How I Work

We're using AI more than ever. And yet, according to research from Glean's Work AI Institute, only 10% of Australians say AI is significantly improving organisational performance.  The truth is that most organisations have done what Dom Price calls the "Woodstock theory" of AI adoption: build it and they will come. Throw the tools out there, hope people figure it out, and wait for the productivity miracle that never quite arrives.  In this episode, I sit down with Dom Price, former Atlassian work futurist and one of the sharpest thinkers I know on how organisations actually work. Dom joins me off the back of new Australian research showing the enormous gap between AI adoption and AI impact, and we dig into exactly why that gap exists and what to do about it.  If you care about building genuine AI capability in your team rather than just looking busy with AI, this conversation will make you rethink where to start.  Dom and I discuss:  The "Woodstock theory" of AI adoption, and why most organisations are getting almost nothing back for their investment  Botsitting and botshitting: two new terms that capture exactly what's going wrong with how we use AI at work  The minus one, zero, plus one framework for figuring out where AI actually belongs in your organisation  Why managers are becoming the unexpected bottleneck in an AI-enabled workplace  Dom's board of directors inside Claude, and how he uses it to catch his own blind spots  The question Dom asks every leadership team that almost no one can answer  Key quotes  "If you have inefficient and ineffective processes and people systems, and you layer in AI, you are doing stupid things faster."  "Most of the businesses I work with in the ASX, their human operating system's Windows 95. So you might have Claude 5.9. You're using Ferrari-style horsepower in your technology, but the way your humans and teams work and meet and make decisions... all those things are Windows 95."  Connect with Dom Price on Instagram, LinkedIn and his website.    If this conversation sparked something, you'll also love my recent chat with Professor Scott Anthony on how AI has changed the way he approaches problem-solving and his day-to-day workflows. Listen here.   My latest book The Energy Game is out on July 7, 2026. You can order a copy here: https://amzn.to/48ID29M  Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanthaimber)  Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/amanthai)  If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work and live, I write a weekly newsletter where I share practical and simple to apply tips to improve your life. You can sign up for that at https://amantha.substack.com/  Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.  Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au  Credits: Host: Amantha Imber Sound Engineer: The Podcast Butler See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There is a question most of us skip past entirely in our daily lives: do I actually matter? Not "am I useful?" or "am I successful?" but do I matter, as a person, independent of what I produce or achieve?  It sounds simple. But the research suggests we are terrible at actually living like the answer is yes.  In this episode, I sit down with Jennifer Breheny Wallace, journalist and bestselling author of Mattering, a book that unpacks why so many of us have tied our sense of worth to our output, and what it costs us. Jennifer has been researching this topic for nearly a decade, and her work is one of those rare combinations: rigorously grounded and deeply personal.  Jennifer and I discuss:  The two sides of the mattering equation: feeling significant versus being useful, and why both are essential  The crumpled $20 bill story and what it teaches children (and adults) about unconditional worth  The "impact file" and why what goes in it might surprise you  Three different paths you can take when envy hits, including one called mudita that reframes another person's success as your own  What managers get wrong about mattering, and the small everyday moments that actually move the needle  The 30-second nightly practice that can override your brain's negativity bias  Key Quotes  "Mattering is found in the small everyday moments of life. It was never the big moments, it was the small moments."  "We all crave to feel needed and relied on. Letting young people know that you are valued for so much more than your achievements, you are needed here, you have a role in this world."  Connect with Jennifer Breheny Wallace on Instagram, LinkedIn and her website, and check out her books Mattering and Never Enough    If you enjoyed this episode, I think you'd love a chat I had with bestselling author Daniel Coyle on how to avoid small talk and the questions that create real connection. Listen here.   My latest book The Energy Game is out on July 7, 2026. You can order a copy here: https://amzn.to/48ID29M  Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanthaimber)  Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/amanthai)  If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work and live, I write a weekly newsletter where I share practical and simple to apply tips to improve your life. You can sign up for that at https://amantha.substack.com/  Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.  Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au  Credits: Host: Amantha Imber Sound Engineer: The Podcast Butler See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are interviews, and then there are conversations. The best podcast hosts know the difference, and the gap between the two is harder to close than it looks.  In this bonus episode, I get to turn the tables. Jessi Hempel (host of the podcast Hello Monday and senior editor-at-large at LinkedIn) and I nerded out on the craft we both love: what it actually takes to walk into an interview prepared, how to stay present when a guest goes flat, and the moment a scripted exchange becomes something neither person planned for.  If you've ever wondered what goes on in a host's head before and during a recording, this one pulls back the curtain.  Jessi and I discuss:  Why Jessi walks into every interview with no notes, and the preparation habit that makes it possible  The AI experiment that went badly wrong, and what it taught Jessi about how not to prepare  How to tell whether a podcast host has actually read the book (there's a tell, and writers always spot it)  What to do when a guest is giving you nothing and the conversation is going nowhere  The hardest interview challenge to crack, especially with big-name guests on book tour  The moment an interview tips into a real conversation, and why you can't fake your way there    Key quotes  "The process of slowing down and sitting with material and stumbling over it and forgetting a lot of it, but just sort of tracing my own mind to figure out where I feel curious about it, is the process of preparation."  "The best interviews tip into conversations."  Connect with Jessi Hempel on Instagram. and LinkedIn. Check out her newsletter and listen to her podcast Hello Monday.    If you haven't already, listen to the main episode with Jessi - where she gets into what actually works on LinkedIn in 2026. Check it out here.    My latest book The Energy Game is out on July 7, 2026. You can order a copy here: https://amzn.to/48ID29M  Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanthaimber)  Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/amanthai)  If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work and live, I write a weekly newsletter where I share practical and simple to apply tips to improve your life. You can sign up for that at https://amantha.substack.com/  Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.  Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au  Credits:   Host: Amantha Imber   Sound Engineer: The Podcast Butler See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You've bought the licenses. You've made the announcement. And a few months later, you're staring at a workforce either ignoring the tools entirely or churning out AI-generated fluff that nobody's reading. The ROI? Nowhere to be found.  The problem isn't AI. It's how organisations are rolling it out.  In this How I AI episode, Neo and I share a recording from a live webinar we ran on why AI rollouts fail and what it actually takes to set yours up for success. We cover the most common mistakes we're seeing on the ground, the research that should change how you think about training, and the question every leadership team needs to answer before spending another dollar on licenses.  Neo and I cover:  Why an unclear AI strategy at the leadership level creates confusion across teams, with some departments using the tools freely and others too uncertain to try.  The leadership credibility problem: when CEOs and senior leaders don't use AI themselves, the rest of the organisation takes it as a signal that they shouldn't either.  Why buying licenses without training can actually reduce productivity, producing a flood of low-quality, AI-generated work that slows people down rather than speeding them up.  The surprising finding from HBR research that the average time saving from AI is just 2.5%, and why vanity metrics like daily logins and token usage tell you almost nothing about real value.  The agent proliferation trap: why having everyone in your organisation building agents independently leads to duplicated, inconsistent, and unowned tools that create more confusion than clarity.  The cultural barrier of AI fear, and why people won't genuinely adopt a tool they believe is there to replace them.  AI brain fry, a distinct form of cognitive fatigue caused by constant context-switching and vigilance when managing multiple AI tasks simultaneously.  Why training to tasks rather than features is what actually shifts behaviour, and the research-backed minimum dose of five hours of hands-on training required to see any meaningful benefit.  The case for training close to license rollout to prevent bad habits forming before people know how to use the tools well.  A three-stage framework for AI adoption: access, literacy, and leverage (individual then organisational), with literacy positioned as an ongoing capability rather than a one-off event.  Why planning where time savings will actually go matters as much as achieving them, otherwise people simply fill the space with more work.  Connect with Neo Aplin on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/neoaplin/) and via inventium.ai (https://inventium.ai), where he leads Inventium's AI training and upskilling work with organisations and teams.  My latest book The Energy Game is out on July 7, 2026. You can order a copy here: https://amzn.to/48ID29M   Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanthaimber)   Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/amanthai)   If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work and live, I write a weekly newsletter where I share practical and simple to apply tips to improve your life. You can sign up for that at https://amantha.substack.com/   Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.   Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au  Credits:   Host: Amantha Imber  Sound Engineer: Martin Imber See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Every time you open a new AI chat, you're starting from scratch. You type out the background, explain your role, describe the project. Then you do it again tomorrow. And the day after. There's a better way, and it takes about 15 minutes over a cup of coffee. In this How I AI episode, Neo and I walk through the briefing document - a single context file that gives AI everything it needs to understand your world before you've typed a single word. Neo and I cover: Why context now matters more than a well-crafted prompt, and why even a clever prompt without background will give you a great average response rather than something targeted What a briefing document is and why recreating that context in every new chat leads to lazy, generic results How to use AI's advanced voice mode to interview you about your job so the briefing document gets built conversationally, not typed from scratch The exact interview prompt we give Inventium AI workshop participants Real examples from Neo's setup, including documents for Inventium's products and services, his AI programs, and a current client project Real examples from Amantha's setup, including documents for managing her team, the How I Work and How I AI podcasts, and her upcoming book Two ways to store and deploy briefing documents The prompt for creating a briefing document: “Run a short, adaptive interview that captures only what matters about my role, context, stakeholders, and how I work, then produce a single structured briefing that covers all information. Be efficient, inquisitive rather than prescriptive, and tailor the depth and questions to my role and signals.” Connect with Neo Aplin on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/neoaplin/) and via inventium.ai (https://inventium.ai), where he leads Inventium's AI training and upskilling work with organisations and teams.   My latest book The Health Habit is out now. You can order a copy here: https://www.amantha.com/the-health-habit/ Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanthaimber) Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/amanthai) If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work and live, I write a weekly newsletter where I share practical and simple to apply tips to improve your life. You can sign up for that at https://amantha-imber.ck.page/subscribe Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes. Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au Credits: Host: Amantha Imber Sound Engineer: Martin ImberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.