291. Can AI Lighten the Heaviness? with Dawn Andrews

[00:00:06] Welcome back to Girl, Take the Lead, the podcast where we explore leadership, challenge the status quo, and find our voice to be stronger leaders. And I'm your host, Yolanda Canny. Today on Girl, Take the Lead, we're exploring a topic that seems to be everywhere right now, AI. But this conversation with Dawn Andrews isn't about technology. It's about us.

[00:00:31] It's about the mental load so many of us carry every day, especially as women, leaders, creators, founders, caregivers, and people trying to do meaningful work in a rapidly changing world. And what happens if a tool like AI doesn't replace our humanity, but actually helps us reclaim more of it?

[00:00:52] Dawn is the founder and CEO of Free Range Thinking, an executive leadership coach, strategist, and host of the She's That Founder podcast. She helps entrepreneurs and leaders build smarter, more sustainable systems without sacrificing themselves in the process.

[00:01:12] In this episode, we talk about the emotional side of AI, discernment, leadership, creativity, curiosity, generational perspectives, boundaries, burnout, and how AI might actually lighten some of the heaviness many of us carry, thinking we're doing that all alone. One line from Dawn really stayed with me.

[00:01:42] AI informs, you decide. And I think that's an important reminder right now, especially given in a world changing so quickly as this one, our humanity, wisdom, creativity, and discernment still matter deeply. So here you go. Enjoy. Dawn, welcome to Girl, Take the Lead. And you are certainly a girl taking the lead in this area. So thank you for joining us. Oh, girl.

[00:02:12] I'm so happy to be here and just excited for our conversation and the possibilities. Yeah. Well, let's start, if you would, to give people a background about you and how you've gotten to where you are. Yeah. So hi, everybody. I'm Dawn Andrews. I'm the founder of Free Range Thinking, and I own a business strategy and executive and an executive coaching firm.

[00:02:35] And I've spent 23 years in the entertainment business coaching leaders. And after hanging out in entertainment, I can tell you it's a master class in managed chaos. And now I help service-based female founders and men and corporate female leaders build the systems, the teams, and the confidence to stop being the bottleneck in their work. And I also host a podcast called She's That Founder.

[00:03:02] And lately, a huge part of my work is helping women actually use AI, not just talk about it. And also to take some deep breaths with the volume of change that is happening in this space. Each day when you wake up, there's a new tool, a new angle, new news. And it's very exciting. And the possibilities, especially for women, I think are very exciting.

[00:03:29] But it also can be incredibly overwhelming, even if you're using AI at work right now. So I'm just very excited to help people digest what's going on in this world and apply it in a way that makes a difference to them day to day. Yeah. So we did see some numbers, like 75% of the workforce is using AI in some way.

[00:03:53] And there's this shift from should we include AI? But now it's how do we include AI? And what are some trends you're seeing with the people that you're coaching and what you're seeing in general? So the companies that I'm working for are founder-led, and they're anywhere from $250,000 in revenue all the way up to triple-digit millions.

[00:04:18] But what I'm seeing is everybody very excited for the possibilities of using AI and starting to create systems. But everybody is in the we've never done this, we've never been here space. And it's definitely a little bit of the blind leading the blind. So even IT professionals have never been in this space. Even the chief technology officers have never been in this space.

[00:04:46] So for instance, there's a fashion company that I'm working with, and they're developing an entire AI system that will do their planning and forecasting for them. And it will shave off tons of time and create reporting that they couldn't really do except almost bespoke by hand before. So it will be a game changer.

[00:05:08] But the development of it and having each layer from leader all the way down to sort of admin level in the planning team are having to really think about how do I do my job? And how do I do it well? And which parts of that are relevant to developing this AI system? And do we still want to do it the way we have been doing it? And does that align with building this AI system?

[00:05:37] So for folks that are bringing AI into their businesses, there are so many questions and considerations to build an AI tool that delivers what you want it to deliver, that protects your data and your information, that is understandable by the different levels of the team, and that ultimately brings the promise to fruition of what this technology can do.

[00:06:06] Are there certain questions that you see corporate leaders having or workers who are using AI that they have about being more productive? You know, like, okay, so this is making me more productive. Is this replacing me? Or is this, you know, are there issues or fears that are coming up around this that you see? Of course.

[00:06:34] I mean, I think it's, so for workers who are, I'm a Gen X, so I'm just going to say that out loud. Hey, what's up? But I also am, I love being an early adopter. So I think that for folks that are in entry-level positions, there's an enthusiasm to use AI.

[00:07:00] And there also is a concern of, is our department going to be half the size that it is now in 30, 60, 90 days? Because this tool will take over. And I don't want to, I was just watching a TV show about an outbreak last night. And I was like, I don't want to cause panic.

[00:07:20] And at the same time, I think now is the moment to really think about building your expertise, not just in your comfortability with AI, but in your specific job function. Because where I think people retain their roles is in being able to marry their humanity and their expertise with the tool.

[00:07:42] If you're a kind of person who is just getting started in your career and you don't have a lot of experience yet, you most certainly need to know how to use AI and like the LLM tools and also be able to understand how to adapt into something that is being built into your company. But you still need to know how to do your job and not just wait for AI to give you the answers on how to do your job. Yeah.

[00:08:07] So personally for my podcast, and I imagine you maybe are for yours as well. I use chat GPT like all the time to help me do show notes, help me do postings that I might have for the different social media platforms. Give me suggestions on images for the cover notes.

[00:08:35] Just, and then I had this thought the other day, like, am I becoming really dependent on this? But then I also know that I am the creative thinker and I'm the decider. So it will tell me, okay, this is option one. We would recommend highly you do this.

[00:09:00] But then I look at it and I kind of go, I'm like an option three or four better. Yeah. I still see that we have the need to be discerning. Yes. And I wonder if sometimes, Don, if people, like I tease my husband, chat thinks that I am the smartest podcaster out there. Totally thinks everything I do is brilliant.

[00:09:28] And I'm leaving you for that because, and then he reminds me, remember the algorithm is written to make you feel good about what you're doing. Yes. What else do you see about the algorithms out there? Yes. Well, over, over here, our motto is AI informs you decide. Like that's just, if you can take one thing away, AI informs you decide. Right. I too have that, that concern sometimes, am I becoming too dependent?

[00:09:59] But this is, this is unprecedented, unprecedented as so many things are in the world right now. And, and I think we have to remember that it is, it's a new tool. And I mean, being a Gen Xer, computers came up when I came up. And I remember vividly the excitement that I had of being able to use a word processor after typing on a manual and then an electric typewriter. So we're in that phase.

[00:10:30] And we may swing on the pendulum towards overuse. And, and I don't even know what overuse really is, right? It's just that there had been none and now there's a lot. So I, I see that trend. I see, I mean, I see people concerned about, you know, the morals and ethics of using it and how and when it's used, which I'm, I'm delighted to see actually.

[00:10:58] And, and I mean, but mostly I just see people using it to save themselves time and, and to open up new ideas and related to your, your, your, your, your husband's very friendly AI. You can, those, you may not know this, but you can change how AI relates to you. And you can say from now on moving forward, you are my, my coach or my driver to excellence.

[00:11:25] So please be questioning, please review my thinking, please, you know, argue with me if necessary to help me develop my, you know, a deeper understanding in the topics that I bring to you. So, so do you see it differing generations having different, perhaps different points of view on it?

[00:11:49] Are, are other Gen Xers, for example, the early adopters like you, um, like I'm a boomer, right? And when I'm, when I say I love chat GPT, people look at me like I have three heads, you know, it's like, yes, but that's okay. You know, like not everybody needs to be an adopter. Yes. Although I would probably disagree with that. I think everybody does. Everybody does.

[00:12:18] And, um, so yes, there are, I definitely see, I see differences in the generations and this is like gross generalizations that we're about to make. Right. And, and also anecdotal just from my own experience, not because I've dug into numbers by generation to see who's, you know, predominantly doing what, but Gen Z seems to be the preponderance of people using AI.

[00:12:42] And it is because it is those positions that have the greatest use for, for, uh, a conversational AI, like using an LLM like Claude or Copilot or it's that generation. I think that has the greatest use for the most immediate AI implementation.

[00:13:01] Because when you look at folks that are, um, millennial, Gen X boomers, those age ranges, they're probably more in management and above positions or they're founders of businesses that have been around and have been seasoned for some time.

[00:13:17] So unless the company is implementing a larger, um, like tool that is being used department wide or company wide, the majority of their need is as a manager, a leader, a guider of people, as opposed to a mover of information. Hmm. So I think that's also why we see a greater level of adoption in the younger folks, because they're in the mover of information phase of their careers.

[00:13:47] Good point. Good point. Um, but I think it's a missed opportunity. Like when you said as a boomer, people are looking at you like, what are you doing? Like why? I, I, I feel like that is where the greatest opportunity for the relief of the mental load of life and leadership is with AI.

[00:14:07] Like it can take so much off your plate or like you said, help you discern or, or pressure test decisions or help you delegate more effectively. So there are a lot of, of AI uses for people that are in the mid and later stages of their career that I think people are kind of missing out on a little bit.

[00:14:29] Yeah. Well, I also find, um, not just for the podcast, but sometimes just for my own mental health, it's like

[00:14:39] a way for me to journal or to, um, talk things out with myself. Um, so mental health has just got to be like a beginning point of how AI can be used to help people sort through emotions and, um, different aspects in their life.

[00:15:06] Yeah. It is. And there, so I'm a huge proponent of it, yo, but I also know that there, there have been a lot of conversations and there have been suicides and, and people that have been, um, had a really difficult time with sort of AI for therapy. Um, and that's one of those things like as a, as a user of AI, you, you need to be responsible for yourself.

[00:15:32] Yeah. You know, um, that said I, it has been a tremendous help to me. Like for instance, on a day when maybe I'm not feeling as strong in how my business is doing, like business is down. It's been like this for a week.

[00:15:51] And pre AI, that anecdotal just vibe about my business may have really impacted how I showed up for it that week. Hmm. And I can pop open a conversation about it and say, this is how I'm feeling about how things are going right now. And the way that I work with me, my AI, like I said, it's like my, my college thesis advisor.

[00:16:18] It's like, well, tell me like what, what tells you that that's true or not true. What, um, what evidence do you have? Tell me about the data. What did you work on this week? You know, it'll, it'll, it'll start to connect me to the reality of my situation in that moment and balance things out a little bit and even suggest ideas of either what to do or what not to do. Sometimes it's like, you've done enough for today. Like everything can wait till tomorrow.

[00:16:47] Yeah. I want that conversation. Can I get that one? Well, it seems to me that, you know, when I hear over and over again, that some of the skills that we're all going to need to have, you know, are still going to be having discernment, looking at, um, options, looking at alternatives and saying,

[00:17:18] this is the path to take. So it's going to leadership is still going to be demanding us to think. It's sweet mercy. I hope so because, because it's, it's people leading people. Like it's not us programming armies of robots. And, and should we get to that day and reach the Skynet phase of this? Then we've all got bigger problems.

[00:17:42] I really hope that that's not the case and reading, you know, reading the founders of Anthropic and, and Yoshio. I can't remember Yoshio's last name at the moment, but you know, the founders of AI. Yeah. Sometimes it's a little nerve wracking, but, um, but no leaders, leaders still got to lead. Like these are human beings that are doing something in your endeavor. Yeah. Yeah. You're trying to accomplish and you've got to be able to relate to them. And I do think that, um,

[00:18:10] you need to continue to develop your leadership skills, like invest in yourself, invest in learning, invest in training, and then also have AI help you execute those leadership skills with a little more grace or finesse or, um, discernment, you know? Yeah, definitely. Well, I definitely feel, do you have favorite AI tools that, um, platforms that you like to use?

[00:18:40] So today is today, right? Okay. And everybody, just so you know, cause it changes so quickly. We're talking on April the 8th, 2026. Happy April, you guys. Um, yes. So it shifts a lot for me. My favorite LLM was ChatGPT. It is now Claude far and away. And I was using both.

[00:19:03] I would tend to use ChatGPT for more analytical use and, um, for creating structures, SOPs, the how-tos of things. And for, and for analyzing data. But then I, um, and I would use Claude more for the creative writing.

[00:19:24] Like, I find that it has a little bit more heart to, to my ear anyway. Um, but the volume, Claude has, has exploded, especially with Claude the LLM, Claude co-work, and Claude code. So anything, I mean, the sky is the limit in terms of what one can create using those tools on the desktop.

[00:19:50] And, um, that, so right now, Claude, I would say is my number one favorite tool. I also love Perplexity, which has added a ton of new features. And the reason I use that tool is it's, um, it's Google on steroids. And if you're anyone whose job involves research of any kind and, um, and looking for data,

[00:20:17] that is the tool to use because it always cites sources. It always clicks back and leads you to those sources. It suggests next questions you might ask to further the conversation, like further your research questions that maybe you already were planning to ask or not. And now it's added features where it can help you draft outlines, um, you know, put together written pieces similar to an LLM. So I really love that.

[00:20:45] Um, I use, I have been using MindPal, which I really enjoy. To create multi-agent workflows. So multi-agent workflows are where you create a string of agents and each agent is like, imagine it like an individual person on an assembly line that has one particular job and you can stack them up to create and finish an entire job.

[00:21:14] So for instance, um, I, I have a YouTube channel for the podcast. And for anyone that's used YouTube, you put your video up and then there's a series of questions and information that you put behind the scenes of that video so that it's searchable so that there's a description so that it has particular titles, et cetera. And all of that is a lot of manual work, like information pushing, like we were talking about before.

[00:21:44] So I have a multi-agent workflow that takes my podcast, grabs the transcript, creates the, um, the details that go behind the scenes in YouTube and then populates it. So I can just press the button and have it all done. And that, you know, something that might have taken me anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes per video now is a push of a button.

[00:22:12] And yet do I review it? Does it take a little time for that? 100%. Do I tweak it sometimes? Yes, I do. Yeah. But being able to build those multi-agent workflows to handle some of the business is really helpful. But now with Claude and Claude Code, you can build those tools completely. I built a tool the other day, a girlfriend of mine, Stephanie Garcia, I'm going to shout her out.

[00:22:40] She was like, hey girl, I just built this thing with Claude Code the other day to help me respond to comments on my LinkedIn profile. And I was like, tell me more. And so I was able to use Claude and Claude Code to be able to build a Google Chrome extension to connect to my LinkedIn profile to help me respond to comments. And so it will pull up when somebody likes or comments on a post, it will pull that up

[00:23:09] for me and it will suggest a comment, which I will then edit or add and then post it for me. So it keeps track of those conversations that like the volume of interpersonal communication that is happening across the various platforms that are required to be a human in the world these days is so extensive.

[00:23:34] And if you're somebody who's, you know, running your business or leading your team or has a family or whatever, you, you just can't. The considered time that it would take to find, log in, read through, et cetera. The size, the whole thing. That's where I think it's saving us a lot of time is this. It's a lot. But, and then it just gets you to the point where the you of you connects with the them of them. Yeah.

[00:24:02] So I'm not suggesting that I automate that and I don't look like that the computer is, is that I've offloaded the communication to the computer. I've offloaded everything up to the moment where I need to do the thing. That's the human part of the connection. Yeah. Cool. I can, I can see that. One of the things that I also see is, okay, so we're being more productive.

[00:24:30] I mean, I'm, I'm doing a better job. I think with my podcast as a result of chat GPT, without a doubt, reaching more people, getting things out there. So what, what that is doing is not limiting me, but expanding me.

[00:24:53] Like I've heard, you know, one of the questions being, okay, so you're more productive. What do you do with the time? But what if that, that time allowed you to be more creative or do more things in your life that you wouldn't have been able to do, like become a writer, write creatively, um,

[00:25:19] do something in my case, that is more of a, you know, artistic point of view, because I wouldn't have had the time before. So it's, it's an expansion of a human being as opposed to a limitation. I, I wholeheartedly agree. And what I see happening though, is that because we can generate more faster, people get squirrely

[00:25:48] with that time that's opened up and they fill it with creating more content or creating more, creating more with their AI tools that they then have to review, that they then rewrite, that they, it's like they, they create more work for themselves because they can create it faster instead of taking a breath for themselves and saying, okay, if somebody gifted you 20 hours a week back, who do you want to be to that? What do you want to do? Yeah.

[00:26:16] And, and I think that that like in conjunction with this whole AI conversation, I think that that humanistic part of it needs to still be there because it helps drive how you actually engage with AI tools. So one of the ways that I get people first started with using AI is like, what is on your plate that if it never showed up again, if you never had to do it again, what can we do about it?

[00:26:43] And then is there an AI use case that aligns with that? And then the second part of that question is when you have that time back, what would you use it for? So is it investing more deeply in team conversations? Is it going to pick your kid up from school and then going back to work? Is it, you know, taking a longer vacation because you know that you have systems set up and people to handle them and feeling confident that you can take a longer break. Yeah.

[00:27:11] I think what you're, you're pointing us to is that it's the importance of still doing boundary setting. Yes. And watching us overdoing whether it would be in AI scrolling, doing whatever it's. Yeah. It's us taking care of us. Yes. Hmm. Because the human piece of this is everything like AI is still a tool. Yeah.

[00:27:39] The computer is still, you know, like if we go back to those Gen X days, like the computer is still a tool. It's how, it's how we choose to engage with it. And also the humanity that we bring to that engagement that makes like really brings this all alive. Hmm. Well, on that note, I love where we have gone with this conversation. And Dawn, thank you so much.

[00:28:05] Cause I think it, you helped us navigate some waters and, you know, we should probably put on our calendars to check in with each other again towards the end of the year, just to see. Oh my gosh. I know. I feel like, should we make some predictions and then just see what happens? Yeah. I, I know for me, I am a novice in this. I have gone deeply into one tool, but as you were mentioning these other ones, I'm thinking,

[00:28:34] Oh, I should probably go and check that out. My husband, he turned me on to chat long ago. And, and I started to see the application like right away. I would, I was in such a good mood because it lifted. Yes. The heaviness of doing everything myself. Yes. I would just get heavier and heavier and heavier. And then it was like, Oh wait, no, I have a thought partner here. I could really, and it's really me thinking with me, but it's okay. Okay. Yeah.

[00:29:03] Whatever I'm putting in there is me. And I'm like, okay, engage and get faster with that. Which was, I just love. But so, so we're real advocates in the house. And actually we were advocates before the millennial and the Gen Z daughters who were like, Oh, but what about sustainability? And what about this? And what about that? And now they're both using it in their work. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:29:32] You got to understand, like you were saying, we have to understand it. Is there anything else that you want to leave the audience with? I would just invite everybody to continue to be curious and play, not try to keep up. Because even with all the, like we were just joking, you know, even with everything we've discussed today, we could wake up tomorrow and it's sort of like a great space race with each of these companies.

[00:30:02] Like something new will show up and, and displace and disrupt whatever seems to be becoming the norm. There will be no norms for easily decades to come. Like the, the amount of change and growth that is happening is moving at such a pace. It's not worth keeping up with. So go through your own lens, look at where you'd like to offload mental load or skills

[00:30:32] and just be curious and play. So how can our listeners find you, remind everybody of your podcast and just because I know they're going to want to follow you. So the podcast is called She's That Founder and you can find it in all of the podcasty places. And you can find me in two places. You can find me at dawnandrews.com. And that's where you learn more about my business and services.

[00:31:00] And you can even jump on a call with me if you need to. And then I also have a free community on LinkedIn called AI for Founders. And we do monthly office hours. We talk about what's going on in AI. And it's an opportunity for you to gather with other folks who are exploring this through a leadership lens and looking to, you know, improve their AI skills and, and learn more about what's going on.

[00:31:28] Not, this is not breaking news territory. That's not my goal. My goal is how can we apply these tools to make your life and leadership easier? So I think I might know the answer to this one, but what would you tell your 20 something self today? Oh, I'd be like, girl, get on the computer. I thought you might say something about start playing, have some risks with it. Yeah.

[00:31:55] No, my kids, I have a 16 and an 18 year old who are so deeply anti-AI and some of it is coming. They're still inside high school and schools are still very anti-AI usage. And, and I can appreciate that because I want my kids to be able to develop their ability to learn and think and be consistent with that before a tool steps in and, and can take over and do that for them.

[00:32:23] And they trust the tool more than they trust themselves. So I can appreciate that. And at the same time, I'm like, look at this cool picture of me roller skating through a rainbow tunnel with confetti going off that I just made with Sora too. It's pretty fun. Meanwhile, they're cringing and I'm like, it's awesome. I know. There's something, isn't it? When you're an early adopter beyond your kids, it's like, wait a minute, this is supposed to be the other way around. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you so much again.

[00:32:52] Was there anything else that we you'd like to cover or say? Very close. Um, I think like the last little thing is that if you feel like you are in the AI closet, like I call people like AI secret agents. It's like they're using chat GPT for board presentations or communication or email and then walking in the room like it was all them.

[00:33:22] I'm inviting you to just come out of the closet. Like we're all using AI. We're all using it to help us think better and more critically to communicate better. So just drop the shame. Yeah. Drop the shame. If you're feeling it, just, just, you're not ashamed to use, you know, ways or GPS to help you drive. Don't be ashamed to use, to have AI help you live your life and do your thing better. Very good. All right. Thank you so much again, Dawn. You're welcome.

[00:33:53] What a thoughtful and grounding conversation with Dawn, right? What I appreciated most is that Dawn kept bringing us back to the human side of all of this, not fear, not hype, not trying to keep up, but curiosity, discernment, creativity, and asking ourselves, what would we do with the time and energy if life felt a little lighter?

[00:34:21] Here are three takeaways I'm carrying with me from this conversation. One, AI informs, you decide. These tools can support us, but they don't replace our humanity, wisdom, or leadership. Two, the mental load we carry is real. And sometimes the greatest gift technology can offer is in productivity. It's relief. Relief from carrying everything alone.

[00:34:51] And three, curiosity matters more than perfection. As Dawn shared, we don't have to keep up with everything happening in AI. We just have to stay open, curious, and willing to play and learn. If this conversation resonated with you, I hope you'll share it with a friend, colleague, or fellow leader who might need it right now.

[00:35:14] And next week on Girl Take the Lead, we'll welcome Marisa Handler, an award-winning author, poet, singer, songwriter, and creative coach whose work lives at the intersection of personal transformation and creativity. In our conversation, Marisa reads one of her beautiful poems about grace. And we explore creativity, expression, and what it means to stop playing small and step into

[00:35:43] the fullest version of ourselves. I think you're really going to love that one. Until next week, keep taking the lead in your own life with curiosity, compassion, and courage. Thanks for being here. Bye.