Episode Summary
Ron and Deb sit down with Joey Cardella, a police officer who discovered AI while exploring what could come next beyond law enforcement. Joey describes AI as a tool that amplifies the user, sharing how he has used it to research career transitions, support real estate investing, improve business operations, build training systems, and solve everyday problems. Together, the conversation reveals a lesson every business leader needs to hear: successful AI adoption is not about technology first. It is about curiosity, experimentation, and the willingness to learn.
Joey’s journey with AI began almost by accident.
A friend mentioned ChatGPT, Joey tried it, and at first, he used it like a better version of Google. But quickly, he noticed something different. Instead of simply returning links, AI could engage in conversation, respond to follow-up questions, and help him explore ideas in real time.
That curiosity led him down a path of discovery.
He began using AI to think through career options after law enforcement, research real estate investing, explore financial planning, organize handwritten notes, analyze documents, and help friends solve business problems.
This is one of the most important lessons for leaders: AI in the workplace does not begin with a perfect strategy. It begins with people willing to ask, “What else could this do?”
That mindset is becoming central to modern leadership development. Leaders who encourage experimentation create organizations that learn faster. Leaders who discourage curiosity create cultures that fall behind.
Leadership Development Requires Learning the Tool, Not Worshiping the Brand
One of Joey’s most useful distinctions is that AI tools are like vehicles.
Some people argue over brands – Ford, Chevy, Dodge. Joey’s perspective is different. He cares less about the brand and more about what the tool can do.
He applies the same logic to AI.
For conversation, he often turns to ChatGPT. For data-heavy work, he has found Claude useful. For images, handwriting, and multimodal tasks, Gemini has been valuable. For document-specific research, NotebookLM solved a major problem by keeping the AI focused on a particular source instead of wandering across the internet.
The goal is not to become loyal to one platform. The goal is to understand which tool fits the job.
In leadership programs and executive coaching, this kind of flexible thinking matters. Leaders do not need to know every AI platform in depth, but they do need enough fluency to ask better questions, choose better tools, and guide their teams with confidence.
Company Culture Changes When People Learn Together
A recurring theme in the conversation is the value of learning AI with other people.
Joey explains that his growth accelerated when he began talking with friends, coworkers, neighbors, business owners, and study groups about how they were using AI. Each conversation revealed new use cases. Someone introduced him to NotebookLM. Someone else had a business problem. A friend needed help turning a handwritten T-shirt order sheet into an organized spreadsheet.
In each case, the learning happened socially.
That matters for company culture.
Organizations often treat AI adoption as an individual skill: “Go learn this tool.” But the deeper opportunity is cultural. When teams learn together, they share discoveries, solve communication problems, and build confidence collectively.
Strong company culture is not built by handing employees a new platform and hoping they figure it out. It is built by creating space for people to experiment, teach each other, and talk openly about what is working and what is not.
Communication Problems Surface When AI Adoption Lacks Context
One of Joey’s early challenges with AI was hallucination – when an AI tool confidently produces incorrect or unusable information.
This happened when he tried using AI to research real estate contracts. The tool responded confidently, but some of the information did not apply to his location or context. That experience taught him a critical lesson: AI needs boundaries, context, and human judgment.
The same is true inside organizations.
Many communication problems in organizations happen because leaders assume people understand the purpose of a tool without explaining the context. Employees may not know what AI is for, what it should not be used for, how to protect sensitive data, or when human oversight is required.
AI does not eliminate the need for leadership communication.
It increases it.
Leaders must be clear about expectations, risks, privacy, decision-making authority, and the intended business outcomes. Without that clarity, AI can create confusion faster than it creates value.
Executive Coaching in the AI Era: Helping Leaders Move from Fear to Experimentation
Ron and Deb ask Joey about the common fear that AI will take jobs.
Joey’s response is practical. He introduces the idea of “churn” – not necessarily work disappearing, but work changing shape.
A software engineer may not do the same tasks in the same way if AI can write and test code quickly. But someone still needs to understand the intention, review the output, guide the process, and determine whether the result is useful.
Many leaders are asking the wrong question: “Will AI replace people?”
A better question is: “How will AI change the shape of the work, and how do we prepare people to create value in that new shape?”
When leaders approach AI through fear, they create resistance. When they approach AI through experimentation, they create possibility.
Leadership Training Must Teach Intention, Not Just Efficiency
AI can help churn milk into butter, metaphorically speaking – but a human still has to decide that butter is wanted in the first place.
That is the human advantage.
AI can process, sort, summarize, generate, and analyze. But people bring intention. People decide what matters. People decide what problem is worth solving. People decide whether compute power should be used to create entertainment, tutor children, support cancer research, or improve a business process.
This is where leadership training must evolve.
The future of leadership is not simply about using AI to do more faster. It is about helping leaders ask:
What are we trying to create?
Who are we trying to serve?
What outcome actually matters?
What risks are we willing to take?
What values guide our use of this technology?
Efficiency without intention can create noise. Leadership gives AI direction.
Leadership Programs Need to Prepare People for Rapid Change
Joey, Ron, and Deb all return to the idea that AI is still evolving quickly.
Tools are changing. Capabilities are expanding. Costs are shifting. Local models, cloud-based tools, subscriptions, and open-source platforms are all part of the landscape.
For Joey, this creates excitement. He sees AI opening new possibilities for autonomy, career design, and meaningful work beyond the physical constraints of his current role.
For organizations, this means leadership programs cannot be static.
A one-time AI training session will not be enough. Leaders need ongoing learning environments where they can test tools, compare use cases, discuss risks, and adapt as technology changes.
Leadership development in the AI era must be continuous because the tools themselves are continuous.
The Human Advantage in AI Is Still People
AI can amplify confusion, poor communication, weak company culture, and unclear leadership.
That is why AI adoption is not just an IT issue. It is a leadership issue.
Organizations that succeed with AI will not simply be the ones with the best tools. They will be the ones with leaders who know how to create clarity, build trust, encourage experimentation, and keep people connected to meaningful outcomes.
For Joey, AI became a tool for exploration, learning, and possibility. For business leaders, it can become the same thing – but only if they approach it intentionally.
The question is not whether AI belongs in the workplace. It already does.
The real question is whether your leadership, communication, and culture are ready to use it well.
If you’re navigating AI adoption, leadership challenges, or cultural shifts inside your organization, we’d love to hear your story. Reach out to Ron at ron@macklinconnection.com or Deb at deb@macklinconnection.com to learn more about joining a community designed to support your personal and professional growth.
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