Conor Grennan, CEO, AI Mindset: Why AI is a Change Management Problem
Stumbling Blocks: How Great Leaders Are MadeShow Notes
Conor Grennan is CEO of AI Mindset and until recently, Chief AI Architect at NYU Stern School of Business. He's trained teams at Google, NASA, Microsoft, JP Morgan, and many more.
He's a New York Times bestselling author, a MasterClass Instructor, co-host of the AI Applied podcast, and a recipient of the Dalai Lama's Unsung Hero of Compassion Award.
Conor has become one of the most sought-after speakers and strategists in the AI space.
But what's most interesting are the reinventions that brought Conor to AI: moving to Prague at 21 to avoid being ordinary, volunteering in a Nepali orphanage, going back when the children he cared for were re-trafficked, and writing a fantasy novel.
We dig into Conor's contrarian take that AI is fundamentally a Change Management issue, not a tech issue.
We also cover his best public speaking advice, what he would say with one final tweet, and the one simple thing any leader can do today to start using AI:
"Just tell it."
TIMESTAMPS: (04:33) Why honest reason Conor kept putting himself in interesting positions (06:23) Moving to Prague at 21 (07:49) Going to Nepal for a pickup line (09:46) Why he went back (12:49) Seeing a need and filling it (13:30) Meeting the Dalai Lama (15:29) How "The Art of Happiness" changed everything — and why he was happiest with nothing (18:57) Coming back to America and what he couldn't bring with him (21:28) How Nepal changed his parenting (23:48) Writing fiction: The Hadley Academy and the introvert revelation (27:51) How NYU Stern's Dean of Students role found him (31:59) Public speaking: why making a small mistake might be the key to winning the audience (37:46) The AI framework that flipped everything (43:24) AI is like electricity, not a light bulb (46:42) AI: just tell it (48:16) One tweet left: "You don't have to do what everybody else does" (50:07) Jonathan's outro — what Conor's story means for leaders navigating reinvention, and a preview of the Attorney General Gonzales episode
LINKS: Conor's company — AI Mindset: https://www.ai-mindset.ai/
Conor's podcast — AI Applied (with Jaeden Schafer): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-applied-covering-ai-news-interviews-and-tools/id1669799110
Conor's book — Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal: https://a.co/d/00sGdmLP
Conor's book — The Hadley Academy for the Improbably Gifted: https://a.co/d/05icO15V
ABOUT: Jonathan Block is a leadership development and change management advisor who has helped hundreds of Fortune 500 leaders navigate C-suite succession, AI adoption, M&A, and organizational transformation. He launched and led PricewaterhouseCoopers' Trust Leadership Institute, reaching 14,000 Fortune 500 executives over 3 years, and driving $2 billion in influenced wins for PwC. He recently founded Block Leadership Group and hosts this podcast to quench his insatiable curiosity about the moments that change great leaders.
More: www.blockleadershipgroup.com
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