Hi Reader,

Welcome to the 5th edition of the 3-2-1

• (check out previous issues ​here​).

You're getting this because you care about developing people.

I write about transforming ICs -> Impact Contributors.

And today, we're talking about working with AI.

Let's get into it.

3 Things for Work (in L&D)

How to Be an Effective Early-Stage Employee

• The most helpful framework I've seen for developing your career as an individual contributor. Even more relevant now when AI accelerates your ability to do what the article suggests. Hint: it's about being helpful.
• 🏋️‍♀️ Effort ≈ 5 min read

What Tools are L&Ds Using in 2025?

• 173 learning leaders completed a survey on their tool use. Gen AI (especially ChatGPT) now anchors workflows while traditional LMS/LXP satisfaction lags dramatically.
• 🏋️‍♀️ Effort ≈ email address to download + 20 min read

IC Learning Festival - Nov 10, 12, and 14

• For the first time ever, we're offering a free taste of our flagship program — and going all out with a week of learning.
• Learn three power skills for working with AI, and invite the ICs at your company to join you.
• 👉 Register for all three sessions before November 10th: [Link] to attend live or get the playbacks

2 Things for Life

I Like Me (movie trailer)

• My wife and I watched this documentary about John Candy. I grew up laughing at his characters, but I left this appreciating his humanity. A beautiful story about a beautiful life that ended too soon: check out the trailer above.
• 🏋️‍♀️ Effort ≈ full movie is a 2-hour watch

How to be more agentic

• Since we're talking about working with AI, one of the ways to stand out is to become more agentic yourself. Cate Hall frames agency as “determination to make things happen,” not a fixed trait. But the point isn’t grinding harder; it’s doing what most won’t.
• 🏋️‍♀️ Effort ≈ 7 min read

1 Idea from Me

🏋️‍♀️ Effort ≈ 90 sec read

How I Work With AI

For 20 years, I’ve designed workshops around one core structure: create an aha moment, show people a contrast, then lay out the practical path from A to B. That’s the thinking part. Everything else is execution.

What I've realized is AI can’t do this thinking for you. But once you know what you’re doing, AI becomes remarkably useful.

You’ve probably hit this wall with AI: you hand over an idea (e.g. “write about decision-making under pressure”) and get back five polished paragraphs that sound like a corporate training manual wrote itself. The problem isn’t the AI. The problem is asking it to think.

I learned this the hard way when I first used AI to write for me. I’m embarrased to admit I even published the slop. 🤦‍♂️ The silence was deafening.

Things clicked when I stopped asking AI to think and started using it within my framework (aha moment → contrast → practical steps).

Now I sketch out a learning transformation—say, moving from reactive problem-solving to strategic thinking. Then I use AI for the mechanical steps:

• Stories and analogies to create the contrast needed for aha moments. I give it the before- and after-state, and it suggests 10 scenarios I can adapt or reject.
• Activities and practice scenarios to filter through instead of brainstorming from scratch.
• Assessment questions—logical, mechanical work that used to slow me down. AI knocks this out in minutes once I define the behavior change participants need to demonstrate.

AI accelerates your work, but only when you already know what you’re doing. It gives new perspectives. It generates variations. It handles the repetitive drudgery that bogs down execution. But it can’t replace the foundational thinking (the architecture, the why) that makes the work actually work.

You need to know what you’re doing first. Then AI helps you do it faster.

That's it for this week - enjoy your Sunday!

I'll be back in two weeks ✌️

Andrew

P.S. sample free sessions of our flagship program on Nov 10, 12 and 14 and learn three power skills for working with AI 👉 register here