Podcast Summary: At Work with The Ready

Episode: AUA: What Should L&D Do About AI Right Now?

Hosts: Rodney Evans & Sam Spurlin
Date: March 2, 2026

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode tackles a pressing listener question from a Learning & Development (L&D) leader at a large company: How should L&D professionals strategically respond to the challenges and opportunities posed by AI (Artificial Intelligence) in the workplace? Rodney and Sam move beyond superficial approaches, emphasizing the need for experimentation, forming a strategic point of view, and building AI fluency within L&D teams.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Get Directly Involved With AI Tools

• Rodney stresses the importance of personal hands-on experience with AI and workflow automation, beyond simply deploying chatbots.
• Notable tools mentioned: Relay, N8N.
• Key Insight: Practical engagement provides deeper understanding of not just the tools, but also relevant use cases, inputs/outputs, and organizational fit.

“If I were you, I would first get my hands real dirty with AI... actually learning how to do something beyond chat is table stakes.”
— Rodney (00:57)

2. Adopt a Forward-Looking, Strategic Mindset

• Sam highlights the trap of always feeling behind in AI and warns against it.
• L&D pros should move past reactionary learning (like obsolete prompt engineering training) and instead develop a point of view on where AI is truly headed.
• Validate your perspective with other experts, and don’t just settle for being “caught up.”

“Everybody feels behind in AI stuff... trying to feel no longer behind is different from trying to get proactive about where things are heading.”
— Sam (01:54)

3. Curate High-Quality Information Sources

• Rodney advises choosing a few deep, credible sources instead of skimming dozens of headlines and social feeds.
• She shares her own trusted sources for keeping up with AI trends:
  • Ethan Mollick
  • Greg Shove (Section AI CEO)
  • Scott Galloway’s AI commentary
  • Chase Adams (Aaron’s Murmur co-founder)
  • Instagram: @EvolvingAI
  • AI Daily newsletter by Morning Brew

“Rather than… looking at LinkedIn because everybody’s just like, here’s my hot take… I follow like a very small handful of people and… that’s about it.”
— Rodney (03:49)

“As you try to shape a point of view, which is the job… go deeper with a few sources that are really good rather than skimming headlines from 30 things that are not that good.”
— Rodney (04:30)

4. Become Tool-Agnostic and Focus on Transferable Capabilities

• Sam encourages focusing on foundational, transferable skills rather than tools du jour.
• Examples of such skills:
  • Organizational systems thinking
  • Designing and running experiments (both small and larger scale)
  • General self-efficacy and adoption of new technologies

“Get as tool agnostic as possible… What are the capabilities that are going to be truly needed regardless of any specific manifestation of AI.”
— Sam (05:13)

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the pressure to keep up:
  “Everybody feels behind. Everybody feels behind in AI stuff. And I think trying to feel no longer behind is different from trying to get proactive...”
  — Sam (01:54)
• On credible AI expertise:
  “I’ve kind of stopped even like looking at LinkedIn because everybody’s just like, here’s my hot take on AI. And I’m like, shut up, this is boring.”
  — Rodney (03:36)
• On shaping L&D’s strategic role:
  “If you’re being asked to show up to the table and be part of the strategy conversation, your job is to, is to have a point of view…”
  — Rodney (04:24)
• A pragmatic summary:
  “Systems thinking around the organization itself I think is actually a bit of a prerequisite for being able to use AI really well.”
  — Sam (05:31)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:19 — Listener’s AI/L&D question posed
• 00:57 — Rodney on hands-on learning and workflow automation
• 01:54 — Sam on overcoming ‘falling behind’ and building a point of view
• 03:24 — Rodney’s advice on information sources and practical tracking
• 05:13 — Sam on tool-agnostic thinking and foundational capabilities

Takeaways

• Experiment First: Direct interaction with AI reveals true skill needs and opportunities.
• Be Proactive: Don’t just react—craft your own informed perspective on AI’s trajectory.
• Quality Over Quantity: Curation of a few rich, trustworthy sources is more valuable than endless surface-level scrolling.
• Think Beyond Tools: Emphasize underlying skills like systems thinking, experimentation, and tech self-efficacy—these outlast shifts in specific AI tools.

This episode delivers actionable, grounded advice for L&D professionals navigating the rapidly evolving AI landscape, blending practical recommendations with a call to strategic, critical engagement.