Happy Holidays 2025 from Navigating Transitions

holly and berries
holly and berries

It’s that busy, festive time of year again! Are you excited, melancholy, or just meh? I’m looking forward to taking my daughter to see Santa Claus for the first time this year. She’ll probably start asking him a string of questions. 🙂 In other daughter news, she lost her first two teeth! I didn’t think it would be so soon— it was very exciting!

Please read on for a reflective article on Using AI in Work and Coaching, Updates on My Business, and a Career and Job Search Tip.

I would love to hear how you’re doing in your career and life, so please drop me a message! Sending care and warmth to you, and I hope that your holiday season is filled with love and many blessings!  

AI Education for a Late-ish Adopter

INTRODUCTION

I have not been an “Early Adopter” with AI. I felt some curiosity but also some mistrust and doubt when people I know enthusiastically told me what it could do for me. Finally, after a colleague posted on LinkedIn about a free Gemini training, I decided to give it a try.

BENEFITS & LIMITATIONS

Outlines, basic communication, research and reminders – yes!

I write a lot of emails, posts, and other business communication and could see how sometimes using AI would help. I recently heard about ways AI can support coaching businesses, in my professional networking meeting. They also mentioned an AI coaching app (providing coaching support to folks through the app), and I read an article about the concept of using an AI Coach on the Psychology Today website. On the positive side, an AI client services benefit I could potentially  offer my clients down the road could be additional coaching support through reminding them about deadlines or new routines or behaviors they want to begin. It could also pull up relevant background information or definitions of career related data or employment trends.

But relationships and intuitive understanding are not the same…

So, I can see some helpful benefits, BUT they captured perfectly how I feel about using AI alone for relationship-based services like coaching/counseling: “…AI, despite all its capabilities, does not imagine. It merely collates existing opinions. It is through the unique matrix of human insight and technological assistance that we can reach our potential, building a path that honors the best of both worlds. Like an athlete who relies on both training data and the intuition of a seasoned coach, we can achieve high performance by blending the strengths of AI and human expertise.”

SUMMARY

In any case, I completed the training with an open mind, and am sometimes using AI to write outlines or correspondence. I’ll continue looking into ways it might support me or my clients. Have you found ways AI can meaningfully support you?

Business News

A couple of months ago, I signed up for the Small Business Management course with Lane Small Business Development Center. Our instructor, Gary Smith, is currently taking us all to the next level in terms of marketing and business strategy, including using stories to connect.

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As a member of the Eugene Chamber of Commerce, I was featured in their e-newsletter on October 16th, as a local businessperson! Thanks to Cassie and the Eugene Chamber! I appreciate the opportunity to network and reach more clients.

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Lastly, I offered a Values Seminar to several folks at the Downtown Athletic Club (DAC) in Eugene a couple of weeks ago. I love sharing career development information and collaborating with local community partners, especially when they are your brother. 🙂

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Career Tip

Adaptability is increasingly important to employers.

Adaptability is a person’s ability to adjust to changes in their environment. For example, changes happen in technology, like with AI or remote or hybrid work, in new processes, through a variety of ideas about strategy, and more.

Research from Harvard Business School reveals that 71% of executives believe having strong adaptability skills is important in a leader, while data from McKinsey shows that adaptable people are 24% more likely to be employed.

So, in a job search or when seeking a promotion, I encourage you to highlight your adaptability, as well as your technical skills.

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