AI CENTRAL VOICES: THE AI LEADERSHIP PODCAST
Joel Salinas (Leadership in Change): "AI can't be the goal"
In this interview we sat down with Joel Salinas, founder of Leadership in Change and creator of Cozora.org and NewsletterCompass.com - an MBA-trained entrepreneur, AI strategy coach and humanitarian leader who works where AI meets leadership
Joel runs Chief AI Officer engagements and coaches leaders on using AI to amplify the skills they already have - and he splits his week between client work, his newsletter, and humanitarian work at World Relief
His through-line is blunt: AI can't be the goal, it can only be the means to one. The leaders who win treat it as a tool on top of a foundation - not a destination, and not a subscription you hand out and hope sticks
Key takeaways:
Start with the why, not the tool - AI is the means to a problem worth solving, never the destination
Build the foundation before the rollout - training and culture come first, or the tool is doomed to fail
Treat adoption as a people problem - if employees see AI as a threat, no subscription fixes it
Bet on reskilling - the coming wave of new jobs won't match the people losing old ones, and that gap is the opportunity
Connect with Joel
What problem did you see that everyone else was missing?
AI can't be the goal. It can only be the means to one. What I see across most companies is a frantic focus on implementing AI tools as if the tools themselves are the destination. They're not. You still need a why. You still need a problem worth solving. AI can help you solve it, but if you don't know what you're trying to accomplish, you're just adding expensive complexity to an already confused organization
Walk us through one concrete way your work changes what companies actually ship
My engagements usually start with understanding how a company and its employees feel about AI, and how their culture has reacted to change in the past. There's usually training that needs to happen first, because it doesn't matter what we ship if there's no foundation to support it. It's doomed to fail
Once that's done, we work on the most pressing problem they have and how AI can solve it, so the people in the loop get more time to focus on what they do best
AI can't be the goal. It can only be the means to one.
What's the most common thing senior leaders get wrong about AI?
Thinking that as long as they have a good tool, employees will automatically adopt and use it successfully," Salinas said. It doesn't start with a tool. It starts with the foundation: understanding what AI is and how it can benefit people.
People see it as a threat. They see it as a replacement for themselves. No matter how good the tool is, they're not going to accept it. It's more than just giving everybody a Claude or ChatGPT subscription
What's the one AI tool or workflow you personally rely on every week?
Claude runs on my phone and on my computer pretty much all day. When I'm building, fixing, patching, or developing one of my tools, Claude Code is running. Outside of that, the biggest pieces in my stack are Wispr Flow for dictation and Granola for meeting notes
People see it as a threat. They see it as a replacement for themselves. No matter how good the tool is, they're not going to accept it.
What does your work actually look like day to day?
I start by educating myself on the latest in business and AI. From there I respond to my morning brief that Claude prepares: meetings, emails, anything that needs attention. Then it splits between my nonprofit work at World Relief, my clients and their questions, and working on the next post for the newsletter.
Where is your field in 12 months - one prediction you'd put money on?
There will be a massive increase in new jobs, but a lot of the people who lose their jobs won't be able to easily transfer their skills to those new roles. That gap creates mass unemployment, which brings huge demand for services focused on upskilling and reskilling quickly.
That's an industry I'm already focused on
Where should readers find you, and what should they read first?
Leadershipinchange.com. Subscribe for free, and over the next six weeks, you will get a series of emails that will show you everything you need to know about my work, what I focus on, and what value I add for you. You will quickly see whether or not this is for you.
AI Central Voices is where the AI Central team sits down with the founders, executives, and builders shaping AI - going behind the scenes of how they operate, what they're betting on, and where the industry goes next.
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About Joel Salinas
Joel Salinas is an MBA trained entrepreneur, AI strategy coach, author, and humanitarian leader focused on amplifying leaders and their impact with AI.
About Leadership in Change
Leadership in Change focuses on bringing human-focused AI strategy to leaders, entrepreneurs, and the organizations they lead, through AI builds, AI strategy coaching, and Chief AI Officer engagements (jsalinas.org).
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