I almost did not go.
Not because I was busy, though I was. Not because the timing was off, though it kind of was. I almost did not go because I was not excited. And for someone like me, who runs on energy and conviction, that felt like a signal.
I went anyway. Miami to Vegas is not a short flight. I packed my skepticism right alongside my conference agenda, and I boarded the plane.
What happened over the next three days is still sitting with me.
The Great Place To Work For All Summit. Two thousand leaders in one room. CEOs and executives from some of the most recognized companies in the world, different industries, different sizes, different generations. I was there with my boss and one of my direct reports. We split up intentionally to cover more ground, which is the difference between attending a conference and actually investing in one.
I plan ahead. I always do. The agenda gets reviewed before I land. Sessions are on the calendar before I pack. Meals are mapped. And I protect time for what I call brain absorption. Moments where I am not consuming content but actually sitting with it. Processing. Connecting dots.
That last part is what saved me this time. Because what I brought back was not what I expected.
One after another, some of the most powerful executives in the world walked onto that stage. And they were not what you might expect. They were not rushing. They spoke slowly, deliberately, like people who have learned that the right word at the right pace lands harder than a hundred words at full speed. Note to self. They were funny, genuinely funny, not in a rehearsed keynote way but in the way of someone comfortable enough in their own skin to make a room laugh and then make them think. They referenced books. They had morning routines. You could feel the intentionality in how they moved, how they paused, how they listened before they answered.
And then, almost without exception, every single one of them said some version of the same thing: our people are everything. Not as a line. As a conviction they had clearly been living for a long time.
Dr. Angela Duckworth reframed something that has stayed with me. Grit is not a personality trait you either have or do not have. It is situational. Leaders design the conditions that make perseverance possible for the people around them.
Larry Miller, the man who built Jordan Brand into one of the most influential brands in the world, said something even simpler: coming to work is a privilege. When someone who knows what it looks like when opportunity disappears says that, it lands differently.
The depth of your roots determines the height of your reach.
I know how to reach. I am wired for it. What I am still learning is how to root.
The session I did not expect to be changed by.
It was about AI. I went in expecting tips. Practical stuff. A list of prompts to copy and paste.
What I got instead was a live demonstration of something I had never actually seen before: AI used as a real thought partner. Not a search engine. Not a shortcut. A collaborator that helps you think better, not one that thinks for you.
Geoff Woods, author of The AI-Driven Leader, asked the room: what is the business that will put you out of business, and what would it look like if you built it first? I heard it as a personal question. What does the version of you that actually keeps growing look like? And what is stopping you from building that person right now?
I flew home from Vegas and I started building.
I spent real time designing how I want to use AI across every area of my life. Not just at work. My health. My finances. My family. My growth. And in doing that, I learned something I want to share with you, because I think most people are leaving a significant amount of value on the table.
Here is the practical guide.
Most of us use AI the way we used Google. Type a question, get an answer, move on. That is the lowest possible return on a tool that is capable of so much more. What follows are the principles I now use to get genuinely better results, regardless of which AI tool you are using.
- Treat it like a thinking partner, not a vending machine. The quality of what you get back is directly proportional to the quality of what you bring. If you arrive with a half-formed question, you will get a half-useful answer. Before you type anything, ask yourself: what am I actually trying to figure out? What outcome am I working toward? The more honest and specific you are about that, the better the conversation gets.
- Give it context, not just a task. Most people skip straight to the request. The problem is that without context, AI is essentially guessing who you are, what you need, and why it matters. The more you tell it about yourself, your goals, your working style, and what good looks like for you, the more useful every single interaction becomes. Think of it as briefing a really smart collaborator before a big meeting. You would not skip that step with a person. Do not skip it here.
- Separate your thinking from your output. There are two very different reasons to use AI. One is to think something through: to pressure-test an idea, challenge an assumption, or figure out what you actually believe. The other is to produce something: a draft, a summary, a plan, a message. These require completely different approaches. When you blur them together, you end up with polished output built on unexamined thinking. Get clear on which mode you are in before you start, and tell your AI which one it is too.
- Organize your life into distinct spaces. Your health questions are not the same as your financial questions. Your personal reflection is not the same as your professional planning. When everything lives in one undifferentiated conversation, nothing gets the depth it deserves. Organize your AI use the way you would organize your life: by domain, with context specific to each one. Your health space should know what matters to you about your health. Your work space should know your role, your goals, and how you think. The more specific the container, the better the thinking inside it.
- Ask it to slow you down. This one is the most counterintuitive, and for me personally, the most valuable. I am a fast mover. I see the destination before I have mapped the route and I charge toward it. That is a strength and it is also a risk. One of the most useful things I have done is explicitly tell my AI: before you answer me, ask me at least one clarifying question. Push back when I seem certain. Help me check whether I have identified the right problem before solving it. You can design your thinking partner to give you the friction you do not naturally generate yourself. That is a game changer.
Do the root work.
I sat in a hotel lobby in Vegas after the last session, just trying to take it all in. The energy of two thousand people who care about the same things. The conversations that felt less like networking and more like finally being in a room where the language made sense.
So here is what I am asking of you. Put yourself in a room that stretches you. Not when it is convenient. Soon. It does not have to be a conference. It can be a book, a conversation with someone outside your usual world, a tool you have been underusing, a question you keep avoiding.
Go there with intention. Bring something back.
The depth of your roots determines the height of your reach.
Do the root work.
If this resonated and you want to think it through together, you know where to find me.
first coffee, then things 