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File 39: In this file of Workforce Therapy Files, the hosts sit down with Jenna Ahern, founder of Guardian Owl Digital, to discuss the rapid impact of artificial intelligence on business, leadership, and the future of work. They explore why organizations need intentional AI policies, stronger data governance, and ongoing employee training as AI becomes more integrated into daily operations. Jenna emphasizes that leaders must approach AI as a change-management challenge rather than simply a technology initiative. The group stresses the importance of creating learning environments where employees can safely experiment and build competency. Jenna also shares lessons from her entrepreneurial journey, including the importance of betting on yourself and recognizing that hustle alone does not scale a business. The file encourages leaders to embrace continuous learning and proactively guide their organizations through a rapidly evolving landscape.
Key Themes
· Meet Jenna Ahern
· Entrepreneurship, Resilience and Betting on Yourself
· AI is a Leadership Challenge, not Just a Technology Challenge
· Why Every Organization Needs an AI Policy
· Building AI Skills through Practice and Continuous Learning
Episode Transcript
Molley Ricketts:
Welcome back to the Workforce Therapy Files. We are here today with an amazing guest, Mrs. Jenna Ahern. How are you doing today?
Jenna Ahern:
Hi, I'm so grateful to be here. Thank you all for having me.
Molley Ricketts:
Jenna is here with us today. She owns Guardian Owl Digital Agency. Look at me. I remembered. I usually just say Guardian Owl. So, the digital agency is the new part for me. We are excited to have you on the show today. Before we kick off though, Jamie has to ask one of her very unique questions. Drum roll.
Jamie Swaim:
But today we're going to do something a smidge different.
Molley Ricketts:
Uh-oh.
Jamie Swaim:
Because I like to keep it spicy. Okay.
Jenna Ahern:
Same.
Jamie Swaim:
Choose between door number one or door number two.
Jenna Ahern:
Two.
Jamie Swaim:
Okay, number two, tell us something that you think is ridiculously overrated.
Jenna Ahern:
Ridiculously overrated?
Jason Heflin:
Podcasts.
Jenna Ahern:
Podcasts. I know that's a really good one. I think right now and relevant to this, what's really, really overrated is Sintra.AI. Call it out.
Jamie Swaim:
Why?
Jenna Ahern:
Because I think that it has a lot of hype and they have a lot of marketing and they're doing a decent job. But I think that that to me is a very much hyped-up AI tool, just like a lot of the AI tools are. And so I wanted to say AI is overhyped, but I can't say that because it's not. It's real. It's serious. It is definitely here. I'm like, some of the tools are, so I went Sintra.
Jamie Swaim:
Okay.
Jenna Ahern:
That's how my brain operated on that question.
Jamie Swaim:
Alright.
Jenna Ahern:
Do you want a personal overrated?
Jamie Swaim:
Sure. You can do it however you want.
Jenna Ahern:
I don't have one. I need like a cross.
Jamie Swaim:
You can also point to anybody else here and ask them to popcorn it.
Jenna Ahern:
Oh, I know those Stanley cups. I think those are overrated.
Jamie Swaim:
They spill way too easily.
Jenna Ahern:
I don't have one. I never bought one. I think those are overrated.
Jamie Swaim:
Tell me, you don't have a teenager at home without telling me you have a teenager.
Jenna Ahern:
Exactly. I'm like, that's ridiculous.
Jamie Swaim:
Absolutely.
Jenna Ahern:
There you go. That's overrated. I probably had made a lot of people angry right there.
Jason Heflin:
So, what's underrated right now? How about that?
Jenna Ahern:
Water.
Jason Heflin:
Water.
Jenna Ahern:
I think we should be talking more about water and sustainability and ethics. AI is new, sure, but virtues and our environment hasn't really changed. There's still water around hopefully.
Jamie Swaim:
Yeah. Lots of question marks there though.
Jenna Ahern:
Yeah.
Jamie Swaim:
Yeah.
Jenna Ahern:
But that's underrated right now. Clean drinking water.
Jamie Swaim:
Jason, what's overrated for you?
Jason Heflin:
What's overrated? The McRib.
Jamie Swaim:
The McRib? Yeah.
Jenna Ahern:
Overrated or underrated?
Jason Heflin:
I think it's overrated. I mean, you know.
Jenna Ahern:
Have you last sampled?
Jason Heflin:
Oh, it's been years. I don't know. Jim said it. Jim said it. So I'm stealing Jim's answer.
Jenna Ahern:
Well, I heard they had a reckoning. That's why I was like, oh wow.
Jason Heflin:
Oh yeah. No, I don't know.
Jamie Swaim:
Alright. Molley, what do you think?
Molley Ricketts:
Yeah, and I knew this was coming around and I still can't think of anything.
Jenna Ahern:
I gave you like three minutes.
Molley Ricketts:
You did.
Jamie Swaim:
Want me to go first? Okay, it gives you a little bit more time though. You need to be thinking. Okay. For me, socks.
Molley Ricketts:
Oh, that's a good one.
Jamie Swaim:
I think socks are incredibly overrated, except on cold days. I'll give you a caveat there. But the amount of energy it takes to wash them, match them. The number of times you only find one. To me, forget it. I'm just going sockless. I don't want socks.
Jason Heflin:
What about… Molley, what about washing jeans?
Molley Ricketts:
That's overrated.
Jason Heflin:
Some people don't wash their jeans. That's overrated.
Molley Ricketts:
You're not supposed to wash your jeans. Okay?
Jenna Ahern:
Agreed.
Molley Ricketts:
A couple of times a year.
Jason Heflin:
I over-wash my jeans.
Jamie Swaim:
Do you have it on your calendar? Is it like today's jean wash day?
Molley Ricketts:
No, it's just that they're standing up straight. Then you turn them inside out and wash them.
Jenna Ahern:
And you can smell them.
Jamie Swaim:
If they're standing up straight?
Jenna Ahern:
Smell. There's a stop. Gets to a point.
Jamie Swaim:
It's got food on them.
Jenna Ahern:
Yeah.
Jamie Swaim:
Remember earlier when we were talking about values and ethics, the virtues? I don't know. I feel like we're crossing over some weird line here with the jeans conversation.
Jenna Ahern:
I mean, I think it's right in line with the WTF.
Jamie Swaim:
Yeah, for sure. Absolutely.
Molley Ricketts:
Okay, so back on track. Agree?
Jamie Swaim:
Yes.
Molley Ricketts:
Okay. Ms. Jenna?
Jenna Ahern:
Yes.
Entrepreneurship, Resilience and Betting on Yourself
Molley Ricketts:
I know that you started Guardian Owl. You've launched it.
Jenna Ahern:
I did.
Molley Ricketts:
Got it going. Congratulations.
Jenna Ahern:
I blacked out. How many years has it been?
Molley Ricketts:
Having a brown out moment? Yeah. How many years has it been?
Jenna Ahern:
12.
Jamie Swaim:
Congratulations. That's incredible.
Jenna Ahern:
Wild. Thank you. Wild rollercoaster ride.
Molley Ricketts:
Yeah. Wild one turns upside down goes way far down.
Jenna Ahern:
I know. But I like rollercoasters.
Molley Ricketts:
Yeah, I do too. It's the excitement of it, not the fear. Right?
Jenna Ahern:
Thrill of the ride.
Molley Ricketts:
So what was the moment? And I feel like as entrepreneurs sitting around the table, we all have this moment where you were just like, I can't keep doing this. I can't do this anymore. And what made you keep doing it?
Jenna Ahern:
In corporate America or running my business?
Molley Ricketts:
Running your business.
Jenna Ahern:
You know, I think that we all, I call it have you ever seen the reds? And so sometimes I think when I get to those states, it's oftentimes a buildup or 10 things went wrong in two days. And it is just usually this small sample size. And when I'm in that moment, that's when I have to work on. And again, this is a learned skillset, breathing and trying to ground myself into a reality that isn't myself. So, really just getting out a little macro because what I'm doing is not that important. I'm not saving lives or anything. So, oftentimes when I get to those points where I want to give up or I want to quit or I want to break, I think I just have to really zoom out. And it starts with just quick breathing. If I have two minutes before I'm going to freak out or if I have more time, I really have gotten into just being more still. I used to be a runner and would burn a lot of my rage, my reds, with training hard, training heavy. And I think that that was great for the season I was in.
But one of the things that I've recognized is I am clearer and more steady when I am more still and not moving.
And so I think yoga on a weekly basis has helped me with that. Reading. Just taking time away from the screen. Walking for 20 minutes. Standing up. Actually doing those things. I mean, we could talk about it, but getting into a rhythm where I'm doing that every week at least one time a week has just helped my reds go from happening every two weeks on this rollercoaster ride to maybe once every two months.
Molley Ricketts:
So that's the point of what keeps you going. So why did you even start? What was it that was that trigger that was like, I got this, I can do this.
Jenna Ahern:
I think that my mom really helped push me over the edge. I was burning the candle from both ends when I was working full-time in corporate America and then also growing the business. And I was trying to do both. And I'm sure a lot of people who've grown business did that for the time period. I really struggled to let go. And what made me choose my business was if I was going to work that hard and pour everything into it, I wanted it to be mine and not for another company. Not at that time, not in that season and not at that period of just the internet and search engine marketing. And so that, betting on myself, that was the moment and that was the bet I took and I'm really glad that I bet on myself.
Molley Ricketts:
Yeah, you're pretty kickass. I'll give you that.
Jamie Swaim:
For those of us who aren't as familiar as Molley is to your business, tell us what Guardian Owl does.
Jenna Ahern:
Guardian Owl is a digital marketing agency. We also have a GO AI division, and we help you be seen and chosen when somebody is searching for your product or service across the internet.
Jamie Swaim:
Very cool.
Jenna Ahern:
Yeah.
Jason Heflin:
And AI is a huge part of that right now.
Jenna Ahern:
It has and is and is going to be a big part. Yes, absolutely. Whether we like it or not, it's here.
AI is a Leadership Challenge, not Just a Technology Challenge
Jason Heflin:
So that's the topic we want to talk about today. You are an expert and we want to tap into that a little bit.
Jenna Ahern:
Well, that was like an hour ago. So much has changed.
Jason Heflin:
Yeah, by the time this airs.
Jenna Ahern:
Yeah, I'm no longer the expert.
Jason Heflin:
So like we talked about, this podcast is about the workforce. And so where are you seeing things evolve in the workplace from both an employer's perspective and the employee's perspective with AI? And I know that's a really broad question, but just fire away and let us know kind of what you're seeing out there right now and what needs to be addressed.
Jenna Ahern:
Well, it's the wild, wild West on both sides I would say. And I think that it's change. We're in a period of change. And I want to make sure too, we're also in an environment that is most would say unstable, more chaotic. We're coming off of COVID. Now we're in an arena that has had a lot of change, not just from a business standpoint, but from our country.
And so on top of that, now you are asking humans to make incredible changes in their lifestyle with AI and implementing it just for one and using it. And then two, being able to neurologically change and the way they think about things and the way they work. And to me, that's asking a lot of humans right now. I think to that last part, what do we need to talk more about? We need to just talk more about policies. How are we being intentional about creating these policies for our organization?
It doesn't matter if it's an organization of 3, 30, 3000 or 30,000. I think that the leadership needs to understand not just how we're using these tools, but what's the impact of these tools within our organization and how we're deploying. Because bias and certain things can scale just as the good can. So, I think we need to have more of those conversations intentionally at a leadership-level and we need to have more policy and data governance.
Jason Heflin:
Would you say true or false? Most companies do not have an AI policy.
Jenna Ahern:
True.
Why Every Organization Needs an AI Policy
Jason Heflin:
True or false? Most companies should have an AI policy.
Jenna Ahern:
True.
Jason Heflin:
Okay. How do they get one? Let's say I'm a leader. I know nothing about AI, but I know it's a thing (air quotes) and I need to be addressing it. My team's using it. How do I get started?
Jenna Ahern:
Don't they just put that into ChatGPT and just say, what's the right policy?
Jason Heflin:
Should I just put into Chat?
Jenna Ahern:
And believe it or not, people are doing that. Let's just call that out, right?
Jamie Swaim:
Got HR policies every day.
Jenna Ahern:
No, stop doing that. And some people put it on their website in the footers on their privacy policy, like their AI policy. I'm like with the prompt there are hyphens. And oftentimes it's from 2022, 2023. If your AI policy, to your point, if you're not checking that now quarterly, you're behind. And that goes for Guardian Owl, as well. We're actively updating one from July. So that's where we are. And to go back to how should you approach this one, don't go to ChatGPT, but two, when we're talking about change management, I see a lot of managers out there talking about AI and not leaders. And I think we need to be intentional about how we are approaching this conversation with our organizations. If you're automatically going to humans and saying, here's our policy and not giving them a say and how do you think that this should be covered?
How do you think that you're a valuable part of our organization? What are your thoughts? And addressing these concerns and the scarcity mindset and everything that comes with change, fears, addressing those and making sure that voices are heard before then you roll out a policy that one, nobody's going to know half of the stuff in there anyway, right? Because we're all learning it together. So, I think the biggest thing is make sure people know that they're seen and their voices are heard. Whether or not they approach you. Everyone's culture is different. But I think allowing, especially your leaders to have a seat in the table with just a conversation before you craft this policy is important.
Jamie Swaim:
I really like the way that you're heading here sometimes on our podcast, I like to give a little Parcel policy moment, and I've never seen a topic more like AI in the workplace that requires the cooperation of literally every division. So, things that make my chest super tight, for example, is using AI to create harassing images or harassing limericks or something like that to bully an employee.
Jenna Ahern:
Or for me, uploading financial information of clients to do analysis.
Jamie Swaim:
Yes. Or for the legal team, they're probably going to have some question marks about whether or not anything that you're uploading to get some insight on releases confidential information or IP. If you were to go over to Finance, they're definitely going to be like, please don't put our financial data out there. And a lot of times people are using these systems without removing names or identifying information. And we definitely see a lot of headlines about how AI can be used for surveillance and be able to be data that can be sold or shared with another company without your permission. So I don't know. I got lots of question marks here and I think it is definitely, I love hearing you say, let's get everybody together to start talking through how we should be managing this stuff so that it is being hit from every angle.
Jason Heflin:
Let's say I'm that same leader and I go to my team and I say, let's write an AI policy, but we need help. Is that something Digital Owl does?
Jenna Ahern:
Yes. Guardian Owl, but I love that you call us Digital Owl.
Jason Heflin:
It's a subdivision.
Jenna Ahern:
It's a subdivision. It's growing. It's growing. We just launched today.
Jason Heflin:
It happened just now.
Jenna Ahern:
We hatched. Now I forget the question. What was it?
Jason Heflin:
So can Guardian now help with writing the policy?
Jenna Ahern:
Yes, of course. But I also, I think that too, in organizations that are moving fast, you might even have an AI consultant or you might have, yes, we can help with that and help train, but depending on what your organization does, we might not even be the right fit for you based on your needs or your location or your wants and desires or the problems you're fixing. So I think that's why getting all your leaders together and understanding, okay, do we want in this policy? And then two, yeah, do we need external help? Do we want to bring in, based on these concerns?
Because it's something that everyone needs to be on the same page and be really strong in the charge and being on the same page continually, when you're running a company. This is some serious stuff. If you have data leaks or you do have employees that are, it's just a lot of ways that this could go wrong. So, I think that if you're not all on the same page, and yes, we do that, but I think that you can also lean into external sources in your local area, or even if you have a franchise.
A great example is Cushman & Wakefield. They have commercial, Kentucky is their separate entity, but Cushman & Wakefield has an overarching policy. Well, they use that to then help craft their own. And we came in and are a part of that as well as the training component. Hey, here are the do's and don'ts, here's how we want to think about how we're rolling it out. Because even in every organization, they probably have 20% of their people that are actually going to be actively using and engaging. And then they're going to have a big chunk of people that are going to need handholding. And this can be a big change. And then they might have people that might not make it.
So again, it's like that is something that yes, we like to do and we can do, but I also think that it needs to be a good fit for everybody in the organization because it should be a long ride, long partnership.
Building AI Skills through Practice and Continuous Learning
Jamie Swaim:
I think one of the things that also stands out to me is that this is going to be such a pervasive topic over the next however many years, maybe just the future of work in general. I'm curious how people grow competency, because business leaders are not going to want to outsource a hundred percent of the things they're responsible for. How do people learn what they need to know? Because this is brand new for a lot of people that are in the workforce.
Jenna Ahern:
And how you learn everything is practice and there becomes the human variable of change. Because if you aren't practicing and you aren't utilizing different models, you're not going to understand the languages and how each one operates. That to me is going to dramatically affect the hiring process because if we operate on Claude and you aren't familiar, you're very familiar with Copilot. Okay, that might be a huge factor for me in the future because it already is now. If you're not using it because we need that as a skillset. But to me, I think if you're not practicing just as an individual, then it's going to be a challenge.
And then also I think from a company standpoint, I think giving some time for your team in the work day to actually go play and create and learn. And I almost want to say instead of prompt engineering, context engineering, because that's the real practicing. How do you practice giving the AI models contextual information? And the people that are good at that are going to be the ones that get hired to me. And that's what I foresee. And the people that are good at that are the ones that are just practicing and that's it. It's practice.
Jason Heflin:
Do you advocate for training?
Jenna Ahern:
Oh yes. I advocate for training. I'm training. I mean, I go to, gosh, Jermaine Watkins and Dan Murphy actually started just a group of, it was like, Hey, come learn AI. So Tuesdays we'd be building, I started an AI Distilling Co. We host monthly events and we have speakers and just for everybody in the room to learn about a different topic, whether it's legal, whether again HR, so much is changing so fast that not only do we need training, but I think it's just, it's a lot. So we need to hear it a lot. And because we're not going to be able to get all this in one in a six-month time period.
Jason Heflin:
Well, and when you think about training, how often do you need to renew that training? How often do you need to go back to the well and say, okay, it's changed? I mean, is it just an ongoing thing?
Jenna Ahern:
I think that this is going to be instead of social networks, learning networks, creating learning networks where people feel safe to grow this skill. I mean think about when computers came out. I remember my mom, she was a guidance counselor and she had to stay after work to get training with the mouse because she didn't know how to use the mouse. Think about that. If I asked you right now, how much training do you need to use the mouse? It's like, well, I don't know. It might take you depending on also on Apple, Microsoft. I don't know how familiar you are with the platform. So to me, I think that we're really going to see a surge in learning networks and collaborative communities where people feel safe to practice and get better and build. And I think that that's where this can be exciting because you think about AI can be really isolating, but if you're creating community around it, I mean, this could be a really, really cool thing too.
Jamie Swaim:
Absolutely. I think for me, there's also this, everybody learning how to behave in the era of AI. It's not any different in some ways from using Google. If you go to Google and you Google something and you pull data from a not trusted source. So sometimes even in prompt or context, I'll ask for source data so that I can go find the article to make me feel good about what it came back in my AI information.
Jenna Ahern:
Exactly. Or I'll give you a great example. I had a manager call me and they've been using AI. They embraced it and we've used it in their social media. I mean they're killing it. ChatGPT, it's like, man, don't you just get annoyed that you can't, if I'm on my mobile ChatGPT, and then I go to my desktop that they're not connected? They're not synced. I'm like, well, you can always just share the link, share your chat. How do you do that? And so again, I think getting people together and just practicing and building almost like a sports activity. How do you learn soccer? We get into a group and we practice. I think that's how people are going to learn is we get together and we build.
Jamie Swaim:
Yes.
Jenna Ahern:
I think that that is, to me, the oddest thing that's going to hopefully come out of AI is maybe it'll bring people together.
Molley Ricketts:
I'll never forget when I first started using AI, it was last summer, summer of 2024. So I was the polish or refine or what are some ideas? And then January of 2025, I committed to 31 days of learning different platforms. I went through, is it cursive? Yeah, I think so. I did that and learned so much and within three or four months I was writing what I felt was very close to code, to put into Chat for my prompts. So Sher, my COO, I sent something to her and she was like, where did you get this? How did you do this? And I said, I got it out of Chat. And she goes,
Jamie Swaim:
I wrote a code.
Molley Ricketts:
She goes, how did you get this out of Chat? So I sent her the prompt and I mean, it was like a paragraph, right? Because if you do it right, she was like, well, how did you learn how to do that? And
Molley Ricketts:
And I'm like, remember the 31 days of dedicated learning I got from AI? Now, I say that to say everything that I learned 15 months ago isn't so far beyond now, but it helped me to learn about different inputs to put into my Chat. Like Canva. What is that thing called?
Jenna Ahern:
The different models. Yeah.
Molley Ricketts:
Yes.
Jenna Ahern:
Different ones are different.
Molley Ricketts:
Yeah. HR business partner is a link that you can put into Chat. So all of these different ones, and as I've learned more, then I can go, okay, I don't want that one in there anymore. I want this one in there. And then I can go to those different categories when I'm doing HR specific policies because I'm so gifted in that area, Jamie, for sure. And just really using it to the benefit of what it's for, not to polish and refine the way an email's getting responded to. That's not what it's for. And I think the, I'm going to say this and it's probably not going to be real popular, so listeners give me some grace.
Jamie Swaim:
Or plug your ears right now.
Molley Ricketts:
It's very careless.
Jenna Ahern:
Yes.
Molley Ricketts:
The tool is too powerful to use as an elementary adventure. I'm not going to say that you can't learn from that, but there are so many other ways that you can learn, without using the tool itself, about the tool that you should really take advantage of that if you're going to learn to use it, in my opinion.
Jason Heflin:
AI uses the data it has access to, and that data's not always accurate.
Jenna Ahern:
You're right. It hallucinates.
Jason Heflin:
Yes.
Jenna Ahern:
It's very biased. It lies.
Molley Ricketts:
Yes.
Jenna Ahern:
It is a toddler. You have to train it. It is going to lie to you.
Jason Heflin:
So master prompts. Tell me about that. How can we use master prompts to be better with our AI?
Jenna Ahern:
Define what is your definition of master prompt?
Jason Heflin:
Like educating the AI on who you are, what you do, and how you need it to work.
Jenna Ahern:
I see. So I mean, again, good data in, good data out. So the more, and again, I recommend getting on a paid closed version before you start giving the model all the information about you. But I would give as much as you can data wise. I mean email you can connect, you can upload Google Drive documents, I mean about yourself websites. I think mine, I have little GPTs for different things now and my voice tone. You can also set rules. So, I think over time even went with the master prompt. I guess what I'm saying is I can build different voices of myself based on the data that I have shared and curated and uploaded, specifically.
So, I say all that because I think that's important because to your point, that's the data it's going to be working off of. And so then I think from master prompting, I mean to Molley's point about code, I think it just really being intentional, as detailed as you can be about exactly what you want. Demographics, location, giving if it is imagery, giving the actual images as detailed as you can be. And then from a prompt standpoint, I think I don't have a template to say here's the master what you need to do.
Jason Heflin:
It's probably unique to everybody.
Jenna Ahern:
Yeah, exactly. But I think that you can then, once information is populated, the one thing that I always like to do is remember it's a toddler trained it. So then give it feedback of no, that's not aligned with who I am. That wasn't correct. And so I think that feedback part is something that also will help your overall prompting. I don't know if you experienced that too with it'll even say, sorry, some of them, they want to be…
Molley Ricketts:
I'll say, try again.
Jenna Ahern:
Yeah, exactly. But I think even with your negative, yes, the master prompts, but also your responsing, your responsive feedback in your coaching and your guidance is such a big part too of getting it to understand the context and learn.
Jason Heflin:
Yes.
Jenna Ahern:
And I mean, to Molley's point, I'm getting better. I was an expert 30 minutes ago and now I'm not. So I'm like, I'm still trying to get better about how to intentionally write my prompts.
Jason Heflin:
And you can ask on most language models, you can ask the source. You can ask it, what's your source for that information?
Jenna Ahern:
Or you can say, always show me the sources.
Jason Heflin:
Yeah, always show me the source and then don't use this source again or use this source more.
Jenna Ahern:
That's right. Set the rules. Yep, exactly. And this is where you can go down the rabbit hole of bias because it's like, Hey, this is not accurate, or this is not what I want. So I'm filtering out specifically curating a vacuum for myself. So I think that's something again that you just have to be really careful about.
Molley Ricketts:
One of the things that I learned too is that you have to tell it to tell you the bad.
Jenna Ahern:
Yep, exactly.
Molley Ricketts:
Because what I learned early-on was if you just ask it for the one thing or a specific prompt that isn't detailed enough that's going to give you the good, the bad, and the ugly, then it'll just give you the good.
Jenna Ahern:
Correct. Yeah.
Molley Ricketts:
And yes, we're all rock stars a hundred percent, but we still fall. I'll even say make this from human points of view with references or testimonials from sources with those provided in this example of X, Y and Z.
Jenna Ahern:
Exactly.
Molley Ricketts:
Because will never tell you that you're wrong.
Jenna Ahern:
No.
Molley Ricketts:
Will never tell you that. You need to look at it from a different point of view. And for those that are just using it as a good time and not really learning it, as with everything, don't pretend to be an expert if you're not. And the scary part for me in AI is that there are so many people that are claiming to be experts and there's no one that's an expert. And then to expect to know, just to your point, you were an expert 30 minutes ago.
Jenna Ahern:
I didn't proclaim that, by the way, just for that.
Molley Ricketts:
We're giving her that title today. That's the scary part to me, is the people that are misusing it.
Jamie Swaim:
Even people who graduate with it six months after they graduate, they're done.
Jenna Ahern:
Correct.
Entrepreneurship, Resilience and Betting on Yourself
Jamie Swaim:
So Jenna, I appreciate the intensity around policy, structure, intentionality, alignment within the organization. There's so many things that we've talked about on this podcast that really lean into those as concepts. But I'm going to make a hard pivot. You ready?
I heard something about you before you got here today that I'm going to bring up.
Molley Ricketts:
Drum roll, please.
Jamie Swaim:
You have done something that is on my vision board.
Jenna Ahern:
Oh my gosh!
Jamie Swaim:
Yes. And it's that you have helped write a book.
Jenna Ahern:
Yes. Yes.
Jamie Swaim:
I think that is phenomenal.
Jenna Ahern:
Thank you.
Jamie Swaim:
So congratulations.
Jenna Ahern:
Thank you.
Jamie Swaim:
So tell us what the name of the book is.
Jenna Ahern:
So, She Knows Best is the book. And I am very grateful that someone in this room right now, Molley Ricketts, invited me to be a part of the anthropology.
Jason Heflin:
I wasn't invited by the way.
Jamie Swaim:
Because she knows best.
Jenna Ahern:
And that has always been on my vision board too. My mom passed away last January and it was kind of around that time where I made the decision to go forward. And it was really a therapeutic process for me. Being a part of this collective of these powerful women. And then also being able to be the first to read these stories and sharing it with the world has been pretty fun.
Jamie Swaim:
Well, I have a copy on my desk I think right now. And I'd love to know, are there any highlights that you'd like to share from your chapter? Or you just want to let people go and buy the book?
Jenna Ahern:
I think one of the highlights, it's a low light actually. It would be that I really thought that I could scale by just hustling and just keep doing it. And I really have a thick skull and I'm probably still doing it. And so I think what I'm going to say is those that are have read the chapter and do read the chapter, I think that that part in it about you just can't scale hustle or hustle doesn't scale.
Jamie Swaim:
You can't hustle your way to glory.
Jenna Ahern:
Yeah. I mean I really waved that flag for a while. And so that was really hard for me to say. Okay, no, and especially with AI right now and everything that we're talking about, that's definitely not going to get you there now. That to me is a part that I would want to highlight.
Jamie Swaim:
Yeah, no, that's great. We have the amazing assistance of Jim Ray in the room
Jenna Ahern:
Amazing.
Jamie Swaim:
Yes. And one of the things he does for our podcast is he puts some show notes together that highlight things like where to find your book. So he'll plug the book in the show notes, right, Jim? Yes. He's given me the nod.
Jenna Ahern:
Thank you, Jim.
Jamie Swaim:
But he'll also share how people can get in touch with you. So tell us how you'd like people to reach out to you for your services.
Jenna Ahern:
You can email me directly at jenna@guardianowldigital.com. Our phone number is (502) 822-6695, and our website is GuardianOwlDigital.com. And if you just search Jenna Ahern in an AI model. Sure. I'll populate.
Molley Ricketts:
I can't wait to try it.
Jenna Ahern:
Or She knows Best.
Molley Ricketts:
Yeah, book.
Jenna Ahern:
She Knows Best book. Sorry.
Molley Ricketts:
She Knows Best is completely something different.
Jenna Ahern:
It's a 180.
Molley Ricketts:
Stick book in there.
Jenna Ahern:
I'm a little nervous now.
Jason Heflin:
And what's the one thing you want those listening, let's say leaders in their organization. What's the one thing, the takeaway that they need to take from this, today?
Jenna Ahern:
That this is change management. And if you're a leader, you're managing change right now. This is your time to lead and that means that you need to practice. And so, if you are leaning away from this, then maybe you shouldn't be in leadership right now.
Molley Ricketts:
Mic drop.
Jamie Swaim:
I'd drop the mic, but Jim would get mad.
Jenna Ahern:
That it.
Jason Heflin:
I like. Powerful.
Jamie Swaim:
Thank you so much for joining us today.
Jenna Ahern:
Thank you for having me.
Molley Ricketts:
Thanks Jenna.
Jason Heflin:
Alright, Jimmy, close that file.
That's where we'll leave the conversation for today. Before we close the file, we invite you to reach out to us with questions, suggestions or other comments. We'd love to hear from you.
To Contact Jenna Ahern:
Website: www.GuardianOwlDigital.com
Phone: (502) 822-6695
To Purchase a Copy of She Know Best:
Did You Enjoy Today's Conversation?
Visit www.WorkforceTherapyFiles.com to listen to additional WTF files or to let us know you'd like to be a guest on an upcoming file.
Need Help Supporting Your Company's Recruiting and Staffing Goals?
We're here to help. You can contact us via our individual websites, depending on your specific needs or questions:
· Jamie Swaim, SPHR - www.ParcelKnows.com
· Molley Ricketts - www.IncipioWorks.com
· Jason Heflin - www.CrowdSouth.com
We hope you found this file insightful and helpful. Thank you for listening!
