Imperfect Marketing
Imperfect Marketing
Why Soft Skills Are Your Biggest Asset in an AI World
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What happens when AI starts doing the work humans used to spend hours on every week?
According to longtime tech innovator Scott Abbott, the answer isn’t that humans become less important. It’s the opposite.
In this episode of Imperfect Marketing, Kendra Corman sits down with Scott Abbott to explore the intersection of AI, leadership, communication, and human connection. After nearly four decades in technology, Scott has witnessed the rise of the internet, mobile technology, social platforms, and now AI. His perspective brings both excitement and realism to the conversation around where business and leadership are headed next.
Together, they unpack why soft skills are becoming more valuable in an AI-driven world, why companies may be failing younger employees instead of developing them, and how systems and automation can actually create more freedom, creativity, and connection.
You’ll hear practical insights on:
• Why communication and professionalism still matter more than ever
• The growing importance of human-centered leadership
• How AI can free up time for deeper thinking and better collaboration
• Why companies should reinvest AI efficiencies back into employee development
• The difference between work-life balance and work-life harmony
• How personal branding impacts leadership and career growth
• Why systemization can help businesses scale without burnout
Scott also shares lessons from more than 10,000 coaching sessions with leaders and business owners, revealing the common struggles people face with communication, confidence, burnout, accountability, and growth.
If you’ve been curious about how AI and humanity can work together instead of against each other, this episode offers a grounded and refreshing perspective.
About Scott Abbott:
Scott Abbott is a technology leader, systems strategist, coach, and founder of Boss Up Coaching Solution Academy. With nearly 40 years in tech, Scott has worked at the forefront of major technological shifts including the internet, social media, mobile innovation, and AI. Today, he helps leaders and organizations combine systems, leadership, AI, and human-centered growth to build stronger businesses and better teams.
Connect with Scott Abbott:
Website: https://scottabbottabc.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottabbottabc/
#AILeadership #ArtificialIntelligence #LeadershipDevelopment #FutureOfWork #BusinessGrowth #LeadershipSkills #SoftSkills #PersonalBranding #WorkplaceCulture #Entrepreneurship
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Welcome And The AI Question
SPEAKER_00Hi, I'm Kendra Corman. If you're a coach, consultant, or marketer, you know marketing is far from a perfect science. And that's why this show is called Imperfect Marketing. Join me and my guests as we explore how to grow your business with marketing tips and, of course, lessons learned along the way. Hello and welcome back to another episode of Imperfect Marketing. I'm your host, Kendra Corman, and today I am really excited to be talking about the world of AI and how humanization and us as humans and these soft skills, right, that we used to, that we used to downplay all the time, I think, is really what's making a difference now. And I'm super excited to be joined by um by Scott Abbott today as we talk a little bit more about that. So welcome, Scott. Thanks so much for joining me.
SPEAKER_01Hello, Kendra. Thanks for having me on your show today. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00So before we started recording, I just asked him a ton of questions, just simply because he has such an interesting background. And before we get started, I'd hope, I'd hope you share a little bit about that to everybody watching and listening. Scott, share a little bit about how you got into this. And um, because you've been in tech for a long time, right?
Scott’s 40 Years In Tech
SPEAKER_01Yeah, almost 40 years, maybe even more now. I stopped keeping score a little while ago. AI does all that data analytics for me, right? So yeah, I've been in tech for about 40 years. Um, was blessed to have been born here in the Midwest, actually just a little north where I live in Fort Wayne. And then my dad, though, had a job that took us overseas, uh, grew up mostly in London and Paris, Madrid, came back after graduating high school from Spain and finished off at DePaul in Chicago. And I was asked uh to join a tech firm. I thought I was gonna become a broadcaster and a news reporter and kind of this blend of Mike Roiko meets Walter Cronkite kind of a vibe back in the day. But I got offered to come into a tech firm and that's where it started. And so I started in systems and technology and business development. Uh, as I shared you before we got on Mike, I was at the forefront of the internet. As the joke goes, after Al Gore invented it, me and my buddies at IBM created this thing that's now basically it's the backbone of everything, e-commerce, e-business, the internet. Uh, then I was also there through the next evolution, the big one, which was mobile technology coming into the workforce in the world, and then social coming into the workforce. And now I've got this thing called AI that's happening. And so my passion today is fusing systems and humans and leadership. And we've got what we call the Boss Up Coaching Solution Academy, which is a company I started a few years ago after I sold my last company that I started. And we've got about 75 coaches around the country, and we help them and their clients implement and benefit from a tailored business operating system that incorporates the practical use of AI, good coaching, what we call the essential concepts, tools, and disciplines to build, run, scale a great company. So I'm blessed and privileged to be in a place that I get to scratch all these itches around leadership and being good humans and systems and technology. So it's a good time. Thank you, Kendra.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. Thank you. It's just such an interesting evolution and all the different things that you've seen and done. I mean, I still remember when we didn't have PCs at our desks.
SPEAKER_01So workstations back in the day. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01It's been a ride.
SPEAKER_00Now we have computers in our pockets.
SPEAKER_01It's been a ride and it's just starting, right? As they say, the destination is the journey. So it's all good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and AI has just been amazing. So I save 30 to 40 hours a week just in my itty bitty little company, which has pretty much from like I would say like week four of using AI, like I just I saw the opportunity after I was a little skeptical. And then I just jumped on the bandwagon and love every second of it. I love learning about it and all the different things. And in my teaching, so as most people know, um, who's who've been here for a while and listening to me, yeah, I teach at Rochester Christian University and I incorporate AI in my classes. But one of the big things that I'm always talking about is a human in the loop and the fact that that's going to differentiate them, the ability to critically think and question. They don't have to be able to do all the data entry stuff that we started with and grew up on, right? Those jobs are slowly going away through automation and AI. Um, not all just AI. And there's just so much there. So talk to me a little bit about what you're seeing when it comes to um these soft skills, right? And having humans in the loop or how you guys are looking at it.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, I have to sort of take a real quick trip down memory lane. You talk about when you saw and first started with AI. So, true story, my last uh quarter uh in college, um, I needed five more credits to graduate. And so I got 2.5 credits in wine tasting, believe it or not. And believe it or not, my other 2.5 was in this thing called machine learning and artificial intelligence. So AI has been around for several decades, and historically up until Chat GPT commercialized it, which is the same thing with the internet. Sorry for the history lesson, but the internet was around for eight, 10 years with governments and academics, and then this little browser thing came around by Netscape, the same thing with ChatGPT. So, so I've been blessed, is my point that I've watched 40 years of what I call the evolution, some would say revolution, of convergent technology. What I mean by that is not just PCs, but again, social, mobile, the fusion of design and and touch and feel and technology and you know, all the stuff in between. And so I think what's enabled
AI History And Humanization
SPEAKER_01me to come to the conclusions that I think a lot of us have is the more technology we embrace and incorporate and leverage and harness, uh, that actually does, to your point about your world, free us up. And what's it going to free us up to do? Become more tech-like or more human-like? And hopefully it's more human-like. I think with AI, and and I I live, breathe AI in a lot of what we do, it's incorporated into literally everything, and it has been for a while. In fact, I was part of the IBM Watson team when Watson was on Jeopardy. So, again, not necessarily new for my side of the world, but today the importance of humans being on the front and the back of the use of AI, right? And again, most of us, including me, who's been in tech and had my own tech firms, I'm not that kind of tech guy that's worried about agents and building the actual technology. I'm a user and I'm a plier and I'm an activist. So the rule of thumb is make sure that us humans are on the front and the back. Let's use AI to automate and bring efficiencies and the ability to scale and grow and do all these good things. But but the beauty is, and there's some scary things, no doubt, about it, but the beauty is it should free us up to be more able and ready to be better versions of ourselves individually and collectively. So I we call it humanization. So I think that's one of the many upsides of AI is that with this time, right? Certainly we want to grow and make more money and do things for organizations, but we can also now invest in being better versions of ourselves.
SPEAKER_00So let me ask you this question. So I recently, also known as this morning, read an article that I came across and researched after watching TikTok. It's amazing how everything goes together, right? When you're talking about it going together, um, that six out of 10 employers have admitted to terminating Gen Z employees straight out of college shortly after hiring them because and one of the like top three reasons one is consistently late to meetings, one is no initiative, um, another one was inappropriate dress for the office. Um, but the one of them that I was surprised at is they don't know how to communicate. Um, so they're sending like short text-like messages to senior leadership and clients and things like that, and they're getting terminated because of it. As AI takes on more and more of this, do you see people being able to communicate better or worse as we go? Because we're talking about developing these soft skills, and how do we go about doing it?
SPEAKER_01Well, I, you know, like most things in life, Kendra, I think the answer is and both uh versus either or. Um, and frankly, I'm gonna go on the record and say those companies that are letting go of them, that's on the companies, not on the individual. The individuals are who they are. And I think there, you know, there's a there's a funny, not maybe not be funny, but there's a cartoon that's been around for decades, and it's two quote unquote executives sitting together, and one says, What if we train our people and they leave? And the other says, What if we don't and they stay? I think there's a responsibility of both sides, right? Ideally, and not to overplug our books or materials, but you know, you can go out to YouTube and download, you know, for three bucks using Kindle, you know, some wonderful information that will bring you insights and and validation in terms of how to be a better human, how to communicate, how to collaborate, aka these soft skills, right? But I I literally think leadership, learning, and development uh should be almost considered to be infrastructure today in companies. And so when you bring people on board and you onboard them, there should be this checklist in the right way, not in this, you know, bad way, that says, hey, where are you? What do you have? What don't you have? And how do we get you from here to there through apprenticeship and through nurturing and mentoring? And again, good leadership LD type initiatives. And that's why we just came out with our new lead with Scott, which is all around helping people to jumpstart a leadership LD through materials and AI and downloadable assets, because you know, they may not have been blessed or privileged to get that type of education in school. So, so if they're showing up ready to rock and roll, but that employer says you're not delivering it, well, you know, it's a journey. And it's going to take a couple of months to acclimate and orientate and get in. You with me? So I really think it's a mutual responsibility, if not more on the employer today. When you talk about Gen Zs, and actually, in my personal opinion, it's the darn millennials that screwed everything else. Uh us X guys are pretty cool. No, very sincerely, not sincerely about millennials screwing up, but but but our analysis, we work a lot of schools, we've got software 90, 18,000 companies on it. So we've got some good analytics, but I think Gen Z, and and I think I'm just gonna say it, a lot of millennials don't get it. They do want structure, they do want roles, accountabilities, responsibilities. They might want a little bit of can I not work all five days at the office? And can I get a strawberry frappuccino when I should just get regular black coffee? I get it. But I think there's this duality of investment. Uh, it starts with schools, the communities, the homes, but certainly
Gen Z Soft Skills Need Training
SPEAKER_01on employers now, Kendra. It's a non-negotiable. You've got to make sure people are brought up to speed. And that's why we, we, you know, our whole world's around business operating systems and helping people do that. So what do you think? I mean, you're in this world today and your students. Uh, when you see them leaving the classroom and going off into the real world, right? Would you rather take somebody who's 65% there and then invest in them to get them to that next 15% that the company wants, or are you just gonna give up on them and say, well, we thought you were at 72%, not 65%. So we're gonna bail on you and let you go. That doesn't sound very reasonable, does it?
SPEAKER_00No, definitely not. And I actually, my students are analyzing that right now at the time of recording. That's one of their assignments, is to look at this and to say, how would you do it differently? Like what conversation, you know, if you didn't want to fire them, what would you do? Like, how would you do this better? And how would you fix it for the for longer term? Um, because I want them to know that this is a perceived problem, right? And how did they perception is reality, right? It's exactly right. And that's why I have professionalism points in my class, right? So they don't get attendance points, they get professionalism points. If you don't show up, you get zero. But uh, you know, if you're late, you lose two points. If you leave early, you lose two points. If if it's not communicated in advance. If two days in advance you're like, hey, I'm gonna be running late because I'm going from here to here, it's like that happens in the real world. Done. So you don't lose any professionalism.
SPEAKER_01That these millennials are the ones that were basically labeled, and I don't think this label's fair. Don't believe in labels and absolutes, but they're the ones that are called the trophy generation. That they got trophies and pats in the back and all of these upsides when basically they didn't really do anything. Huh. Look what happens when you get older in life, how the how the wheel turns, if you will. So I jest, but you know where I'm coming from on that one.
SPEAKER_00No, I definitely do. And I think that it it's very insightful. And I love how you put it back on the employers and the learning and development piece, because as a consultant in marketing, having helped, you know, dozens of companies, right, with their marketing and those initiatives, some a lot of them coaches and consultants, I'm seeing companies tighten up those budgets, right? They're they're taking away learning and development when they should be investing in it. Because as AI rolls out, it's more than just onboarding people with AI, it's definitely reintroducing them to those soft skills again because we've ignored them for so long, right?
SPEAKER_01I mean, sorry to do this. So, so so I've been working on this, I've been working on this for 10 years. Again, I've been in AI tech. So, to your point, what we did here is we created 40 moments uh around soft skills, how to set boundaries, overcome conflict, how to have more courage. Uh, we've got frameworks like CLEAR that that suggest to seek clarity, but it's also an acronym, collaborative, logical, empathetic, authentic, and resilient. We talk about leadership and management, but here's the cool thing we actually include video. There's video in this book, Kendra. You use a QR code. There's AI in this book, Kendra, but it's AI through prompts, aka journaling. And so this could go from the boardroom to the office, from the nightstand to the kitchen table, back to your work desk. And if and when you're struggling with this humanization, as we call it, right? How to connect that that that DNA, if you will, this is a way to do and end both. You get more comfortable with systemization, you get more comfortable with AI, you understand why you've got to put your personal being on it, right? And and that's what's going on right now. We just have this conflict of desires. The desires are growth, then save money and and get them out and get it up. And and here's the counterintuitive thing. What a lot of people sadly are missing. The more systemized you get, the more rigorous you are on disciplines and embracing the right tools and concepts and getting all that done, it actually liberates you. And so, what I implore companies right now is if you are decreasing SGA on a percent basis in dollars because of AI, if you are making things more productive and efficient, let's just say you get a net two, five, seven percent improvement. How about a third of that go back into your people? How about a third of that goes back to upskill them and cross-skill them? You with me? Because again, they may not have what we need. And I get meritocracy. I also don't like the concept pull yourself up by the bootstraps and it's on you. I think there is a fiduciary responsibility of employers today. And it's a two-way street. And I would say this if the employee gets invested in and they get the L and D and they get all this stuff, they still kind of turn their nose up at it, you know, in 120 days, you know, the world's too, you know, we're gonna have 10 to 15 million less jobs in the next couple of years because of AI. And so those jobs that are there, if you're not willing to step up and step in, both sides, the employer and the employee. Now, the good news is the world's working in the favor of trades and construction and retail. There, there's so many things you could do other than being a quote unquote, you know, office professional, if you follow me. I really believe that. I believe we're on the verge of a renaissance on a lot of things, but there is definitely a shift. But yeah, if you're an employer, an employee in a classic company setting and you don't have this let's meet in the middle vibe, I think you're gonna be challenged, you know, in the next couple of years.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So speaking of challenges and speaking of all your experience, and feel free to talk about your book because it is, and you have been working on that out for a long time, right? And and that's part of if people want more following up this brief conversation, right? That is a great place to get it. And we will have a link to it in the show notes for sure. So you definitely, definitely want to do that. But talking about challenges, like you've had, I I think your team told me over 10,000 one-on-one coaching sessions, right, with leaders. What are those common challenges that you're seeing between them? I mean, are there patterns that you've seen across different organizations?
SPEAKER_01You know, I've been in consultant and systems implementation and work with humans, B2B professional services for literally my entire career. I've coded, I've tacked, I've built products, but really it's mostly been around services, helping people learn, implement better, and benefit from a better way to build, run and scale the company and themselves, right? And so through these 10,000 sessions, this is actually what we call our table of moments, right? These are what I actually learned over the years. We've got we've got the main book, which is around the engineering, the mechanics, this the strategy, the frameworks, the blueprint, that's what it is, to build, run, and scale. But literally, these are the sessions I've had, right? People dealing with burdens, not recognizing consequences, overcoming burnout, establishing good feedback, getting over
Reinvest AI Gains Into People
SPEAKER_01avoidance, putting their energy in the right place, having courage and recognition and not using excuses. By the way, those are all moments. And so these are all based on real-world substantiated. I have coaches too. I have people in my life, psychologists, sociologists, uh therapists. So yeah, it's been this amalgamation, Kendra, this wonderful journey. Uh, while the book just came out a couple of months ago, it's it's it's it's been uh a labor of love for for a long time, and that's where I'm going. I think, you know, today we hear these terms like imposter syndrome and and fake it until you make it and all these things. And I just think I'm gonna say this because of what's going on on our planet and socioeconomics and the good and the bad. And again, this AI thing. I implore and hope and wish, and I'm trying to do my part. And I mean that sincerely, we're a social enterprise, so so it's this blend of humanitarian capitalism and and a little bit of philanthropy. But it's it's more important than ever that we check ourselves and we invest in ourselves, and those around us do the same to be a better version of human we we need to be. And and these things don't necessarily sit inside of the AI databases or spreadsheets, right? Feelings, vibes. Now, on the other hand, I'd also tell you that over the last few years, we kind of started getting manipulated, if not patronized and pandered by being overly sensitive or insensitive. So there's always this line, right? I don't believe in work-life balance. I think that's silly, but I believe in harmony. So we have to find this harmony between it is a job and I have to work and I get a paycheck. So we have a deal, but the employer has to say, hey, you're Kendra. And you know, this isn't necessarily your life. So we have to respect those boundaries, but we also have to respect that we do have jobs and work and companies to build, run, and scale.
SPEAKER_00I love that. I love that. And I like harmony because I am not a fan of work-life balance that does not exist.
SPEAKER_01And I don't think that everybody's gonna stand on a wall all day long and keep your balance, it's just hard.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, right. Um, I know that I've I've gotten to calling it work-life integration. Um, now, granted, a lot of my life is work because I love what I do, um, but that's okay. Uh, to each their own, right? I think that this is this is amazing, right? I love the fact that that you have philanthropy at a core of of what you're doing. I love the idea behind um the boss up moments, right? I love the idea of systematizing to really free yourself because I struggle with building flow charts and systems sometimes, right? Um, I've gotten a lot better the last couple of years. And you're 100% right. That's what's allowed me to implement AI into my business. That's what's allowed me to have an assistant. That's what's allowed me to um to get another job because, right. And my dream job of teaching full-time to students, which I love, in addition to running my business with really no changes in my business. And it's because of systems, it's because of being able to delegate and be able being able to leverage AI. All of that has allowed me to create this life that I have. And I think that people really need to embrace that for sure.
SPEAKER_01And you know, by the way, that's not that's not necessarily just a modern AI thing back to systems. Isidora Sharp, the founder of Four Seasons. Most people know who it is, even though I don't I don't I can't recall when I've been to one, but I I know what it's about. Isidora said, and literally, I think this is a 20-year-old quote Systemize the predictable to humanize the exceptional. Pre AI, by the way. And Jim Collins, the famed author of Good to Great, Built to Last, and so many other wonderful books, says the uh magic happens when the spirit of entrepreneurship meets a culture of discipline. So so these truths have been around TQM, quality, all these systemization. I mean, you're in the town of the state of Automobiles and cars and Ford and manufacturing and production, right? Now you add AI into the mix. There's no excuse. If you now have this ability, I love what you just said, Kendra. You are an example and you exemplify what you can do with AI positively. Are there negatives? Are there concerns? Are there scary things potentially down the road? And currently, you bet. Like anything good, there's always the not so good. But but your story and your lived experience and your agency and how you're doing right now is it. Both individually as solopreneurs, small companies, but in the big ones as well. There's no denying, is there? Right? Unless you're being mischievous, which I don't think you are. So again, I would just say you have this fusion of good systems and protocol and all these things that kind of get a bad rap. Ah, it's corporate jargon. Yeah, I know why you feel that way, but in reality, you know, systems thinking is effective. Then you throw AI in. And now I go back to why shouldn't you then reinvest heart and soul and the human, if you will, and get that to the next level of goodness, right? That's how, in my opinion, we counteract the concerns about over-automation and AI being front and center. We we, you know how we counteract it with us humans.
SPEAKER_00All right. I think that there's just so much there and so much that that you have to share. We'll definitely have a link to your resources and your website in the show notes. So be sure to check that out for sure. Before I let you go though, I do have to ask you the question that I ask all my guests. And that is that this show is called Imperfect Marketing because marketing is anything but a perfect science. What has been your biggest marketing lesson learned along the way?
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, we're all imperfect, right? And unfortunately,
From Burnout To Work Harmony
SPEAKER_01even back to systems, they're flawed. Um, they got humans behind them and mechanics, so they don't always work and do what you want to do. You know, I think I learned the importance of personal branding very candidly. I've been on LinkedIn for one of the, I was one of the pioneers. I wrote a book for IBM called the uh the cofactor, which was the introduction of social and Twitter and Facebook and and LinkedIn into the enterprise. So so I've been fortunate to be in this, you know, personal brand awareness world for a little while. Uh, and I would say that I think even if you're an engineer and you're sitting behind a the proverbial desk or you're in the cloud or you're behind the firewall, personal branding isn't just the aesthetics and what you see. It's also your personal back to agency, it's your personal awareness that you have a responsibility to yourself. You know, I work with a lot of alpha humans, very successful people running hundreds, millions, billions dollar companies. And I could tell you the refrain, I can't take care of myself because I'm too busy taking care of other people, is just wrong. Some people think it's selfish. I would argue it's selfless. You can't be here for other people if you don't take care of yourself. So that includes your health and your brand. And not just a brand because perception is reality and you never get a second chance to make a first impression, especially on this thing called the internet. But it's your brand in terms of, I'm gonna sound silly here, but brush your teeth consistently, right? Uh, you know, make sure that you are for holistic reasons, for well-being reasons, aware of your brand. Your brand is inside your home, it's with your family, it's with others around, right? And and and back to moments. That may sound overwhelming, right? Moments build momentum. And so just be cognizant and have a responsibility for your personal brand, yes, because this is a perception reality world. So you have that. And by the way, there's monetization and goodness, but also more on the internal side, right? Check yourself, make sure you're growing and becoming a better version. You follow me? So I would say marketing, and you know this difference between advertising, PR, right? There's a whole slew of subsets to marketing. I would say that about personal branding as well. It's both the outside and the inside,
Personal Branding Is Inside And Out
SPEAKER_01and it's this responsibility to be your best for the right reasons.
SPEAKER_00I love that. Um, a friend of mine, her dad told um her ex-husband when they first got married, you got to pay yourself first. And, you know, he meant for like retirement and stuff like that originally. But then he started paying himself first by checking his LinkedIn every morning, you know, before he started any work for anybody else. He paid himself first by investing in his personal brand. And he took that very literally in everything that he did. And I think that that's there's just yeah, a lot there. I think everybody should be looking after their personal brand for sure. Um, there's so much to it, right? I neglect mine all the time for other things. And I need, I'm working on it. That's why my word of the year for 2026 has been no. My husband, every once in a while, is saying, How's that coming? as he's looking at our schedule. But again, we're working on it, right? We're works in progress and we're getting things done. So thank you so much, Scott, for all you've shared. I'm super excited to check out Boss Up Moments and take a look at that if you're interested, because I know I am definitely am to learn from all of your experience and how I can help my clients and myself benefit from what you've what you've shared and what you've put into this book. Um, I think that it's great and you can find that stuff in the show notes. So thank you all so much for tuning in to another episode of Imperfect Marketing. Until next time, have a great rest of your day.
