Right About Now – Legendary Business Advice

Episode: Adapt or Get Left Behind: The New Rules of AI & Business
Host: Ryan Alford (The Radcast Network)
Original Air Date: March 27, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the seismic shifts AI is causing across business, work, and organizational culture. Host Ryan Alford brings together diverse experts—founders, AI strategists, authors, and operators—to slice through AI hype and deliver hard-hitting, real-world insights. The crew explores not just how AI is transforming workplaces, but also what leaders, founders, and everyday professionals must do to adapt, future-proof themselves, and seize new opportunities in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Biological Optimization Playbook – Thorin (Brain One)

• Background: Thorin, CEO/founder of Brain One, discusses the intersection of neuroscience, data, and daily protocols for personal longevity and performance.
• Takeaways:
  • Early interest in tracking biological data for athletic performance laid the foundation for Brain One’s neuroscience approach.
  • Protocols (structured daily routines) with microhabits (e.g., cold plunging) are central to optimizing brain health and life.
  • The company’s AI synthesized leading scientific protocols (Huberman, Attia, Brian Johnson, etc.) into practical daily guidance.
• Notable Quote:

  “What is a protocol? At the end of the day, when you get up in the morning, what are the things that you do on a regular basis, period?”
  — Thorin (03:49)

• Memorable Example:
  Compares Brain One to a “Noom for neuroscience”—rather than old-school calorie-counting, it’s about habit-based optimization for the brain.

2. How AI Is Reshaping Teams and Work – Veronica Shelton (Oak Theory)

• Background: Veronica, co-founder of a leading design and tech agency, shares how AI is irreversibly changing not only their business but also the very concept of talent and roles.
• Key Points:
  • AI has blurred boundaries—designers are writing, developers are selling, and salespeople are designing.
  • Jill-of-all-trades is not a liability anymore; AI enables everyone to contribute across the board, boosting both creativity and efficiency.
  • The shift has cut costs (“saved us mid six figures”) and made teams both smaller and more collaborative.
  • The challenge: balancing AI efficiency with preserving human creativity and integrity within teams.
• Key Quote:

  “Our Mondays and Thursday meetings are the most amazing things I’ve ever seen because they’re touching so many things now...our team works together in such a fluid way—it’s almost like a new kind of core.”
  — Veronica Shelton (11:31)

• On the Future: Veronica, quietly bullish on AR (Augmented Reality), sees it as the “next cell phone”-level shift (09:30).

3. AI as the New Knowledge Economy—Threat and Opportunity – Matt Britton (Author, ‘Generation AI’)

• Core Argument:
  • The value of “knowledge work” (coding, legal, accounting) is eroding fast—AI can already outperform humans in many of these functions.
  • Future relevance requires being a problem solver with or for AI, or excelling in a hands-on trade (building, plumbing, etc.).
  • The biggest winners will be those who can harness AI’s powers for new problem sets—not just those who “know things.”
• Analogy Highlight:

  “What makes a great photographer right now is not knowing the technical skills of how to turn the knobs and dials, how to develop film. It’s actually having an eye on where to point the camera. And AI is the ultimate analogy for that...”
  — Matt Britton (16:22)

• Rapid Shift Highlight:

  “If you’re not going to be a builder in AI and be a problem solver, then AI will disintermediate you.”
  — Matt Britton (14:12)

4. Agents, Automations, and Next-level AI – Matt Britton & Ryan Alford

• Basic Levels of AI:
  1. Call & Response (101): Prompt in, answer out—supercharged Google.
  2. Automation (201): Tools like Zapier connect, execute processes automatically.
  3. Agentic AI (Next Level): AI is given autonomy—acts on your behalf beyond simple rules, including booking, planning, real-world actions.
• Implication:
  Agents can take over tasks, interact with the external world, and learn/unfold new solutions, representing both huge gains and unsettling potential.
• Quote:

  “Agents, you’re giving AI autonomy where, based upon the input, you’re letting it decide what tools to use and how to accomplish things for you.”
  — Matt Britton (17:30)

5. Unlocking Human Potential with AI – Rob Lennon “The AI Whisperer”

• On AI’s Leap:
  We’ve reached a “point of no return”—AI now routinely performs above human level when properly directed.

• Strategic Use:
  The real differentiator is “prompting in a progressive way”—breaking down, guiding, and building up to specific outputs rather than just treating AI as an answer machine.

• On Curiosity:
  Effective use of AI encourages more and better questioning; people get smarter and more creative as they interact with it.

• Quote:

  “These models, they have reasoning, they have memory...Even if it never progressed further, what we have right now is enough to completely transform almost every sector of society.”
  — Rob Lennon (19:44)

• Tactical Prompting Example:
  Start with high-level questions, progressively decompose them, then synthesize for richer, uniquely tailored answers (21:10).

6. AI Coaching & Empathy—Beyond Automation – Dimas Rutkin (CEO, Pandatron) & AI Coaching Expert

• Big Shift:
  • AI coaching isn’t just about productivity—it’s about unlocking empathy, self-reflection, and growth potential.
  • People sometimes feel more comfortable talking to AI coaches (no judgment, 24/7 availability) than humans.
  • AI can surface team or organizational patterns that human managers might miss.
• Quote:

  “In all these years, I have not seen something experiential that allows for this level of vulnerability for a human. I never thought it would be possible...but it’s mind-blowing.”
  — Dimas Rutkin (27:52)

• Ethical Stance:
  AI is not here to replace human coaches but to augment self-awareness and support human development at scale.

Memorable Quotes

• Ryan Alford:
  “If people aren’t embracing [AI], they will be jobless. But if you embrace it, it will be just fine.” (13:40)
• Veronica Shelton:
  “It’s not so horrible to be a jack of all trades...having them work with [AI] agents is really interesting. Watching them work with the agents...it’s wild.” (11:16)
• Matt Britton:
  “Are there still use cases, professional photographers for weddings, for special events? Sure. Are they dwindling? Yes.” (16:23)
• Rob Lennon:
  “Either you’re going to be an early adopter...or you’re going to get destroyed because you weren’t paying enough attention and somebody else moved faster than you.” (20:25)
• AI Coaching Expert:
  “People think too much about AI being only an automation tool and I think it’s so much more… it’s so much more than just coaching.” (25:58)
• Dimas Rutkin:
  “At least in AI within the realm of coaching...AI coaching is one of the areas that is not really replacing humans...we help humans reflect better on themselves.” (26:52)

Key Timestamps

• 03:07–07:00: Thorin on Brain One, data-driven longevity, and protocol-based optimization.
• 08:32–12:04: Veronica Shelton on AI transforming team structures, roles, and saving costs.
• 14:35–16:51: Matt Britton on AI replacing knowledge work and the value of skill trades.
• 17:06–19:09: Understanding agentic AI vs. basic automation.
• 19:18–22:21: Rob Lennon on practical AI application, early adoption, and prompting best practices.
• 25:32–28:20: Dimas Rutkin and AI Coaching Expert on empathy, self-reflection, and human-augmenting potential of AI coaching.

Overall Tone and Style

The discussion is candid, energetic, practical, and unfiltered—mirroring Ryan Alford’s no-nonsense, hustler spirit. The guests cut through hype with tactical advice and urgent warnings, blending technical details with real-world business and workplace reality.

Final Takeaways

• AI and business are now inseparable—leaders and workers must adapt or risk obsolescence.
• The greatest opportunities are in using AI not just as a tool for answers, but as a partner to unlock new questions, creativity, and operational agility.
• Organizational and personal adaptability—plus a willingness to reimagine roles—are now the true keys to winning in business.

Ready to “snap necks and cash checks”? As the episode insists: Adapt, or get left behind.

For full audio, highlights, and more, visit ryanisright.com.