Who's Gonna Tell Her Story? David Dean on AI, Human Value in the Workplace

SPEAKER_01 1:01

This is an Undiscovered Legacy Production and prod member of Pod Nation Media Network.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

I was on a call with um a frontline business worker, and we we were kind of talking about talking about the you know what AI kind of meant and trying to get to understand what they knew about it, and they broke out in tears. And and I was like, what you know, are you alright? It's like within she's like, I'm just so afraid I'm not gonna be here a year from now. You know, with that. And and that's kind of what sparked me as part of like she's gonna be here for me from now. I know how things are being communicated, I know it, but like, how can I help her understand she's gonna be here for a year from now? But more so, all the people kind of making decisions why it's important for someone like her to be around as a part of this with it. So who's gonna tell her story, you know, with it? And that's kind of what sparked of, you know, despite any of the challenges or issues that I had with myself and stuff, essentially establishing my persona, I need to put myself out there. Are you ready to unlock your entrepreneur potential?

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Are you ready to break free from all the barriers holding you back? Then you've come to the right place. Welcome to the Undiscovered Entrepreneur! Your first step in getting across the start line. Let's get across that start line together. Right here, right now, on the Undiscovered Entrepreneur. Salutation, Scooby Leavers! We're here again with another Amazing Entrepreneur. Today we're here with David. Hey David, how's it going? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to be on the Undiscovered Entrepreneur, get across the start line. Super appreciate you and what you do.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Thank you. I I as I said, I appreciate being on the show and I'm excited uh for our discussion.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

All right, awesome. So before we get started, I do kind of have a semi-serious question to ask you. Okay, you ready, Dave? Yes, I am. All right, here we go. Are you a school believer? Absolutely. All right, yay! David's a school believer. Thanks, David, for being a school believer. That is awesome. Thank you so, so much. So, what I like to do here at the very beginning is get an idea of who you are, what your entrepreneur adventure is, and how you got across the start line in your entrepreneur adventure.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Okay, sounds great. Yeah. So my journey is while it may be the same as others, it's a little bit different. And my journey is more about taking all my past lived experience and applying this lived experience into this world of AI. And what I mean by that is that as I was moving into this space and designing solutions for different customers, uh, different clients around it, I had to figure out basically transition from like, you know, process automation, solution, infrastructure, security, all these different uh aspects and dynamics that are out there that I had all around this. And I'm like, so now AI is entering this world within the organization. What does that mean for them? And the only really real way I could figure it out is what does that mean for me, essentially? And and so how would I explain it to myself? And to a certain extent, how would I explain to myself like eight years ago, essentially? So I take my time back where I was eight years ago, and I'm like, AI has now entered this. How would I kind of reinvent myself and re-educate myself when uh AI has come into play? So as I was transitioning my career more into the AI, I did a lot of digital journaling because it was really the only way to kind of get all of these thoughts out, you know, with it. And I have had the pleasure of working with many different business units and a lot of different organizations across different industry verticals. I've I've had the opportunity to work with tens of thousands of solutions at this point in my career. And that proximity gave me an opportunity to kind of see AI through a different lens coming into it. And so as I was on this journey and kind of discovering uh all this stuff and putting it uh, you know, my ideas down, I I started seeing a lot of how things were being communicated out there relating to AI, you know, the opportunities, the doomsday, doomsdayers, you know, the um the people that are concerned about all those different types of dynamics. And uh, and a lot of them were talking like up here, like really high level. And and a lot of it was talking about what I call the the the what if, or like this is what the future is going to be. This is uh here's the opportunity to kind of build yourself to that future, which is great, you know, from uh around those uh times, those different types of things. But with all my experience working with different ground level teams, whether that's leaders or you know, just that you know, frontline worker as a part of this, I was like, what does it mean for them? And so I started kind of doing some research and looking, you know, looking at kind of all the comments from like those kinds of different demographics. What are they saying, you know, around this whole dynamic? And then I started looking at what I was journaling about, and I'm like, there's something here that there is a story to be told, you know, with this. And so kind of my journey from an entrepreneurship standpoint is moving into a space that I had never thought I would ever do was to write a book uh uh about this. And and I thought about it and I thought about it, and I was just like, oh, there's a lot. I mean, you know, I I'm a little guy in this big hype world. I'm just a little guy in this space. I might be very knowledgeable and educated around all this stuff, but I'm still kind of that little guy out there. So what do I have to say to get people's attention as a part of this? And I kept thinking to myself, it's not about me, you know, with it. It's about all of them out there, listening to this, watching this, that type of thing. People were screaming for something that they can relatch on to with this changing world around AI. And because of that proximity that I had and and all the dynamics that I kind of had to deal with in my experience, I feel like there was something that I could put out there, you know, uh, as a part of this. And it and it's been a really interesting journey. There's been some successes and a lot of failures in that regard. There's a lot of dynamics with it. And and I would have never thought myself being kind of a uh an entrepreneur out there uh type of personality. And to a certain degree, I still am not, but at least when it comes to something like this, I feel like I'm I'm doing the right thing. That something that needs to happen is a part of this, and I'm continuing moving forward until I can't do it anymore, essentially, with it. I want to keep doing it, but it I'm trying to get my setup self-set up so that I can keep doing and getting that message out.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Fantastic. I love that so much. You got you you got unpacked a lot of different things. I don't know if you saw me over here. I'm writing like notes like crazy over here because you have so much I really want to unpack with this. First of all, no matter what you're doing, you're helping other people. So you are an entrepreneur because that's really the basis of what an entrepreneur actually does. We make services to help other people. We make products to help other people, we write books to help other people. So no matter what you're doing in there, I just I want to make sure I said this. You are an entrepreneur. Yeah, there's no guessing in it. There, you are definitely an entrepreneur. So make sure that you say to yourself that you are an entrepreneur. Okay, now that the coaching part's done, we're all we all start out as a little guy, right? At least that's what we think of in our heads, right? We all start small. We all start from zero, just like I said a little bit earlier before we got started. It's what we do from zero on is what makes us who we are, what makes us the entrepreneur and how we take in the information that we set in our zone of genius to be able to help other people. And we do sometimes get caught in the what ifs. The what if this happens, or the what if that happens, what if uh AI takes over my job? What if AI gets smarter than I am? Yeah, these are kind of, if you really think about it, kind of the doomsday things. But also, what if AI helps us in our entrepreneur adventure? What can I use AI for to help us move along in our entrepreneur adventure? So we want to kind of take that, you know, we want to kind of take that thing where it's more of a tool than anything else, not so much as a replacement.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Yep, absolutely. And I and my book talks about uh a lot of that because there's a lot of afraid people out there. Uh, there's a lot of opportunity, but there's a lot of concerned individuals as like, you know, am I going to have a job out there? And I think the biggest thing is that the reality is that a lot of companies forget why we hire people in the first place. You know, why do we have people become a part of our business and our teams and that kind of stuff with it? It's because of the things that we value the most about people in the workplace, which is all that lived experience and lived consequence. That is what shapes our judgment and how we make decisions out there. And that's why we hire people. Anybody can do tasks and steps as a part of that, you know, with it. But that person standing at that point when a decision needs to be made and accountability needs to be had, I want a person there. I want someone who can understand those downstream consequences. And and it doesn't matter whether you're a CEO of the company or a frontline worker in that, all those dynamics exist. And one of the things I talk about in my book is that as with all this AI aspect going on, someone needs to remind everyone we do all these things. We do all these things unconsciously, all these dynamics, all these behaviors, all these different types of things. And and those are skills and qualities, you know, around it. And uh a lot of times I kind of talk about this concept of there's kind of two levels of work. There's like the the the written contract, which is essentially this is my business, this is how I do things, I my presentation out there, my values, all those different types of things. That's the documented process out there. And then you have the undocumented process, which is really how the business runs. It's all those behavioral dynamics, all those workarounds, all those decisions that we do every day, consciously and unconsciously, to really get the job done as a part of that with it. And that is why we hire people is to deal with all that undocumented behavior. And that's why humans are valuable in the workplace.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Well, we want to have a human to be a part of the whatever final decision it is that we make for our businesses. It's nice to use AID to come up, AIs to come up with ideas and maybe to play around with the ideas. But when it comes down to making the final decision on something that's gonna actually happen that's gonna directly affect you as a human, but also you in your business, it's very important to have that final human touch at the very end.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Yeah, absolutely. And and then that's the biggest thing is where kind of drawing the lines is there's in the long run, when I from a from the book standpoint, it's gonna be an eventual symbiotic relationship. There's things that humans are going to always do really well, and there's things that AI is going to do uh really well. And I think the biggest thing is around this conversation around AI. If AI is here to mimic human behavior, then make it human. And so, and that's kind of where the uh the aspects, all of those behavioral dynamics with it is like there is a line in which you're still responsible and accountable, but it can be here to help industrialize your behaviors in ways that you never thought possible, but you're still accountable as a part of all those dynamics with it. And that's kind of what I'm talking about is like, what is this relationship? Because it is, it's a relationship. You are AI is still figuring out you, and you're still figuring out AI. And as with any relationships, do you think it's instant? No, it's gonna take time, it's gonna take cultivation, it's gonna take that understanding, this relationship of how I'm gonna work with you and how it's gonna work with me as a part of that. And it's okay to slow down as a part of this. It's okay to figure this out. What is gonna be best for you, not as just even an individual, but as a team, as a business, as an organization. What how do we define that? And then those companies that can create what I would say this organizational self-awareness is going to be the ones that are going to excel as this AI era dawns, you know, from an organizational standpoint with it. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Using AI, I want to just kind of get your opinion on this too, especially this particular point. But using AI as a second brain, per se, would do you think that would be an accurate way to describe kind of what you're talking about here?

SPEAKER_00 14:50

I like to I like to think about the movie uh multiplicity. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and so like essentially I'm making copies of myself, but there's they're not all the same, they're all different, they all function differently, you know, they have a different mind, they're they have different aspects on that. There's things that they're solid in, they're weak in in that regard, but I can still offload certain things. There's certain things that can do well and certain things that can't do well as a part of that with it. And so you're essentially duplicating yourself and offloading things that is like I'm I'm gonna focus my time where I need to focus my time. My time is valuable as a part of this. And so, what are things that I can offload that is I still need to do and it is tedious as a part of that? But um, but so I can focus on those like more richer type of things, those more human things that need to happen, those human dynamics with it, which is like things like relationship building, you know, as a part of that, and and and things where I'm going to be progressive as a part of this. I also can utilize, I can argue with myself, hey, you know, uh take devil's advocate advocate here, you know, present it in this way, debate myself relating to this type of situation. I need to be able to extract what's in here. There's something in here. I need to get it out, you know, with it. I just don't know what it is as a part of this. And so then this is kind of like if you can use AI as a tool to effectively expand and enhance your capability without losing um eroding certain types of skill sets out there that are highly valuable, then it's really going to help you in the long run.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Well, especially if you can program the AI to be able to counter what you're saying so you can actually debate. Because a lot of a lot of great ideas come from uh what I call friendly candor, back and forth, not just between friends, but if you program the AI right, it can do the same thing for you. And then you're going back and forth basically with yourself. And just like you said, maybe being the devil's advocate or or being maybe taking the personality of a customer that might be looking at your product, it kind of gives you an idea of what you can shoot for when it comes to a product or a service or anything else that you might be coming up with.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Absolutely. And and this is where I kind of get into the meat of my book is this the unwritten contract in the written contract. So the written contract, as I said, it's all this kind of official documentation that's out there of various forms to say, like, this is how we work as an organization with it. But the unwritten contract, which is that behavioral record of all of those dynamics, and though that behavioral record tells lots of stories out of it. And so normally that behavioral record, like it's a part of us. Like I know you function this way, think this way, do say these different types of things, and um, and I could find that out, but it would take a lot of research in order to be able to figure identify that. Well, now with AI, and that's kind of odd-written contract and all these uh behavioral records, I can use AI to discover things that I never thought I could discover before. And so by pointing to this and applying the right lens to those dynamics, it can tell me opportunities where I could maybe improve myself. Like, hey, you know, for example, like I had a meeting and I had a um uh an engagement with a client with this. I take that transcript down. How did that go? What based on what you know of the client, what do you think the client perceived of me as a part of this? Like, how did I present myself out there, you know, with this? And and with that dynamic, you're only gonna get a partial lens of that, which is the behavior records only partial. There's still you, there's still everything that you know and all your lived experience with it. So, like, this is what it said, this is what I know. If I put that together, that tells me something actionable that I could potentially do, or did I do everything right, you know, uh with it? And but then you think about the long haul. So, like you take that client engagement. Now I have a hundred client engagements as a part of that. What are all these patterns that I see progressively, you know, across multiple uh all these different client engagements or peered engagements or leadership engagements? All these different organizational dynamics that are out there can really help you understand where there are opportunities. And when I go more from a business standpoint, is that how can I help my internal business dynamics to overcome challenges and opportunities with it? And sometimes I don't need an AI solution out there. I may just need to go have a conversation with someone because they may that that dynamic that's not working as a part of your business, that person may not feel like they have authority to do something. That person may be overworked uh with it around so those different dynamics tell tell provide a lot of insight. And to me, I think that's really the opportunity, like the frontier of AI, is rediscovering ourselves, rediscovering our companies, and and and taking a look at ourselves like a mirror and saying, what does this tell about me? What does this tell about the company and how can I change to be better and and and gain opportunity?

SPEAKER_01 20:37

Exactly, exactly. But in all that, let's not forget that we're especially right now, humans are being able to talk to somebody back and forth like we are right now, David. There's a lot less of that happening now because there are AI and agents are all talking to each other and kind of like not, I'm not gonna say pushing us out because that's a little too far. I think that's a little bit too far, but kind of minimizing our our being the contact that we have with each other. But if we can actually go out and sit down and have a cup of coffee with a customer, and I think they're gonna respect that a lot more than just getting an AI email that that you know that's worded, it's something like you, but you they know it's not you. But going out there, we still have to go out there, shake hands, have that human contact to be to be recognized a lot easier and a lot better, because that's what most people are craving right now because of AI.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

Yeah, and absolutely. And the one thing I talk about from a futuristic standpoint, look at our science fiction, our portrayal science fiction. Look at Star Trek, look at you know, Star Wars, look at all these different types of you know, science fiction aspects. The human element is still there, the human dynamics, the human engagement. There are things that we have offloaded, but it doesn't change all of our interactions that would need to happen, and all those dynamics work through that. It's just we're shifting things that are very time consuming that are low risk aspects on that. If I get an email that may be AI generated relating to that, you know, I'm taking the risk by sending an AI generated email to a potential client with this. That client may just ignore it, but they may just ignore it anyways, you know, as a part of this with it. And so I think it comes down to uh, but that AI generated email may create an insight, it may say something that sparks their interest relating to that. And uh, and so it's not so much about the language, it's about what uh what is that opportunity for me to have a deeper relationship with someone and to continue to have that deeper relationship with someone. And this is kind of how I talk about like for me individually, is my spark is understanding business behavior, you know, with this. And and this is how I reach out to is like, hey. Hey, you have an issue and you have a problem. It could be highly technical. I'll translate it back to you as something that this is really actually these behaviors from a business standpoint. It's highly relatable, you know, to you and your issues and your problems with it. I may still that still may be AI generated, but I still have tuned it in a way that's gonna catch your eye and and catch your all of your senses as a human as that to drive that further conversation human to human.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

Exactly. It's just like here, I'm gonna I'm gonna go off of your Star Trek kind of dealer because we're nerds. What am I gonna what I'm gonna do? So like if if if Kirk or the captain, you know, depending on what you're watching, goes down to Scotty, say, hey Scotty, I need to know this information. What if Scotty took all the time to read all the dials and look at all the graphs and everything else and then got back to the captain, by that time the ship would have blown up. Yeah. But with with him being able to talk to the AI of the ship, hey, check this for me real quick. Now they instantly have the information that they need to get back to to the captain to make a quick decision. And I think that's a good metaphor for using AI.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Yeah, absolutely. And and because of his lived experience and and lived consequence with that, he knows what question to ask. He knows where to direct the computer to go to be able to potentially find the answer as a part of that. That only comes from everything. We're still machines in this, we're still a part of this whole ecosystem. We are amazingly beautiful machines and flawed machines in a lot of different ways, but so is AI, because AI is you know designed to mimic us. So why can't AI be flawed just as we are flawed as a part of this with it? And so, as long as we understand the limitations and where we need to step in and be a part of that conversation, you know, then we can work out that relationship. And as I said, it's working out the relationships. We have two different personalities that are clashing with each other, but they also can complement each other. Let's work through that and make that relationship work.

SPEAKER_01 25:11

Definitely. And I think at that point, the AI will just be probably one of the biggest tools. That'll be the next internet or sliced bread or however you want to say it is for our for our the next many generations to come. And then we'll end up in the Star Wars, Star Trek kind of thing where we're we're actually using it as the tool that we're like we're talking about. So that's awesome. Thank you so much for that. Absolutely. Yeah. All right. So I have I love this question. Now I know you've been on a few podcasts, and they ask you this is a just a such a common question. What was your hardest pitfall? What was your hardest problem in your business? Blah, blah, blah, blah. So I like to put a little bit of a spit on it. And what is the one thing that happened to you that was very negative, that was kind of a pitfall, but you're proud of? In other words, I'm glad this happened to me because this amazing thing came out of it on the other side. Did you ever have anything like that happen to you, David?

SPEAKER_00 26:02

Yeah, I think that uh I I think the biggest thing around something like that is it's not just one thing. It it's it's a conglomerate of different things with this. Is you know, I've I've worked for large enterprise companies for for most of my career with this. And and in a lot of ways, what came out of this book is a lot of the failures that I had as a part of the experience of like, you know, on trying to work out, make something happen or make something successful, and that's something I believe in. But ultimately, uh not everyone else was on board as far as like what what that's meant around it. And it came down to that understanding a certain degree of organizational dynamics with this, you know, and understanding the kind of different lenses, different perceptions that are out there, kind of all the different types of personas in that ecosystem with it. And by dealing with all of that range, you know, from the the frontline worker and and all the way to the top, you know, from a CEO level, it gave me I got I got kicked around a lot, you know, out there as around some of these things. But I think the one thing it allowed me to do is really kind of establish who I was, what my principles are, and establish myself as being authentic. And the one thing that I have found working with all these different people in all these different organizations is people respect authenticity. You may not even people may not even like you, but if they know how you are, how you operate, you are, I would say generally predictable, but people love routine, they love being able to walk up and know exactly what they stand for, exactly how they're gonna generally handle things, and and and be able to establish yourself in such a way where you build quiet trust. So pe and so people like you know, I was actually I'm working on like a newsletter article about this, but you know, I'm I'm naturally a big and tall guy out there. So when I first meet up people, there's a degree of intimidation as a part of this. But but slowly over time, as people got to know me, they realized, you know, I'm a very compassionate, empathetic type of individual out there. Kind of one of the reasons I wrote wrote this book and put this out there is because of that compassion and empathetic as empathy around it, because I feel like someone needs to be, you know, with it. And and so it kind of made me realize who I was. And, you know, and I'm getting older and out there and kind of seeing like, okay, what am I gonna be like when I'm 50 or 60? Am I gonna be proud of what I've established as a person in this ecosystem, in this era? And and I'm still challenged all the time with it, but I still come down to building those core principles and stand buying what uh what I believe in and be able to make do the right thing. And and and I think that's really what came out of it. And that's kind of where I, you know, I said, yes, let's do this, let's make this book happen, let's put it out there. Despite any of the challenges that, you know, that came up as a part of this, it still was the right thing. And and I would say, like, even like two years ago, you know, to a certain extent, I would have never considered doing anything like this at all. But but it just, you know, all that compounding just reaffirms kind of the type of individual that I am.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

So, what was the difference between two years ago and now that kind of gave you that switch to saying, okay, I really do need to make write this book? I mean, what was what happened there? What was the kind of the aha moment?

SPEAKER_00 29:58

I was on a call with this is the early days of AI and that kind of stuff. I was on a call with um a frontline business worker, and we were we were kind of talking about the talking about the you know what AI kind of meant and trying to get to understand what they knew about it, and they broke out in tears. And and I was like, Well, you know, are you alright? Is like with it, and she's like, I'm just so afraid I'm not gonna be here a year from now, you know, with that. And and that's kind of what sparked me as part of like she's gonna be here from a year from now. I know how things are being communicated, I know it, but like, how can I help her understand she's gonna be here a year from now, but more so all the people kind of making decisions, why it's important for someone like her to be around as a part of this with it. So who's gonna tell her story, you know, with it? And that's kind of what sparked, you know, despite any of the challenges or issues that I had with myself and stop essentially establishing my persona, I need to put myself out there, you know, with it. I'm not looking to be an influencer out there, like, but I do want to create influence, you know, with it. And and so I just feel like someone needs to fight for them. And that's kind of where I put this book out there is like, here's a way I can help people understand why they're important, why leadership perceives them needing to be important and kind of developing that dynamic and relationship out there. And uh, and and that's not the only story as a part of it. I've had several stories, you know, with it. I've had people use weaponized AI to um where people got fired over it and and all this kind of stuff. There's a lot of misuse out there and inappropriate use with it. And and we do need rules, we do need perspective of that. And and you know, I'm not against AI, and I'm not I'm not, you know, you know, I'm not 100% for AI on certain dynamics. And so I think it comes down to we need to understand what this relationship and dynamic is going to be moving forward, because 79% of the workforce is what I call the AI survivalist. You know, they don't care either way, they're just doing their jobs every day. It's just a tool. You know, they may take advantage and eventually learn that relationship, but that's going to take time and take, you know, working through all of that. So let's make it real for them. Let's make it real for you. Let's make everything be successful. Let's tone down things to a certain degree so that we can bring everyone up to speed, catch everything up, create this realization of what that means going in the long run so we can all be successful with this change.

SPEAKER_01 32:44

Fantastic. I love that. Thank you so much. So we can expect pretty much most of that in your book, right?

SPEAKER_00 32:51

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And uh and the biggest thing, the first part of the book is really remember how you operate as a person in the workplace, how your team operates, how your business operates to a certain degree, throwing, you know, this introduction of what that means from an AI. And now AI has entered the relationship. What does that relationship look like? What does that mean? And then eventually expands into scaling, you know, company-wide, like, you know, how do we make this work? Because what I wanted is a book that someone could pick up 10 years from now. And no matter what AI is 10 years from now, the book still resonates, you know, with it. And those dynamics are still critically important. And sometimes we'll we have to go back to these things and remind ourselves this is why people still matter, this is why these dynamics matter. As AI becomes amazing, you know, out there doing all kinds of stuff with this, with it. But we still have certain principles and the certain things that we hold on to as humans, and that's why it's still critically important, why humans are a part of the equation. There's no, you know, there's no aspect where humans are not part of this. It's more of this how do we build this symbiotic relationship over time so they both work for with each other.

SPEAKER_01 34:07

Fantastic. You know, I noticed the whole time we've been talking, we've just called it the book. So why don't you tell me the name of the book?

SPEAKER_00 34:14

Uh it's called an inbox between us. And and I use the term inbox because everyone, email is going to be here forever. Some even 50 years from now, some form of it will still be around as a part of that dynamic. But what I talk about, the inbox is this landing zone of all of our communication and collaboration data that defines the behavioral record of our dynamics in the workplace with that. And so, what does that mean as AI enters the space? What does that mean for that the opportunity for organizational self-awareness as a part of this? And how can we take advantage of that to move forward to really truly capture what AI can allow us to allow us to do is rediscover ourselves?

SPEAKER_01 35:01

Fantastic. And I'm assuming it's on Amazon. Where can I find this book?

SPEAKER_00 35:06

Yeah, so I'm on all major retailers, ebook, as well as uh print book on, like, you know, Barnes Noble and uh Portugalite for bulk sales, as well as Amazon. But coming in later July, I'm coming out with an audiobook version. It's actively being worked on right now. So, so yeah, so check that out because essentially how the book is kind of delivered, it's more of me kind of having this conversation with you and kind of trying to walk through and explain what this means. And I think that that's something that's really going to resonate with people. It's like, you know, someone being able to walk them through and coach them. And sometimes things are well, you know, consumed from a written standpoint, but versus from an audio standpoint with that.

SPEAKER_01 35:51

My wife calls it absorbing your books, and that's that's kind of how I do it too. I'm I am a total like listen to my book kind of guy. If I read two or three pages, I get tired, I fall asleep, and then I forget where I left off at. So, but because of uh how I do things, it just seems to work for me a lot better to be able to hear somebody read the book to me, and it's a lot more special for me, especially if it's if it's the author or somebody that's close to the author reading the book to me because I can have that connection. So that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 36:20

Yeah, and that was an interesting experience of trying to find the right voice, you know, out there who can who can uh bring people into the right frame of mind whether having a conversation with me is a part of this with it. And I thought about with me, and I'm like, I think it would just be an audio nightmare trying to put all that stuff together and and make it work with that. I'm not practice or anything like that. So I want to make sure that it's clear and it's understood, and someone who is who is well experienced in something like that. So um, but I also have a website, davidchristopherdean.com. You can learn more about me and learn more about the book and and my backgrounds uh with that. And um, and I love to be able to connect with people.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

All right, fantastic. I love that. So I do have a tradition with all my guests, and the next six months, I'd like to know where you are sitting. I mean, do you have a six-month goal for yourself, for you and your company? What do you got planned for yourself in the next six months?

SPEAKER_00 37:18

Yeah, I think that my goal is that I'd like to position myself in a way where I could be still be this ongoing voice in in regards to this, you know, changing world around AI. And and I hope to be able to be invited to more like speaking engagements. I've done a few as a part of this, but uh presentation at events and around that, but also you know, how people can capitalize on someone like me as a tool with that. And what I mean by that is like I have all this lived experience and knowledge. You know, I'm I would never claim I'm an AI expert because I don't think anybody's an AI expert, but I have a lot of knowledge and can relate and and uh around large enterprise and you know, small enterprise out there. And it's like, you know, being able to have someone that you can reach out to that just like understands AI and how to make it work in your organization, that's and they can just kind of walk in and and at that ground level, proximity. And that's the interesting thing that I've come about. This like in all the presentations, all the conversations, this conversation around AI and proximity, you know, typically has been like a very interesting. I've had a lot of positive comments about this. It's like uh and so I call myself the business AI realist, and and that's kind of how I classify myself. Let me make it real for you in regards to how making your organization work when this relationship with AI.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

All right, that's fabulous. So, what I'd like to do with you, if it's okay, David, is I'd like to follow up with you in six months and see how you're going in your business. I'd really be interested and see where you have spoken in those next six months and see where you know how that's going for you. But I'm also interested, especially in somebody that's well versed in AI, to kind of talk about where AI has gone in the last six months and see what kind of advancements have happened and how people are taking in the new AI that uh up to that point. So, would that be okay with you, David?

SPEAKER_00 39:20

That would be fantastic, and I'd be looking forward to it. All right, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

Okay, so I know we kind of did this already, but I'm gonna do it again. This is your time to shine, David. This is the time where I want you to advertise yourself, how we get a hold of you, and all that good stuff. Okay, ready, uh set, uh go.

SPEAKER_00 39:37

You can find me uh at DavidChristopherDean.com. My website showcases basically what I'm about and and how I talk about being a business AI realist. Um, so ways to reach out to me. You find about a bunch of information relating to my book uh and all the different options relating to it, as well as if you're interested in having me come and speak or uh be on a podcast to uh have further conversations. I do have links relating to the consulting aspect on there as well. Um, but uh but what I encourage people to do is connect with me on LinkedIn and reach out to me on LinkedIn. Uh, I do have a newsletter up there that kind of extends this conversation beyond the book and making things more kind of real downstream. There's some really awesome uh newsletters to kind of change your lens of perception of what this means ongoing as a part of this. And and uh and so I'm here to be a voice for all the different business leaders and individual contributors on making AI real for you.

SPEAKER_01 40:35

All right, fantastic, David. Now, if anybody wants to get a hold of the book, gets a hold of David, anything along those lines, uh get with him on LinkedIn, look into the show notes where I'll have all that available. Also, if you go to my website, tuepodcast.net, uh, I will have a spot there just for David that has all his contact information. David, thank you so much for being on Undiscovered Entrepreneur. I learned so much from you, I got so many notes, and and I'm really looking forward to following up with you in six months.

SPEAKER_00 41:03

Thank you. I I had a it was a great pleasure, and I I loved being on here, and thank you for having me so much. All right.

SPEAKER_01 41:10

All right, school believers, make sure you stay tuned for the wrap-up. Okay, everybody, thank you. Bye-bye. All right, school believers. That was David. What a fantastic episode we had with David. I loved his imagination, how he integrates AI with all the other experiences that we have, and that leads me right into two of the most important things we're gonna take away from this episode. The most powerful thing that AI accidentally revealed is just how irreplaceable you are in this world. AI is not gonna be able to live our experiences, have our moments, have the aha things that we experience as humans. And that's what makes us different from AI. And I don't think AI will ever be able to replicate those specific things. If you really think about it, AI wouldn't exist unless we were here as humans to make it. So let's remember AI is just a tool. It's like a painter's paintbrush or a sculptor's tool, but it's the tool that we use to get us to the next level. It's kind of like our second brain. Let's make it our second brain and use it as a tool to move money in our entrepreneurial future. You do not have to be an expert to create influence. You just have to care enough about people and care about what they think, what they know, and what they don't know about how you can help these people that are looking toward you for advice, for guidance, and be the leader that you're meant to be. I know at first it's really hard for us to believe that we can be a front runner or we can be a leader in any kind of aspect, not just in AI, but whatever our field is. But we all have the capability to do something special with what we are given, with our zone of genius, with our specific talents. And with those talents, we all, including you, will make a difference in this world. And with that, I'm gonna say thank you, Scoobelievers, for another fantastic episode. If this episode has touched you in any way, if uh you came across something that gave you that aha moment, I want to hear about it in the comments. Anywhere in there, if this episode has done anything for you, please let me know what you liked about it. Even if you didn't like something about it, I would like to know about it. Share this episode with somebody that's having trouble getting along with AI or think AI is going to be taking over. I think this would definitely be an episode for them to listen to. Thank you, Scooby Leavers. Bye-bye. And there you have it, future entrepreneurs. We've taken a vital step on the journey across the start line. Remember, every great business begins with a single idea and the courage to pursue it. And you've already shown that courage just by being here today. That's a wrap up this episode of the Undiscovered Entrepreneur Get Across the Start Line. I want you to reflect on the path you have to recognize the four hurdles of stock. Is it a pocket syndrome holding you back? Is it perfectionist of failure or fear? Identifying which one affects you the most is the key to unlocking your momentum. But here's the real secret hurdles are not in the way, they are the way. Every time you clear what, you're building the exact strength you need for your journey ahead. Until our next episode, keep pushing, keep dreaming, and keep jumping over those hurdles. It's a scoop, your guide across the start line. Remember, your future is waiting. I can, I am, I will, and I'm doing it today.