35 mins
EP6Leading through the AI shift: voice, skills and the long game
Rollouts often peak on launch day and fade by spring. Amara Reyes, who runs people strategy at Northwind, sits down with hosts Dr. Nora Castell of the Acme Work Lab and Dr. Felix Brandt of Northwind University to compare notes on what keeps momentum alive: letting staff choose which chores go first, tying training to the tasks people actually do, and executives who share their own experiments in public. Practical advice for anyone planning past the first quarter.
In this conversation
- Adoption sticks when employees help decide which work gets automated.
- Skills plans should follow workflows, not job titles.
- Leaders who use AI visibly set the norm faster than any policy.
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Find the hosts and guests
- Dr. Nora Castell: linkedin.com/in/nora-castell
- Dr. Felix Brandt: linkedin.com/in/felix-brandt
- Amara Reyes: linkedin.com/in/amara-reyes
Acme on social
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/acme
- Twitter/X: x.com/acme
- Instagram: instagram.com/acme
Episode timeline
- 00:00 – Welcome and introductions
- 04:20 – Why employee voice matters for adoption
- 14:00 – Rebuilding skills plans around workflows
- 23:00 – What leaders should model
- 31:00 – Long-term workforce planning
Dr. Nora Castell (04:22)
You've said adoption is a listening exercise before it's a technology exercise. What do you mean by that?
Amara Reyes (04:30)
We asked every team what they wanted to stop doing. That list became our roadmap, and people showed up for it because it was theirs.
Dr. Felix Brandt (05:01)
That's the opposite of how most rollouts work, where the tool arrives first and the reasons come later.
Your hosts
Dr. Nora Castell
Head of the Acme Work Lab
Dr. Castell leads research at the Acme Work Lab, where she studies how AI is changing the way people and teams work.
Dr. Felix Brandt
Professor Emeritus at Northwind University
Dr. Brandt is a workplace researcher and author whose books cover meetings, incentives, team design and how companies absorb new tools.
Read new work from the Acme Work Lab
The Acme Work Lab is an independent research team guided by scholars and operators who study how jobs are shifting. We turn field studies into checklists, templates and plain guidance that managers can try with their teams this quarter.
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