If you’re still sitting around talking about “exploring AI,” I’ve got news for you: the world has already moved on. This week, we looked at how the best companies—and leaders—aren’t just adding tools. They’re overhauling how they train, deploy, and dominate.
Here’s the breakdown of how real leaders are getting it done:
💥 Open-Source, Open-Access: Small Business Just Got a Big Upgrade
Meta’s Llama + Ollama made it clear: you don’t need to be Big Tech to play big. You need to act fast, ship early, and stop waiting for a “safe” version of AI to show up.
🔗 Hot Take: If you’ve got a laptop and a mission, you’ve got no excuse left.
💥 Leading Teams into Automation (Without Losing Your Mind)
Want adoption? Start coaching. Your team isn’t lazy—they’re confused. Clarity kills confusion. Lead from the front, not behind a dashboard.
🔗 Hot Take: Your AI strategy isn’t a strategy if no one on your team knows how to use it.
💥 Niche AI Is the Real Power Move
The real wins don’t come from a general-purpose chatbot—they come from tools trained to crush your specific tasks.
🔗 Hot Take: If you’re still bragging about ChatGPT, you haven’t seen what industry-specific AI can actually do.
💥 Train or Be Replaced: Your Culture Needs AI Fluency
Carlyle’s 90% AI adoption isn’t a fluke. It’s the result of leadership—daily coaching, onboarding, and getting hands dirty. Not a single “FYI” email in sight.
🔗 Hot Take: Want buy-in? Stop talking AI. Start teaching it.
⚙️ Tactical Takeaway of the Week:
Your job isn’t to “test new AI tools.” It’s to train people to think and execute inside AI-powered systems.
No more pilots. No more tiptoeing. Build. Ship. Coach. Repeat.
🛠️ Tactical ChatGPT Prompts:
For Building AI Onboarding Systems:
“Design a 30-day AI fluency onboarding program for non-technical teams using open-source tools.”For Workflow Coaching:
“Restructure a marketing team’s weekly tasks using niche AI tools that specialize in campaign optimization.”For Adoption Metrics:
“Generate a dashboard template to track AI tool usage, workflow integration, and team skill development.”For Tool Evaluation:
“Compare three domain-specific AI tools in finance and legal ops for deployment in a mid-size company.”
🔧 AI Tools to Press Forward Your Productivity:
1. Ollama – Local deployment of Llama 3. Fast. Private. Yours to control. No more waiting for IT to bless your build.
2. Sidekick AI – Smarter meetings, zero back-and-forth. Suggests times, books slots, and follows up like a pro.
3. Spellbook – Legal AI assistant that writes and revises contracts without the $500/hr billable rate.
4. Uptiq – AI-powered financial advisor for SMBs. Tells you where you’re leaking cash and what to do about it.
5. Dust – Build internal AI assistants tailored to your ops, data, and workflows. No code, no BS.
Final Thoughts:
If your team still sees AI as “extra work,” that’s on you.
Teach them how to use it. Coach them through failure.
And then? Watch the results stack up—while your competitors try to play catch-up.
Catch you next week. Same truth, less fluff.
—Neal