Human First, AI-Powered: Leslie Barreto Tate on Building a Business with AI

And then, you know, given, you know, AI and how much it's really just blowing up and, you know, there's there's other AI implementation, you know, firms out there.

What do you think sets like how are you or do you set yourself apart from those other companies?

Yeah, that's a great question.

And one of the things that intimidated me the most was who's going to hire little old Leslie when they can just hire this huge Fortune 500 company that has more experience.

One of the things that sets me apart and that I wholeheartedly stand on is that I care about the people first and the people being impacted by this technology.

So many organizations bring in the tech and And they don't really think about how that's going to affect the people that are actually doing the work or how they might actually use it and implement it if they're not bought into it yet.

So a lot of the work that I do is getting the people to buy into what we're doing so that they can help support the founder as things are being implemented.

So I really set myself apart by showing people that AI, so many people worry that AI is going to take my job.

AI is just technology.

It's like the internet all over again, like electricity all over again.

You have to learn how to adapt.

And the more you resist it, the more issues you're going to have with it because all of the tools that we use, the Netflix, the social media, everything is using AI, right? It just makes sense.

So the more you resist something, the more you're going to grow friction from it.

the quicker is going to lead you into walking out the door because your employer needs you to support their overall goals to get their company to a different level.

And if you're not really buying into what they're doing, it's just going to put, sorry to say, but a target on your back.

So I really understood that being one of those people that was laid off and had I really tried to lean into some of the things that were happening in my organization, maybe it would have been a little different.

So I think that now when we are going in and assessing the business, I start with the founder.

I always start with the founder.

I don't want to talk to the operations manager.

I want to talk to the leader of the organization.

What are their goals? What is it that you want accomplished? What does success look like to you? And how would you want your team to support you as you're trying to implement this and spending thousands of dollars to get people into these tools? Because a lot of people will get the tools, but they never do the training and it just kind of sits on the waist and you end up adding more people and creating more expenses, right? So I really focus on the founder and then I work my way down.

So once I get the founders in place and I understand their mission, their goals, especially what they're looking to accomplish in the next five to 10 years, then when I am training their teams and I'm showing them the tools and how they can use it, I have that in the back of my mind where I'm like, I know that the CEO, this is what they're envisioning.

This is how we're going to help you support that for them.

In turn, making you a more valuable employee.

So for me, it's just a different approach.