At the Intersection: Insights for Thriving at the Crossroads of Change

Craig Francisco
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At the Intersection is a podcast for CEOs and leaders navigating one of the most important shifts in modern business: the rise of Human + AI organizations. Hosted by Craig Francisco, CEO of AI23, the show explores the crossroads of leadership, strategy, and artificial intelligence — where executive decision-making, organizational alignment, and emerging technology meet. Through short solo insights and candid conversations with experienced operators, Craig focuses on the questions leaders are asking right now: • Where should we actually start with AI?• How do we align our leadership team around strategy?• Where can AI create meaningful leverage in our organization?• What does a realistic path to becoming an AI-enabled company look like? This podcast is designed for leaders who want clarity before launching AI initiatives — not hype, tools, or scattered experimentation. If you’re exploring how AI could reshape your organization and want a structured way to think through the opportunity, Craig offers a limited number of private executive AI strategy sessions. These advisory conversations help leadership teams align around strategy, identify high-impact opportunities, and create a clear path forward. You can learn more or book a session here:https://intro.co/craigfrancisco

Episodes

  1. 11/07/2025

    Rise Of The Potential Era

    The room buzzed with possibility at the Great Lakes AI Conference, held on the beautiful campus of Bowling Green State University and that energy sparked a message leaders need right now: the fastest way to harness AI is to slow down, listen, and design it around your people. We, at AI23, call this shift the Potential Era—a move from rigid processes to adaptive systems where humans and AI partner to amplify judgment, creativity, and speed. I share the story of AI23 that chose research and learning over rushing products, and why that discipline builds better instincts for real-world impact. We map a pragmatic path for executives and operators: clarify outcomes, observe how great work actually happens, co-design pilots with domain experts, and scale what sticks. Instead of jamming shiny tools into fragile processes, we focus on culture, shared literacy, and human-in-the-loop guardrails that protect quality and trust. You’ll hear how leaders can signal courage and curiosity, how to avoid the trap of complexity theater, and where to start with narrow, high-friction workflows that benefit most from augmentation. We get practical about metrics—cycle time, error rates, employee sentiment, and customer value—and about building cross-functional squads that bring legal, data, and frontline operators together from day one. The result is a workplace where people do more of what only humans can do, while AI carries the repetitive load that kept their best ideas stuck. If you’re a CEO, team lead, or builder wondering how to bring AI in without breaking what already works, this conversation offers a clear blueprint and a cultural north star. Subscribe, share with a colleague who’s wrestling with AI adoption, and leave a review with the one change you’ll make this quarter. What’s your first step into the Potential Era?

    9 min

  2. 10/18/2025

    Designing Adaptive Organizations for the Human–AI Era

    If you’ve felt the ground shifting under your feet, you’re not imagining it—the rules of building and leading organizations are changing in real time. In this episode, we sit down with strategist and organizational architect Erica Ishida and human performance coach Ellen Palmer to explore what it takes to design truly adaptive organizations—where humans and AI collaborate to unlock dormant potential. We trade top-down hierarchy for living networks, and the obsession with efficiency for efficacy—solving real problems, discovering new opportunities, and measuring value beyond tasks. Erica breaks down the grounding principles that replace the myth of a universal roadmap: build radical trust, design for bi-directional learning, redefine value as potential realized, and treat AI as adaptive intelligence—a partner in navigating messy systems. Ellen brings the human foundation into sharp focus: regulated nervous systems, quality sleep, presence, and healthy device boundaries aren’t indulgences—they’re the infrastructure for better decisions, clearer thinking, and sustainable performance. Together, we explore the hard truth about leaders who refuse to evolve (irrelevance is inevitable) and why magnetic cultures attract top talent by honoring creativity, calm, and contribution. You’ll also hear candid personal stories: Ellen’s forced slowdown after injury that clarified her priorities, and Erica’s courageous pivot from corporate executive to founder, guided by love, trust, and inner wisdom. Walk away with practical starting points—set a new commitment, protect restorative rituals, reorient around trust and learning, and partner deeply with AI—so you can shift from survival to potential and build teams that are both humane and high-performing. If this conversation sparks a rethink, share it with a leader who needs it, hit Follow to catch future episodes, and leave a review with the principle you’ll adopt first.

    35 min

  3. 10/11/2025

    Curious, Not Scared

    A single rushed request turned into a turning point. Jessica Smith—Deputy Chief of Business Development at The Connection—shares how a quick AI-assisted draft became a signed training contract and reshaped her team’s approach to creativity, analytics, and everyday operations. We walk through the human-first playbook she’s built inside a large nonprofit serving reentry, housing, behavioral health, and shelter programs—where ethics and guardrails matter as much as speed. We dig into what “human in the loop” actually looks like: coaching AI like a new colleague, checking its work, and using it for first passes that free people for deeper thinking. Jessica explains why bans backfire, how to set practical policies for HIPAA and confidentiality, and where AI gives immediate lift—meeting agendas, minutes, brainstorming lists, catalog taxonomy across 600 courses, and automated performance summaries. The secret isn’t magic prompts; it’s a mindset of curiosity, clear examples of “good,” and small wins that stack into culture change. You’ll hear candid stories of missteps, fast pivots, and the difference between generic content and work that reflects your voice and standards. We talk about agility in policy (because six months can make your rules obsolete), how to create safe forums for sharing use cases, and why the cost of waiting now exceeds the cost of careful experimentation. If you’ve felt overwhelmed or skeptical, consider this your practical onramp—treat AI like an assistant you’re onboarding, start with low-risk tasks, and build from there. Enjoy the conversation, then tell us: what’s the first task you’ll offload to AI today? If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a colleague, and leave a quick review to help others find these conversations. Your support helps us bring more human-first stories of AI at work.

    34 min

  4. 10/08/2025

    The Fastest Way to Win with AI is Slower: Fix Culture First

    The race to adopt AI is on—but the real advantage isn’t in the tools, it’s in the trust. In this solo episode, Craig Francisco, host of At the Intersection, shares insights from a recent conversation with the leadership team of a Fortune 500 client—where the takeaway was clear: culture decides who wins with AI. When people can challenge ideas without ego, when curiosity beats fear, and when cross-functional partners collaborate by default, new technology plugs into a living system that’s ready to learn fast. Craig breaks down what readiness looks like in practice: clear communication, psychological safety, and teams that show up hungry to improve and help one another. You’ll hear why low-trust environments turn AI initiatives into complexity and confusion, and how a strong foundation flips that script—accelerating pilots, aligning stakeholders, and turning experiments into results. He also shares a practical 30/60/90-day approach to culture change: run a focused survey, listen deeply to the work as it happens, redesign a few high-leverage rituals, and model the behaviors you want from the top. With those moves, you can build the operating system that allows AI to create durable value. If you’re a leader weighing pilots or a team owner navigating change, this episode offers a simple filter: people first, then platforms. Treat AI as a human-technology partnership and you open space for faster learning, safer governance, and better outcomes. Subscribe for more candid, field-tested insights from Craig Francisco, and share this with a colleague who’s planning an AI rollout. Leave a review to tell us where your culture is strong—and where you’re building next. ext.

    6 min

  5. 10/02/2025

    How Word Pairing Sparked the AI Revolution

    In this first episode of At the Intersection, host Craig Francisco sits down with Mike Rojas, a seasoned AI strategist and technology leader who has spent decades helping organizations understand and apply emerging technologies. Mike has been at the forefront of artificial intelligence adoption, guiding executives and teams through the shift from traditional analytics to the new Human + AI era. Together, Craig and Mike unpack the fascinating journey of artificial intelligence — from Alan Turing’s early breakthroughs to the transformational leap in 2022 with large language models and generative AI. They explore: The 80-year history of AI and why October 2022 marked a turning pointHow generative AI tools like ChatGPT are augmenting human intelligence, not replacing itWhy AI should be seen as an “Iron Man suit” for leaders and workersThe truth about AI “hallucinations” and how models are improvingHow business leaders can embrace Human + AI to unlock new valueIf you’ve been curious — or even cautious — about how AI is reshaping work, this conversation will give you both context and confidence. At the Intersection is the podcast for leaders navigating the Human + AI era. Subscribe, follow, and share to stay ahead of disruption and thrive at the crossroads of change. #ArtificialIntelligence #GenerativeAI #Leadership #FutureOfBusiness #HumanPlusAI #AI23

    30 min
  • 5 Episodes

About

At the Intersection is a podcast for CEOs and leaders navigating one of the most important shifts in modern business: the rise of Human + AI organizations. Hosted by Craig Francisco, CEO of AI23, the show explores the crossroads of leadership, strategy, and artificial intelligence — where executive decision-making, organizational alignment, and emerging technology meet. Through short solo insights and candid conversations with experienced operators, Craig focuses on the questions leaders are asking right now: • Where should we actually start with AI?• How do we align our leadership team around strategy?• Where can AI create meaningful leverage in our organization?• What does a realistic path to becoming an AI-enabled company look like? This podcast is designed for leaders who want clarity before launching AI initiatives — not hype, tools, or scattered experimentation. If you’re exploring how AI could reshape your organization and want a structured way to think through the opportunity, Craig offers a limited number of private executive AI strategy sessions. These advisory conversations help leadership teams align around strategy, identify high-impact opportunities, and create a clear path forward. You can learn more or book a session here:https://intro.co/craigfrancisco

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