SightShift with Chris McAlister

You're not done and you're not starting. Nothing's over, but nothing new has begun. That's the limbo moment — and the mistake you make inside it sets the ceiling for your entire team.
Chris McAlister goes live every Wednesday at noon Eastern. This week opens September's new series: mastering the in-between. Limbo moments are the unchosen, uncontrollable spaces leaders hate — waiting on a diagnosis, a business that hasn't pivoted yet, a marriage neither healed nor over, an aging parent with dementia, an adult child still finding their way. Chris names four ways leaders mishandle the in-between, explains what limbo is actually teaching you, and shows why the mistake you make under pressure is the single most important thing for your team's transformation. Plus: the brand-new IFQ is live — free through September 13.
🎯 WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
🔍 Why limbo moments feel like personal failure — and what they're actually doing
⚡ The 4 ways leaders mishandle the in-between: despair, grievance, shortcuts, and denial
🌳 Why your leadership mistake under pressure is the false ceiling of your entire team
💡 What limbo is actually teaching you — and why chasing control makes it worse
🔧 Why personality tests miss the 3% that matters — what the IFQ measures that they don't
🧭 The brand-new IFQ: what changed, why it's free through Sept 13, and how to use it
⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
00:00 — Opening: Countries That Aren't on the Map
00:31 — Defining the Limbo Moment
01:12 — Welcome to Lunch with Chris
01:40 — Small-Scale Limbo: The DMV and Grocery Line
03:15 — Medium Limbo: Sunday Scaries
03:47 — Bigger In-Betweens: Marriage, Health Diagnoses, Aging Parents
05:13 — Business Pivots and the Professional In-Between
05:40 — The Real Definition: Unchosen, Uncontrollable, Undoable
06:30 — 4 Ways Leaders Mishandle Limbo: Despair and Grievance
07:46 — Quick Shortcuts and Denial — The Other Two Traps
09:12 — The Lie We All Believe About Control
11:04 — What the Limbo Moment Is Actually Teaching You
11:33 — The Leadership Mistake Under Pressure
12:06 — Specific Pressure Mistakes Leaders Make
13:26 — Your Pressure Mistake Is the False Ceiling of Your Team
14:05 — Why SightShift Built the IFQ
15:57 — Personality Tests vs. the IFQ: The Critical Difference
17:20 — The 3% That Matters — What Personality Tests Never Ask
18:32 — New IFQ Version Live — Free Through September 13
19:21 — Live Coaching Sessions and Closing
🔗 CONNECT WITH SIGHTSHIFT®
Limbo moments don't wait for you to be ready. The leadership mistake you make inside them will. Find it with the IFQ.
👉 Take the IFQ® (Identity Fear Quotient®, 15 min) — discover the leadership mistake you make under stress: https://www.taketheifq.com?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube-organic&utm_content=lwc-limbo-moment-leadership-mistake&utm_term=ifq
👉 Take the free Validation Check™ (3 min) — diagnose whether you're leading for impact or validation: https://thevalidationcheck.com?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube-organic&utm_content=lwc-limbo-moment-leadership-mistake&utm_term=validation-check
👉 Learn more at SightShift.com: https://www.sightshift.com?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube-organic&utm_content=lwc-limbo-moment-leadership-mistake
🔔 SUBSCRIBE for Lunch with Chris every Wednesday:
https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisMcAlister?sub_confirmation=1
Chris McAlister is the founder of SightShift® and the author of The 3% Shift: The Human Edge in the Age of AI. SightShift® develops leaders who develop leaders, so you can build a culture that changes lives.
#LunchWithChris #SightShift #LeadershipDevelopment #LimboMoment #IdentityFearQuotient #IFQ #LeadershipUnderPressure #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipMindset #ChrisMcAlister #LeadForImpact #MasterTheInBetween #LeadershipGrowth #IdentityLeadership #FoundersLife

Most leaders never think about their own thinking. They're reacting under pressure — driven by a mental filter they've never examined. The ones who see the filter lead at a completely different level.
Chris McAlister goes live every Wednesday at noon Eastern. This week: the mental filter. You have a filter in your mind that shapes every observation, every decision, and every leadership mistake you make under pressure. Most leaders never know it's there. The ones who do — who can actually notice their own thinking — are in a rare minority. Fewer than 3% of people have a genuinely free mind. And today, Chris announced the new version of the IFQ, the Identity Fear Quotient, is live — free through September 13.
🎯 WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
🔍 Why fewer than 3% of leaders have a genuinely free mind — and what separates them from the 97%
⚡ How pressure reveals your mental filter and turns leadership decisions into validation-seeking
🌳 The nine identity fears that shape your mental filter and drive your default mistake under stress
💡 Why personality tests show you what you do — but miss the filter that's running the show
🔧 How the new IFQ names your mental mechanism and gives you a path to leading for impact
🧭 Why the IFQ is free right now — and how to get into the free virtual coaching workshop
⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
00:00 — Opening: The Filter Story (Air Conditioning Goes Down)
01:17 — Welcome to Lunch with Chris
02:29 — Think About a Table — Now Think About Your Thinking
03:01 — What Free-Minded Leaders Do Differently
03:19 — The Stats: Most People Don't Have a Free Mind
04:05 — Ideological Conformity and the Invisible Narrative
05:00 — Only 1-3%: Leaders Who Actually Know How Their Mind Works
05:22 — You Have a Filter in Your Mind Under Pressure
06:04 — The Pressure Points That Make Your Filter Visible
07:09 — Leading for Validation Instead of Impact
08:09 — The Mental Mechanism: Speed of Thought Without Awareness
09:00 — Would It Be Worth Something to See Your Filter?
10:59 — A Measurement Tool Like No Other: What SightShift Built
11:52 — Personality Tests vs. the IFQ: The Critical Difference
12:50 — The Nine Identity Fears Behind Your Mental Filter
13:13 — The IFQ: A Mirror You Can't Game
14:47 — Big Announcement: New IFQ Version Is Live Today
15:59 — Free Until September 13 — and a Virtual Coaching Workshop
17:44 — What Has Changed Chris's Life More Than Anything Else
19:26 — Closing: Peace Out — Take the IFQ
🔗 CONNECT WITH SIGHTSHIFT®
When you're under pressure, your mental filter fires before you can think. The IFQ shows you exactly what's running — and what to do about it.
👉 Take the IFQ® (Identity Fear Quotient®, 15 min) — discover the leadership mistake you make under stress: https://www.taketheifq.com?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube-organic&utm_content=lwc-mental-filter-ifq-launch&utm_term=ifq
👉 Take the free Validation Check™ (3 min) — diagnose whether you're leading for impact or validation: https://thevalidationcheck.com?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube-organic&utm_content=lwc-mental-filter-ifq-launch&utm_term=validation-check
👉 Learn more at SightShift.com: https://www.sightshift.com?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube-organic&utm_content=lwc-mental-filter-ifq-launch
🔔 SUBSCRIBE for Lunch with Chris every Wednesday:
https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisMcAlister?sub_confirmation=1
Chris McAlister is the founder of SightShift® and the author of The 3% Shift: The Human Edge in the Age of AI. SightShift® develops leaders who develop leaders, so you can build a culture that changes lives.
#LunchWithChris #SightShift #LeadershipDevelopment #IdentityFearQuotient #MentalFilter #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipMindset #IFQ #ChrisMcAlister #LeadershipGrowth #LeadForImpact #LeadershipUnderPressure #FreeLeadership #IdentityLeadership #FoundersLife

AI will remember every mistake your team ever makes. It will never forgive one. In that gap sits the whole future of leadership, and the third pillar of The 3% Shift: building the relationships and community AI cannot replace.
Dr. Chris McAlister and co-host Mark Stanifer arrive at the point of the whole model: koinonia, the common unity the Greeks knew could change the world, because it did. Chris's AI has critiqued his leadership about 200 times and been wrong once, and that one miss is the lesson: the human still has to discern. Why AI is about to serve every leader fast food that tastes better than anything they have ever cooked. Why all email eventually becomes theater. The moment you forgive what the database never forgets. And the three temptations that pressure every leader to build their AI in the image of their own insecurity.
Chapters0:00 Intro0:42 Welcome back: the book at halfway, audiobook news2:11 The coming tsunami: the wave has not hit the shore3:25 ChatGPT wrote the rehab plan: Mark's PT story6:27 Same AI, different results: the trained agent7:48 The third pillar: relationships are the whole point9:10 200 critiques, one wrong call: overruling the AI16:30 Gnosko, phronesis, koinonia: the Greek path20:05 Fast food leadership: the pull of the artificial22:58 A free mind builds people29:08 AI never forgets. Only you can forgive31:15 All email becomes theater34:21 Three temptations for the AI-enabled leader40:09 The brand new IFQ report and the book43:07 Why not secure leaders?
Take the Identity Fear Quotient® (IFQ®), four questions in about 15 minutes, to see the fear that quietly drives how you show up under pressure. A brand new results report just launched:https://www.taketheifq.com
Get into the SightShift ecosystem athttps://www.sightshift.com
Find the book, The 3% Shift: The Human Edge in the Age of AI, athttps://www.threepercentshift.com

The career path you were sold is on life support. AI is taking the entry level reps that used to build judgment, and the leaders caught in the middle are the ones who have to answer for it.
This one is an audible. A listener wrote in after the last episode and pushed back on Dr. Chris McAlister: if wisdom takes time, experience, and scars, how does a generation get those reps when AI can already do the work? Chris and co-host Mark Stanifer set the notes aside and stay in that tension. Why yesterday's skills go the way of farming. Why the one rep that still matters is noticing your own thinking. Where Chris disagrees with Seth Godin about how few people you can get away with. And the simple one, two, three a leader can bring to their team this week, without pretending to have the answers.
Chapters0:00 Intro0:42 The book, and where we are in the series1:50 A listener calls a curveball3:15 You cannot get wisdom without the reps4:00 His daughter, and the AI that pushes back6:27 The rep that still matters: noticing your own thinking7:44 My farming wisdom is worthless now11:31 The harder question: the team looking to you17:40 The career, the path, the degree: there is just no way18:27 AI music, Seth Godin, and the wrong question20:26 Chris pushes back: efficiency is part of the job22:06 What a great institution is actually for23:18 Marketing 101 to CMO: the ladder is gone24:05 The one, two, three to tell your team28:40 Send us your question
Have a question you want Chris to take on? Send it to connect@sightshift.com or leave it in the YouTube comments.
Take the Identity Fear Quotient® (IFQ®), four questions in about 15 minutes, to see the fear that quietly drives how you show up under pressure:https://www.taketheifq.com
Get into the SightShift ecosystem athttps://www.sightshift.com
Find the book, The 3% Shift: The Human Edge in the Age of AI, athttps://www.threepercentshift.com

AI will not make you a better leader. For most people it will make them dumber, by quietly taking over the one thing that made them worth following in the first place.
Dr. Chris McAlister and co-host Mark Stanifer get into the human capacity AI can never replace: phronesis, the hard fought wisdom Aristotle called the chief virtue. A story about an 18 year old, a church in open revolt, and the prompt that would have weaponized him. Why the first move AI hands you is almost always the wrong one. And the one question worth sitting with before you touch the keyboard: are you leading for impact, or for validation?
Chapters0:00 Intro0:41 The book is live4:37 An 18-year-old, a church in revolt, one decision8:17 The twist: what if he had asked ChatGPT?10:37 AI as amplifier: it makes your first move worse12:25 Phronesis: the wisdom Aristotle prized most17:01 IBM 96 percent, and the 4 percent only wisdom can handle18:24 Outsource your thinking and AI makes you dumber22:39 Why Chris built his AI to slow down24:38 Impact or validation? The most intimate question28:23 The volunteer he hired too fast, then had to fire30:54 Hard fought for wisdom: scars and receipts32:15 Double down on being human (next time, the why)
Take the Identity Fear Quotient® (IFQ®), four questions in about 15 minutes, to see the fear that quietly drives how you show up under pressure: www.taketheifq.com
Get into the SightShift ecosystem at www.sightshift.com
Find the new book, The 3% Shift: The Human Edge in the Age of AI, at www.threepercentshift.com

You can replace your human assistant with AI. What you can’t replace is the human who knows where to draw the line. Chris opens with his own swap — and a book that changes the calculus.
Chris McAlister goes live every Wednesday at lunch. This week: the launch of  ‘The 3% Shift: The Human Edge in the Age of AI’ — and the urgent framework it delivers. AI will handle 97% of the doing. The 3% it can never touch is the human edge: the capacity to imagine what isn’t yet real, discern what’s wise, and build relationships that last. IBM, Standard Chartered, Meta — the headlines are already writing this story. Chris gives you the model to stay on the right side of it.
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🎯 WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
🔍 How Chris replaced his human assistant with an AI chief of staff in March — and what the experiment revealed about where the human work actually lives
⚡ The IBM case: AI handled 94% of HR requests and hit a wall on the 6% requiring human judgment — and why the market is now “repricing the 3%”
🌳 Real stories of AI-first leadership going wrong: the Standard Chartered CEO’s “lower value human capital” moment, Meta’s contradictory town hall, and what insecurity looks like in the age of agents
💡 The three-part model from ‘The 3% Shift’: Imagine (what is unseen), Discern (what is wise), Build (what lasts) — and what each piece means when AI owns the other 97%
🔧 The email footer story: Chris’s AI drafted something technically right but tonally wrong — how he applied discernment to fix it, and why taste and judgment are the job that doesn’t go away
🧭 Why building what lasts always means relationships — “knowledge puffs up, love builds up” — and the risk that AI designed to connect starts to feel more real than your actual people
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⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
00:00 — Intro: The Biggest Change Chris Has Made in 27 Years
01:51 — Welcome to Lunch with Chris / Noon Wednesdays on YouTube
02:43 — Next Week Preview: Showing You My AI Setup
04:27 — Drum Roll: The Book Is Out
05:19 — The Title: The 3% Shift: The Human Edge in the Age of AI
05:34 — IBM Case Study: AI Handled 94%, Couldn’t Handle the 6%
07:47 — Standard Chartered CEO: “AI Is Replacing Lower Value Human Capital”
08:58 — Meta Town Hall: Two Leaders Who Couldn’t Say “We Don’t Know Yet”
09:22 — The Right Posture: Find Where the Human Begins and Ends
11:52 — 97% Goes to AI — The 3% Is Your Human Edge
14:49 — The Model: Imagine, Discern, Build
15:52 — Discern What Is Wise: Taste, Judgment, and AI That Gets the Wrong Tone
16:50 — Story: The Email Footer That Made Chris Too Self-Important
18:39 — How Your Discernment Makes the AI Smarter Over Time
20:35 — Build What Lasts — The Work AI Cannot Do
21:31 — “Knowledge Puffs Up. Love Builds Up.”
22:54 — The Risk: When Your AI Feels More Real Than Your People
24:26 — Get the Book: threepercentshift.com (Hardback, Paperback, Kindle)
25:20 — Sign-Off: “Stay at the Human Edge. Live That 3% Shift.”
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🔗 CONNECT WITH SIGHTSHIFT®
AI won’t rescue you from the leadership work. Know what the 3% is — and own it.
👉 Order The 3% Shift: The Human Edge in the Age of AI (Dr. Chris McAlister): https://threepercentshift.com?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=3-percent-shift-book&utm_content=lwc-3pct-ai-cant-replace&utm_term=book-3-percent-shift
👉 Take the IFQ® (Identity Fear Quotient®, 15 min) — discover the leadership mistake you make under stress: https://www.taketheifq.com?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube-organic&utm_content=lwc-3pct-ai-cant-replace&utm_term=ifq
👉 Take the free Validation Check™ (3 min) — diagnose whether you’re leading for impact or validation: https://thevalidationcheck.com?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube-organic&utm_content=lwc-3pct-ai-cant-replace&utm_term=validation-check
👉 Learn more at SightShift.com: https://www.sightshift.com?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube-organic&utm_content=lwc-3pct-ai-cant-replace
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🔔 SUBSCRIBE for Lunch with Chris every Wednesday:
https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisMcAlister?sub_confirmation=1
Chris McAlister is the founder of SightShift® and the author of The 3% Shift: The Human Edge in the Age of AI. SightShift® develops leaders who develop leaders, so you can build a culture that changes lives.
#LunchWithChris #SightShift #3PercentShift #HumanEdge #AILeadership #BookLaunch #LeadershipDevelopment #IdentityFearQuotient #ExecutiveCoaching #FutureOfWork

Your AI won't rescue you. It reveals you. Chris opens with a personal note, real stories of AI-obsessed bosses, and the question that defines your career: where does AI end and you begin?
Chris McAlister goes live every Wednesday at lunch. This week, with The 3% Shift hitting shelves in six days: the personal letter he wrote to his email list about why the ground is moving under leaders, the real-world examples from the "bosses obsessed with AI are making everyone miserable" article, and the thesis the book is built on. New technology, same human heart. The tool that promises to change everything always runs into the same unchanged thing inside us. AI won't rescue you from the leadership work. It will show you exactly what leadership work you've been dodging.
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🎯 WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
🔍 The personal note Chris wrote to his email list — why he says “the ground is moving” faster than most leaders realize, and what’s on the other end of it
⚡ Why bosses who’ve made AI the final authority on every decision are creating paralysis, churn, and fear — and the two leadership jobs no model can do for you
🌳 Real-world examples: the attorney boss who outsourced all pre-meeting prep to ChatGPT, the CEO who trusted AI over his field reps, and what they reveal about your own leadership gaps
💡 The case for struggle — why being lost, overwhelmed, and in mess with people is the only way the skills form that make a great leader
🔧 Zuckerberg, Altman, and what the leaders building at the frontier of AI are seeing that the rest of us aren’t
🧭 The game to win: knowing where AI ends and you begin — and why that distinction determines the contribution only you can make as a human
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⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
00:00 — Personal Note: “The Ground Is Moving” — Cold Open
03:18 — Welcome to Lunch with Chris / Why We’re Talking About AI
04:23 — “The Topic Is AI” — Three Ways It Might Land for You
05:46 — Core Thesis: AI Won’t Rescue You — It Reveals You
06:38 — The Article: “Bosses Obsessed with AI Are Making Everyone Miserable”
07:16 — The Final Authority Problem: Paralysis, Churn, Fear
07:57 — Examples: When Leaders Stop Listening to Humans
08:48 — The Boss Who Let ChatGPT Pivot the Whole Company
09:25 — The Case for Struggle: Leadership Skills You Can’t Skip
10:19 — The Other Side: Why This Technology Is Mind-Blowing
10:31 — Zuckerberg, Altman, and What the Builders at the Frontier Are Seeing
11:36 — “You’re Seeing the Free Stupid Version”
11:54 — “This Is Tectonic” — What 25 Years of Building Leaders Tells Him
12:42 — How Shifts Happen: When a Better Thing Arrives, the Market Builds Around It
13:24 — The Game to Win: Know Where AI Ends and You Begin
13:46 — “A Majority of Work Is Performative Empty Theater”
14:13 — The Washing Machine Has Been Invented — What Will You Do with the Time?
14:49 — What to Do Now: Find Your Edge / Book Launches July 7
15:41 — Final Challenge: Get Lost, Get Overwhelmed, Find the Mess
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🔗 CONNECT WITH SIGHTSHIFT®
AI reveals the leadership work you’ve been doing — and the work you’ve been avoiding. Know who you are before the tools do.
👉 Order The 3% Shift: The Human Edge in the Age of AI (Dr. Chris McAlister): https://threepercentshift.com?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=3-percent-shift-book&utm_content=lwc-ai-rescue-not-plan&utm_term=book-3-percent-shift
👉 Take the IFQ® (Identity Fear Quotient®, 15 min) — discover the leadership mistake you make under stress: https://www.taketheifq.com?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube-organic&utm_content=lwc-ai-rescue-not-plan&utm_term=ifq
👉 Take the free Validation Check™ (3 min) — diagnose whether you’re leading for impact or validation: https://thevalidationcheck.com?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube-organic&utm_content=lwc-ai-rescue-not-plan&utm_term=validation-check
👉 Learn more at SightShift.com: https://www.sightshift.com?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube-organic&utm_content=lwc-ai-rescue-not-plan
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🔔 SUBSCRIBE for Lunch with Chris every Wednesday:
https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisMcAlister?sub_confirmation=1
Chris McAlister is the founder of SightShift® and the author of The 3% Shift: The Human Edge in the Age of AI. SightShift® develops leaders who develop leaders, so you can build a culture that changes lives.
#LunchWithChris #SightShift #AILeadership #3PercentShift #HumanEdge #AIAndLeadership #LeadershipDevelopment #IdentityFearQuotient #ExecutiveCoaching #FutureOfWork

If AI can do your work, what are you actually for? That is the question every knowledge worker is starting to feel, and this episode on AI and leadership sits right inside it.
Dr. Chris McAlister and co-host Mark dig into the first of three human capacities AI can never replace: imagination. Not wishful thinking, but seeing something in your mind before it is real. That is vision, the necessary function of leadership. Chris tells the story of pulling into his garage in February, watching AI initiate, synthesize, and execute, and sitting with the question the tool forced on him: if it can do this, what am I for? He calls it a haunting moment, and what settled in was a conviction that what a human really does matters more than ever. It is the same gut question a fourth-generation horseshoer faced when the car arrived, or a division-one athlete feels when the knee gives out. Psychologists call it identity foreclosure, and it is coming for everyone who works at a computer.
The deeper anchor is a Greek word: Gnosko. Gnosko is experiential knowing, the kind you possess and stand on no matter what the day brings. The other word for knowing is techne. Techne is informational knowing, the manual, the facts, the pattern. AI can techne you, mimic you, pattern-match you across every transcript and recording until it can sound like a great friend. It can never gnosko you. It will never experientially know who you are. That is why imagination stays human. You hold the vision. The tool extends it, imagining a hundred ways forward, but only inside the vision you give it.
Chris and Mark name the real danger too. People will outsource the seeing and go to the tool for validation, training it to bolster the very things they feel most threatened about, remaking it in the image of their insecurity. More AI agents are online than people now. AI companion apps have passed dating apps because the machine tells you what you want to hear. The old Babel invitation still stands: do not reach for the bricks to build the tower, reach for God, and lean into a gnosko with him you have never had before. The leaders who answer what am I for from a secure identity are the 3% who walk everyone else into the future that is now.
Chapters0:00 Intro1:13 If AI can do this, what am I for?6:50 The paradox: easier work, harder humans11:58 The first capacity AI can't replace: imagination23:46 Gnosko vs. techne: knowing vs. knowing about32:44 AI can mimic you. It can't know you.39:55 Don't reach for the bricks (the Babel turn)45:29 Identity foreclosure, and what's next
Next episode goes to the second human capacity, discernment, the Greek phronesis.
Take the Identity Fear Quotient® (IFQ®), four questions in about 15 minutes, to see the fear that drives how you show up under pressure, and where you might reach for a tool to validate it: www.taketheifq.com
Get into the SightShift ecosystem at www.sightshift.com
Find the forthcoming book, The 3% Shift: The Human Edge in the Age of AI, at www.threepercentshift.com