organizations can responsibly adopt AI by building a data-first foundation, prioritizing high-impact use cases, and keeping humans firmly in control. Both Bob and David share a cautious optimism: the path forward runs through collaboration between humans and machines, not displacement of one by the other.
Keywords
David Kilzer, Strategic Transformation Advisors, technology convergence, humanoid robotics, AI and manufacturing, Boston Dynamics, Tesla Optimus, Figure AI, data-first mindset, AI hallucination, responsible AI, human-centric AI, upskilling, generative AI, TEDx, supply chain AI, blue collar workforce, sustainable abundance
Takeaways
Technology convergence, not any single innovation, drives the most transformative leaps; AI combined with humanoid robotics may be the most consequential convergence in human history

Robots are best applied first to work that is dull, dirty, or dangerous, augmenting human capability rather than replacing human judgment

A data-first mindset is the unglamorous but foundational prerequisite for any organization looking to extract real value from AI

AI hallucinations are often traceable to bad or incomplete data; human oversight of AI-assisted decisions remains essential

Generative AI is shifting in 2026 from experimental tool to backbone technology, and individuals and organizations that wait for perfection will fall behind

The US and China are in an accelerating race for robotics leadership, and maintaining that edge requires cross-sector collaboration and continued investment in AI literacy
Quotes
"When done right, it's not humanoid robotics replacing humans. It's augmenting, collaborating with humans."

"This is going to be looked at as the next biggest thing for humankind since fire."

"Data drives AI. Make sure that all the data you've prepared is highly accurate and then expand from that point."

"Humans employ it by looking at what you need to accomplish primarily as a business and look for high-impact use cases."

"Don't be intimidated by it. Get in there. Get that hands-on approach."

"I'm an enthusiastic optimist."
Chapters
00:02 Welcome and guest introduction
00:41 David's background, from North Dakota to GE and DEC
04:38 Technology convergence and its historical pattern
06:59 David's TEDx talk and the AI plus robotics thesis
12:26 Augmenting humans, not replacing them
17:26 US versus China in the robotics race
20:31 Prioritizing use cases, dangerous and drudge work first
25:46 Drones, emergency response, and the road to Rosie
30:34 Blue collar work, trade jobs, and the upskilling imperative
31:54 Responsible AI by design and the first law of robotics
38:49 Ethics, guardrails, and keeping humans in control
43:39 Building a data-first mindset for AI adoption
46:31 AI hallucination, enterprise readiness, and supply chain wins

David Kilzer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-kilzer-3964688
Strategic Transformation Advisors: https://www.xform.me/

For advisory work and marketing inquiries:
Bob Pulver:⁠⁠ ⁠https://linkedin.com/in/bobpulver⁠⁠⁠
Elevate Your AIQ:⁠⁠ ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.com⁠⁠⁠
Substack: ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.substack.com⁠
50 min
May 29Ep 120: Inventing the Future of Work with Meg Bear
Meg Bear is an award-winning global executive, board member, advisor, investor, podcaster, and keynote speaker who has taken the stage at TEDx, SXSW, Davos, the World Economic Forum, HR Technology Conference, Unleash, and beyond. As co-host of the Meg and Amy Show and a board advisor at NovaWorks and Papaya Global, she brings the rare combination of deep operator experience and forward-looking strategic vision that makes this conversation genuinely worth your time. Meg joins Bob to explore what it truly takes to lead and develop talent in the AI era, opening with a sharp critique of "founder mode" thinking and making the case that intellectual humility and collective intelligence are what sustainable organizations are built on. The discussion spans workforce disruption, the risks of AI-driven headcount cuts without strategic vision, and why psychological safety is the foundation for building genuinely adaptive teams.
Keywords
Meg Bear, SAP SuccessFactors, founder mode, grower mode, intellectual humility, collective intelligence, human potential, skills-based hiring, psychological safety, learning agility, talent marketplace, workforce planning, total talent, NovaWorks, Papaya Global, Meg and Amy Show, AI readiness, workforce disruption, human experience management, agentic AI
Takeaways
Founder mode thinking trades intellectual humility for hubris, undermining the collective intelligence organizations need to thrive

Human value is not defined by job titles or past achievements but by the inherent strengths and adaptive capacity each person brings

Leaders who fail to recognize and invest in their team's potential also forfeit the organization's capacity to innovate through disruption

Disrupting your own job before someone else does is not a threat; it is the only viable strategy for staying relevant in an AI-transformed workforce

The current AI learning moment is unusually pro-social, but the window to engage while everyone is still figuring it out together is narrowing fast
Quotes
"The belief that a single person is going to make everything happen is the wrong kind of culture to build a sustainable future."

"We have all of the raw materials to thrive in this future state, but it's not going to work if we only want to bring our knowing selves."

"The only way to save your status as a worker is to make your own job obsolete."

"Our job as leaders is to manage energy, identify potential, and help individuals see progress in work that really matters."

"This is the most pro-social learning environment I've ever seen."

"How do we marshal the collective intelligence of our customers and our market to unlock new value capture in this world?"
Chapters
00:02 Welcome and guest introduction
02:35 Meg's background and mission to invent the future
03:26 Founder mode vs. grower mode and the case for intellectual humility
09:04 Cognitive diversity, collective intelligence, and the limits of one-person leadership
12:18 Recognizing human strengths and finding new pathways of excellence
20:10 Human value beyond titles and the importance of bringing your learning self
22:36 Psychological safety as the foundation for adaptive teams
28:58 From human capital to human experience management at SAP SuccessFactors
32:31 Workforce disruption, AI-driven headcount cuts, and the risk of incrementalism
36:27 The pro-social AI learning moment and why the window is closing
43:16 Board-level AI strategy and the risk of ready-fire-aim decisions
56:35 NovaWorks, total talent visibility, and the future of fluid work
01:07:07 Meg's personal AI journey and building goal-alignment agents

Meg Bear: megbear.com

For advisory work and marketing inquiries:
Bob Pulver:⁠⁠ https://linkedin.com/in/bobpulver⁠⁠⁠
Elevate Your AIQ:⁠⁠ https://elevateyouraiq.com⁠⁠⁠
Substack: ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.substack.com
1 hr 16 min

About Elevate Your AIQ

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Bob Pulver is helping each of us navigate our respective journeys with artificial intelligence (AI) effectively and responsibly. Bob chats with AI and Future of Work experts, talent and transformation…