Hi folks I'm the Vice President of GLAWS.Org, the Greater Los Angeles Writer's Society. We do "Special speaker events" once a month, where we help people with the craft and business of writing. "Writing helping writers". Unfortunately, I've had a speaker drop out so I could use some experts that could talk on AI and writing in person in SoCal (Sherman Oaks) for an hour or two. This month, next Sunday the 22nd, we are hosting a free, in person panel in Sherman Oaks on AI and the Singularity. It'll start at 2:00PM. I'll give an overview of AI and the Singularity for about an hour, then we'll do a round table type discussion. We'll finish up by about 5, although we have the space all day. Street parking is free, and for a speaker I think the host can get you into the parking garage (tbd). You are free to market your services to the writers who attend, and I can send a bio and contact info to our large mailing list as a gesture of appreciation; we don't charge admission so there's no speaker's fees (yet) Please email me at info@glaws.org if you're interested. Thank you

How does AI change (a) your hiring process (b) the kind of people you need to hire next? I just posted the video replay from this week's Live "At The Table" with Nick Cromydas, who leads Hunt Club, one of the nation's largest recruiting firms. Actionable insights on how hiring is changing, and the most common mistakes he sees leaders make. Here's the video.

After 50+ years, Southwest Airlines has killed open seating. Starting today, every seat is assigned. No more sprint to check-in exactly 24 hours early. No more boarding-position lottery. No more "spinners" wandering the aisle looking for a spot. This is a mega change for SWA: “You can sit anywhere you want, just like at church” was one of their early slogans. Here's the thing: Your organization can't afford open seating either. Building an AI Ready organization means you need the right person in every seat... and the skillset requirements have fundamentally changed. For the first time in 20 years, I've updated my candidate interview scorecard (video here) Regardless of role, level, or industry, I'm now evaluating: - Adaptability velocity: How fast do they learn new tools? - Human-AI collaboration instinct: Do they see AI as a threat or a co-pilot? - Judgment under ambiguity: Can they know when to trust the machine and when to override it? Here's 3 other things you need to do differently to get your seating chart right: 👍🏼 Upgrade your job descriptions. Most are still written for 2019. If the role will be transformed by AI in 18 months, say so. 👍🏼 Re-interview your current team. Not to fire anyone...to understand who's ready for the turbulence ahead. 👍🏼 Stop hiring for task execution. Start hiring for problem framing. AI handles tasks. Humans define which problems are worth solving. Southwest resisted this change for decades. Don't make the same mistake with your talent strategy. The boarding process for AI has already begun. The question is whether your people have the right seats... or they're still spinning in the aisle. What's the 1 role on your team you'd hire completely differently today than you did 2 years ago?

Yesterday's NFL conference championships delivered 2 very different games... and 2 lessons for leading your team through its AI transformation. Start with Sam Darnold. 3 years ago, he was a "bust." Yesterday he threw for 346 yards & punched Seattle's ticket to the Super Bowl. Same guy. Different system. Before you start planning layoffs or panic-hiring "AI Natives," ask yourself: Are your people actually wrong for the AI era... or are they just in the wrong environment? The unsexy move is often the right one. Take your existing talent, give them the right tools & training, and watch them surprise you. Pick 1 person on your team you've mentally written off. What would it take to set them up differently? Now flip to the Patriots. Drake Maye threw for 86 yards in a Denver blizzard. Ugly football. Patriots win 10-7. Your AI transformation doesn't need to be pretty. It needs to work. The companies making real progress aren't chasing flashy pilots. They're grinding out boring, practical use cases that actually move the needle. What's the "unsexy" AI project you've been ignoring because it doesn't feel innovative enough? 2 games. 2 reminders. Sometimes the talent you need is already on your roster... and sometimes winning ugly beats losing pretty. What's your #1 AI priority this week?

By popular request... (1) Quick video tour of the AI Ready Roundtable community. (Did you know there's an entire curriculum to guide your journey to AI Ready?) (2) Video replay of today's live "At The Table" with Amy Vernetti, former head of leadership recruiting at Alphabet. (Insights on the types of folks you'll need to hire on your journey to AI Ready)