Thought Partners S3 E4: More Creative, or Just Quicker?

Is AI making us more creative, or just quicker? Dr. Lynn Austin, educator, author, and fresh DBA whose research looks at how organizations get their people ready for AI, joins Ed and Paul to talk about where AI helps, where it hurts, and why the question that matters most is "what problem am I trying to solve?" Along the way: a rescued dog who taught her to be human, a seventh-grade rap, an AI staff named Chatty, Sir Claude-a-lot, and Jimmy, and the line Ed called the quote of the episode.

Bring us the next question. Join the Thought Partners Discord and tell us how AI is changing your creative work, or who we should talk to next.

👉 https://discord.gg/5CU3xW4AD

We're on X now too: @ThoughtPtnrsPod

Timestamps
00:05 Welcome, and Dr. Lynn Austin
00:54 Ed's warm-up: when did AI first surprise you?
02:14 The Newman Tales: one hour for the dog, six hours for her
05:14 "I wonder if" and the seventh-grade rap
11:28 All words are made up; connection; Newman rescued me
16:01 Vision boards, the doctorate, and a prayer and a nap
22:58 Her research: companies "invest in the word AI"
29:09 "We bought everyone a Copilot license. Now what?"
32:17 Middle managers caught in the middle
35:13 Ed's four weeks of AI
36:54 Transparent leaders and room for R&D
40:30 Will AI take my job?
46:31 Agents on strike: Chatty, Sir Claude-a-lot, and Jimmy
53:42 More creative, or just quicker?
56:54 What does Newman think about AI? Find your lane
59:52 Creativity five years from now
63:01 What doesn't change, and "2025 is historical"
66:35 Where to find Lynn

Try this week
- Before you pick an AI tool, write down the problem you want it to solve. If you can't, start there.
- Ask "I wonder if" about one thing you do the same way every week.
- Get a second opinion from a different AI on something that matters, and see where they disagree.
- Stuck? Step away. Lynn's version is a prayer and a nap. Ed calls it letting your bio intelligence catch up.

From the episode
- "Creativity looks like an opportunity to solve a new problem." Dr. Lynn Austin
- "AI is not going to take all jobs, but it is going to impact those who don't know AI."
- Lynn's AI readiness assessment is on her site (link below).

Our guest

Dr. Lynn Austin is an educator and researcher whose doctoral study looked at strategic workforce readiness for AI: how organizations adopt and implement it, starting with people, not tools. She has taught from seventh-grade English to higher education, writes a weekly blog on AI in higher education, and is the author of The Newman Tales, stories about her dog Newman, who was rescued from the meat trade in Taiwan.

- Website and AI readiness assessment: lynnfaustin.com

- The Newman Tales: on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

Coming up

New episodes every Tuesday. Next week, November 3: Episode 5 with Ryan and John.

Hosts
Ed Buchanan & Paul Tonden

Music: "Momentum," original Thought Partners theme.

Thought Partners S3 E3: Risk, Riskier, Riskiest

How do you feel about risk, and when is a risk worth taking? Ed and Paul take on a two-part question from Beth Ardner in the Thought Partners Discord. They start out wary of the word, find the risk hiding in staying put, and land somewhere more useful: you can't avoid risk, so name it, sort it, and ask what happens if it works.

**Bring us the next question.** Join the Thought Partners Discord, add a question about change, or tell us about a risk that turned out to be worth it.
👉 https://discord.gg/5CU3xW4AD

We're on X now too: @ThoughtPtnrsPod (https://x.com/ThoughtPtnrsPod)

Timestamps
00:05 Welcome, and Beth's question from the Discord
02:48 Gut reaction: risk-averse
04:40 "A situation involving exposure to danger"
07:56 The risk you choose and the risk chosen for you
08:53 The risk Ed didn't choose
10:31 The risk of staying put
15:32 Comfortable, settled, stagnant
20:54 Name the risk before you decide
25:13 We take risks every day
28:29 Risk is change's partner
29:24 Safety, and when accidents happen
32:06 The board game Risk
36:15 What board games teach us
39:51 What if it works?
43:33 Letting go of the trapeze
44:51 When is a risk worth taking?
46:14 The risk of never trying
47:26 What to try this week
51:07 Risk, riskier, riskiest
52:17 Wrap

Try this week
- Notice your first reaction to a risk, then question it. Is it true, false, or do you not know yet?
- Ask "What if this does work?" as seriously as "What if it doesn't?"
- Name your risks and sort them: risky, riskier, riskiest.
- Look for the steps between either and or. It's rarely a straight choice between two things.

From the episode
- Who invented Risk? We asked you to look it up in the Discord, so here's the answer: French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse created it in 1957 as *La Conquête du Monde*, and Parker Brothers brought it to the US. Monopoly's story belongs to Lizzie Magie and *The Landlord's Game*.- Paul's quote: "Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good." Marcus Aurelius, *Meditations* 4.17.
- The trapeze callback is from Episode 2, "The Messy Middle," with Kyle Nelson and Deb Peters.

Thanks
To Beth Ardner for the question, and to everyone who upvoted it.

Hosts
Ed Buchanan & Paul Tonden

Music: "Momentum," original Thought Partners theme.

Thought Partners S3 E2 — The Messy Middle

For the show's first four-person episode, Ed and Paul bring in a pair of thought partners: Kyle Nelson and Deb Peters, the change-management practitioners and neurodivergence coaches behind Spark and Aim. Together they rumble with the messy middle of change, the stretch after you've committed and before you've arrived, where resistance, loss and most of the real growth live, and what leaders (and one-person businesses) can do there this week.

Join the conversation: the Thought Partners Discord is where we pick the questions for the rest of Season 3.

👉 https://discord.gg/5CU3xW4AD

Timestamps
00:05 — Welcome to our first four-person episode
01:41 — Meet Kyle Nelson and Deb Peters
03:59 — Is "change management" a lie?
05:50 — Adapt, sustain, evolve: change vs. transition
10:25 — Bridges' transition model and the trapeze
12:57 — Hanging on to the bar: Paul's clients and new beginnings
15:34 — Mindset takes time (people aren't widgets)
17:48 — Why "change" lands as loss
20:15 — Kyle and Deb as thought partners: how Spark and Aim began
24:32 — What "neurodivergent" means (and "neurospicy")
29:23 — Thinking preferences and the factory model of work
34:33 — The messy middle
39:28 — What the messy middle feels like, and resistance as a signal
42:37 — A sandbox, not a mess: the growth zone
45:09 — A neurodivergent lens on change
46:29 — This week's small try: treat a mistake as a learning opportunity
51:33 — Share interview questions ahead, and "clear is kind"
53:48 — Protect your people from extra disruption
54:29 — Managing your own change as a one-person business (and naming "Bob")
57:30 — The non-negotiable: leadership support
59:16 — Informed confidence, competence and connection
1:02:58 — Where to find Kyle and Deb

This week's small tries

- Treat a mistake as a learning opportunity: ask "What did you find? How can we apply it?" instead of shaming.

- If HR allows it, share interview questions with candidates ahead of time.

- Ask of every expectation you set: is this clear? If it is, what does the behavior look like?

- In the messy middle, protect your team from piling on additional disruptions.

- Running your own show? Name your inner critic, then throw it out the door.

Our guests

Kyle Nelson is an organizational psychology practitioner, Prosci-certified change manager (APTD), and neurodivergence coach.

Deb Peters is a certified change management practitioner and professional certified coach who works with neurotypical and neurodivergent people at pivot points.

Together they run Spark and Aim Neurodivergent Coaching: https://sparkandaim.com (also on LinkedIn: Spark and Aim Neurodivergent Coaching).

Coming up
- Episode 3 (October 20): shaped by your questions in the Discord.

Hosts
Ed Buchanan & Paul Tonden

Music: "Momentum," original Thought Partners theme.