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The Unspoken Bottleneck: Why Your Fingers Are Holding Back Your AI Productivity
I have a confession. I’ve spent years feeling like my brain was a Ferrari stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. If you’re part of the ADHD fam, you know exactly what I mean. The ideas come fast, furious, and often jumbled, a constant stream of "what ifs" and "could be's". For a long time, the onl...
Dec 21, 2025
agentic human
agentic-human reinvention
ai adoption
ai at work
ai change management
data readiness
enterprise ai
leadership development
leadership strategies
middle managers
organizational design
psychological safety
reinvention
skills-based hiring
workforce reinvention
workforce transformation
Beyond the First Prompt: Unlocking the Next Wave of AI at Work
Last month, in a conversation with a group of HR and people leaders, someone said quietly, “Our employees are definitely using AI… but I’m not convinced we’re using it well.”
Heads nodded around the table. People shared how their teams were using tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, and other assistan...
Dec 14, 2025
agentic human
agentic-human reinvention
ai adoption
ai at work
ai change management
data readiness
enterprise ai
leadership development
leadership strategies
middle managers
organizational design
psychological safety
reinvention
skills-based hiring
workforce reinvention
workforce transformation
The Real AI Bottleneck? Middle Management
Last week, I attended the EY Strategic Growth Forum in Palm Springs, California, a global convening of top entrepreneurs, private equity leaders, and capital markets thinkers shaping the future of business.
Between sessions on what it takes to scale, invest, and lead in an unpredictable econom...
by Monica Marquez —
Nov 23, 2025
agentic human
agentic-human reinvention
ai adoption
ai at work
ai change management
data readiness
enterprise ai
leadership development
leadership strategies
middle managers
organizational design
psychological safety
reinvention
skills-based hiring
workforce reinvention
workforce transformation
AI as a Tool, Not a Crutch
Last week, I came across research on skill atrophy from overuse of automation. The article explained why the FAA is urging airlines to keep pilots proficient at manual flying through its Flightpath Management guidance. The overall message was simple. When automation carries everything, core sk...
by Monica Marquez —
Nov 09, 2025
agentic-human
ai at work
balance
change management
critical thinking
decision quality
guardrails
human in the loop
leadership
learning and development
manual practice
navigation
productivity
prompts
skill atrophy
trust and safety
workplace reivention
Not Replaced...Relied On: How AI Depends on People
I heard a scary story from an operations leader who’s rolling out AI with their team. They connected a new “sales assistant” to their customer database and marketing tool. Within minutes, the agent interpreted a routine request, “follow up with dormant prospects,” as “email everyone.” It queue...
by Monica Marquez —
Oct 19, 2025
ai governance
ai risk management
ai security
autonomous agents
change management
compliance
data protection
enterprise ai
evaluation
guardrails
human-in-the-loop
leadership
nist genai profile
operations
owasp llm top 10
people-centered ai
prompt injection
From “Prompt or Perish” to “Agents at Your Service”
I was sipping my cafecito, letting my morning skim agent sweep the news, analyst notes, and client pings, when two need-to-know bullets popped up back-to-back.
First: Citi is training 175,000 employees on how to prompt. The article's key takeaway frames prompting as “the new Excel.” Translatio...
Oct 12, 2025
agentic ai
ai adoption
ai fluency
ai readiness
ai secret
career
citi
leadership
productivity
prompting
tools
workflow automation
Sink or Swim with AI: Learn to Float First
Last week, I spoke with an old friend and colleague who is a COO. She said, “Monica, I feel I am sinking in this sea of AI uncertainty, and I am late to the race. Everyone’s talking about agents and copilots. We’re still arguing about pilot scopes.”
I paused for a couple of minutes and then sh...
by Monica Marquez —
Sep 28, 2025
ai adoption
ai fluency
ai readiness
change management
culture
experimentation
governance
leadership
manager enablement
micro-actions
people-first
practical tools
psychological safety
skills reinvention
trust
workflow design
Teach the Tool, Prepare the Talent
Last night at a friend’s birthday party, I met two people who care deeply about words. One was an English teacher. The other was a linguist. Both shared concerns about AI.
The teacher’s district labeled student AI use a “Level 5 infraction,” similar to cheating. She and her school's leadership w...
by Monica Marquez —
Sep 14, 2025
ai fluency
artificial intern
change management
culture
education
human-centered ai
integrity
k-12
leadership
myth-busting
productivity
prompts
responsible ai
skye
workplace learning
Licenses Don’t Adopt Themselves: Stop Buying AI, Start Changing Work
A Fortune 200 CHRO told me over coffee: “We bought the Ferrari. Then we realized… nobody knew how to drive stick.”
The licenses were live. The change wasn’t. Her pain points sounded familiar: lots of seats, not enough usage; a policy memo, but managers “playing it safe”; pilots everywhere, proce...
by Monica Marquez —
Sep 07, 2025
11x11
ai adoption
board oversight
change management
copilot
governance
habits
leadership
microsoft worklab
nacd
nist ai rmf
risk management
viva insights
workflow redesign
Empathy Is a Feature, Not a Feeling: Not Human, But Human-Centered
When I was little, I used to name everything. My stuffed animals, my bike, even the toaster. I gave them personalities, voices, feelings. My mom would chuckle and say, “Estás haciendo novelas con los objetos, mija.” (You’re making soap operas with objects, sweetie.)
Turns out, I wasn’t alone. An...
by Monica Marquez —
Aug 24, 2025
ai adoption
ai discernment
ai empathy
ai in the workplace
ai leadership
ai tools for leaders
ethical ai
executive leadership
future of work
human-centered ai
mustafa suleyman
AI Won’t Work If Your People Don’t
A few weeks ago, I sat in a room with leaders from some of the world’s most powerful companies. Billions are being poured into AI transformation. But when the conversation turned real, the numbers surprised me. Less than half their workforce was using the new tools.
In those moments, the room we...
by Monica Marquez —
Aug 17, 2025
ai adoption
change management
chro insights
employee experience
enterprise ai
executive alignment
future of work
l&d leadership
leadership
organizational culture
talent strategy
trust in ai
workforce transformation
workplace reinvention
Is It Still Hard Work If AI Helped You?
This past week at the ALPFA Convention, surrounded by more than 5,000 Latino professionals and allies, I had the privilege of connecting with peers in some incredible, thought-provoking conversations about AI and what it really means for our work, identity, and leadership.
We weren’t talking abo...
by Monica Marquez —
Aug 03, 2025
ai adoption
ai and work culture
cultural beliefs
dei and ai
emotional intelligence
future of work
latino leadership
people-first leadership
productivity and ai
workplace reinvention
