Do Hard Things Podcast

Do Hard Things A Podcast With Gabe Lullo Ft. Gabe Naviasky

Do Hard Things Podcast

Show Notes

“AI is just an extension of software. It essentially makes what we have been doing much better.” - Gabe Naviasky

In this episode, Gabe shares a story about a company that chose not to work with his team simply because they were using AI.

At first glance, it sounds cautious and even reasonable. This company had experienced a security breach the year before, so their hesitation around vendors like OpenAI made sense.

But here’s the part that’s harder to reconcile:

Avoiding a specific vendor is one thing. Avoiding AI altogether? That’s a different story.

Because opting out of AI today doesn’t just mean skipping a tool, it means stepping away from the infrastructure of modern software itself.

It means: • No Google search • No Siri or voice assistants • No smart automation quietly improving workflows in the background

AI isn’t a feature anymore, it’s becoming the baseline.

As workflows become more automated, the nature of work itself is changing. The repetitive, manual, and process-heavy tasks? Those are increasingly handled by systems.

What’s left, and what becomes more valuable, is the work that requires judgment, creativity, and real-world experience.

The human layer doesn’t disappear, it sharpens.

So the question isn’t whether to use AI.

It’s how intentionally we choose to use it and where we decide human expertise matters most.

More from Do Hard Things Podcast

Oct 21, 2026

"People don't change because you give them housing. People change because they're given community, accountability, purpose, work, and people around them who actually believe in them." - Moe EganPreston and Moe Egan came to The Other Side Village from opposite ends of the problem.Moe grew up in East Oakland, surrounded by addiction and crime, and became a lifelong addict and criminal himself. He went through six or seven recovery programs and graduated from every one. Each time he relapsed. Then came his seventh arrest, and the officer who cuffed him was his old football coach. The coach told him about Delancey Street, and facing San Quentin, he wrote a letter begging for help.Preston has spent 30 years in nonprofit work and never lived any of that. He's upfront about it. His problem is with the systems around the work, which measure beds filled and boxes checked instead of whether people reach long-term independence.Together they lead The Other Side Village, a permanent community built on peer accountability, where residents run social enterprises like a donut shop. Preston brings the strategy and Moe brings the lived experience, and neither is enough alone.Recently Moe took a group of people who spent decades on the street to New York. For some it was their first flight. On the way home they asked him how to get a passport."People don't fundamentally change when they feel temporary... When people know they have a permanent place in the community, they start thinking about next year instead of next week." - Preston L. Cochrane

Oct 19, 2026

"None of us engage perfectly with technology when we're overwhelmed or stressed. You shouldn't build a system that requires perfect engagement in order to be useful." - Ellie Gordon

Oct 15, 2026

"If there's something I can do and should do, then I have a responsibility to do it. That is what I signed up for when I became a nurse." - Melinda Yormick

Oct 12, 2026

"It didn't matter what I had accomplished before, what I had achieved, what awards I had. None of that mattered. It only mattered what I brought that day." - Mary Crafts

Oct 7, 2026

"Don't make an assumption, ask the question. Ask your senior people two things: what's slowing you down, and what would make you consider leaving. That pattern is your real priority list." - Alex Seiler

See all episodes →