The Deer in the Headlights: What One Executive's AI Blind Spot Reveals About White-Collar Work

 In this episode of AI First with Adam and Andy, Adam Brotman shares a client story: a finance executive responsible for a high-stakes, board-level cash-flow forecast could not keep pace with colleagues who had adopted frontier AI models, leaving him weeks behind on work others were turning around in hours.

Andy Sack and Adam break down what actually separates effective AI use from noise: selecting the right model and reasoning level, granting it the right access, and rigorously checking its work. They connect the moment to Forum3's core argument in Agents Inc., that most organizations can already run with at least half the headcount they carry today, and to the harder question underneath it: what leaders owe employees whose skills are becoming obsolete almost overnight.

For executives, the message is direct. AI fluency is no longer optional, and the choice between investing in someone's transition and replacing them is already being made across companies, often without any formal policy guiding it.

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AI First with Adam and Andy: Inspiring Business Leaders to Make AI First Moves is a dynamic podcast focused on the unprecedented potential of AI and how business leaders can harness it to transform their companies. Each episode dives into real-world examples of AI deployments, the "holy shit" moments where AI changes everything, and the steps leaders need to take to stay ahead. It’s bold, actionable, and emphasizes the exponential acceleration of AI, inspiring CEOs to make AI-first moves before they fall behind.

Andy (00:00)
This is AI First with Adam and Andy, the show about what happens when AI stops being a tool and starts becoming part of your workforce. I'm Andy Sack, alongside my co-host Adam Brottman. Each episode we talk with business leaders on the front lines of the agentic era, what they're building, what's actually working, what's not, and how AI agents are changing the way companies operate. No hype, just real-world use cases, lessons from the field, and ideas you can put to work.

Welcome everyone. Today's episode is about the story of one of our clients and the decision that executives need to make about using agentic teammates versus investing in training of their executives. And we have a real life

case study that Adam's gonna share from one of our clients that we hope illustrates this tension and its implications for the broader labor workforce, as well as the challenge that executives face about this decision about whether to invest in executives and their training. So with that tee up, Adam, do you want to share the case study of one of our clients?

Adam Brotman (01:39)
Yeah,

I was talking to one of the executives of one of our clients about a particular project we're working on and it was really evident that everyone else at least on our end and even some other folks in the discussion were using AI and this one executive was not.

which is fine. Like, I mean, to each his own in some sense, but you could tell because everyone else was able to like really quickly come back. It wasn't slop either. Like, then think about like if you know what you're doing and you're reviewing your work and you're bringing a frontier model to the table, all three things, then you're producing really good stuff really quickly and you're checking your work. And so think about this happening and then think about

If there's four or five people going back and forth ping-ponging around on a topic, on a project, and one of the executives is not using AI. And so when the ball gets sort of in their court, it's like, hey guys, this is gonna take me like a week to get back to you on it. Right? Which, by the way, a year ago, four years ago, that would have been, of course, pretty complicated topic with a lot of moving parts and a lot of documents and a lot of spreadsheets. And

And everyone else is like moving the ball forward. And then this one particular exec wasn't. So I was talking to him and I said, How AI proficient are you? How often do you use AI? And he's like, Well, you know, sort of a long pause, and he's like, I try to use it every once in while. and I was like, Okay, well, I don't understand. So if you took X, Y, and Z that we were just talking about and you throw it into

A frontier model system and you get the right model and you get the right harness and you get the right thinking level and reasoning level, and then on top of that, you get the right connectors and et cetera, et cetera. And I started explaining this to him, and like, you should be able to come back with something, even with your own review, in a couple hours. and he just goes, I don't know how to do any of that. it's almost like I speaking Greek, okay? and he's like, Can you show me how to use that stuff?

And I was like, yeah, yeah, I can show you. this is not like a 15-minute thing, though. This is like a five-hour, you know, explaining to him what each of these pieces on a frontier system looks like and works like and how you gotta use it and how you gotta be careful to check your work and why and how you, set these things up. But it was, Andy, it was interesting because he had a little bit of a

you know, deer in a headlights look. And I realized at that moment, like, I'm saying and I hope we don't do this too much on this podcast. Like I'm explaining something to him that he doesn't know what he doesn't know. and he was humble enough in the moment to say, Can you show me how to do that?

And and yeah, and go ahead.

Andy (04:04)
So let let me

let me interrupt. So just to provide our audience a little bit more, are you able to provide with client confidentiality in mind, are you able to provide more context about the specific situation and what the task was and what the role was of this person?

Adam Brotman (04:19)
I mean it was a financially related it was a forecasting task and

Andy (04:23)
really an important forecast to have for year end.

Adam Brotman (04:26)
Yeah. which everybody does. I mean everybody has that in their job, especially now we're in September, but just in general, like forecasting and it was a complex forecasting situation. And

Andy (04:36)
For a complex business.

Adam Brotman (04:37)
yeah, that's right. And so that's that's what it was related to. And you know, there's a lot of different folks involved. There were operators involved and, you know, investors involved and executives involved and consultants involved and so like, you know, which is pretty normal, right? what I'm describing, I'm sure a lot of our listeners are like, Yeah, that's

You know, that happens. You you

Andy (04:52)
Yeah, so it just just

to lay the groundwork a little bit more, it's a you know, cash is tight situation. And the executives and the board and investors are all anticipating the twenty twenty seven plan and next twelve month forecast and in order to make important decisions about the business going forward.

Adam Brotman (05:12)
That's right.

Andy (05:13)
And so when you realized

the status of this person. Like talk through how you thought about it, what you did and

Adam Brotman (05:21)
I mean, I was like, look, I offered to help him. I did two things. Cause I think it's important for our audience to hear this. One is I offered to help, show him the ropes when it comes to becoming more of an advanced user of of AI systems, being more AI proficient. I also wanted to and this is important, I wanted to be empathetic about a couple of things and also explain a couple of things. I I actually think

he's not the exception. I think he's more the rule than the exception of what's going on in the world right now, number one. Number two, I wanted to explain, like, AI is not a silver bullet, and AI makes mistakes both. I was like, this is not a matter of like, hey, buddy, why aren't you hitting the easy button and just using AI? it was more of like, look, if you know what you're doing and you know how to use an AI system and you know how to check its work.

All three of those things. Like you're gonna end up just producing much better work much faster. But all three things have to be true. It's not just the AI easy button Like AI makes far less mistakes than it used to. And that's particularly true in the last six months. And it's getting more true every day with all these new fancy smart models that are coming out that are really good at computer use, so really good at doing long running tasks and then checking their own work.

But you gotta check its work. But because they're good at computer use, they just are able to sort of get more information on their own. They're able to do their work, they're able to check their work. And then if you're double checking their work and you know what you're doing on top of that, like it's this force multiplier. And it was actually just really evident that if you're in a world where the other people around you are using AI.

and I don't just mean just in a slop way. I mean like they're using it right, meaning they know how to prompt it, they're responsibly giving it access to the right stuff, and then they're checking their work. they're producing stuff on a daily basis, right? Hourly basis that used to take a couple days or a week. And when you get a multiplayer game going on, which is lot of business, you and I thought it was interesting

That just stood out. And I'm like, look, man, it's almost malpractice for you not to be knowing how to use these systems, even if it's just to check your work or for you to use it and then check its work.

Andy (07:27)
Yeah. So let me try and highlight a few things because Adam shared really this story and when he shared this story with me earlier prior to this episode.

He described it the scenario where he was able to identify this person who really gave him the blank stare of, I do not know how to use that tool. And Adam was using the models to analyze the cash flow forecast and was in a position of power as the quote unquote boss of this person. and he got the blank look of like, shit, deer and headlights look.

and the reason we're sharing the story with all of you is that as Adam said, it's the rule, that look, that deer and headlights look is what we're seeing often in our boot camps as companies invest in training and try to bring people along the AI agentic journey.

What's happening is that particular executives who are older and lack

the curiosity and the drive to engage with learning these tools, you'll get that look. there's two things that I want to highlight. One is it should be clear to all of you, it's clear to me that there's a capitalist reality that goes, should I invest in training this person or should I eliminate this person and get someone who's comfortable with the tools to get the work done or I'll just do it.

Like those are the options that are going through Adam's mind in that situation. And that very clearly highlights in a anecdote, in one story, it's meant to illustrate

What we said in our book, which is we look at every business today and assume that it can be operated with at least 50% less headcount than it is today. And I don't care if your company is 10 or 20,000 employees or your company is 10 to 20 employees, it's probably true. That's the starting point, 50% headcount reduction. and that might be the base, it might be greater than that.

So we say that in our book, Agents Inc., as a starting point when we look at businesses. So it highlights that point. The second point it highlights, and I say this because I think in many ways this is lost. Like both Adam and I, I'll speak for myself, have a lot of empathy for that financial person and the story that Adam just shared.

Which is he's worked his career. He knows he's worked hard. He's in his mid forties. And switching to this new tool, like he's learned a set of tools that suddenly almost in a period of two to three years overnight are obsolete. And then he needs to learn how to use a new tool. Now, the new tool is pretty easy to use, but it's still a totally different way of working. And I empathize with that person who

wants to go home to their family and doesn't want to embark and start over on how to be great at using AI tools. And we we're sharing the story because that's the conundrum. Because it's not only as the executive, Adam needs to make that decision that I mentioned earlier. Should I invest in training? Should I do it myself? Or should I hire a young person who knows how to use these tools? That decision is being

Presented everywhere.

And in many ways, Adam and I joke often that our jobs are at risk. and it's why, you know, we're pushing on the boundaries of using these tools ourselves to try and highlight and I want to emphasize the human element because the human element and what is clearly going to be, in our opinion, and it's totally our opinion, it's still up for debate, a labor disruption of the size of which we've not seen before as a result of

these white collar workers. That story illustrates that. And so those are my points. I don't know, Adam, if that triggered anything that you want to add on, and then we'll close this out.

Adam Brotman (11:02)
Yeah,

I would just say like,

first of all, I am eager to help this particular person in any way I can to understand how to responsibly use these tools, understand where they can go wrong, but also understand how can give this person an Ironman suit. you know, it sparked a not a debate, but it sparked an interesting discussion between you and I you were like, but do you need to do that? Like, is that even worth the time to do that or not, or whatever? And I was like,

I think so, but

I think you know, in this case the reason I'm eager to is because he was humble and

Andy (11:33)
Open.

Adam Brotman (11:33)
and open to it. And there's a lot of people that aren't. And I actually

Andy (11:37)
I mean the thing

that you said that really resonated with me, which is like this is the standard of work in today's era and you need to up your game to that.

Adam Brotman (11:46)
I think so. It's almost like it's hard it's not a perfect analogy, but it'd be like just using pen and paper and stuff in the year

Andy (11:54)
when the calculator came up.

Adam Brotman (11:55)
yeah, the calculator, but I was gonna say the computer like if in the mid nineties or the late nineties is a better example, if you weren't using a computer to do work for word processing and other things.

And you were just using pen and paper and dictation and stuff like that. Like, I mean, look, you could do it, but you were definitely at a disadvantage. and so it's interesting to me. But I just not for this episode, but I just want to say, like, there's a lot of people that are understandably afraid and upset about AI. I mean, I'm afraid and upset about AI.

And I know you are too, Andy. Like and it's really weird because we are. Like we spend a lot of time offline talking about like our worries for

Andy (12:36)
Yeah.

Adam Brotman (12:36)
what how this stuff can go wrong and just all those topics in terms of the societal issues as well as like rogue AI issues and both. and so there's there's a lot of people that are anti-AI or not open to

using these tools and learning these tools and I empathize with I really do. but it doesn't change the fact that right now in corporate America, like this is state of the art. and it's because it's so powerful, you really just notice the difference when somebody's not using it responsibly and correctly.

And so that's all it brings up for me is.

Andy (13:09)
I think the thing that I'll just conclude with is I think the reason we're so passionate about training and transformation is because we do want to help people make the leap and we think that that's compounding. At the same time, the purpose of this episode is to highlight the fact that

one of the powers above you at your job, whether that be your board, your CEO, et cetera, is gonna be making decisions. And the more AI forward they are, they're gonna be making an assessment about should I invest the time? Because the time to transform someone who gives you the deer and the headlights look

You know, given there's such a readily available tool that they can switch to, a digital tool they can switch to, it's much easier to make. And that's gonna lead to white collar workers being fired and terminated as opposed to investing in training. And so we wanted to share that story. We're passionate about helping companies and individuals transform and train, but we also wanna just

be frank and direct with an illustrative story about what is going on amongst bosses and its implications for you. So hopefully this was helpful to you. If you haven't gotten on the AI bus and started to use the tools do so and feel free to reach out to Forum3. With that

thank you for listening to AI First with Adam and Andy. For more on how to build and run a company in the agentic era, head to forum3.com. You'll find case studies, research briefings, and executive summaries. Our book, Agents Inc., How to Rebuild Your Company in the AI Age, and Vera, our AI co-author, who's always up for a conversation. We truly believe you can't overinvest in your AI learning onward.