March 11, 2025
Adapted from a conversation with Doug Gray, PhD and Israel (Jon) Hillegeist on cutting through AI noise and finding real solutions
With so much noise surrounding artificial intelligence these days, it’s easy for leaders to feel overwhelmed. Is AI just another tech fad, or is there genuine value beneath the buzzwords? In this conversation, we explore how AI has rapidly evolved from a novelty into an essential business tool and why family businesses are uniquely positioned to benefit from its practical applications.
The Technology Adoption Lifecycle
Think about where Siri and Alexa were just a decade ago. People found them odd and creepy, resisting the idea of being recorded or having their preferences tracked. Fast forward to today, and these AI assistants have become so integrated into our daily lives that we interact with them as if they’re another person in the room.
The technology adoption lifecycle follows a predictable pattern. We’ve moved beyond the innovators and early adopters phase of the 1990s and are now firmly in the early majority phase, where 34% of users are seeking pragmatic use cases. We know AI works, just like Siri and Alexa work. People are using ChatGPT regularly because it’s faster, more reliable, cheaper, and can be confidential.
And who makes the best users? Small business owners and family businesses. They’re agile and adaptive, without the compliance requirements and legal teams that might say “no” in larger organizations. They’re curious about how AI can benefit their businesses.
How Families and Small Businesses Can Cut Through the AI Noise
For leaders feeling overwhelmed by AI hype with countless platforms being thrown at them daily, it’s understandable to feel a sense of AI fatigue. Rather than trying to figure out everything at once, it’s more effective to focus on specific problems you’re facing and then explore how AI might help.
Let’s take sales as an example. A two-year cross-industry study found that sales teams using AI-powered training sold 24% more than teams that didn’t. Most companies would go to extraordinary lengths for even an 8% increase in revenue. This represents a simple, cost-effective tool that eliminates the risk of salespeople learning on the job with real clients. They can safely master all personas, objections, and value propositions before stepping into the field.
Overcoming Fear and Resistance to AI Adoption
Fear often defines us. Whether it’s fear of geopolitical decisions, new technologies, or change in general, we naturally resist what we don’t understand. But when evaluating any new technology, we should consider three key factors: Is it efficient? Is it effective? And what are the outcomes?
Every specialized profession is facing disruption right now:
- Attorneys may resist robo-advisors
- Wealth investors might shy away from AI-driven investment strategies
- Organizational employees might fear automation replacing human roles
Yet every industry will be affected by AI in direct ways within the next 5-10 years. So why not overcome that resistance and learn how to implement AI in your business?
When faced with change, we typically respond in one of three ways: freeze, flight, or fight. We can freeze like a rabbit in the forest and try to ignore AI’s inevitable adoption. We can run away from it. Or we can fight—not against AI, but alongside it, wrestling with its potential until we master it.
If 45% of business owners are already using AI and your competitors are among them, the question becomes: why wouldn’t you use it now, especially if you had a secure way to do so in a closed system?
The Human Element: Why a Hybrid Approach to AI Coaching Matters
While AI platforms like Claude can help draft emails or prepare for difficult conversations, they lack the human dimension that addresses the emotional challenges we face. What if you could combine AI with human coaching to improve your ability to handle difficult and sensitive conversations?
Imagine practicing a difficult conversation with an AI avatar programmed to respond like the actual person you’ll be speaking with. As you rehearse multiple times, your confidence grows. Then, when you discuss your progress with a human coach who can address your internal struggles and provide personalized feedback, you’re getting the best of both worlds.
This hybrid coaching approach is three-dimensional rather than flat. The AI component provides consistent practice opportunities and immediate feedback, while the human coach adds depth, emotional intelligence, and personalized guidance that helps the learning stick.
[You can learn more about this hybrid program here.]
Real-World Applications
Communication capability makes a tremendous difference in business success. Strong communication skills in leaders allows them to put out “people fires,” handle employee conflicts, reduce turnover, and free up business owners to focus on leadership and maintain work-life balance.
Effective management hinges on the ability to have productive conversations around delegation, feedback, accountability, hiring, termination, and performance improvement. Developing these skills traditionally required significant time investment from the manager and trainee. Now, with AI-assisted practice, managers can rapidly develop these crucial skills through repeated role-plays and targeted feedback.
Another study showed that this approach improved management capability by 24%. For small business owners struggling with operational challenges, this represents a fast, cost-effective way to make significant improvements.
Getting Started with AI
For those excited about AI and already using various platforms, the key is to just begin. Experiment and dabble. Pick any platform—ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Poe—and start using it. The paid options ($20/month) generally provide better results.
If you have digital content—books, research, business documents—you can upload them to create a personalized AI that speaks your language. And by selecting privacy options that prevent sharing your content with large language models, you’ve created a confidential AI system for your organization that nobody else can access.
Many businesses are already using these tools for business protocols, operational processes, manufacturing, and marketing analyses. The question isn’t whether to adopt AI, but why wait any longer?
The future of professional development isn’t just AI or just human coaching—it’s both working together to accelerate your growth and success.
This blog post was adapted from a conversation with Doug Gray and Israel Hillegeist on practical AI applications for small businesses.
Interested in learning more about AI Coaching for Communication? Join the next edition of the Next Gen Leadership Series. https://www.nextgenpeergroups.com/the-next-gen-leadership-series
We wrote this conversation based on a short video recording… edited by AI tools that summarized us. Then edited by our marketing manager, Erin, who is a real person. We imagine that any leader, in any sector, can learn how to use AI in their business immediately. Reply or comment or connect?…. see www.JITCoach.com or schedule a demo