Does PR have Stockholm syndrome? We're held captive by every disruption that promises to kill us—internet, social media, now AI—and what do we do? Fall in love with each threat, scramble to prove relevance, then wait for the next existential crisis.

In this episode, Dan Nestle sits down with Barrie Cohen, founder of Barrie Cohen Public Relations. The real evolution isn't technical—it's structural. While holding companies lay off hundreds, boutique firms are landing top-tier placements and major contracts. The question: do you need 50 people to do what one strategist with AI and the right relationships can accomplish?

Barrie walked away from Philadelphia agency life and built an operation that secured placements big firms couldn't—not by throwing bodies at accounts, but by doing what large agencies forgot: caring deeply and telling clients the truth.

Listen in and hear about...

Notable Quotes from Barrie Cohen

"PR needs to be accessible to everybody. Telling your story is critical no matter the size of your business." [00:22:51 – 00:22:57]

"I could write, and I'm a great communicator, and I know how to talk to people, and I'm honest and transparent. Everything else, like you said, I'll figure it out." [00:15:00 – 00:15:08]

"I am not worried it's going to take my job. No one can do what I—like, AI cannot be at the level with my clients that I am, but can they write me an outline for a three-page article and then I can do the bulk of—yes." [00:49:27 – 00:49:41]

Resources and Links

Dan Nestle

Barrie Cohen

Timestamps

0:00:00 Introduction: PR Industry Disruption, Agency Evolution, and Guest Intro
0:06:31 Denver Airport Metaphor—Is PR Built for Purpose?
0:12:35 Barrie Cohen's Journey: Breaking Away from Agency Traditions
0:18:02 Scaling a Boutique PR Business: Growth, Team, and Challenges
0:22:18 Rethinking the Traditional Agency Model and Flexible Client Engagements
0:28:17 Deep Client Relationships and the Value of Deliverables Over Hourly Billing
0:34:36 The Shift to Podcasts: Earning Attention in Modern Media Relations
0:41:33 Podcast Pitching: Personalized Approaches vs. AI Automation
0:48:12 AI Tools, Content Repurposing, and the Human Advantage in PR
0:54:09 PR: The Long Game—Managing Expectations in a Fast-Paced Tech World
1:00:57 Why Human Connections and Relationships Remain Essential in Communications
1:07:19 Looking Forward: Staying Current, Embracing Podcasts, and the Future of PR

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Authority-building has entered a new era—visibility hinges on context and credibility, and your expertise must be discoverable not just to humans but to machines.

In this episode of The Trending Communicator, host Dan Nestle explores these seismic changes with Stephanie Grober, Marketing and PR Director at the Horowitz Agency and a true trailblazer in legal and professional services PR.

Stephanie has mastered the art (and science) of making experts both visible and quotable, securing more than 200 high-impact media placements in a single year while connecting the dots between traditional PR and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). She was already making her clients discoverable to the machines before most of us had even heard of ChatGPT.

Listen in and hear about:

Notable Quotes

On the rapidly changing news cycle:

"Evergreen stories...there’s no room for them right now. Think about how much news, how much breaking news is coming at us. The news cycle doesn’t even feel like 24 hours. It feels like 24 minutes." [00:12:09 - 00:12:27]

On the human element in PR (and reluctance to let AI take over):

"PR is still very human...We aren’t using it to pitch. And I’ll say that there are some agencies that may be writing their pitches with AI. We are not. And that is a choice. We want to stand out as being authentic and human." [00:19:36 - 00:20:58]

On why traditional PR isn't dead—it's evolving:

"It’s a science and an art is what I like to say. Every time we try to make it a science, it shows us that it is an art and vice versa." [00:27:25 - 00:27:45]

On discoverability in the era of AI:

"We’ve been training the LLMs this entire time without realizing it. So for us, you know, some of the ways our clients have been referred to colloquially, you know, now that’s how they’re being discovered in a generative summary." [00:46:47 - 00:47:14]

Resources and Links

Dan Nestle

Stephanie Grober:

Timestamps

0:00:00 Authority Building’s Evolution & AI’s Role in Visibility

0:06:12 Legal & Accounting PR in a Fast-Moving World

0:12:09 Shifting News Cycles, Pitching for Relevance

0:17:30 Traditional Media Relations: Still Vital?

0:22:35 AI, Authenticity, and Human-Centric PR

0:27:25 Art vs. Science in Media Outreach

0:33:49 GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) Disrupts PR Strategies

0:39:06 Earned Media’s True Influence in GEO

0:44:34 Discoverability, Signal vs. Virality for B2B & Legal

0:50:56 Pivoting Expertise—Challenges in AI Search

0:57:30 Human Relationships, Strategy, and ROI in Legal PR

1:02:00 Supporting Journalists and the Future of Media

(Notes co-created by Human Dan, Claude, and Castmagic)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

**NotebookLM HAS TAKEN OVER THE TRENDING COMMUNICATOR. AGAIN.**

Generative AI is shaking up the world of communications—and the debate is on. In this special takeover episode of The Trending Communicator, Abel and Iris weigh the promise and pitfalls of AI adoption for comms professionals. Is AI truly a strategic superpower, or does it risk eroding hard-won wisdom and trust?

Our hosts tackle big questions about originality, efficiency, brand voice, and the critical role of human judgment. From allegations of “AI slop” to the growing expectation that professionals must adapt or become obsolete, Iris and Abel challenge each other—and the industry—to find balance between bold innovation and ethical responsibility. Whether you’re in the excitement camp or a skeptic, this episode delivers sharp insights, real-world examples, and a call to lead with empathy and rigor as AI rewrites the rules of communication.

Listen in and hear about:

Timestamps

0:00:00 Podcast Takeover & Introduction
0:00:26 GenAI and the Big Debate in Comms
0:00:38 Does Generative AI Add or Destroy Value?
0:01:06 Risks, Disruption & Trust in AI Adoption
0:01:25 Augmentation vs. Automation—Strategic Value
0:02:13 AI Hype & Human Element Concerns
0:02:39 AI Slop, Trust Issues, and Expertise Erosion
0:03:24 Strategic Upside: AI as Enabler
0:04:05 Human Judgment as the Quality Filter
0:04:40 Speed vs. Quality & Distinctive Human Insight
0:05:03 Changing Roles: Prompting, Critiquing, Synthesizing
0:05:31 Institutional Readiness, Ethics, Trust & Systemic Risks
0:06:43 Empathy & Perspective: Irreplaceable Human Advantages
0:07:06 AI for Reputation Management, Context, & Scale
0:07:32 Ethics vs. Efficiency: Risks in Sensitive Fields
0:08:04 Senior Communicators, AI as Validation & Infrastructure
0:08:41 Broadening Strategic Functions; AI as Audience
0:09:14 Organizational Readiness & Leadership Challenges
0:10:01 Leadership Opportunity: AI as Strategic Sparring Partner
0:10:52 Human Wisdom & Navigating Disruption
0:11:36 Closing Remarks & Podcast Outro

Audio generated by NotebookLM, based on the transcripts from all episodes of The Trending Communicator in 2025. Notes and timestamps generated by Castmagic. Intro and outro music generated by Suno. Outro voice generated with Elevenlabs. Graphic depiction of Abel and Iris generated with Gemini (Nanobanana); any similarity to any individual, living or dead, is unintentional.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Companies love to talk about AI transformation. They've created policies, distributed tools, checked boxes. But behind closed doors, overwhelmed employees are phoning it in with AI slop, leaders can't tell the difference, and the workforce is too exhausted to learn anything new. That's not transformation. That's theater.

In this episode of The Trending Communicator, host Dan Nestle welcomes back Anne Green, CEO of G&S Integrated Marketing Communications Group and host of the Building Brand Gravity podcast. Anne brings a rare perspective—she's orchestrated one of the industry's most successful agency transformations while navigating this AI identity crisis firsthand. Having built Cooper Katz from startup to acquisition, then taken the helm at G&S and expanded it through strategic acquisitions, she's seen transformation from every angle.

Anne and Dan cut through the AI hype to examine what's really stalling adoption: a workforce stretched too thin to experiment, psychological bandwidth at zero, and the uncomfortable reality that AI doesn't automatically make anyone smarter—we have to fight for it. They explore why agencies may be better positioned to crack this code, what the dot-com bubble can teach us about today's AI valuations, and why the talent pipeline conversation keeps shifting from entry-level to mid-level to senior without anyone knowing who's actually at risk.

Listen in and hear about...

Notable Quotes from Anne Green:

"The biggest thing is from the upskilling side, this is a very complex people transformation moment. And we are really crap in this society at upskilling people. We're not good at it." [00:11:32 – 00:11:49]

"AI doesn’t automatically augment our intelligence. We have to fight for it and we have to build it and we have to embrace it. But it is a journey." [00:18:49 – 00:19:02]

"There is, especially at this moment, a beauty of the beginner’s mind, that person who’s coming in with curiosity and freshness..." [00:57:00 – 00:57:40]

"Hold less tightly, unclench the hands and open up the palms. That’s the last thing I’d offer, folks. Hold less tightly." [01:04:38 – 01:04:47]

Resources and Links

Dan Nestle

Anne Green

Timestamps

0:00:00 AI Transformation Hype and Restrictive Corporate Policies
0:06:43 Corporate Struggles with AI Adoption and Change Management
0:12:26 Bubble vs. Real Change—Comparing Dot-Com Era to AI Revolution
0:19:04 AI-Augmented Skills—Best and Worst Amplified
0:25:56 Human/Machine Symbiosis: How AI Changes Us
0:30:01 Freedom to Innovate: Builders, Use Cases, and Organizational Constraints
0:35:10 Overworked Workforce, Layoffs, and AI’s Impact on Talent Strategy
0:42:11 Talent Displacement, Business Model Evolution, and Pipeline Changes
0:48:25 Rethinking Comms Career Tracks with AI Integration
0:54:02 Entry-Level Realities: Training, Context, and Curiosity
1:01:16 Importance of In-Person Collaboration in the Age of AI
1:04:00 Leading Through Change—Kindness, Grace, and Adaptability
1:05:48 Wrap-Up, Final Thoughts, and Podcast Promotion

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Companies keep approaching AI the way they approached every other tech rollout: install it, train on it, expect immediate returns. But AI isn't software. It's imperfect by design, doesn't follow a predictable implementation curve, and the gap between what leadership promised the board and what's actually happening is becoming a serious problem.

In this episode of The Trending Communicator, host Dan Nestle sits down with Chris Gee, founder of Chris Gee Consulting and strategic advisor to Ragan's Center for AI Strategy. Chris has survived four career reinventions driven by technological disruption—from watching his graphic design degree become obsolete the day he graduated to now helping organizations navigate the shift to agentic AI. His motto, "copilot, not autopilot," frames the entire conversation.

Chris and Dan dig into why AI adoption is stalling—because companies are treating transformation like a switch to flip rather than a capability to build. They explore the parallel to 1993's Internet boom and why the adoption curve is right on schedule despite executive frustration. The conversation gets practical: Chris shares how he built an AI agent named "Alexa Irving" for client onboarding, and they tackle whether doom-and-gloom predictions from AI CEOs are helping or hurting the people who actually need to use these tools.

Listen in and hear about...

Notable Quotes

"My motto is copilot, not autopilot. I wholeheartedly believe that we are going to make the most progress using AI in tandem—where humans focus on the things that we do well and we use AI for the things it does better than we do." — Chris Gee [04:19]

"17 is $17 trillion—that's what the American consumer spends per year. 70 is the percentage of US GDP that represents. And zero is the amount of money that AI chatbots, LLMs, and agents have to spend." — Chris Gee [23:57]

"Your ability was never simply in your ability to string together words and phrases, but to translate experiences or emotions and create connection with other humans." — Chris Gee [36:44]

"It's not thinking and it never will be thinking. So if we understand that, then we understand it won't be thinking like a human." — Chris Gee [1:07:00]

Resources and Links

Dan Nestle

Chris Gee

Timestamps

0:00:00 AI Transformation: Hype vs. Reality in Communications
0:06:00 Human Touch vs. Automation in Service Jobs
0:12:40 Early Career Transformation & Adapting to Technology
0:18:00 AI Adoption Curve: Early Adopters and Laggards
0:23:30 Tech Disruption, Job Fears, and Economic Impact
0:29:10 Prompting and Obstacles to AI Adoption
0:34:45 Redefining Skill Sets & Human Value with AI
0:40:45 Efficiency, Productivity, and Creativity with AI Tools
0:46:20 Rethinking Work: Flexible Schedules & Four-Day Weeks
0:51:39 Practical AI Use Cases: Experiment and Upgrade
0:55:11 Agentic AI: Autonomous Agents and Guardrails
1:01:29 Autonomous Agents: Oversight, Guardrails, and Risks
1:08:15 AI Is Imperfect: Why Human Judgment Remains Essential
1:14:16 AI Quirks, Prompting Challenges, and Adoption Friction
1:19:41 Wrap-Up: Finding Chris Gee & Newsletter/Prompt Suggestions
1:21:18 Final Thoughts & Episode Closing

(Notes co-created by Human Dan, Claude, and Castmagic)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can't communicate your way out of a values problem. Yet every day, communications leaders are expected to do precisely that.

In this episode of The Trending Communicator, host Dan Nestle sits down with ⁠Emil Hill⁠, principal of The Creshiem Group and a public affairs strategist with 25+ years navigating the intersection of business, government, and communications. From guiding the W.K. Kellogg Foundation through Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation to helping Papa John's face their reckoning, from UnitedHealth Group to the National Education Association, Emil's been the strategist organizations call when quick fixes won't cut it.

Emil and Dan explore why the consolidation of corporate communications, investor relations, government relations, and research under corporate affairs* umbrellas is the recognition that every stakeholder now connects to every other stakeholder. They dig into why crises reveal values misalignment, why your stock price timeline and your actual problem timeline are incompatible, and why "calm, clarity, and precision" matters more when everything's moving faster.

*Dan says “Public Affairs” but means “Corporate Affairs” throughout the episode. He apologizes, especially to Megan Noel, for his confusion.

Listen in and hear about...

Notable Quotes

On The Power of Immersive Partnership: "I don't know if you can really be a good partner to any client if you don't immerse yourself in their business, understand who their competitors are, try to get a sense for their DNA and try to advise based on those understandings. If you don't have that, yeah, you're going to fall short every time." — Emil Hill [00:07:53 → 00:08:17]

On The Future of Local News: "I am craving a deeper dive into, into local news that the Washington Post cannot provide for me and Mary about what's going on here that's not in the news. And it feels like with the evolution of technology, some enterprising business person is going to figure out a way to cobble together more information and news about particular parts of the country, city, state and local in a way that we used to." — Emil Hill [01:00:27 → 01:01:03]

On Navigating Economic Uncertainty: "I think businesses, individuals and communities around the country, I think you want to hold on to your optimism. I think you should get active, but ride it. And this too shall pass." — Emil Hill [01:06:59 → 01:08:08]

Resources and Links

Dan Nestle

Emil Hill

Timestamps

0:00:00 Introduction – Rise of Public Affairs and Emil Hill’s Expertise
0:06:15 Pathways into Public Affairs – Problem Solving and Business Acumen
0:11:03 Consolidation of Corporate Communications Functions
0:16:44 Stakeholder Connections in a Rapid News Cycle
0:23:19 Measuring Audience Sentiment and Internal vs. External Messaging
0:29:22 Persuading Stakeholders – Importance of Data and Explanation
0:34:57 AI’s Role in Communications – Data, Analysis, and Domain Expertise
0:42:32 Brand Missteps and the Limits of Research
0:47:13 Real Audience Research vs. Social Media Noise
0:53:42 New Corporate Affairs Capabilities – Local Sentiment and Crisis Response
0:58:44 Local News Evolution and Technology’s Impact
1:04:39 Ideas for AI-Driven Local News Coverage
1:08:08 Optimism, Change, and Closing Thoughts
1:09:36 Outro and Subscription Info

(Notes co-created by Human Dan, Claude, and Castmagic)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Your customers are changing because of AI. But so are you—whether you realize it or not.

Host Dan Nestle welcomes back Mark Schaefer, whose new book How AI Changes Your Customers reveals a transformation most people aren't prepared for. As one of 300 futurists who contributed to Elon University's Being Human in 2035 study, Mark brings insights beyond the usual AI hype.

Mark and Dan explore the psychological rewiring that is happening as AI reshapes human agency, empathy, purpose, and trust. They confront the choice everyone faces: use AI to augment your thinking, or delegate so much that critical skills atrophy.

This isn't another "AI will save us" or "AI will ruin everything" conversation. It's a balanced look at implications most people haven't considered—like algorithms becoming decision-makers, with conversion rates from AI referrals 23 times higher than those from traditional SEO.

Listen in and hear about...

Notable Quotes

On The Psychology of AI: "No one's talking about the psychology of AI that literally before our eyes, humanity is being rewired. The psychology of human beings is changing." - Mark Schaefer [00:08:13 → 00:08:28]

On Attention Spans: "Don't tell me people don't have a long attention span. The problem is they're being more selective. You've got to earn it. So it's not that they have a short attention span. You, You've got a short interesting span. They're abandoning you for something else." - Mark Schaefer [00:15:38 → 00:15:53]

On The Power of Vulnerability: "What this world is lacking is a real human voice, friendly, accessible, vulnerable. And think about the power of that. To really be human. You've got to be. Have a sense of vulnerability. But we don't get that from brand voices. Very, very rarely. And think of the opportunity to stand out, to be audacious, to just by flubbing up once in a while, just by admitting you made a mistake every once in a while." - Mark Schaefer [00:27:37 → 00:28:05]

Resources and Links

Dan Nestle

Mark Schaefer

Timestamps

0:00:00 AI’s Impact: Dan’s Intro and Use of NotebookLM
0:03:03 Mark’s Reaction: AI Enables Bolder, Creative Work
0:05:16 Mutual Mentorship and AI Experimentation
0:07:29 Mark’s Book: Humanity’s Changing Psychology with AI
0:09:12 Agency, Empathy, Intimacy, and AI Decision-Making
0:11:41 AI Search: GEO, Marketing to Algorithms
0:13:02 The Golden Age of PR: Credibility and Authority
0:15:13 Attention Span Myth & Content Selectivity
0:17:21 Volume vs. Quality: Content for AI and Humans
0:19:35 Cumulative Advantage & Brand Authority in AI Era
0:21:42 Personal Brand Building: Quality is Essential
0:23:13 Earning Social Signals & Genuine Content
0:25:47 AI Editing, Strategic Awkwardness, and Vulnerability
0:28:46 Challenges for Corporates: Embracing Awkwardness
0:31:20 Feelings as a Competitive Advantage
0:35:28 Transcendence: Artful, Long-Form, and Human Content
0:37:56 Respecting the Reader: Content Length & Value
0:39:55 Hopeful AI: Augmentation, Mentorship, Markbot
0:42:24 Real Education & AI: Preparing Young People
0:42:46 Closing Remarks: Book Recommendation & Mark’s Links

(Notes co-created by Human Dan, Claude, and Castmagic)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can be the smartest person in the room, but if no one knows you or your point of view, you don't have authority. This "authority gap" is why most professionals struggle to earn attention, build trust, and gain influence.

In this episode, host Dan Nestle sits down with Amanda Russell, author of The Influencer Code, creator of the influence equation (Influence = Attention + Trust), founder of Amanda's Playbook, and architect of UCLA's first fully accredited influencer marketing program. Amanda challenges the assumption that awareness equals influence, revealing why measuring clicks and impressions keeps communicators trapped in vanity metrics rather than building real relationship capital.

For Amanda this isn't just a theory - she knows from experience. From Olympic hopeful to eager consultant to fitness influencer to CMO to educator, she evolved a systems-thinking approach to influence that PR and communications professionals desperately need. She and Dan explore why earned attention compounds while bought attention doesn't, how AI is democratizing content but making authentic relationships more valuable, and why success requires running purposeful miles instead of junk miles.

Listen in and hear about:

Notable Quotes

On Influence vs. Awareness: "You can have all the eyeballs all day long. You can have all the awareness, but if nobody cares or you're not influencing anybody to do anything, that's not influence." - Amanda Russell [06:57]

On Authority: "Authority is when people quote you in rooms you've never even been in." - Amanda Russell [22:40]

On Earned vs. Bought Attention: "Trust is not scalable, but it's transferable. When someone vouches for you, they're transferring their influence to you." - Amanda Russell [20:24]

On Building Real Influence: "Real relationships take time to develop and they take nurturing and they take work. It's about building the foundation of a house versus just slapping up a tent." - Amanda Russell [33:20]

On AI and Expertise: "AI doesn't make you an expert, but if you're already an expert, it makes you unstoppable if you know what to do." - Amanda Russell [43:30]

Resources and Links

Dan Nestle

Amanda Russell

Timestamps

0:00 Intro: Influence equals attention plus trust

5:23 Defining influence beyond social media stereotypes

10:25 Moving past vanity metrics in PR/marketing

15:54 Three steps to build systematic influence

20:24 Authority vs expertise in building influence

25:28 Focusing on audience needs and relationships

30:52 Relationship architecture trumps marketing tactics

37:49 AI's impact on content creation and influence

41:38 Using AI to amplify expertise, not replace it

45:24 New model for business education and influence

(Notes co-created by Human Dan, Claude, and  Flowsend.ai )

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when the communications function stops being about messaging and starts being about business transformation? When your stakeholders include 10,000 employees, 94,000 students, 350,000 alumni, plus investors, policymakers, and healthcare partners?

In this episode of The Trending Communicator, host Dan Nestle reconnects with Megan Noel, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Adtalem Global Education, to explore why the CCAO role is a fundamental reimagining of what communications does. Megan leads government relations, investor relations, public affairs, impact and sustainability, and alumni relations under one reputation-focused banner.

From managing the fallout of the "One Big Beautiful Bill" over July 4th weekend to navigating AI search optimization and Wikipedia's importance in reputation management, Megan and Dan dig into the practical realities of corporate affairs at scale. They explore how business acumen has become a hard skill, why curiosity beats credentials, and how communicators can avoid becoming "negative Nancy" while still providing strategic counsel.

Listen in and hear about...

Notable Quotes

On Corporate Affairs Evolution: "The corporate affairs model is just the next step in that evolution. We used to just communicate what the business wanted. Now we're more than just a channel strategy to push things to different audiences." - Megan Noel [07:30]

On Business Acumen: "I certainly don't need to be as sophisticated in our numbers as our CFO. But I need to be dangerous enough in all of them to be able to sit down at a very senior level and have a thoughtful conversation." - Megan Noel [20:29]

On Strategic Counsel: "Instead of saying no, but—offer alternatives or other options so that we could potentially get to yes. When you do have to say the no, it feels like you're using that really thoughtfully and people will take you seriously." - Megan Noel [23:39]

On AI Search Reality: "There is a perception that whatever question you ask AI is unbiased, when in fact it's pulling information through just a different algorithm. It could be just as biased with other bad data." - Megan Noel [46:56]

On Innovation Mindset: "The hiring manager said it was because she showed an appetite to push and to learn and to innovate. That skill, even at the very entry level, matters." - Megan Noel [59:35]

Resources and Links

Dan Nestle

Megan Noel

Timestamps

0:00 Intro: Change in PR and marketing

5:47 Evolution of Chief Corporate Affairs Officer role

13:06 Reputation as unifying banner for corporate affairs

19:40 Importance of business acumen for leaders

24:39 Communications as a critical business skill

27:46 Relationship between corporate affairs and marketing

31:28 Fostering disagreement and diverse perspectives

35:41 Impact of AI on search and reputation management

41:24 Proactively managing reputation in AI era

49:28 Balancing content creation and stakeholder engagement

53:43 Innovation as key leadership trait

57:41 Cultivating curiosity and innovation across teams

1:03:31 Closing remarks and contact information

(Notes co-created by Human Dan, Claude, and  Flowsend.ai )

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MIT just dropped a bomb: 95% of corporate AI initiatives are failing. Not struggling. Failing. And Sandy Carter knows exactly why.

In this episode of The Trending Communicator, I sit down with Sandy, currently Chief Business Officer at Unstoppable Domains, former VP at Amazon Web Services, and the person who turned IBM's "social business" concept nobody understood into a $200 billion market. Sandy's written seven books, been named to every power list that matters (CNN's Top 10 Most Powerful Women in Tech, Forbes 50 Over 50), but what caught my attention is her philosophy: "AI First, Human Always."

While everyone's either selling AI snake oil or running scared, Sandy's figured out something crucial. Companies aren't failing at AI because the technology doesn't work. They're failing because they're treating it like any other IT rollout: layer it on top of broken processes and hope for magic. Sandy shares why CEOs need to stop brainstorming and start "playstorming," what happens when you ignore Reddit for three years, and why your daughter talking to Grok about party outfits might be the most important trend in communications.

Listen in and hear about:

Notable Quotes

"Audiences today are ready to move on from 'how do I use gen AI for productivity?' into something deeper: What does it mean for us as humans?" - Sandy Carter [00:05:14]

"If your process already didn't work, there's no magic in AI that's going to make it wake up and work." - Sandy Carter [00:18:42]

"You have to experience it. You have to get your hands into it. You have to play with an agent." - Sandy Carter [00:27:38]

"If you take one thing from this whole podcast, put your company in [AI search], put yourself in too, and see what comes out." - Sandy Carter [00:50:54]

Resources and Links

Dan Nestle

Sandy Carter

Timestamps

0:00 Intro: Host welcomes Sandy Carter

5:23 AI's impact on human meaning and work

10:24 Why 95% of corporate AI projects fail

15:23 Redesigning workflows for AI integration

20:44 Generational differences in AI adoption

26:58 The importance of "play storming" with AI

32:13 Training everyone on AI, not just tech teams

37:05 Voice interfaces and generational preferences

41:32 Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) strategies

48:43 Checking your company's AI presence

54:41 Closing thoughts on AI and communications

(Notes co-created by Human Dan, Claude, and  Flowsend.ai )

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices