TECHNICALLY JOYFUL - Building Change Capacity in the Age of AI

Gabrielle Kohlmeier - AI Leadership & Change Capacity

Change is coming faster than ever. Joy helps us keep up — and shape what comes next. Look closely at the people doing hard things extraordinarily well — creating change that lasts, building what didn’t exist before, turning ambitious ideas into reality — and you’ll notice something: joy is often part of the fuel. They are technically joyful. Host Gabrielle Kohlmeier has used joy again and again to build with others what seemed impossible — and create outcomes beyond what anyone thought possible. In Technically Joyful, she shares what she’s learned and brings together people doing hard, consequential things differently: leaders, builders, thinkers, and wonderfully curious humans exploring what they’re seeing, what they’re learning, what isn’t obvious yet, and what the rest of us can use. We’ll tackle the hard questions. We’ll make the invisible work of change visible. We’ll find signal in the noise. And we’ll get practical about what actually helps people and organizations move — from technology, strategy, and systems to judgment, incentives, relationships, courage, and the wonderfully human messiness in between. Instead of fear as fuel, we use curiosity, connection, usefulness, awe, and the gentle persistence of joy. Joy gives us energy to engage with hard things — to stay curious longer, see more possibilities, connect more dots, and keep going. Every episode is designed to leave you seeing something differently, understanding something useful, and feeling more capable of acting — at work, in your organization, and in the much bigger experiment we’re all part of as AI reshapes our world. Expect hard questions, fascinating people, useful ideas, unexpected connections — and to come out stronger than you went in. Change is a muscle. Joy helps us build it. Welcome to Technically Joyful. Some Questions We‘ll Explore:  Why does being a beginner feel so threatening once you’re successful?What happens when the work that disappears was also the training ground?Why do some people seem energized by uncertainty while others freeze?What are we losing when efficiency becomes the dominant measure of value?How do you know when doing nothing is actually the riskier choice?What becomes possible when we stop treating curiosity as frivolous?What does AI reveal about work that was already broken?How do we keep our judgment while changing how we use it?What becomes more valuable — not less — as AI gets better?Why might joy actually make us better at doing hard things?

  1. 1d ago

    Staying Grounded: Choosing What Matters in the AI Whirlwind

    When AI keeps accelerating and information feels endless, how do you stay grounded in what actually matters? Between the constant headlines, new tools, and endless possibilities, it's easy to feel caught in a whirlwind of change. But staying grounded isn't about keeping up with everything. In this episode of Technically Joyful, Gabrielle Kohlmeier explores how mental models, systems thinking, and intentional choices can help us make sense of complexity without getting swept away by it. Drawing on her experiences navigating high-pressure leadership roles, research on why we tend to add rather than subtract, and the relationship between burnout and agency, Gabrielle explores and in some points challenges the instinct to do more. She explores how choosing what to remove and when deliberately not to, understanding the context behind information, and recognizing what gives our work meaning can create greater clarity in an AI-driven world. Because navigating change is both about what we take on, and about what we choose to let go of. And sometimes, the most powerful way forward is remembering that we have a choice in what we stand on. Your Transformation Rep Choose one whirlwind in your life right now. It might be an overwhelming project list, a complicated workflow, or a long AI-generated answer you haven't had time to read. Put it into your preferred AI tool and give it two instructions: Ask what could be removed and why.Ask what context or perspective might be lost by removing each suggestion.Then you decide. Keep the cuts that make things clearer and put back anything that removes important meaning or perspective. Only have 30 seconds? Ask yourself two words: Cut what? Episode Highlights: Why the AI information deluge makes it harder to distinguish meaningful insights from plausible noiseHow mental models and systems thinking help us navigate complexity and understand what mattersWhy we're naturally inclined to add more, even when subtraction could be the better solutionThe connection between agency, meaningful work, and burnoutHow intentional prioritization helps us make clearer choices about what to keep and what to let go ofWhy staying grounded in the AI whirlwind means recognizing that we still have choices Sources & Resources: Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit - Lyanda Lynn Haupt (Little, Brown Spark, 2021). Hachette Book GroupPeak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success - Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness (Rodale, 2017). Teased only; full episode coming."People systematically overlook subtractive changes" - Gabrielle S. Adams, Benjamin A. Converse, Andrew H. Hales and Leidy E. Klotz, Nature 592, 258-261 (2021). doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03380-yAreas of Worklife - Michael P. Leiter and Christina Maslach, "Areas of Worklife: A Structured Approach to Organizational Predictors of Job Burnout" (2003). EmeraldThe Cabrera Lab Podcast - Derek and Laura Cabrera:#136, "The Four Thinking Tools That Replace Thousands" (meaning = information x organization).#138, "How to Think Better Without Thinking Harder" (the systems-thinking moves).Technically Joyful episodes referenced  Ep 1 - You Don’t Need to Catch Up On AI: Curiosity is Your Change Strategy Ep 7 - The Task is Not the Work: Abundance as a Design Choice Ep 11 - Betting on Joy: Why Hopeful Skepticism Beats Cynicism (Plus Listener Stories with Bonus Guest Paul Kohlmeier) Ep 12 - The Joy of Communication: Why Change Needs a Shared Story | Craig Silliman Ways to Connect with Gabrielle Subscribe to Technically Joyful on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube: technicallyjoyful.com Newsletter: technicallyjoyful.com GK Strategic Advisory: gkstrategic.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gabrielle-kohlmeier  Gabrielle Kohlmeier is a licensed attorney, but nothing on Technically Joyful is legal advice, and no specific results are promised. Just joy!

  2. Oct 27

    The Joy of Communication: Why Change Needs a Shared Story | Craig Silliman

    What if the most important part of leading change isn't the strategy itself, but the story that brings people along? In this episode of Technically Joyful, Gabrielle Kohlmeier sits down with Craig Silliman, her former leader at Verizon, to explore why communication is not an afterthought to transformation, but an essential part of making it work. From a promising AI initiative that overlooked the human side of change to the leadership messages that helped people feel connected during uncertainty, Craig shares how curiosity, context, and storytelling can shape the way organizations move forward. Together, they explore what happens when leaders ask questions instead of assuming they have all the answers, why understanding another perspective is a strength in negotiation, and how a shared story can give people purpose and agency in times of change. Because communication does more than deliver information. It creates the connection and energy that help people move forward together. Your Transformation Rep Before your next hard conversation or negotiation, describe the situation to an AI tool in about three sentences. Then ask: "What does the other person need here that I haven't considered?" You can also ask: "What story am I telling myself about this?" Episode Highlights: Why solving a technology problem can create a human problemHow curiosity and asking questions make leaders more effectiveWhy communication and storytelling are essential to organizational changeHow Craig created connection and trust during uncertaintyThe role of shared purpose in bringing people along through transformationWhy empathy and curiosity are strengths in difficult negotiations Sources & Resources: MasterClass: Negotiate to Win: Essentials for Leaders (launch announcement) - the negotiation certificate course Craig teaches in, where his deal stories live.Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces - the hero's journey Craig draws on when he talks about giving people a story of purpose at work.The heroine's journey [LINK] - Gabrielle's recommendation to Craig, a take on the hero's journey built around collaboration and bringing people along.Additional resources Alexandra Carter, Ask for More: 10 Questions to Negotiate Anything - the question-led negotiation approach behind the course Craig teaches in. Ways to Connect with Gabrielle Subscribe to Technically Joyful on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube: technicallyjoyful.com Newsletter: technicallyjoyful.com GK Strategic Advisory: gkstrategic.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gabrielle-kohlmeier  Gabrielle Kohlmeier is a licensed attorney, but nothing on Technically Joyful is legal advice, and no specific results are promised. Just joy!

  3. Oct 20

    Betting on Joy: Why Hopeful Skepticism Beats Cynicism (Plus Listener Stories with Bonus Guest Paul Kohlmeier)

    What if staying curious, even when we're skeptical, is one of the smartest ways to navigate change? Cynicism can make us feel sharp, realistic, and prepared for disappointment. But what if our distrust isn’t protecting us, but limiting us - and worse making us duller? In this episode of Technically Joyful, Gabrielle Kohlmeier explores the science of hope and skepticism, drawing on Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki's research, systems thinking, and her own journey beyond fear-based perfectionism. Gabrielle examines why hope is different from optimism, how our mental models shape what we see, and why staying open to new evidence matters in an increasingly uncertain world. Gabrielle also considers what happens when we begin adapting ourselves to technology rather than shaping technology around human needs. As AI changes how we work, learn, and make decisions, curiosity and joy can help us resist narrowing our thinking, take thoughtful risks, and remain open to possibilities we haven't yet imagined. In a bonus segment, Gabrielle and special guest Paul Kohlmeier read and discuss some delightfully listener stories that reveal the humor and human connection emerging in our interactions with AI. Paul, an AI-native learning architect at ServiceNow, also takes on what staying curious looks like in practice. From AI experiments that didn't go as planned to lessons learned from beginners, they explore how frustration can fuel curiosity, why existing skills matter when learning new technologies, and the importance of asking questions rather than accepting every AI response. Because staying curious doesn't mean believing everything will work out. It means continuing to ask questions, learn from what happens, and recognize that we still have a role in shaping what comes next. Your Transformation Rep Think of one assumption you've been carrying about AI or how your team is going to react to it, or is reacting to it. Open whatever AI tool you're using and try this: “Here's an assumption I'm carrying. Help me zoom out. What else might be going on? Whose perspective am I missing? And what's one small, low-stakes thing I could find out whether I'm right?” Then go actually do the small thing. Have the conversation. Try the tiny version. See what comes back. You might have been right. Either way, you'll be working from a fuller picture, and that's the whole point. Episode Highlights: Why cynics are often perceived as smarter, and what the research reveals about skepticism and cognitive performanceThe difference between hope and optimism, and why you don't need a naturally positive outlook to practice hopeHow mental models influence what we notice, believe, and remain open toMoving beyond perfectionism by taking thoughtful risks and learning through experienceThe risk of flattening human thinking to fit technology, rather than shaping technology around usHow frustration, curiosity, and experimentation influence the way we learn with AIWhy beginners can help experts see what they're missing, and how existing skills transfer to new AI toolsThe unexpected humor, personality, and connection that emerge from everyday interactions with AI Sources & Resources: Jamil Zaki | Hope for Cynics https://www.jamil-zaki.com/hope-for-cynics - The Surprising Science of Human Goodness  Huberman Lab | Conversation with Jamil Zaki https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/dr-jamil-zaki-how-to-cultivate-a-positive-growth-oriented-mindset - How to Cultivate a Positive, Growth-Oriented Mindset, September 2, 2024.  Olga Stavrova and Daniel Ehlebracht | The Cynical Genius Illusion https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29993325/ Exploring and Debunking Lay Beliefs About Cynicism and Competence. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 45(2), 254-269 (2019; online 2018). DOI 10.1177/0146167218783195.  Cabrera Lab | Mental models and organizing information https://www.cabreralab.science/post/unraveling-the-cloud-how-culture-marketing-builds-shared-mental-models Unraveling the Cloud: How Culture Marketing Builds Shared Mental Models. A related primary resource from the lab explaining M=IO and distinctions, systems, relationships and perspectives. Jaron Lanier | You Are Not a Gadget https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/97779/you-are-not-a-gadget-by-jaron-lanier/9780307593146/ ABA Commission on Women | The Grit Project https://www.americanbar.org/groups/diversity/women/initiatives_awards/grit-project/ Pēteris Zilgalvis | FutureLaw keynote | Reverse adaptation  https://futurelaw.ee/speaker/peteris-zilgalvis/ https://newsline.haystackid.com/futurelaw-2026-opens-in-tallinn-with-a-sharp-question-who-governs-the-governors/ Ways to Connect with Gabrielle Subscribe to Technically Joyful on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube: technicallyjoyful.com Newsletter: technicallyjoyful.com GK Strategic Advisory: gkstrategic.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gabrielle-kohlmeier  Gabrielle Kohlmeier is a licensed attorney, but nothing on Technically Joyful is legal advice, and no specific results are promised. Just joy!

  4. Oct 13

    The Joy of Making It Work: Leading Through Constant Change | Maureen Naughton

    What do you hold onto when the technology, possibilities, and even the questions keep changing? Maureen Naughton, Chief Innovation & Information Officer at Lowenstein Sandler, has spent her career figuring out how organizations actually change. For Maureen, leading transformation no longer means having the next three years mapped out. It's about knowing what shouldn't change, building strong enough foundations to adapt around it, and staying curious enough to keep questioning what comes next.  In this conversation, Gabrielle Kohlmeier and Maureen explore what it takes to turn the possibilities of AI into change that actually works. Maureen makes the case for transformation as evolution rather than revolution: start with the problems people actually have, meet them where they are, and use the “art of the possible” to create the energy that helps people move. That possibility still needs something solid underneath it. Maureen's premise for AI is simple: it should make us smarter, not dumber. The tools may change how work gets done, but they don't eliminate the need for human judgment, trust, relationships, ethics, quality or client value. In a world where Maureen now thinks in six-month plans instead of three-year plans, those constants become a foundation for navigating uncertainty rather than trying to eliminate it.  Gabrielle and Maureen also get into the less glamorous work that makes transformation possible: data, process, governance, existing technology and operational design. Because moving faster doesn't always mean chasing the newest thing. Building the right foundation - across data, process and technology - makes it easier to identify where AI can actually add value and where to focus next.  And underneath all of it is something Maureen genuinely enjoys: getting to figure out what doesn't exist yet. Change can be uncertain, vulnerable and difficult, and still create the energy to ask, How lucky are we that we get to build what comes next?  Your Transformation Rep Let AI Coach Your Thinking Pick one decision, tension or problem you're genuinely thinking through. Instead of asking AI, “What should I do?” ask it to coach your thinking: “You get five questions. Ask me one at a time. Don't give me advice. Help me notice something that's missing, something that I'm assuming, and what matters most to me in this decision.” Answer the questions, then stop and ask yourself: Did I notice something I hadn't noticed before? The goal isn't to hand the decision over to AI. It's to use AI to create a little more space for your own judgment. Episode Highlights: Why transformation can be an evolution rather than a revolutionHow the “art of the possible” creates energy and momentum for changeWhy listening and vulnerability can strengthen leadershipHow to move AI skeptics by starting with problems that matter to themWhy Maureen has shifted from three-year plans to six-month plansWhat remains constant when the tools and delivery mechanisms keep changingWhy AI should strengthen human thinking rather than replace itThe role of data, process, governance and existing technology in AI transformationWhat operational redesign means beyond simply adopting new toolsWhy strategy gives organizations a place to assess, learn and course-correctThe joy of getting to create something that didn't exist before Ways to Connect with Gabrielle Subscribe to Technically Joyful on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube: technicallyjoyful.com Newsletter: technicallyjoyful.com GK Strategic Advisory: gkstrategic.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gabrielle-kohlmeier  Gabrielle Kohlmeier is a licensed attorney, but nothing on Technically Joyful is legal advice, and no specific results are promised. Just joy!

  5. Oct 6

    Momentum: How One Step Changes What You Can See

    What builds momentum when something feels too big to start? In this solo episode of Technically Joyful, Gabrielle Kohlmeier explores how a manageable, meaningful first step can get us moving, and why the value of that step isn't only where it gets us. It changes what we can see from the new place. Gabrielle draws on the unlikely way a Philadelphia Eagles rookie got her interested in American football, a first-week meeting as market general counsel that turned out to be her meeting, a finance friend who finally made accounting stick, and her experience deploying AI across a legal organization at Verizon. Across each story, the pattern is the same: the first step doesn't have to solve the whole problem. It can give us information, relationships, capacity, credibility, and energy that make the next decision possible and better. Sometimes overwhelm comes from not knowing what to do. Sometimes it comes from seeing so many interconnected things that need doing that the whole picture feels enormous. Either way, Gabrielle makes the case that you don't need a perfect map of steps one through twenty before you begin. Step one may give you information that changes what step two should be. Your Transformation Rep Find your step zero. Open whatever AI tool you already use, give it the thing that feels too big, and ask: “What's my step zero? Give me one physical action I can take, no additional planning required.” Once you've got it, ask: “What might I know, have, or be able to do after I take this step that I can't do right now?” If breaking something into manageable pieces is particularly hard, Gabrielle also recommends Magic ToDo from Goblin Tools, which breaks overwhelming tasks into smaller steps. Send your fun, surprising, or tragically awful AI attempts to connect@gkstrategic.com. Some may be featured on the show. Episode Highlights: Why the step that works is manageable and meaningful, even when it's tinyTwo kinds of overwhelm: not knowing what to do and seeing too much that needs doingWhy asking a question can be the first step toward building momentumBecoming capable before becoming self-sufficientChoosing first AI steps that give you data and make the next step smarterWhy you don't need a perfect map of steps one through twentyCaroline Kealey's idea to “be a compass, not a roadmap”Brad Stulberg's “motion precedes motivation”Whitney Johnson's S Curve of Learning and why the beginning can feel disproportionately hardFinding your own “rookie” with AI Sources & Resources: Caroline Kealey, founder of Results Map, on leading change as "a compass, not a roadmap," from the Change Signal podcast. https://www.resultsmap.com/about/about-caroline/ | https://thechangesignal.com/podcastBrad Stulberg, writer on performance and wellbeing, on motivation following action. https://www.bradstulberg.orgWhitney Johnson, *Disrupt Yourself*, and the S Curve of Learning. https://thedisruptionadvisors.com/books/Goblin Tools, Magic ToDo, a task breakdown tool designed mostly to help neurodivergent people with tasks they find overwhelming. https://goblin.tools/ToDo Ways to Connect with Gabrielle Subscribe to Technically Joyful on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube: technicallyjoyful.com Newsletter: technicallyjoyful.com GK Strategic Advisory: gkstrategic.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gabrielle-kohlmeier  Gabrielle Kohlmeier is a licensed attorney, but nothing on Technically Joyful is legal advice, and no specific results are promised. Just joy!

  6. Sep 29

    The Joy of the Next Step: Leading Through Fear, Failure & Uncertainty | Alison Levine

    What do we already know about courage, change, and ourselves that can help us find our footing right now? Alison Levine has climbed the highest peak on every continent, skied to both the North and South Poles, and served as team captain of the first American Women’s Everest Expedition. She has navigated environments where conditions can change without warning, the path forward is rarely certain, and knowing when to keep going matters just as much as knowing when to turn around. In this episode of Technically Joyful, Alison and Gabrielle explore what those experiences can teach us about leading ourselves and others through the uncertainty of the AI era. Alison shares why impossibly big challenges become more manageable when we focus on the next step, and why clarity of intent can keep us moving even when clarity in the environment is impossible. But moving forward does not always mean moving in one direction. On Everest, climbers repeatedly return to base camp as they acclimatize, descending so they can regain the strength they need to eventually climb higher. Alison connects that experience to failure tolerance and her own return to Everest eight years after turning around just 270 feet from the summit. What can look like retreat or failure in the moment may become experience, strength, and strategy for what comes next. The conversation also challenges some of the stories we tell ourselves about who is equipped to navigate difficult change. Alison reflects on learning that she did not need to keep pace with the biggest or strongest climbers to belong on the mountain, and that being valuable to a team is about more than being its strongest performer. Encouragement, humor, attitude, enthusiasm, and the ability to help other people keep going are strengths too.  And then there is fear. Rather than treating fear as something leaders need to eliminate, Alison has learned to use it as information that can keep her awake, alert, and aware. Gabrielle connects that lesson to the difference between joy and toxic positivity: navigating change with curiosity and possibility does not require ignoring the signals telling us that something is hard, uncertain, or genuinely frightening. We can acknowledge fear without allowing it to make every decision for us. That requires discernment, too. Not every uncomfortable moment is a reason to stop, but persistence is not always the answer either. Alison shares why leaders need to stay clear on the goal, understand their risk tolerance, prepare for different scenarios, and recognize when changing course protects their ability to keep going. Because the goal is not simply to reach one summit at any cost. It is to build the capacity to take the next step, learn from the steps that did not take us where we expected, and preserve enough of ourselves for the people and possibilities that come next. Your Transformation Gym Rep: Lighten the Pack After a talk, book, or interesting conversation, open an AI tool and voice-dump the ideas you want to remember. Leave out anything confidential or sensitive. Ask: “Organize what I’ve shared into a few themes. Keep them my ideas. Don’t include your suggestions.” Then, if you want help moving from reflection to action, ask AI to suggest three possible next steps, keeping its suggestions separate from your ideas. The goal is to lighten the pack: make sense of what you want to carry forward while keeping your ideas separate from AI’s suggestions.  Episode Highlights: Why clarity of intent matters when the environment is uncertainWhy being at “base camp with AI” doesn’t mean you’re behind Why progress can sometimes require going backward to regain strengthWhat failure tolerance makes possible when the outcome is uncertainWhy someone else’s pace does not determine whether you belongHow encouragement, humor, and attitude can make you valuable to a teamWhy fear can be useful information instead of something to eliminateHow leaders can acknowledge fear without slipping into toxic positivityWhat performance ego and team ego can teach us about building strong teamsHow to know when discomfort means keep going and when it may be time to change courseWhy Alison is replacing “go big or go home” with “go big and go home” Sources & Resources: Website: https://alisonlevine.com/ On the Edge: Leadership Lessons from Mount Everest and Other Extreme Environments: https://alisonlevine.com/the-book/ Coach K Center on Leadership & Ethics, Duke University: https://centers.fuqua.duke.edu/cole/ Ways to Connect with Gabrielle Subscribe to Technically Joyful on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube: technicallyjoyful.com Newsletter: technicallyjoyful.com GK Strategic Advisory: gkstrategic.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gabrielle-kohlmeier  Gabrielle Kohlmeier is a licensed attorney, but nothing on Technically Joyful is legal advice, and no specific results are promised. Just joy!

  7. Sep 22

    The Task Is Not the Work: Abundance as a Design Choice

    What happens when AI can summarize the report, review the documents, draft the memo, and analyze the contract? Does that mean the work itself is disappearing, or have we mistaken its most visible tasks for the whole job? In this solo episode of Technically Joyful, Gabrielle Kohlmeier challenges the scarcity story surrounding AI and work by asking a more fundamental question: What is the work? Drawing from her own experiences in law, leadership, advocacy, and organizational change, Gabrielle explores the parts of work that are easy to see and measure, and the parts that are much harder to put on a task list: judgment, trust, motivation, persuasion, connection, and attention. Because an email can be a task while the real work is changing behavior. Legal analysis can be visible work while trust changes the information you have access to. Summarizing information can be a task while the larger work is thinking, questioning, and deciding what matters. Once we stop treating the task as the whole of the work, the conversation about AI changes. Instead of asking only what technology can do, we can ask what people should do, what technology should do, what they can do together, what no longer needs to be done at all, and what valuable work we haven't been doing because our capacity was consumed somewhere else. And if AI does create more capacity, Gabrielle asks another question: What can we finally afford to pay attention to? That’s the abundance she explores in this episode. Not a promise that nothing will be lost, but the recognition that we still have choices about where we direct scarce human attention and what we choose to build next.  Episode Highlights: Why a task is not the same thing as the workThe assumption underneath fears that AI will make work disappearThe difference between a job’s purpose, the work required, and its individual componentsHow trust can change the information available and ultimately change an outcomeWhy getting the right answer is only part of the workThe invisible work of judgment, motivation, persuasion, connection, and attentionHow AI can create more room for thinking rather than simply making work fasterWhy human attention remains scarce, even as technology creates new capacityHow moving from scarcity toward abundance changes the questions we ask about AI and workTwo questions for making more intentional choices about the work AI helps us do Your Rep This week’s rep is a two-parter. The next time you finish a familiar task, pause and ask: “What was the work?” Not just, “What did I produce?” Ask what judgment, relationship, understanding, or outcome the task was actually in service of. Then, when AI gives you a draft, summary, or analysis, ask: “What’s missing?” Use its answer as a prompt for your own attention. Then consider what the system cannot know is missing. What do you know about the client, relationship, culture, history, or consequences that it doesn’t? And if, after your own review, you genuinely can’t identify anything material that’s missing, that may tell you something useful too: perhaps that task didn’t need as much of your attention as you thought. Sources & Resources: Related Episodes: Episode 1: You Don’t Need To Catch Up On AI: Curiosity is Your Change StrategyEpisode 2: The Joy Of Exploring: Leading AI Change Before the Map Exists w/ Anna GresselEpisode 3: No One Has The Whole Picture: Why Connection Is A Leadership CapabilityEpisode 4: The Joy of Building: How to Design A Human + AI Agent Organization w/ Geoff SchaeferEpisode 5: A Map Is A Form Of Agency: Strategy Under UncertaintyEpisode 6: The Joy of Learning Out Loud: How to Help Shape the AI Era w/ Laura Belmont Ways to Connect with Gabrielle Subscribe to Technically Joyful on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube: technicallyjoyful.com Newsletter: technicallyjoyful.com GK Strategic Advisory: gkstrategic.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gabrielle-kohlmeier  Gabrielle Kohlmeier is a licensed attorney, but nothing on Technically Joyful is legal advice, and no specific results are promised. Just joy!

  8. Sep 15

    The Joy of Learning Out Loud: How to Help Shape the AI Era | Laura Belmont

    What if the biggest barrier to learning, leading, and taking a risk is the permission we haven’t yet given ourselves? Laura Belmont has spent her career asking who a system was built for, who it leaves behind, and how it could work better, from disability-rights advocacy and Big Law to Comcast, Civis Analytics, and now The Suite. Laura and Gabrielle explore what it means to learn out loud in a profession that prizes being right. Laura shares how becoming General Counsel helped her recognize her strengths, and reflects on learning to offer herself the same grace she encourages in her children: the first attempt is practice, not proof of failure.  That willingness to learn, experiment, and question assumptions matters even more as organizations navigate and incorporate AI. Laura shares the story of working to build an elaborate Slack bot… with less than perfect results.  But experimentation still matters. Laura explains why moving quickly is not the same as moving forward, why lawyers need to understand the tools they are advising on, and how making broad fears more specific can turn them into questions we can actually investigate and address. And while so much about AI is still being defined, Gabrielle and Laura challenge the assumption that we simply have to adapt to the systems being built around us. We can ask better questions, push for what we need, and help shape the standards that come next. Joy has a role in that work. Not as a way to ignore the risks or hard questions, but as fuel for curiosity, learning, experimentation, and the agency to participate in shaping what comes next.  In This Episode: Why Laura stopped defining herself as risk-averse and started questioning what fear was actually holding her back fromWhat learning out loud makes possible in professions where people are expected to already know the answerWhy the simplest solution can be better than an over-engineered AI workflowThe difference between moving fast with AI and moving with directionWhy experimentation with AI can build useful capability even before the destination is clearWhy lawyers need firsthand understanding of AI tools in order to advise organizations effectivelyWhat Laura means when she says every lawyer is now a product counselHow breaking broad AI fears into specific concerns makes them easier to evaluate and addressWhy responsible AI adoption does not have to be a binary yes or noWhy all of us have a role in shaping the standards of the AI era Your Transformation Gym Rep Choose one AI concern you’re carrying.  Ask your AI tool: ‘Interview me until we can name exactly what I’m worried about. Then help me break that concern into smaller, testable pieces.’ Take the best question it gives you to an actual human.  And, as Laura suggests, try one low-stakes use case that is simply fun. (Interview-me format inspired by Allie K. Miller.)  Meet Laura Laura Belmont is General Counsel of The Suite and leads content and programming strategy for The L Suite. Previously, she served as General Counsel of Civis Analytics and held legal leadership roles at Comcast and Latham & Watkins. Ways to Connect with Gabrielle Subscribe to Technically Joyful on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube: technicallyjoyful.com Newsletter: technicallyjoyful.com GK Strategic Advisory: gkstrategic.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gabrielle-kohlmeier  Gabrielle Kohlmeier is a licensed attorney, but nothing on Technically Joyful is legal advice, and no specific results are promised. Just joy!

5
out of 5
18 Ratings

About

Change is coming faster than ever. Joy helps us keep up — and shape what comes next. Look closely at the people doing hard things extraordinarily well — creating change that lasts, building what didn’t exist before, turning ambitious ideas into reality — and you’ll notice something: joy is often part of the fuel. They are technically joyful. Host Gabrielle Kohlmeier has used joy again and again to build with others what seemed impossible — and create outcomes beyond what anyone thought possible. In Technically Joyful, she shares what she’s learned and brings together people doing hard, consequential things differently: leaders, builders, thinkers, and wonderfully curious humans exploring what they’re seeing, what they’re learning, what isn’t obvious yet, and what the rest of us can use. We’ll tackle the hard questions. We’ll make the invisible work of change visible. We’ll find signal in the noise. And we’ll get practical about what actually helps people and organizations move — from technology, strategy, and systems to judgment, incentives, relationships, courage, and the wonderfully human messiness in between. Instead of fear as fuel, we use curiosity, connection, usefulness, awe, and the gentle persistence of joy. Joy gives us energy to engage with hard things — to stay curious longer, see more possibilities, connect more dots, and keep going. Every episode is designed to leave you seeing something differently, understanding something useful, and feeling more capable of acting — at work, in your organization, and in the much bigger experiment we’re all part of as AI reshapes our world. Expect hard questions, fascinating people, useful ideas, unexpected connections — and to come out stronger than you went in. Change is a muscle. Joy helps us build it. Welcome to Technically Joyful. Some Questions We‘ll Explore:  Why does being a beginner feel so threatening once you’re successful?What happens when the work that disappears was also the training ground?Why do some people seem energized by uncertainty while others freeze?What are we losing when efficiency becomes the dominant measure of value?How do you know when doing nothing is actually the riskier choice?What becomes possible when we stop treating curiosity as frivolous?What does AI reveal about work that was already broken?How do we keep our judgment while changing how we use it?What becomes more valuable — not less — as AI gets better?Why might joy actually make us better at doing hard things?

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