AI-isms: Human Rhythms in a Synthetic World

About AI-isms: Human Rhythms in a Synthetic World

Intelligence now surrounds us in every dimension of our lives. It is rapidly evolving not just how we work, but our social norms and core behaviors. We are learning to think, team, lead, play, learn, and even sleep differently. Welcome to AI-isms. My name is Shulagna Dasgupta. For over two decades, I’ve partnered with CXOs through their most audacious transformations. And this is what I can tell you: no matter how sophisticated the technology, at the end of the day, change is almost always human. AI is altering our behaviors and our state of being in the most profound ways - but are we being intentional about what we allow it to do to us? Are we using it in a way that unlocks our greatest potential or are we letting it into our subconscious in ways we didn’t intend to? Join me and a guest as we bring some intentionality to AI-driven behavior change.  In each episode we will talk through lived experiences of people who have used AI to better their lives and behaviors. Maybe, you could borrow an idea or two? This is AI-isms. Let’s talk human rhythms in a synthetic world.

Publisher

Shulagna Dasgupta

Category

business · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

1 Jul 2026

Latest episode

29 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

8 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   29 Sept 2026

   AI-isms: Parenting | Siobhan Savage | AI-powered MomOS for busy parents

   AI-isms · Episode 7 Siobhan Savage: Parenting The one workflow nobody trained you for. Parenting comes with no training, no job aid and no playbook. Most of us are doing it while holding down a full-time job. Siobhan Savage is the co-founder and CEO of Reejig, a work operating system used by some of the largest and most complex organizations in the world. She spends her working life redesigning how work gets done, task by task, deciding what a human should hold and what an agent should take. Early in this conversation she mentions, almost in passing, that she runs two operating systems. One at work, one at home. This episode opens up the second one. It starts on a walk. Her first instruction to anyone is to get outside and rant at your phone, out loud, every single thing on your plate, and let the machine sort the stream of consciousness afterwards. No folder structure. No tidy prompt. Just the dump. Then the story that makes it land. Her eight-year-old and a friend excused themselves from a boring dinner, went to the restaurant bathroom, and used ChatGPT to identify a song they could only half sing. They opened by telling it they were eight. Siobhan's line: they hear me walking around going, for context, this is your task. Shulagna then puts her in the hot seat with three parents in trouble: a new mother back from maternity leave who only sees her baby at weekends, a parent losing the 6am battle with two kids under five, and a mother of two athletic teenagers who feels like an unpaid Uber driver. What you will take away: · The walking brain dump, and why speaking beats typing when you are carrying forty open loops · Give it context first, learned from an eight-year-old: who you are, then the task · AI as a live coach in the middle of a meltdown, so you do not spend the evening regretting it · AI as a negotiation coach before you ask your boss for the day back · Strategic friendships, and the divide-and-conquer carpool that beats any app · Inside Reejig: companies that have sleepwalked into their own way of working, and no joy tasks · The question she cannot answer yet, and is about to spend her own time and money on: what will our kids actually do This is AI-isms. Human Rhythms in a Synthetic World. Guest: Siobhan Savage, co-founder and CEO, Reejig. Host: Shulagna Dasgupta.

2. 

   11 Sept 2026

   AI-isms: Drift | Kelly Monahan | Is AI accelerating leadership drift?

   Nobody takes a leadership job planning to burn people out. And yet that is how most workforces would describe the people leading them. So something happens along the way. Kelly Monahan has spent fifteen years studying how organizations actually work, at Deloitte, Accenture, Meta and Upwork, and now at Beyond the Desk, the company she co-founded. In her book Reclaim the Plot, out this month, she gives that something a name. Drift. The slow slide away from the values that got you into leadership in the first place. Metrics over meaning, performance over purpose, control over trust. In this episode I ask Kelly the question I have been sitting with since I read her early pages. Is AI accelerating drift? Her answer is not the one I expected. AI does not change people. The pressure around it does. A gap between what AI companies promise, what boards then expect, and what implementation delivers, on top of a market that pays two to three times the valuation for anything that can call itself an AI company. Leaders drift into that gap. So I put Kelly in the hot seat with three CEOs in trouble, one for each stage of her book. The Drift. The Delirium. The Dream. What we get into: • Why the power paradox makes drift close to inevitable, and how to design against it • The expectation gap that turns AI adoption into performative theatrics • Why a one-year AI roadmap is the tell • The AI-ism minted live: sometimes the right answer is no AI • What a leader has to say out loud to bring a drifted organization back • Two AI-isms for leaders running an AI transformation, two for the employees living through one • Why your body tells you when you have drifted, before your dashboard does Kelly also names three times she drifted herself, including the year Meta went from the year of learning to the year of efficiency. Chapters 00:00 The conversation around leadership has shifted 01:41 Meet Kelly Monahan 02:21 We have lost the plot on what AI is for 04:05 What drift is 05:55 The power paradox 07:13 Is AI accelerating drift? 08:03 The expectation gap 08:35 Performative theatrics 09:05 Stop chasing the one-year roadmap 11:10 Case one, the Drift 15:44 Redefining value, from labour to capital 17:50 Case two, the Delirium 19:34 Solve the business problem before you buy the technology 21:30 Sometimes the right answer is no AI 22:52 Commoditising the very thing that made you different 24:08 Case three, the Dream 26:45 Humility, ego, and what a workforce needs to hear 29:38 Community is the answer 31:22 Two AI-isms for leaders 32:40 Two AI-isms for employees 35:05 Kelly's own drift 39:20 The body tells you when you have drifted This is AI-isms, human rhythms in a synthetic world. AI will not correct a leader who has drifted. It will hand them a faster way to keep going. Guest: Dr. Kelly Monahan, co-founder, Beyond the Desk. Author of Reclaim the Plot (Wiley, September 2026). Host: Shulagna Dasgupta.

3. 

   20 Aug 2026

   AI-isms: Coaching | Pam Baker | To Infuse AI into Coaching or not

   AI-isms — Ep05: Pam Baker, Coaching In this episode of AI-isms I sit down with Pam, CEO and founder of Women's Coaching Alliance, the organization she built out of her husband's question. Young women get recruited, interviewed, trained, paired with a co-coach, given an adult mentor, paid, and then handed a team as head coaches. Not assistants. Head coaches. They run the practices, manage the parents, lose some games, and course correct with each other. It is leadership development disguised as a Saturday morning. Then I did what I always do and dragged a beautiful human conversation into AI. The idea that stayed with me came from one of Doug's friends. Two coaches at a sales meeting, and one asks the other how his season went. The answer: I don't know. I'll let you know in 30 years. Pam's point is that a coach is not looking at the scoreboard, she is looking at who these kids become. Sit with that next to every AI business case you have been asked to defend inside a quarter. What we get into: Why the barrier every young woman named was not the game, it was the difficult parents, and why that is the same muscle you use on a difficult stakeholder at work Why Women's Coaching Alliance pays its teenage coaches, and how Pam connects that to the gender wage gap Where AI genuinely helps a small organization: synthesis, and turning long manuals into something a 16-year-old will actually read Why reading off an AI script makes you blind to the person in front of you, the eye contact, the shoulders, the thing that tells you it is working or failing Three real scenarios, Pam as coach: the 20-year-old who feels like she is reading someone else's words, the parent with the wearable data, the company swapping human mentoring for AI coaching AI is sycophantic. A real mentor tells you that will not fly here What happens when someone discovers a new AI capability and cascades it everywhere without asking whose job it was Why Pam does not use AI for parenting, and the line underneath it: there is no way AI knows more about my kids and me and our relationship than I do Chapters 00:00 Where are all the women coaches? 01:10 Meet Pam Baker 01:52 The question Doug kept asking 02:44 Great coaching is great leadership 04:27 Eighteen young women raise their hands 06:09 She will not raise her hand on her own 10:17 Why every coach gets paid 10:35 A hard pivot into AI 11:38 How a coaching organization actually uses AI 13:05 No AI knows what is happening in front of you 13:33 "I'll let you know in 30 years" 16:13 Case 1: the coach who feels like she is reading a script 19:43 Case 2: the parent with the wearable data 21:58 An amazing player is not a great team 24:08 Snatching someone else's agency 25:44 Case 3: swapping human mentors for AI coaching 28:13 AI is sycophantic. A mentor is not. 33:08 What AI cannot know about your kid 39:09 The two things that stayed with me This is AI-isms, human rhythms in a synthetic world. AI can build your practice plans. It is never going to be the person who believes in you before you believe in yourself. Ask yourself who that person was for you, and whether you are being that person for anyone. Topics: coaching, leadership development, mentoring, AI coaching, AI mentoring, sycophancy, youth sports, women in sports, gender wage gap, culture, team culture, human-AI collaboration, AI adoption, parenting and AI, future of work, Women's Coaching Alliance, Pam Baker

4. 

   7 Aug 2026

   AI-isms: Authenticity | Lynn Perkins | How to Remain Authentic in the age of AI

   Be your authentic self. We have spent years fighting the stories we were told in order to get there. And then the LLMs showed up, and a polished version of your work, your thoughts, even your introduction, became available at the click of a button. So what happens to the battle for authenticity now? It just got a lot harder. In this episode of AI-isms I sit down with Lynn Perkins, co-founder and CEO of UrbanSitter. Lynn works in a category where authenticity matters more than almost anywhere else. You are letting a stranger into your home to care for the person you love most. So we set care aside and talked about the thing underneath it: trust, and what happens to it when a generation of people start using AI to rewrite who they are on paper. The idea that stayed with me: imperfect human beats AI-generated polish, and it is not close. Lynn told me about a competitor that let care providers use AI to write their profiles. Two things happened. Everyone started to sound the same, and the platform's own fraud detection stopped working, because suddenly every profile sounded a little fake. Perfect turned out to be the tell. What we get into: • The science of trust (background checks, credentials) versus the art of it (values, connection, work ethic), and why AI can only fake one • Why a too-polished proposal reads as less care, not more • The fraud-detection paradox: when everyone sounds the same, the machine can't tell real from fake • Four real scenarios, Lynn as coach: the non-native English job applicant, the exhausted sales rep, the 90%-automated inbox, the artist who refuses AI • The pattern underneath all four: human-first for the deep and creative work, AI-first pass for the repeatable • How UrbanSitter scaled AI by curiosity, not mandate, and why they share their failures out loud • The one thing Lynn does to stay authentically herself Chapters 00:00 The battle for authenticity just got harder 01:28 Meet Lynn Perkins 02:36 Trust has a science and an art 04:46 When the profile isn't the person 06:09 Why "too perfect" erodes trust 08:27 The AI proposal that felt like less effort 09:43 When everyone sounds the same, fraud detection breaks 10:54 Why competitors share their mistakes 13:07 Scenario 1: the non-native English job applicant 16:15 Scenario 2: the exhausted sales rep 18:47 Scenario 3: the 90%-automated inbox 21:45 Scenario 4: the artist who refuses AI 24:53 Adoption by curiosity, not mandate 30:43 Where UrbanSitter measures the outcome 33:11 Staying authentically Lynn: share the snafus 35:55 The AI-isms from this episode This is AI-isms, human rhythms in a synthetic world. The next time you are tempted to run yourself through the machine until you sound perfect, ask what you are trading for it. Tell me what you find. Topics: authenticity, trust, AI and hiring, resumes and AI, personal branding, fraud detection, human-AI collaboration, AI adoption, bottoms-up adoption, change management, marketplaces, childcare, UrbanSitter, Lynn Perkins, future of work

5. 

   22 Jul 2026

   AI-isms: Role Modelship | Eli Potter | How to Role Model when AI is Listening

   What am I role modeling today? Most of us think that question belongs to the most senior people in the building. This episode is here to convince you otherwise. In this episode of AI-isms I sit down with Eli Potter, one of the most respected CIOs in Silicon Valley and an advisor to 125+ organizations. Eli was born in Cold War Bulgaria, arrived in the US with two suitcases, and learned English from the Beatles. Out of a lifelong love of words she coined one the moment needed, role modelship, and wrote the book by the same name. The idea that stayed with me: AI can't be what it can't see. AI isn't just code and models, it's a mirror of our habits, our relationships, and our values, and it learns and unlearns the way we do. Which makes role modeling everyone's job, not just the CEO's. Every prompt is training the thing someone you love will one day ask for advice. What we get into: • Why the gap beyond leaders and managers is the who, and how role models "engineer identity" • AI as a mirror, and why it's dangerous to treat it as an independent thing • The five disciplines of role modelship, through real cases you're probably living right now • Creator vs. consumer: why opting out of AI is a destiny choice, not a tech choice • Mentorship vs. sponsorship, and the reputational chip nobody talks about • What happens when a young employee asks the CEO, "what are you doing to learn AI?" Chapters 00:00 What am I role modeling today? 01:34 Meet Eli Potter 02:13 The origin of role modelship 03:39 Managers, leaders, and the missing "who" 06:27 Role modelship in the age of AI 08:02 Why AI is a mirror 09:43 The five disciplines 10:24 Stewardship: the biased hiring AI 13:52 Fellowship: creator vs. consumer 17:25 Mentorship vs. sponsorship 22:25 Leadership: the town-hall question 27:12 The AI-isms Eli lives by 30:20 The five-year-old who got it 32:05 Finding your voice in a second language This is AI-isms, human rhythms in a synthetic world. Next time you open a chat window, ask yourself: what am I role modeling today? Tell me what you see. Topics: role modelship, AI and leadership, AI as a mirror, stewardship, fellowship, mentorship, sponsorship, creator vs consumer, AI-first vs human-first, future of work, CIO leadership, Eli Potter

6. 

   11 Jul 2026

   AI-isms: Uncertainty | Liz Fosslien | How to calibrate Uncertainty in AI-times

   At the heart of anxiety is uncertainty. There's research that when your brain has full certainty about what's coming, even if what's coming is an electric shock, you feel calmer than when you don't know. Now look at where we are. AI everywhere, no real playbook, a dozen versions of the future arriving at once. Of course we feel uncertain and anxious. In this episode of AI-isms, I sit down with Liz Fosslien to talk about what AI is doing to how we feel at work. Liz studies human emotions at work. She's the author and illustrator of the bestsellers Big Feelings and No Hard Feelings, her work has run on NPR, TED, and Good Morning America. She and her co-author Molly Duffy recently concluded a study on how AI is making us feel at work. The idea that stayed with me is ambivalent anxiety, two opposite emotions in the same body at the same time. I'm scared this ends my job. I'm relieved I might not have to do the part of it I hate. Both, at once. And most of us are performing 'calm' over the top of it. What we get into: • Why "uncertainty" has outgrown the word, and the research on why we'd rather know a bad thing is coming than sit with a fifty-fifty chance • Ambivalent anxiety: holding fear and relief at once, and the quiet tax of performing calm at work • The early-career squeeze, when the first rung is the first to get automated, and the human skills that travel across any industry • Chasing curiosity instead of fear: peer learning, skills swaps, and how to move when nobody hands you a playbook • Why pretending to have it figured out is the biggest mistake leaders make right now, and why the honest questions create more clarity than fake answers Chapters 00:00 The uncertainty under the anxiety 01:36 Meet Liz Fosslien 02:36 We need a new word for uncertainty 03:26 Why humans hate uncertainty 07:25 Enter AI: ambivalent anxiety and performing calm 12:57 Case 1: early career and the "AI slop" moment 17:37 AI-isms for early career, and the mid-career squeeze 20:38 Chasing curiosity: peer learning and skills swaps 23:11 Not everything catastrophic will happen 26:35 Leading a transformation with no playbook 30:31 The illustration: ambivalent anxiety on a swing 34:04 How Liz processes her own emotions 35:54 The AI-isms I took from this one This is AI-isms, human rhythms in a synthetic world. If you're leading people through this shift, what are you feeling underneath the calm? Tell me what you see. Topics: AI and emotions at work, uncertainty and anxiety, ambivalent anxiety, the future of work, early career and automation, reskilling and peer learning, leadership in uncertainty, performing calm, Liz Fosslien, Big Feelings, No Hard Feelings

7. 

   2 Jul 2026

   AI-isms: Power | Amy Kates | How to think about Power as AI redraws the lines

   We spend our careers drawing lines. My team, my P&L, my data, my customers. Then agentic AI starts working across all of them, and the old question comes back sharper than ever: what happens to power? In this first episode of AI-isms, I sit down with organization designer Amy Kates to unpack how AI is redrawing the lines of power inside organizations. Amy is the author of six books on org design and operating models and the founder of Kates Kessler. Her core idea stayed with me - real power lives horizontally. That is where value gets created, and it is exactly where AI is now blurring the boundaries. What we get into: • Why organizational power is horizontal, not just vertical, and why the seams matter more as AI dissolves silos • Designing for outcomes instead of headcount when agents do the work • A real finance-versus-HR standoff over workforce planning, and how to redeploy capacity instead of just cutting it • Why AI is often a red herring for collaboration problems, and how Jay Galbraith's STAR model diagnoses the real issue: trust and metrics • Learning is greater than lurching: the honest answer to how long an org design should last Chapters 00:00 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV2i4a7iMbA&list=PLNxwxB8ZxQRk&index=1) Power in the age of agents 01:33 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV2i4a7iMbA&list=PLNxwxB8ZxQRk&index=1&t=93s) Meet Amy Kates 02:26 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV2i4a7iMbA&list=PLNxwxB8ZxQRk&index=1&t=146s) Why power lives in the horizontal seams 10:35 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV2i4a7iMbA&list=PLNxwxB8ZxQRk&index=1&t=635s) Enter AI: the end of people equals power 16:50 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV2i4a7iMbA&list=PLNxwxB8ZxQRk&index=1&t=1010s) Case 1: Finance vs. HR and who owns workforce planning 24:43 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV2i4a7iMbA&list=PLNxwxB8ZxQRk&index=1&t=1483s) Case 2: Two leaders who won't share the data 27:55 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV2i4a7iMbA&list=PLNxwxB8ZxQRk&index=1&t=1675s) Why AI is a red herring for trust (the STAR model) 34:10 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV2i4a7iMbA&list=PLNxwxB8ZxQRk&index=1&t=2050s) The shelf life of an org design: learning over lurching 37:25 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV2i4a7iMbA&list=PLNxwxB8ZxQRk&index=1&t=2245s) How Amy actually uses AI in her life 40:26 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV2i4a7iMbA&list=PLNxwxB8ZxQRk&index=1&t=2426s) The AIisms I took from this one This is AI-isms, human rhythms in a synthetic world.

8. 

   1 Jul 2026

   AI-isms: Trailer

   Intelligence now surrounds us in every dimension of our lives. It is rapidly evolving not just how we work, but our social norms and core behaviors. We are learning to think, team, lead, play, learn, and even sleep differently. Welcome to AI-isms. My name is Shulagna Dasgupta. For over two decades, I’ve partnered with CXOs through their most audacious transformations. And this is what I can tell you: no matter how sophisticated the technology, at the end of the day, change is almost always human. AI is altering our behaviors and our state of being in the most profound ways - but are we being intentional about what we allow it to do to us? Are we using it in a way that unlocks our greatest potential or are we letting it into our subconscious in ways we didn’t intend to? Join me and a guest as we bring some intentionality to AI-driven behavior change. In each episode we will talk through lived experiences of people who have used AI to better their lives and behaviors. Maybe, you could borrow an idea or two? This is AI-isms. Let’s talk human rhythms in a synthetic world.

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