Recently, I got to sit with Audrey Kerchner, Chief AI Strategist, Olympic weightlifter, and one of my favorite AI geniuses. We wanted to talk about a People-First Approach to AI. This interview honestly put things into words that have been rolling around in my guts for months now. I realized something: To get to the right answers with AI, we need to be asking the right questions.
Common Questions Around AI
How can I use AI to make more revenue?
Wrong question.
How can I use AI to cut costs?
Wrong question.
Which people can I replace with AI in the future?
Wrong question.
I ‘m not saying that if you’ve ever asked any of these questions, you’re bad or wrong.
I’ve asked a few myself. I am saying that the questions reveal some things about the assumptions upon which the questions stand. In many cases, our questions reveal our priorities.
Maybe there are better, more compelling questions to be asked. And maybe we need to check to see if the questions we are asking are in line with our true priorities.
The Go-Giver Mindset
One of the most influential business books I’ve ever read is The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann. The premise is simple: If you want to be successful, learn how to add ludicrous value to others. The first “law” of the Go-Giver is the Law of Value:
“You’re true [professional] worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.”
If this principle were to govern my approach to AI, what kinds of questions might it drive me to ask? Maybe:
How can I use AI to drive insane value for my clients?
How can I use AI to make the lives of my employees exponentially better?
See the difference between these questions and the first set?
Revelations
That application of The Go-Giver to AI didn’t come to me beforehand. It surfaced in the middle of the conversation, when Audrey said something that came to me like a song:
“In business, you can only cut costs to zero. But if you stay growth and abundance focused, there is no limit to how far you can grow.”
Some serious lights went on for me in this conversation, and I hope they do for you as well.
Why This Conversation Mattered
This conversation mattered to me because it surfaced a healthier way to think about AI at work. Most AI conversations I hear are dominated by efficiency, cost cutting, or replacement. What often gets lost is how deeply AI decisions affect the people inside an organization. This interview was an opportunity to slow that conversation down and ask better questions about employee experience, trust, and long-term health.
Why Audrey Was the Right Voice for This Topic
Audrey Kerchner works primarily with small to mid-sized businesses that are trying to grow without losing their soul. What stood out to me is that she consistently treats AI as a practical support system for people, not a blunt instrument for restructuring teams. Her orientation is toward helping employees do their work with more clarity, less friction, and significantly less burnout.
Drawing a Clear Line Around People First AI
One of the most important things Audrey shared was her refusal to work with companies whose primary goal is replacing people with AI. She was direct about this. Mindset matters. Leaders who frame AI as a replacement tool create fear before implementation ever begins. Leaders who frame AI as a support tool create hope, buy-in, and trust.
A Story That Changed the Frame for Me
I shared a story from a Best Workplaces event where a CEO told me he would never fire an employee because of AI. He said he would only use AI to make his employees’ lives better. The conviction behind that statement struck me. It revealed what sat at the top of his priority pyramid. People came first. Profit followed.
What Leaders Often Miss
Many leaders feel tension between growth and care. They want to scale, but they refuse to sacrifice culture or burn out their best people. What this conversation made clear is that those goals are not opposed. When AI is introduced with the right intent, it can relieve pressure instead of increasing it and create capacity instead of anxiety.
Abundance Creates Better Outcomes Than Reduction
Audrey shared a simple insight that stuck with me: you can only cut costs to zero, but growth has no ceiling. Leaders who approach AI with a reduction mindset limit what’s possible. Leaders who ask how AI can help them grow value for clients and employees unlock far better outcomes.
Burnout Is a Leadership Responsibility
Burnout came up repeatedly, especially among high performers. AI can play a meaningful role in removing repetitive, draining, or mentally exhausting work. Used well, it protects energy instead of consuming it. That protection of energy is one of the most tangible forms of employee delight.
Who Actually Thrives With AI
Audrey emphasized that the most important trait for thriving with AI is not technical skill, but a desire to add value. Communication, problem solving, and critical thinking can all be supported with tools. A heart to contribute cannot be manufactured. Leaders who recognize and invest in value-driven people see the greatest return.
Practical Practices Leaders Can Apply
Leaders can start by restoring capacity at the top of the organization. When leaders are overwhelmed, they cannot care well for their teams. AI should remove draining work before adding anything new. Involving trusted employees in shaping AI workflows builds ownership and reinforces trust rather than fear!
Lessons I Took Away
People-first AI builds trust faster than policy ever will. Burnout can be reduced when tools are used wisely. Abundance focused questions consistently lead to healthier workplaces.
A Final Reminder
Employee delight is attainable. It is built through small, intentional decisions that compound over time. Leaders who genuinely care about their people are not alone. Ask the right questions.
People are screaming about how AI is going to change the world, eliminate jobs, maybe destroy the world. They spread fear by saying things like, “AI won’t take your job, but someone who knows AI will.”
But really, AI is only a tool to be wielded within the confines of company culture. Your approach to AI isn’t separate from the work you do every day to take good care of your people and try to create a happy and fulfilling place for them to work.
Companies with bad, transactional culture will use AI to further devalue workers. Replacing jobs, creating more leverage through fear.
But how will good companies use AI? What amazing things might be possible when the tool is wielded for the joy and benefit of the people we get to build with every day?
