Overwhelmed by AI? Here's How Founders Are Actually Dealing With It

Beth asked what most founders are thinking but haven't said aloud: how do you make decisions about the future of your company when AI is making everything feel uncertain?

James and Freddie get into what's really sitting underneath that question — and what the founders who are handling this well are actually doing differently. Not theoretical. Not a toolkit. The practical reality of leading a business through the biggest technological shift most of us will ever see.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Peer Effect Post Bag. I'm James Johnson joined by Freddie Burley. We ask for your questions and Freddie and I are going to tackle them together. These aren't theoretical case studies, it's the stuff keeping you up at 2 a.m. Let's get answering. Welcome to the Peer Effect post bag. This is where we answer founder questions. I'm James Johnson.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

And I'm Freddie Burley. So how's your week been? It's been good. What's new?

SPEAKER_01 0:27

What is new? Sight starting not very wild is I've I've got recommended a new, it's not even a new TV series, an old TV series called Kin. Okay. And it's on BBC I player. And what's interesting is it was originally set out as a trilogy, like three seasons. And unfortunately, the studio that was producing it went bust before season three. Partly because you look at the cast on this thing, it is insane. Like every character, oh and I recognise them. But it's just it's a sort of an Irish crime family drama. But it's just really good. It's just really well acted. The casts are great. There's all these different themes going on.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

I love a good series. Like when you find something that's amazing, you just hunger in, it's uh it's it's a good feeling. Especially also throwback series that you've never seen before. I'm gonna add it to the list. Never even heard of it.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

I hadn't heard of it either. And actually, it's actually got loads of good stuff on iPlay. I think you end up with all these different sort of streaming services. But I think there is actually a lot on there if you I wish blue lights as well, something else recommended again. Nice, quite good. Good. So yeah, there you go. If you've got if you've got a spare, they're quite decent episodes, like an Irish episode.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

So you I think you can do like one, maybe two, unless you're nuts, and then just sometimes I do love a weekend where you just like lock in, you're like, I'm gonna remind you a few weekends ago, my friends and I, we locked in and we watched every Twilight Ever. And there was something so indulgent about it and so silly, but actually just exactly the vibe. It was it was everything and more.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

How was that watching it again now?

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Amazing. Still amazing. It's so silly. It's it's just it's ridiculous. The CGI is awful. The cast, what makes it even funnier is how much Robert, um, what is his name? Patterson. Yeah, how much he hated playing that role. And so when you watch that his interviews afterwards and he's just like rolling his eyes, like, frankly, it's embarrassing, and I don't know what else to say. He so when you like combine that into it, it just makes the whole thing even funnier. Um, but I loved it. We had a great time. We got dominoes, what dreams are made of. In better news, though. We can dive into someone's someone's non-silly question.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

So the question that's coming in is like, I feel really overwhelmed by the implications of AI on the business. How do we make decisions about the future of the company when everything feels so uncertain? And that came from birth.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

Well, I think firstly, this is a question that every founder, leader, business owner, human is grappling with. And like, how is AI gonna impact our future? Um, and it can feel really overwhelming, it can feel very uncertain, it can feel like everything is changing. And frankly, like it's probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest, technological changes that we're going through as human beings. And even when you think about these kind of seismic societal shifts in like industrial revolution and then internet, and that like we're in that next wave. Um, I think about it from a psychological perspective of for a lot of people, it's going to induce fear, which then focuses our brains on, often narrows our perspective and focuses our brain on like what's the worst case scenario, and we start living in the worst case scenario and so making decisions from the worst case scenario. And so, what I'm doing with my clients at the moment is how do we create more space and opportunity as opposed to orientate towards risk and threat and fear? Because in any change, there's always both, both exist. It's like opportunity and risk. And we want to be aware of the risks, but we also want to be orientating and creating opportunities. So my favorite starting point, especially within this current shift, is well, what's the worst case scenario? What are you worrying about, whether it's Beth or whoever the human is? And for a lot of people, it will be I'm worried that big tech's gonna release um a product that's essentially ours, and so we won't exist anymore. I'm worried that um we need to pivot and I don't know where to start because I don't know where the world's gonna be. Um, and then even on a basic level, it can be like, I just feel like I need to operationalize and like our actual business needs to become more AI enabled, and I either haven't had the time to do it, it feels really overwhelming. Like these are kinds of things. But ultimately, when you kind of go underneath a lot of those fears, where most founders are heading is I'm worried that I'm gonna become irrelevant. I'm worried that my business is gonna fail and I'm then gonna have to get like a middle manager job at insert like Google, or I'm gonna have to be an employee again, or I'm gonna, I'm gonna have lost this vehicle, which is kind of my freedom, um, my form of expression, um, my sense of importance, I'm gonna be embarrassed, et cetera, et cetera. So, starting point would be framing what's the worst case scenario. Then we look at what is everything in your control to prevent that from happening. And so at the moment, it's really like do you need to block a week and really dive into what the state of the world is now? So, what do we know to be true now? So that even if you don't know where the future is going, you do know where the present is. And I feel like that often makes founders feel a lot more kind of two hands on the wheel and much more in control. The other piece is how you're communicating internally. It could be how you're discussing with investors, it could be your research work, what you're kind of consuming. So, like mapping fully, like what is everything in my control to prevent a worst-case scenario happening because of AI. And then it's like, what's everything that's out of your control? And what's out of your control is what other companies are doing, how people perceive you, like whether your product is going to be relevant in a year, a lot of it is actually out of your control. And so just grounding in that reality. And then the final, the final kind of puzzle piece is what are the benefits of worst-case scenario? So, say the say the business does need to either pivot or you decide to like that you no longer want to continue on this journey or whatever it is, what are the benefits there? So, what are the benefits of going through a major pivot? What are the benefits of leading a company through one of the biggest shifts in history? What are the benefits of um how it kind of rallies you all together when you're almost like us against the world or us against this problem? Like it can really like bond teams, it can really, it can force you to step as a leader in ways that you never would have to if you didn't have or you weren't confronting such a challenging time. And so that's a very quick sketch, but I'll always start with getting people grounded into what is everything that's in their control, and how do we apply exceptionalism to your controllables so that you're, even if you don't know what the 12 steps look like, you know what the best next step is. And then sometimes when you get on that next step, the next step becomes more obvious and you wouldn't have been able to see it if you hadn't got onto that step first. And so it's really like um leading step by step when everything is uncertain.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

So what I'm hearing there is like just acknowledging that the there's a lot of fear that's sitting in there. Yeah. And there's some fear, but there's also just time. There's kind of like, do I have time to respond? Can I respond? There's a lot of fear line, what happens if I don't? It feels almost like freezing is the worst response you could have. Yeah. And when you are frightened, freezing is a is is one of the three responses that we have, like fight, flight, or freeze. And it sounds like you're helping sort of clients step through that. Okay, okay, let's acknowledge where you are, let's feel it. But then let's start experimenting and and and stepping forward. Is that right?

SPEAKER_00 7:27

That's exactly it. It's like how do we get out of procrastination freeze avoidance and into action, momentum, movement, growth? That's 100% it.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

It does. It sounds, I mean, this is this is like a unique opportunity, isn't it? Like imagine being around sort of I think I was just leaving university, w or just at university during the sort of the dot-com boom. That was a time of huge change and opportunity, and like lots of that didn't work. Yeah. But lots of like it was it was a time of huge opportunity. And it feels like now is a time when you can do things differently. So it's not even if you give yourself the freedom to do it, like you, I'm not locked to this product, I'm not locked to this team, I'm not locked to this path. It's like actually, maybe there's a whole range of opportunities that are opening up if I can just give myself time and permission to explore them.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

And and I think that's it. A lot of, a lot of um, it's come up quite a bit in coaching in the last few weeks, but how do I carve out enough headspace and time to actually be able to reflect on what I genuinely think? Because I think a lot of people get overwhelmed by outsourcing opinions and spending so much time listening to what the experts or what other people think, and not enough time almost consolidating those thoughts and being and translating it back to themselves of that's a bunch of data that I've gathered about other people, but what do I genuinely think? And how do I consolidate those thoughts? And I think often in times of rapid change, it also requires us to be very deeply connected to ourselves and um what that change means for us, not for everyone. And that requires like carved out, whether it's time walking or the kinds of activities that get you out of your head and into your body. And whether I think a lot of people have their best ideas when they're in the shower or they're running or they're walking or they're in nature, or those rituals and rhythms I think become extraordinarily essential through periods of rapid change. Otherwise, you can get lost in the noise and you become almost like a boy as opposed to an anchor. And it's like, how do you carve out time to be an anchor?

SPEAKER_01 9:23

I think when you're having a shower or you're running, your brain is processing data that you already have. And what you're saying is there's lots of noise around other people's opinions, but it does feel like there's value at the moment in just exploring yourself in terms of what's possible. Yeah. So actually, your brain has some other information to play with because if I was to think about how it all fits together, I have not explored, played enough with some of the stuff to go to have a view around what really cool stuff I could do with it. And so one of the other founders in that place, they're running a business, they're super busy anyway. Like we both know, like our clients, our clients don't say, Oh, I've got loads of time, like they're always time poor. So, how then do you create that space to go? I'm gonna play, which it may feel like for a day, for a week. What what what is the length of time that you see that your sort of clients are giving to this kind of exploration of the options?

SPEAKER_00 10:19

I think it depends on how important you consider it to be. Because when people say I don't have time for it, it's it's more just you're not making it a priority. Um, and you're so right. The see it almost as a balance between research. It's almost like research and retreat. And I think when there's a lot of new information, you do need to feel tapped in and understanding and aware. And then the retreat is like, and what does this mean for me? What does this mean for me as a leader? What does this mean for my company? What does this mean for my team? What does this mean for my industry? That balance is important. One of my clients blocked a week. They just completely cleared their week and they're like, I need to understand way more intentionally what's going on, not just on an operational level, but actually for the future of our product. Do we need to completely change our product? And they took a week out and just came up to speed and felt way more grounded coming back so they could actually lead their team because they felt stable. And um, another has be went on uh actually like went on an AI retreat where they spent a bunch of time with like true experts who reinformed and actually re-inspired, and then they got super energized by all of the possibilities and came back to their team with that. And then also others have just spent like it's like hours in between. So they're sort of grabbing a couple of hours here and there when they can. Um but again, there's no, there's no, this is how best to figure out AI. It's really just like follow your instincts of what you think is most important and then prioritize your time accordingly. That's how my clients are managing it at the moment. I'm curious for you, what are you seeing?

SPEAKER_01 11:47

When you said the sort of the fitting time in and around stuff, I I wonder whether that is enough at the moment. I wonder, I mean, because you you said that for things you went through, there are some pretty significant commitments like going on a retreat with other people. Imagine there was a cost attached. There's cost and time attached to that. Totally. Taking yourself away out of the business for a week again allows you to focus. I I've got clients who've taken themselves and sort of a significant portion of their team away for a week to like build together. I mean, or at least done a day, but them plus other members of their team. I think it's like it can be quite a collaborative thing. I know others have done sort of weekend hackathons with contacts to kind of see what's possible. So I I feel like the trends that maybe I I've seen working is one, not doing it by yourself and doing it with others, although maybe having a day to yourself just to explore and play was helpful. Yeah. And actually acknowledging it's going to be more than just a day. Like it's probably more. Like I had one client who did who did it sort of they booked him for a sort of additional session. I just want to talk about AI, likewise, B2B SaaS. It's like the business is actually going really well. It's going to go really well, but there is a point probably in two to three years' time when the whole business may not be relevant. But actually when we came down to it, he first would have made time to explore. He then brought that sort of those kind of process thoughts to his team and then gave them sort of the ability to explore like, took time out to explore around the slight guardrails. Yeah. So rather than like, what does this mean? It's kind of like how how might we achieve these goals given current which which is a bit more focused. Totally. And actually then it came to like how to communicate with the board, have you made any changes, like how to pivot the business in terms of how much resources to split, focus on the what the current business was. So actually he took it. It didn't take too long. I mean, in an hour coach session, he got a long way down. It's like, what does it actually mean? But I think he'd come into that having done some experimentation. So in the like for him, that was at weekends, like he didn't didn't have kids, wasn't right. So it's kind of like there was time.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

But then the next stage was like taking sort of identifying internally who sort of the AI experimenters were going to be and dedicate a period of time. And then beyond that, okay, now we've got enough data to make a decision around, okay, is it the whole business? Is it part of the business? Like, what is our next thing? But not having to jump because it felt when you came into that session, like, oh, I need to next week I've got a board meeting, I need to give them a coherent plan around what does this mean? Like, am I giving up on my current business? Actually, yes, you don't that is not what needs to happen in a week's time. You are still in the data sets, like gathering section. You're not being disingenuous. Like, so I think there's a lot sitting behind this.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

Yeah, totally. And what you're saying, too, as well, is that there's a really crucial piece here around transparency. I think a lot of people feel the pressure to be an expert already, and then it can create this mountain between them and AI. And sometimes it's just like download co-work and start building things and testing things and playing with things or so that you're in, you're in the river. Like you're you're back in the rhythm and uh the you and then you build your own plan and you figure out, okay, what does this mean for me? What am I wanna do? And it's interesting because even like a session I was talking with a founder last week, they were saying, well, it's actually really difficult talking about AI with my with my board because half of them don't even don't use it at all. And so there's this, there's this gap between what I'm doing in the business and what they understand. And so actually, like, I'm actually gonna mandate everyone on the board does this, this, and this, so they can at least understand the basics and um and then we can have a more informed conversation about it. But I think it's it's almost just like start and play and test and then figure out for you so you have a plan.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

And I think that's probably a really nice like summary takeaway from like like start, play and test. Yeah. But acknowledge, like don't necessarily do it alone. Do give it more time than you think, but just don't freeze.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Yes, yes, love it.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Amazing. Well, that's it for another week of the postburg. We'll see you next Monday for another episode, and in the meantime, happy scaling.