It’s AI keynote season, and I’m traveling the country helping leaders unlock real value from AI within their organizations.
This week I’m speaking with leaders from healthcare to auto care, and they all ask some version of the same question:
“How do we actually get our people to start using AI?”
For the past 2.5 years, we’ve heard endless hype about AI’s transformational potential. And yes—some employees are already onboard. In most orgs, about 15–20% of people are self-motivated, curious, and driven enough to explore AI on their own.
And they’re crushing it:
But that leaves 80% of your team stuck. Not because they’re lazy or resistant—simply because they haven’t been rallied, resourced, or rewarded.
You’ve heard me talk about the AI SPRINT framework for building AI into your company. To my knowledge, it’s the only framework of its kind—and it works.
The “R” stands for Rally—rally your people to use AI.
Last week, Fiverr CEO Micha Kaufman showed us what not to do when telling his company they need to use AI.
He wrote (edited to relevant points):
“AI is coming for your jobs. Heck, it’s coming for my job too… this is a wake-up call… It doesn’t matter [your role]: AI is coming for you.
Are we doomed? Not all of us. But those who will not wake up and understand the new reality, fast, are unfortunately, doomed.”
Micha Kaufman, Fiverr CEO
Honest? Yes.
Effective? Not remotely.
Fear doesn’t rally teams. It freezes them.
If your people think AI is the thing that’s going to make them irrelevant, don’t expect them to embrace it. Expect silent resistance.
And a quiet uptick in updated LinkedIn profiles.
What I find is most people aren’t adopting AI because it’s “the future.”
They adopt it when they see how it helps them win right now.
Your team will resist AI if:
They’ll rally around it when:
People move toward reward. Not abstract threats.
Most teams run dozens of recurring processes every week—many ripe for automation or augmentation.
Job Function
Weekly Tasks
% AI-Automatable
Ops / HR / Finance
25–40
50–70%
Sales / Marketing
20–30
30–60%
Engineering / Tech
10–20
20–50%
Executive/Admin
15–25
40–60%
Every task is an opportunity to either rally your team—or repel them from AI.
Give people the support and incentives to explore.
Reward experimentation. Create structures to share wins.
Do this, and adoption follows.
Tell them their jobs are doomed? You’ll get silence.
If you want your team to start using AI today—give them something they can act on.
Here’s a tool I recently created to make this easy for my clients.
👉 Task Automation GPT
Drop in your job title and industry—it’ll instantly show you how to automate your work with ChatGPT.
You can start using AI for light automation in minutes.
Leaders who use fear or mandates are missing the biggest upside of AI of all: innovation.
I believe—deeply—that AI gives every company the opportunity to invent new products, services, and ways of working that were never possible before.
Let your employees reimagine:
This is what sustains not just jobs—but your business itself.
And it’s never been more doable! It’s also the most meaningful work most of us do.
Don’t scare your people into AI.
Rally them with rewards, recognition, and real outcomes.
That’s when real results start showing up.
Need help on how to do it? Let’s talk about how to build this into your culture—fast.
About Trent: Trent Gillespie is an AI Keynote Speaker, CEO of Stellis AI, former Amazon leader, and advisor on building AI-Native, AI-Enabled businesses. Book Trent to speak to your group or book a call to discuss using AI within your business.
Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.
Did someone forward this newsletter to you? If you're not already signed up, you can subscribe to AI SPRINT™ for free here.