Brennan McDonald

Subscribe to Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald, a Substack publication.

Your team is doing the math. Effort to change versus risk of not changing. Change the math. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald, a Substack publication.

The AI vision is clear to you. You have been thinking about it for months. Your team heard it once in a meeting. That is the gap. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald, a Substack publication.

The people who adopted AI—were they recognised? Promoted? If early adopters are not rewarded, why would anyone follow? https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

"We need to use AI more." More than what? For which tasks? How often? If you cannot answer, neither can they. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald, a Substack publication.

You measured training attendance. Did you measure behaviour change? Measure what matters. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald, a Substack publication.

Your team is not ignoring AI. They are paralysed. Too many tools, no guidance, endless possibilities, zero direction. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald, a Substack publication.

Encouragement without accountability is a suggestion. Optional means ignorable. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald, a Substack publication.

The problem with "use your judgment on AI" is that judgment requires clarity first. They need to know what good looks like before they can aim for it. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald, a Substack publication.

Is waiting the rational choice? If doing nothing has no downside, why would anyone change? https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald, a Substack publication.

You said "integrate AI into your workflow." They heard "figure it out yourself." Same words. Different meanings. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald, a Substack publication.

What happens if someone ignores the AI initiative entirely? Nothing? Then you have answered why adoption is stalling. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald, a Substack publication.

AI awareness is not AI ability. Your team knows AI exists. That is different from knowing how to use it in their actual work. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Getting AI To Work by Brennan McDonald, a Substack publication.

AI adoption stalls when the ask is abstract. "Draft emails in Claude before sending" beats "leverage AI for communications" every time. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Brennan McDonald's Newsletter I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Brennan McDonald's Newsletter, a Substack publication.

People need to feel safe before they adopt. Safe to fail. Safe to ask basic questions. Control starts with psychological safety. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Brennan McDonald's Newsletter I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Brennan McDonald's Newsletter, a Substack publication.

The AI training was excellent. The gap between training and doing was three months. The knowledge is gone now. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Brennan McDonald's Newsletter I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Brennan McDonald's Newsletter, a Substack publication.

Who loses if this AI transformation succeeds? If you have not named the losers, you have not understood the resistance. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Brennan McDonald's Newsletter I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Brennan McDonald's Newsletter, a Substack publication.

They will not tell you they are struggling with AI. They will just quietly go back to the old way. You will never know. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Brennan McDonald's Newsletter I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Brennan McDonald's Newsletter, a Substack publication.

Status is quieter than strategy. No one says "this threatens my position." But they think it. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Brennan McDonald's Newsletter I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Brennan McDonald's Newsletter, a Substack publication.

Knowing how to prompt AI is one skill. Knowing when to trust the output is another. Most training covers only the first. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Brennan McDonald's Newsletter I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Brennan McDonald's Newsletter, a Substack publication.

They nodded in the meeting. Did nothing after. Maybe confusion. Or maybe they understood perfectly and chose not to act. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Brennan McDonald's Newsletter I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Brennan McDonald's Newsletter, a Substack publication.

Your most experienced people have the most to unlearn about AI. That is not resistance. That is the weight of expertise. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Brennan McDonald's Newsletter I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Brennan McDonald's Newsletter, a Substack publication.

Whose expertise feels threatened? This is not irrational resistance. This is rational self-protection. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Brennan McDonald's Newsletter I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Brennan McDonald's Newsletter, a Substack publication.

One failed AI attempt without support becomes "I tried it, it does not work." That story spreads faster than your training. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Brennan McDonald's Newsletter I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Brennan McDonald's Newsletter, a Substack publication.

The resistance might not be confusion. It might be fear. Fear of looking incompetent. Fear of being replaced. Have you addressed that? https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Brennan McDonald's Newsletter I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Brennan McDonald's Newsletter, a Substack publication.

They have seen AI initiatives before. Launched with fanfare. Faded within months. They are waiting to see if this one is different. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Brennan McDonald's Newsletter I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Brennan McDonald's Newsletter, a Substack publication.

Executives presenting is not executives practising. One is theatre. One is proof. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Brennan McDonald's Newsletter I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Brennan McDonald's Newsletter, a Substack publication.

You can tell them AI matters. Or you can show them by using it yourself. One works. One does not. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Brennan McDonald's Newsletter I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Brennan McDonald's Newsletter, a Substack publication.

Have you abandoned anything lately? If AI is additive, it signals it does not really matter. Real priorities displace other work. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Brennan McDonald's Newsletter I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Brennan McDonald's Newsletter, a Substack publication.

If AI is just added to the pile, not replacing anything, the message is clear: it is not actually a priority. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Brennan McDonald's Newsletter I help leaders get AI initiatives unstuck. Click to read Brennan McDonald's Newsletter, a Substack publication.

Your calendar tells the truth your slides do not. People watch behaviour, not strategy. https://brennanmcdonald.com/subscribe