AI café Conversations

So You Think You Missed the AI Train? Think Again!

• Sahar the AI whisperer • Season 2 • Episode 1

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Ready to shatter the myth that you're "too late" to learn AI? Your brain has been quietly preparing for this moment your entire career.

Having medical education and as an executive coach, I've watched countless leaders shrink from AI because they believe they're behind. But neuroscience tells a completely different story. Your prefrontal cortex has been designed over millions of years to integrate new tools. That same neuroplasticity that helped you learn to drive, navigate smartphones, and master spreadsheets is still active and ready to embrace AI – age doesn't diminish this ability, it enhances it.

What most tech experts miss is that experienced professionals have a neurological advantage when learning AI. Your years of solving complex problems give your brain pattern recognition abilities that create instant connections between AI capabilities and real-world challenges. This isn't theory – I've watched clients transform from tech-anxious to AI-empowered within weeks by leveraging their experience, not despite it.

The human-centered approach to AI integration recognizes that your uniquely human qualities – intuition, emotional intelligence, relationship building – aren't obstacles but your competitive edge. AI handles analytical tasks brilliantly, freeing your brain to focus on what machines cannot replicate: reading a room, understanding context, and making meaning of complexity. When AI handles routine work, your brain literally releases dopamine, energizing you for higher-level thinking.

Start small, think big. 

Downloaded the free AI starter guide in the show notes and join me for this five-part "Pain to Power" series where we'll build your AI confidence without the technical overwhelm. Subscribe now – your brain is ready for this, even if your inner critic hasn't caught up yet.

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If you have any questions, please email me at: sahar@saharconsulting.com



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Speaker 1:

Hello, hello, hello and welcome to Season 2 of AI Cafe Conversations. I am so excited to be restarting our Season 2. And thank you for everyone that supported me on season one. Cafe Conversations is where we ditch the jargon, challenge the hype and talk real talk about using AI to reinvent your leadership, your business and your voice. I'm Sahar, your AI whisperer, your voice. I'm Sahar, your AI whisperer, a medical doctor by education, a coach by purpose and a human first voice in a world that's getting louder with machines. You're not behind, you're not too late and you are definitely not too old, too overwhelmed or too non-tech to lead in the age of AI. In this season, season two, we are going from pain to power why most people are teaching AI or wrong, and I have seen it over and over. And, of course, I can't stay silent. I have to comment how to sound smart in AI meetings, even if you're still learning, the neuroscience of trust in AI led workplace, and how to use AI to buy back your time and finally build the life you actually want. If you have ever felt like everyone else gets it but you, this podcast is for you. If you have ever led from your heart and wondered if there is still space for you in this new era. This podcast is your space. Subscribe now.

Speaker 1:

Season two starts with a five-part series called Pain to Power, and I promise it will change how you see AI and yourself. Is it too late to learn AI? The truth, no one tells you, is going to be shared here, so welcome to this first episode of AI Cafe Conversations of Season 2. As I said before, this is Sahar, your host, your AI whisperer. If you are over 40, leading a team, reinventing a business, or just AI curious and a little overwhelmed, you are in the right place. Today's question is it too late for me to learn AI? And I hear that all the time from my clients. The short answer is no. The long answer let's dive in, let's go. Have you ever started at chat GPT, for example? You know there are many platforms right or something like it. You know and you feel like it's silently judging you.

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If the phrase prompt engineering makes your chest tighten, if everyone else seems fluent and you're still figuring out what button to press, guess what? You're not alone. This fear. It's not a tech problem. It's a shame story that we carry. We have been made to believe that we are not coding, and if we are not coding, we are behind. That.

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Ai is for them the engineers, the startups, the tech elite. The AI revolution isn't about a tech genius. It's about enhancing your uniquely human abilities. Today, I will show you why your brain is perfectly equipped to embrace AI, no matter your technical background, and it's not only for coders or techies. I am not a techie and this is a tech jargon-free podcast. Ai is for the curious, for the creative, for the compassionate leader who wants to be more present, more strategic and more visible without burning out, running out. You're not behind, you're not too late, and I'm going to keep saying that you have just been left out of the right conversation until now. So let me share with you my first freak out personal experience. Let me take you back.

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One day I logged into ChatGPT. I asked a question. It spit something out right away, I thought. At GPT, I asked the question. It spit something out right away. I thought, hmm, this is really impressive. Then I thought, okay, now I have no idea what to do with this. Here I am the coach, the business advisor, the executive advisor, as well a leader, and still I felt dumb. But then I remembered something you don't have to know everything. You just need to be willing to explore. So I did what I always ask my clients to do. I will never preach something that I don't. I played with it. I typed imperfect questions and I love my perfect imperfections, by the way. I got real answers. I laughed. I get curious and slowly AI became less of a mystery and more of a partner, and my partner at ChatGPT is called Bella. Today I use AI daily, not to replace me, but to explain to me things that I never thought about before and to expand me. I don't work for it, it works for me and with me. I called the different platforms my board members, and that shift changed everything.

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So let me share first with you the neuroscience behind this. So you don't think I'm talking kumbaya, the too late myth that we have, or most coaches have. It is what neuroscience tells us. Your brain is literally rewiring itself right now as you listen to this. Even 28 days, you have a completely new brain in terms of neural connections. The idea that you are too late to learn AI your brain will actually disagree with that.

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So the first point I'm going to share is that our brains are tool, integrations, machines. What does that mean. The science behind that is that our prefrontal cortex, which is like, without jargon, the part here the problem-solving area has been designed over millions of years to integrate new tools. For learning to use smartphone to mastering Excel, your brain creates neural pathways for tool adoption. The reality is this you have already integrated more complex technology than AI. Think about that. You have learned to drive a car, navigate a GPS. I remember the first time I tried to get GPS. I was so frustrated. We have learned to use social media algorithms and use them. For us, ai is just another tool your brain is built to master. The key message here is that the same neuroplasticity that helped you adapt to every previous technological shift is still active. Age doesn't turn this off. It makes you even better. Like wine, right Experience actually makes it stronger.

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The second point I want to share here is what we call the neurological advantage of learning later. So the science of that is our adult brains have something children don't Executive function and pattern recognition from years of experience. When you learn AI as an experienced professional, you are not starting from scratch or from zero. Your brain immediately connects AI capabilities to real-world problems you have already solved. You have the experience and it helps you. That's not being late, that's being strategic. For example, a 45-year-old HR director doesn't need to understand machine learning algorithms. She needs to recognize how AI can solve the retention problem she has been working on for five years. Her experienced brain makes those connections instantly. The third point I want to make here is the fresh perspective advantage. What does that mean? Okay, let's call it the counterintuitive truth.

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Non-technical people often implement AI more successfully than tech experts. Why? Because tech people get caught up in the how. Business leaders focus on the why. Guess which approach creates more value? Your brain's default mode network, the part that makes creative connections work better when you are not bogged down in technical details, because it has space. It has free space to think. You are in the problem-solving mode rather than stress mode.

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The number four point I want to make is the client success story framework. How do we do it? So, for example, I worked with a CEO who told me everyone else started using AI two years ago. I'm too far behind. Within 30 days, she was using AI to have a revolution in her leadership communication. Not because she learned to code, but because she learned to think strategically about AI integration. The lesson she wasn't behind. She was positioned perfectly. Her years of leadership experience gave her context that younger, more tech-savvy employees didn't have. I come from a human-centered approach to everything, including my AI approach.

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Here is what every tech expert gets wrong about AI they think it's about the technology. It's not. It's about amplifying what makes you uniquely human your emotions, your intuition, your relationships. These are not obstacles to AI integration. They are your competitive advantage.

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Your framework for authentic AI integration is that your brain has two systems in a very simple way. System one is fast, intuitive like it works, like that and system two is the slow, analytical part. Some people want to say right and left brains. I don't really believe in that. But let's put it system one and system two. Ai handles system two tasks brilliantly, but system one that is the fast and intuitive that's purely human. Ai cannot touch that, and that's where your value is and that's why you're always ahead of AI, no matter what, at least till now. I'm not going to lie. I don't know. We don't know what the future holds.

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So start with your human intent Before touching any AI tool. Ask yourself what human outcome am I trying to create? Always preserve your voice, always be authentic. Ai should sound like you on your best day, not like a robot having a good day. So don't take everything copy and paste. You have to add your touch. And again, it's all in the prompting. Remember what I always say garbage in, garbage out. Maintain connection, meaning that every AI generated email, presentation or strategy should deepen human relationships, not replace them. So when you use AI to draft, for example, performance reviews, you're not being lazy. You're freeing your brain to focus on the conversation that follows the part that actually changes someone's career path.

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So AI works as a complement to your intelligence. That's the brain science of it. Your brain and AI don't compete. They collaborate. Here is how. There is something in the brain that's called pattern recognition. Ai spots patterns in data. It doesn't read your words, it follows patterns. So your brain spots patterns in data. It doesn't read your words. It follows patterns, so your brain spots patterns in people. Combined AI and brain human brain spotting patterns is unstoppable.

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The dopamine, the dopamine connection, which is the dopamine, is our happy hormone or happy chemical in the brain when we celebrate something or when we win something, so it makes us like euphoric and happy. When AI handles routine tasks, your brain releases dopamine. It's a motivation chemical or hormone. You literally feel more energized to do higher level thinking. That's not laziness, that's optimization. Your memory and context have a role here. Why? Because AI has perfect recall but no emotional memory. You have contextual understanding A client's tone of voice, the tension in a room when we read the room which we always should the unspoken dynamics. Ai cannot read that, but you can. So you would ask me what are the practical first steps to build neural confidence so we can use AI properly? Start small, think big. Your brain builds confidence through small wins because it gives you more dopamine and your body likes that feeling. So it wants to replicate that and it gives you and it becomes a cycle of nice things, of dopamine, happiness, wins, celebrate, wash and rinse. Here is your roadmap. Let's make this real.

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If you have never used AI before, or even if you have, try this Open chat, gpt or any other platform of your choice. It could be Claude, it could be Perplexity, it could be Grok, it could be LeapSeek, it could be Meta, it could be Gemini, it could be Copilot, it could be you, whatever you choose, whatever is your drug of choice, like they say. It could be you, whatever you choose, whatever is your drug of choice, like they say, type First. In any prompt you start with a role. You have to give it a function, so you can start by saying you are my content creator or you are my marketing consultant or you are my online presence expert, and then you put what you want.

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Can you help me write a friendly follow-up email to a client who ghosted me and hit enter, let it generate, read it, notice what is good, notice what feels off. That is not your voice, and then try it again. Ask it to rewrite it, observing this and avoiding that. Okay, tweak the tone, play with it. You have just taken the first step. That's your win.

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Own it Simple. Just try, with this what I'm going to give you also to do something simple, but maybe something that you can think about. It's like a reflection, part of the podcast. Ask yourself and write it, maybe in a journal, or pause to reflect on that. Where in your life are you holding back because you feel late or safe? What would shift if you replaced I'm behind with I'm building? What could AI free up in your life if you stop resisting it? You can start dividing your weeks week by week, like birth trust the first week, recognize your patterns. The second one be creative on the third week and the the new. The payoff for all. That is extreme and it will build your success. It it will build your path. It will make you basically successful. You can do your KPIs, you can do everything and measure yourself and measure your success through that.

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The integration sweet spot here is that the perfect AI integration feels invisible. For example, your team doesn't think Sarah is using AI. They think Sarah's insights are incredibly sharp lately. It's not about you are frauding people or you are fooling people. You are helping people expand by using a tool. Doctors use MRI to get better diagnosis for the disease or for the diagnosis that they have for their patients. This is basically how you are using AI. It's a tool, it's not a strategy. The green flags or the green wins that you can celebrate is that, if you're having deeper conversation because AI handled the pre-work, that your ideas are sharper because AI gave you better information, or your team trusts you more because you are consistently well prepared.

Speaker 1:

This is all about closing the bridge to whatever you do. This human-centered approach is not theoretical. It's the foundation of everything we do in our AI integration programs, because the future doesn't belong to the most technical leaders. It belongs to the most human ones, who happen to use AI brilliantly. Ai is not going to replace your job. People with AI skills will replace your job. It's not a competition between AI and us. It's actually a collaboration that can bring great results.

Speaker 1:

So I want really, really to walk with you on this journey, not as a techie, but as a human, a coach and a leader who understands the fear and the power of starting. I have been there. You can download my free AI started guide. In the show notes and the description of this episode. It's written for non-tech Heart led leaders like you and hit subscribe. You make me happy-led leaders like you and hit subscribe. You make me happy. Click on the like button. It will also make me happy. You will give me dopamine again, because next week we are talking about what AI beginners really need to know no fluff, no fear, just facts and freedom.

Speaker 1:

You're not too late. You're right on time. Your brain isn't too old, too slow or too set in its way. It's actually been preparing for this moment your entire career. The question isn't whether you are too late. It's whether you are ready to give yourself permission to begin. Your brain has been integrating new tools for your entire life. Ai is just the next one it's waiting to master. This is episode one and the first one of the five episodes series Pain to Power. This is your host, sahar Andrade, your AI whisperer. I would love to hear your comments. Please leave me a comment, like subscribe and share it with other people. My website is wwwsaharconsultingcom. My website is wwwsaharconsultingcom. If you need to get hold of me, it's sahar at saharconsultingcom. I hope to hear from you. Thank you so much for spending this time with me on my podcast. See you next time. One, two, 3, 4.