How are you using AI right now? 🤖
The question I posed was, “What if AI isn’t the threat, but leading the way we’ve always led is?” Think about it. The challenges people shared ranged from not knowing where to start, to dealing with unclear leadership direction, to running into resistance. One person even introduced himself as a “lone emissary” from a company frozen by AI fear. Last week we heard David Long of the Portland Trail Blazers talk about AI Doom Loops.
I'm curious about:
What concerns or challenges you're navigating?
What's one AI tool that's actually saved you time this week?
Where are you seeing AI create value (not just hype)?
What's your biggest "but what about..." concern?
How are you thinking about innovation with ethical responsibility?
GoodCollab.AI is a community focused on ensuring AI serves humanity's best interests. This is a space to connect and have these conversations. The more I talk to people across industries, the more I realize we're all figuring this out together.
Breaking the Doom Loop
Here's what I'm seeing across organizations: when faced with AI, leaders fall into the "Einstellung effect" - a doom loop where familiar problems trigger anxiety, which drives us toward safe solutions we've used before, producing the same results, reinforcing our habits. We think we have a solution, but we're actually stuck.
The antidote? Idea flow. Generate tons of ideas. As David puts it, “the first 20 will be obvious, the next 20 will be weird, and then you hit gold.” AI excels at this when you treat it as a thought partner, not just a tool. Break the loop with volume, diversity of perspective, and rapid iteration.
The Dual Approach
Good AI leadership does two things simultaneously: it aligns AI use with the actual business objectives (top-down clarity) while encouraging personal experimentation with real work context (bottom-up adoption).
Most organizations only do one. They either mandate tools without explaining why, creating resistance, or they let everyone experiment without strategy, creating chaos. The sweet spot is giving people the framework to evaluate how AI works, explore interactions through play, and then experiment with actual problems they're trying to solve.
When you build AI literacy from all angles, with leadership communicating the why, people refocusing on human strengths, and development shifting from task management to purpose - adoption happens naturally.
Quick best practice tips: Focus on what you are trying to solve and always have a human in the loop. Start small, measure impact, and scale what works.
The Real Question
We're not stuck because AI is complicated. We're stuck because we're trying to fit transformative technology into outdated leadership frameworks. The companies making progress aren't the ones with the biggest AI budgets - they're the ones willing to lead differently.
So where are you starting? What's the one problem you could solve this week by treating AI as a thought partner instead of just another tool in your stack?
Let's figure this out together. Let's learn from each other. 💡