Most business owners have run a few prompts through ChatGPT and assumed that counts as using AI. Susan Diaz, CEO and founder of Northlight AI and author of Swan Dive Backwards, joins Wendy and Kelsey to make the case for going deeper. The conversation covers why AI literacy matters more than access, how to treat AI as delegation instead of magic, and why documenting how your business actually runs is both the starting point for AI and a quiet driver of business value.

In This Episode

Understand the difference between AI access and AI literacy, and why a license alone doesn't move the needle
Reframe AI as delegation, so a weak result points you back to a weak brief rather than a broken tool
See why writing down how your business works builds intellectual property and makes the business more valuable and sellable
Use the 10/80/10 approach, where you set the thinking, let AI carry the middle, and keep the final polish
Pick one tool and get better at it instead of chasing every new headline and feature
Ask the harder questions about jobs, security, and adoption that leadership tends to skip

Featured Quote

"Everything we're doing with AI is a form of delegation. The second you start to think of it as delegation, you'll get less frustrated about 'oh, it didn't do anything.' But did you tell it how you do it? Did you tell it the 37 steps that go into making the thing the way you like it?" — Susan Diaz

About the Hosts

Wendy Brookhouse is the founder and chief strategist at Black Star Wealth and a Certified Financial Planner with over 20 years of independent advisory experience. She works with entrepreneurs and business owners to build financial clarity, business value, and wealth that lasts.

Kelsey MacAulay is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Relationship Officer at Black Star Wealth, and a Certified Exit Planning Advisor. He works with business owners on the operational and strategic side of building a business worth transitioning.

About Our Guest

Susan Diaz is the CEO and founder of Northlight AI and the author of the self-published book Swan Dive Backwards. She works largely with small businesses on practical AI adoption and hosts a long-running podcast with more than 275 episodes. She wrote her book by recording 25 episodes over 30 days, 13 of them with guests, and using AI to help structure and cross-reference the material.

Resources & Links

Swan Dive Backwards by Susan Diaz, available on Amazon (including Amazon Canada)
Northlight AI, Susan Diaz's company
The four AI archetypes from the book and its companion quiz: the Diver, the Pathfinder, the Operator, and the Bridge Builder
The Big Leap and its four zones of incompetence, competence, excellence, and genius, referenced in the conversation

Connect With Black Star Wealth

Website: blackstarwealth.com
LinkedIn: Wendy Brookhouse | 1
Podcast: The Number, available on all major platforms

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