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Executive Intuition vs AI Data: Neuroscience of Decision-Making for Leaders | AI Coaching for Executives

• Sahar the AI Whisperer | Neuroscience Expert in AI and Leadership • Season 2 • Episode 14

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Join Sahar, The AI Whisperer, in this episode of AI Café Conversations, as we dive into 'AI for Executives' focusing on the fascinating intersection of executive intuition and AI data in decision-making.  In this AI-driven era, understanding 'human-centered AI' strategies for transformative leadership is crucial. We’ll delve into how AI adoption and neuroscience influence effective leadership decisions. 

Are you an executive, HR professional, or coach feeling overwhelmed by the complexities of AI integration? Welcome to AI Cafe, where we simplify artificial intelligence for non-technical leaders eager to enhance their capabilities while maintaining human connection. 

In this episode, you'll discover:
✓ AI integration strategies that enhance human leadership rather than replace it.
✓ Neuroscience-backed approaches to alleviating tech anxiety and embracing AI confidently.
✓ Practical AI tools and techniques tailored for busy professionals, no coding required.
✓ Human-centered frameworks for successfully implementing AI in organizations.
✓ Insights on leadership transformation through strategic AI adoption with a neuroscience perspective. 

Perfect for executives and coaches seeking a competitive edge, as well as HR professionals transforming talent management and non-technical leaders wanting to keep pace with AI advancements. Prepare to revolutionize your leadership approach and build AI-enhanced organizations with the insights provided in this episode! 

Subscribe now for weekly expert interviews, actionable case studies, and more insights into successful AI-powered leadership!

Email me at sahar@saharconsulting.com with questions or topic suggestions for future episodes.

 My book "The Coach's Brain Meets AI" is available on Amazon, and I'll send extra guides if you email me after purchasing. Follow me on LinkedIn (Sahar Andrade) and Instagram (Sahar the Reinvent Coach). 

Connect with me on Linkedin

Connect with me on IG: @saharthereinventcoach

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Speaker 1:

Hello, hello, hello and welcome back to AI Cafe Conversations. I'm Sahar Andrade, your AI Whisperer, and I'm here with some skeptical ideas from some clients that I'm going to be sharing with you, where they want to always catch me and I told you so moments right. So I'm not going to even like blink in front of that and I'm going to go straight forward to our podcast today. So one of my clients and lately that's what I've been doing, it's like almost case studies. I have been sharing with you what my clients are telling me. So the last one let's call him John asked me that last week their AI hiring tool recommended three candidates. My gut said the fourth hired, the fourth one, the one the algorithms ranked lowest. Guess who's already our top performance? And I know that John in a kind of suspicious way, because I kind of think that he was setting a trap for me to answer to fall into it, because he knows how enthusiastic I am about AI, but also he knows that I go in with my eyes open, I see the pros and cons and everything. So once he said that, I kind of looked at him and laughed and I responded that this is why I love answering my clients and I responded that this is why I love answering my clients, or love having my clients asking me questions, because they basically represent every executive who has had their instance clash with AI recommendation. And it's not just hiring, it's investment decisions, it's vendor choices, it's strategic planning. Ai gives us data. Also trust my gut, trust the experience that I built for years and years and years that made me successful. How am I supposed to take a decision? So, actually, this is the number one dilemma executive face today, and it's all neuroscience. Okay, your gut is not some mystical force, it's your brain processing massive amounts of information faster than your conscious mind can track. So is the gut actually smart? Well, the gut is incredibly sophisticated pattern recognition that took decades to build. It's your blood, sweat and effort that you put in. Today we are diving into when to trust it and when to trust AI and how your executive brain can use both and how your executive brain can use both.

Speaker 1:

So I asked John describe to me what a gut feeling actually feels like when you're making a business decision, and his answer was like kind of weird. He said it's weird. He will look at all the data and something just feels off or right, like when he met that candidate that he was talking about the fourth one. Everything looks good on paper, but something in his chat chest said, yes, this one. I feel almost like when I met joe, my husband, when I first met him. I'm like this is the one, don't let him go. So that's what I got feeling is so.

Speaker 1:

That's something that is in your chest is what we call your vagus nerve, the highway between your brain and your body. Your prefrontal cortex or basically your analytical thinking, the part that is in the front that we call forehead, processes millions of data points from years of experience and sends signals through this nerve. So it's not really actually in the stomach, and I know we feel. We say like I have a pit in my stomach or my gut in my stomach tells me that, but it's not actually in the stomach. Your enteric nervous system, literally your gut, has more neurons than your spinal cord. That is in your vertebrae, that is in your back. It's processing emotional and physiological data about decisions and communicating with your brain. It's actually scientific, completely scientific.

Speaker 1:

What executives call intuition is actually your brain's pattern recognition system working with incomplete information. You have seen thousands of hiring situations and your brain recognizes patterns faster than you can consciously analyze them and, of course, sometimes they could be wrong, or you could be wrong, of course. Why? Because your intuition is based on past patterns. When facing truly novel situations, those patterns might not apply. That's where AI data become valuable. We complement each other, we don't compete. So when can someone trust their gut versus the algorithm? Your gut excels with human behavior patterns, relationship dynamics and situations similar to your past experience. Ai excels with large data sets, complex calculations and identifying patterns you have never encountered. So they are actually different kinds of intelligence, right? Your intuitive intelligence is experiential and contextual. Ai intelligence is computational and comprehensive. Neither is always right. Okay, one is experience based on experience and context, the other one on computer and comprehensive analysis. So, like I said, we can complement each other and not be on different sides.

Speaker 1:

So I asked again tell me about a time when following AI recommendation felt wrong. And the answer that I received was an example of the marketing. Ai recommended doubling down on digital ads based on ROI data. Every metric said it was working, but John had that nagging feeling that their customers were getting annoyed with these ads. So of course I asked, I got curious and I asked what happened. John said that customer satisfaction scores started dropping. The AI was optimizing for immediate conversions but missing the bigger picture of brand relationships.

Speaker 1:

Remember, ai doesn't have our emotions, our interpersonal connections, our relationships with other human beings, you know so. Ai will only see numbers, and in that case in the ad campaign it just saw numbers where, and in that case in the ad campaign, it just saw numbers where the human beings can see the whole ecosystem. And of course, this is where executive intuition becomes crucial. Your brain integrates what neuroscience call weak signals, subtle environmental changes that don't stop up in data or don't show up in data yet, but indicate future trends. So our brain, believe it or not, is like an early warning system. And yes, the brain is an extraordinary pattern recognition machine trained on decades of human interaction. This is what AI cannot simulate, at least not yet. It picks up emotional undercurrents, cultural shifts and relationship dynamics that algorithms miss.

Speaker 1:

But a lot of people have been also wrong about that. Had driven recommendations right. So, for example, ai in one case recommended entering a new market based on demographic analysis, but the gut of the executive I was working with felt it was risky, so they delayed the decision for a month, turned out it was a huge opportunity window missed. That's a classic example of intuitive bias or shortcoming or blind spot. Your brain was protecting you from risk based on past patterns, but this was also a genuinely new opportunity outside a historical experience. So the gut can be actually overprotective and remember first impressions and guts are all based on memories that we have, on gut memories that we have right, and we react based on the memories, not necessarily on what is happening in front of us. So, yes, the gut can be overprotective and it can be wrong and it can be right. So the intuitive system evolved to keep us alive, so it's naturally risk averse. Remember the first function of the brain is to protect us from danger. That danger can be real or perceived. Our brain doesn't know the difference between if it's real or perceived. Right, it's excellent for familiar territories, but can hold you back from beneficial risks in unfamiliar domains. Can hold you back from beneficial risks in unfamiliar domains.

Speaker 1:

So if we, instead of gut versus AI, what if we thought about gut with AI? And what I mean by that is your brain can use AI data as additional input for your pattern recognition, not as a replacement for it. Think of AI as enhancing your intuitive processing, not competing with it, and that's what I always say right, it's like having a research assistant for your gut feelings. When your intuition and AI align, you have high confidence. Obviously, that could be another bias, that could be a confirmation bias when they conflict. That's valuable information. It means you need to investigate further so you actually spend more time researching what you need to do instead of jumping forward right away. So the disagreement between gut and AI is not really a problem to solve, but data to explore. It gives us an extra step in researching to make better decisions. So this is how we think as neuroscientists.

Speaker 1:

The conflict between intuitive and analytical systems signals complexity that requires deeper investigation. So if we look at it this way, it will become a little bit easier on how to use it. So let me share with you a practical example. Ai says hire candidate A based on skills match. Your gut says candidate B based on team dynamics. You sense, instead of choosing sites, dig deeper. What specific team dynamics is your brain detecting? What skills gap might AI be missing? So we need to investigate the conflict instead of ignoring one side.

Speaker 1:

Your gut might be detecting cultural misfit that is not in the resume. The AI might be identifying technical capabilities. Your pattern recognition is not trained for. It's actually pretty sophisticated, right? Your brain loves integration. When you give it permission to work with AI instead of against it, you get compound intelligence the best of both systems, and this is what I actually advocate for. So we need to know when to override the AI versus when to override the gut. High stakes decisions benefit from systematic integration. Use AI to challenge your assumptions. Use your gut to question the AI's blind spots. So you're actually complementing each other. You are filling the holes in each other's ways of thinking, finding the weaknesses in each other's thinking, and solidifying and strengthening each other, thinking hand in hand.

Speaker 1:

So let's try to create a simple framework executives can use when gut and ai disagree something practical, not philosophical, right? You know I don't go philosophical, I don't have time, I don't have, like, actually the heart for that. Step one acknowledge the conflict, exactly, problem solving the first thing that we do, the first step to problem solve is to acknowledge the problem, right. So acknowledge the conflict, don't dismiss either signal neither you nor ai. They are both giving you information. So instead of the AI is wrong or my gut is stupid, we can say, hmm, interesting, tell me more, or what each is telling me, and this is the perfect way to do it. Acknowledge the conflict, try to analyze it.

Speaker 1:

Number two. Step number two Identify the domain. Is this situation where your experience applies or is it outside your historical pattern set? Is it like familiar territory or new territory? Okay?

Speaker 1:

Step number three test the assumptions. What is your gut detecting that is not in the data? What is the eye calculating that you might be missing? On both sides? Right, so you interrogate both systems instead of picking sites. It's not. It's not about picking sites.

Speaker 1:

Step 4 make an integrated decision. Use insight or insights from both systems to create a third option that honors valuable information from each. And to give you a real example AI says expand to Europe based on market analysis. Gut says focus on domestic growth. First Integrated approach pilot test in one European city while threatening domestic operations. Learn from both approaches. So, instead of all or nothing, we can hedge the bets and gather more information, and this way you are using both your experiential intelligence and the computer intelligence of AI to reduce risk while maximizing learning. That actually feels smarter, doesn't it, than just following one or the other.

Speaker 1:

So the biggest takeaway for executives facing the gut versus AI dilemma is stop treating it like a battle. Your gut and AI are both smart, just in different ways. When they disagree, get curious instead of choosing sides, use the conflict to make better decisions. Remember, executives, your intuition is sophisticated pattern recognition, not superstition. Okay, ai is powerful computation. Together they create compound intelligence. So you are expanding your brain, you are expanding your intuition, you are multiplying your gut recognition, your pattern recognition and all of that problem solving in your brain. You're multiplying it by 100 million if you're using AI I mean, I'm just joking but actually exponentially to do it. So together, like I said, ai and our gut create compound intelligence.

Speaker 1:

Apparently, the gut feelings are neuroscience in action. Who knew right? I knew, anyhow, your decades of experience talking to your nervous system. Next week we are exploring why some executives learn AI fast while others struggle. It's all about neural flexibility. Show me some love. Love like share, subscribe if you want to watch me slowly realize my brain is smarter than I thought. Okay, just kidding. So, as you know, last week I dropped an extra coffee flavor. That is part of my Forbes articles that I have it as a discussion and I'm doing that next Friday as well. So hope you are listening to them. Tell me what you think. Comment you can email me at Sahar, at Sahar consulting that come. You can connect with me on LinkedIn, sahar Andrade, or on my Instagram, sahar, the Reinvent Coach Website, saharconsultingcom. This is Sahar, your AI whisperer, signing off from AI Cafe Conversations. Trust your gut, question the algorithm and integrate both Till we meet next time. Bye for now.