No Adult Left Behind: George Pillari, Managing Partner of Running Fox Partners, on Embracing AI for Lifelong Success

In this insightful episode of The Brand Called You, host Ashutosh Garg speaks with George Pillari, Managing Partner of Running Fox Partners and author of No Adult Left Behind: AI Is Learning, Are You? Drawing on more than three decades of experience in healthcare leadership and consulting, George Pillari explores how artificial intelligence is transforming personal and professional life, why AI fluency is becoming an essential skill, and what adults can do to remain relevant in an increasingly AI-driven world. Defining moments that shaped George Pillari’s leadership philosophy Why adapting to technological disruption is essential Practical advice for professionals who feel overwhelmed by AI How prompting and AI agents are transforming the workplace Guidance for parents preparing children for future careers Why lifelong learning and adaptability matter in an AI-driven world Whether you are just beginning your AI journey or looking to future-proof your career, this episode offers practical insights to help you navigate the changing world of work.

• 0:08Speaker 00

  Welcome to another episode of the brand called you a podcast and podcast show that brings you leadership lessons, knowledge, experience and wisdom from thousands of successful individuals from around the world. I'm your host, Ashutosh Garg. And today I'm delighted to welcome a senior and respected professional and an author from Florida, USA, Mr. George Pillari. George, welcome to the show. Nice to be here. Thank you. George is the managing partner of Running Fox Partners. He's an author of a book titled No Adult Left Behind. AI is Learning, Are You? So George, before we come to your book, a few questions for you. You've spent more than

• 0:47Speaker 00

  three decades in healthcare from entrepreneur to turnaround CEO to board advisor. Looking back, what were some of the defining moments that shaped your leadership philosophy?

• 1:00Speaker 01

  I think there were a couple of things. You know, I was a young entrepreneur, pretty much in college to right out of college, starting a company. And I didn't have great manners. You know, I was kind of working six and a half days a week, but built you built a decent little company and started hiring what I would call professionals, you know, people with 10 years or 15 years of experience that come on board. And at one of our Friday night, you know, parties, the company had two women who were, you know, I was in my twenties, they were probably 10 years older than me and had been in the workforce and worked at, you know, big companies and knew how things, you know,

• 1:43Speaker 01

  were supposed to happen, pulled me aside and said, Listen, we think you could be a great boss and a great CEO, right? We, everybody loves you, but here's some things you can't do anymore. So they said, Look, you got to grow up. All right. And you got to act like you got to act like you're in charge. And, you know, that was kind of really important to me because it hit me when I was young. The other thing is you realize as you go through, you know, different companies and you meet millions of people that people mostly behave in their own self-interest. And I think once you understand that, it makes managing and leading, you know, a lot easier.

• 2:22Speaker 00

  Very interesting. Having invited a led over 100 healthcare organizations, what patterns separate successful leaders from those who struggle?

• 2:33Speaker 01

  So I spent the first half of my career as a CEO and pretty much hated consultants, right? I didn't want people around. And then I became a consultant. And I was expecting to go into companies to learn that, well, there was this regulatory change that sunk the company, excuse me, or a competitor did something. No, not once, every single time. And remember, the kind of consulting work I did was mostly distressed companies. And the, the single theme throughout was management sticking to a bad vision and a bad plan. And nobody willing to step up

• 3:15Speaker 01

  to stop the quick example, you know, a hospital was looking for ways to generate more revenue. So we're going to start a transplant program. Transplants are very expensive, big revenue generators, you know, they're great programs, but there are already two transplant programs within 20 miles of this place, right? In a major city. So they opened a transplant center, cost a fortune. You know, I don't have to tell you what happened, right? They did like two transplants a year, there are kidney transplants, and the guys down the block are doing, you know, dozens of these a month. So it was just a bad idea. And, and boards don't stand up to management

• 3:55Speaker 01

  enough to stop them. There's really a thread that's, that's quite common. It's bad, bad plans, they stick to it, and nobody stops them.

• 4:05Speaker 00

  Very interesting. George, let's come to your book, No Adult Left Behind, AI is Learning, Are You? And I'm going to ask all my viewers and listeners to go and check out George Pillari's book. George, the title, No Adult Left Behind is very provocative. Why did you choose that title? And who exactly are you worried might be left behind?

• 4:29Speaker 01

  Well, in the United States, back around, right at the turn of the 2000s, there was a legislation put in place called No Child Left Behind. All right. So most people that are in the been in the workforce a while, everybody kind of has heard of that. And it was legislation to ensure that grade school children got proper reading and arithmetic, you know, there was a foundation for the youth of America, right? And you were, schools were awarded additional dollars for testing. So this is the same thing. Okay, there's a, there's a foundational learning that needs to happen for adults. And the hardest thing here is, most adults have reached a level

• 5:13Speaker 01

  of success in their lives where they have two cars, or they have a mansion, or whatever it is that they consider success. And they're like, do I really need to make these changes? And, you know, the answer is a resounding yes. And that's why I wrote the book, because I ran into too many people that were shrugging this off. And the next day, I would see somebody who, who, who talked to the AI as if it was a friend or colleague, say, please, and thank you, and stuff like that. I wrote, I write about that in the first chapter of the book. It was literally had a kind of a light bulb went off moment, you know, in the same week, one friend shrugged at the AI and the

• 5:54Speaker 01

  other was using it like a colleague. So I said, There's a real disparity here that has to be addressed.

• 6:00Speaker 00

  Very interesting. You compare AI adoption to early waves such as spreadsheets, email, and the internet. Why do you believe AI is fundamentally different?

• 6:15Speaker 01

  Well, first of all, it, it's more like the internet than any of the other technologies in that it's everywhere. Yeah. You could go through life and never use a spreadsheet. I don't know how, but you know, pretty much you can probably figure out how to do that, or have somebody do the spreadsheet for you. But you can't go through life without touching the internet anymore. That wasn't the case early. Yeah. Right. It was confined to a, you know, a nerdy group, probably people like you and me, you know, that, that like this stuff and want to learn about it. But AI is, is going to pervade and is pervading everything. I give some examples throughout the book of different industries, healthcare, aviation, stuff like that, where

• 6:57Speaker 01

  you don't even know it, but AI has been prevalent for a while. Yeah. But these tools, these technologies are going to just under, you know, be the, the grid work for a lot of things. Can't ignore them. You have to understand how they work.

• 7:11Speaker 00

  And if a 50 year old executive asked you, what is the biggest mistake people make about AI? What would your answer be?

• 7:21Speaker 01

  I'll give you an example. Yeah, I had a 50 year old executive, super successful, you know, and I was talking about AI and he said, Well, I used Claude for three queries, and then my allotment ran out. And then I used chat GPT for another question. Then my allotment ran out because they're using the free plans. And I, I grabbed the guy around the collar and I said, Do you want me to give you the 20 bucks a month? You don't have any idea how dumb you're being. Okay. Yeah. You, you can hold all the world's knowledge in the palm of your hand. All right? Using these tools correctly. How can you not want that? All right. So there's a little,

• 8:02Speaker 01

  there's a more than a little bit of fear and unknownness, you know, to these things. And it's like trying to get my, my mother-in-law or my mom, you know, to use new technologies. They're immediately afraid. But, you know, there's a learning curve here. And I think the 50 year old executive, they're going to get left behind. Okay, they're going to suddenly be 55 and feel proud of the workforce, because they're not going to know what the heck people are talking about anymore. Correct. Correct. I said, No Adult Left Behind, read the book, or at least embrace AI. Okay. If you're not going to book.

• 8:38Speaker 00

  Well said. George, many professionals feel quite overwhelmed, certainly the older professionals by AI. What is the simplest first step someone can take today?

• 8:50Speaker 01

  Okay, this is, this is easy and it'll be useful.

• 8:56Speaker 01

  Copy your URL for your LinkedIn profile. Or you have your resume. Load it in to one of the AIs and say, uh, here, here are my career goals. Here's what I want to do with the rest of my life. Please evaluate and provide suggestions to the attached. And it'll rewrite your LinkedIn profile. It'll edit your resume. It'll, it'll augment. Okay, that's a word you'll hear a lot when you, if you're hearing about AI. It'll augment what you have and make it better. So that anybody can do that. They can, they can, they can copy a URL and drop it in. Uh, or they can just say the little plus sign, you know, when you're using a, uh, an AI.

• 9:41Speaker 01

  Upload a file and tell it, say, hey, this is my resume. I'm looking to go out in the world and do more. I want to change careers, whatever it is, or I want to get a raise. How would you, and the more, again, the more context you give the AI, the better.

• 9:55Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 9:55Speaker 01

  Right? I'm working, I'm working in the food industry, whatever it is. And, and tell it, help me, help me personally fix this up. And you'll feel it right away. You'll see the value of AI right away.

• 10:07Speaker 00

  Hmm. What does AI fluency actually mean in practical terms? And give me an example.

• 10:15Speaker 01

  It means not being like the guy I just told you about, who is, who uses AI kind of like a search, where people type in a couple of words, right? Fluency means making that jump from using search, where you say, hey, should I buy or lease a car? Right? And then search will give you, you know, 10 different stories to go and read. Right? The jump is, I'm 33 years old. I make a hundred and twenty thousand dollars a year. Um, I have a baby on the way. You know, I, I drive 60 miles a day to work each way. Um, should I buy or lease a car? Right? When you can make that jump.

• 10:59Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 10:59Speaker 01

  Where you're willing to kind of share your information with the AI to give it context, the AI can be super powerful. So I think to me is fluency, when somebody learns to use AI, not like filling out a, a search.

• 11:12Speaker 00

  And therefore, uh, a follow-up question, you know, you said we shouldn't use AI like a search tool. One of your distinctions is between search, chatbots and agents. Why is understanding this difference so critical?

• 11:28Speaker 01

  It's, it's, it's fundamental almost to today's world.

• 11:31Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 11:32Speaker 01

  Not, not being a fanatic here, okay? Um, even an evangelist, it's just factual. Search, everybody understands at this point, right? It's been around a long time, super powerful, right? One of the greatest technologies ever. A chatbot, think of a chatbot as using a contained and confined set of facts.

• 11:53Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 11:54Speaker 01

  Right? So for example, I never, I don't even keep the user manuals for anything I buy anymore. All right? I either go to the manufacturer's website and it has it all loaded up and you just chat, right? With, with the, um, with the chat, says you want to open a chat, right? And the chat knows everything about all the company's products. Or you find the manual in PDF form, you feed it in, you upload it to the AI, and then you ask your questions. You don't flip through a manual looking for answers anymore. Chatbots are great. We've all used them. It's sort of like an automated phone attendant, right? You go back and forth, you can, you can get at things. But the chatbot doesn't do anything for you.

• 12:34Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 12:35Speaker 01

  Okay? It regurgitates information efficiently. An agent, you're, you're in a totally different world now and you've got to be careful with agents. The example I like to use is the travel trip, the trip. You're going to, you're going to take a trip next weekend. You can set up agents to find you, find me the best flights. Um, you know, where can I get the best rental car?

• 12:56Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 12:57Speaker 01

  All that kind of stuff. And then if you give it permissions, it'll book it.

• 13:00Speaker 00

  Absolutely.

• 13:02Speaker 01

  Okay? And this goes to the distinction we're all going to hear a lot about in the coming years, where you have human in the loop or human on the loop.

• 13:11Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 13:11Speaker 01

  And then there's human out of the loop. Okay? When you're out of the loop, it's fully autonomous.

• 13:18Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 13:18Speaker 01

  Okay? And you hear a lot of controversy in the military right now about whether weapons should be fully autonomous with no human in the loop, right?

• 13:26Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 13:26Speaker 01

  Human on the loop, you let the AI do stuff, but you watch it and you, and you can interrupt. So with an agent, I would start slowly, like I, I could tell you, um, there's ways to use agents to scan through your email.

• 13:39Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 13:40Speaker 01

  Start there, say, scan my emails and find, um, any discussions about the following topics, right? And you can tell the agent how you want it summarized. So it's not like just using the search bar in your email to search on a word. You can search on concepts and topics and ask it to give you a summary every morning.

• 13:59Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 13:59Speaker 01

  Easy way to start. I want to wake up.

• 14:01Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 14:02Speaker 01

  Give me a summary of, uh, of the five big news events in the world.

• 14:05Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 14:06Speaker 01

  Go out and summarize that for you. I do, I created it from my mom. My mom was lost through too many internet sites. So I created a top 10 little news email for her. She gets every morning. Um, she loves it.

• 14:18Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 14:18Speaker 01

  So start, start small, but when you start getting into letting the agent spend your money, um, that's where you got to watch and be careful. And once it's working, that's great.

• 14:29Speaker 00

  But is there a risk of giving agents too much autonomy too soon?

• 14:35Speaker 01

  Hundred percent. That's, that's the threshold we're at right now for the fluent AI user. Okay? That's kind of, right now, that's the chasm, that's the, the gulf right now that people are struggling with. And why, even myself, I'm giving you examples of pretty simple things that I'm using, you know, fully autonomous agents, human out of the loop, um, to do things. I'm going to get more advanced as I get more comfortable and I can test it on things. But, you know, nobody wants to see their bank account cleaned out or, you know, things, terrible things happen when you, when you turn something loose autonomously. So the, the message there is go slowly and it's only as good as you train it.

• 15:18Speaker 00

  Very interesting. Do you think prompting will eventually become as fundamental a workplace skill as writing email or using spreadsheets?

• 15:30Speaker 01

  I don't, I don't, I, I think within, within a few years, you're going to see people graduating and you're going to ask them what's their, what was their major? And their major is going to be prompt engineering. Okay? So prompting is probably the single most valuable skill anybody can learn right now. Cause if you learn how to prompt, how to contextualize things you, you want to learn about, that makes the AI powerful. This is why you don't have to be a science major or an engineer or a math wizard, right? To use AI, you have to be a thinker. Okay? And good thinkers know how to sit down, take a breath.

• 16:10Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 16:11Speaker 01

  And write up a, write up a two-page prompt.

• 16:14Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 16:14Speaker 01

  Write, write 500 words. Okay? It doesn't matter. Does, so get, get out of that mindset. But prompting is the single most important skill anybody can learn right now.

• 16:25Speaker 00

  Right.

• 16:26Speaker 01

  New skill. I talk about upskilling. This is a skill you need to learn.

• 16:30Speaker 00

  Well said. George, in your chapter on hiring, you argue that candidates should use AI because employers are already using AI. Has recruitment become a battle of the bots?

• 16:43Speaker 01

  Unfortunately, yes. And it's, I, I talk to so many people and it's so disheartening. And I even experiment sometimes as kind of a secret shopper, you know, where there's a job description that I, I'm like a hundred percent match on. And I'll just, I'll just put my resume in with the, with the note just to see what happens. And I get nothing back. I get nothing. Where I know if a human saw it, they would have said, oh, here's somebody who matches the qualities. All right? So I don't, I don't know how some of these things are programmed inside of these companies, what direction they're giving their agents that review resumes. That's a place where, you know, agents have kind of run amok, right? Where, you know, the screening of resumes.

• 17:27Speaker 01

  So I think the, you have to fight the bots, you have to fight fire with fire. Uh, but you also have to spend more time now developing human relationships. You need, you need more touch points in today's world. Um, and that will get you the interview.

• 17:42Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 17:43Speaker 01

  More so than trying to fight through the bots.

• 17:45Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah. What advice would you give parents who are wondering what careers will remain valuable in an AI-driven world?

• 17:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm gonna give some old fashioned advice here. I think dinner time conversation and rides in the car, you know, when you're in the car for four hours and forcing children to think out loud about things and not not become instant messengers and texting people all the time, right? Where you want to write as few words as possible, you know, many times in a text or something to get your point across, yes, no, see you later, and what all the abbreviations are. But encouraging to them to say, well, you have to answer in three sentences. You can't just say yes or no, you have to explain why you said yes to that question. We used to play trivia

• 18:39Speaker 01

  in the car, right, with all my kids and their friends and and they loved it, right? But, you know, there were, there was long discussion about the topics, you know, how did those pyramids really get built? You know, things like that. And I think if you can encourage the children to think like that and be be actually use more words than than they're used to, that's going to help them with any direction they're going to go because they're they're moving into, they're growing into a technology driven world. And that can, for lack of a better description, prompt, those that can prompt are going to do better.

• 19:12Speaker 00

  Well said. I have time for two more questions. You end your book by urging people simply to begin. If listeners remember only one message from your book, what would you want that message to be?

• 19:28Speaker 01

  It's not a fad. This isn't something that's going to fade out and just go away. Start small. All right, use the resume example. You know, I had a friend who was brilliant. He took a picture of his house and he said, I want to add a garage. You know, can you give me an image back that adds on a garage that's about this big, you know, looks like my and he got back like architectural quality drawings in two minutes. You know, start with things that are close to home. All right, look something up that you or otherwise would use a manual for, you know, or take a picture of your car underneath the hood and say, you know, where's the oil change?

• 20:12Speaker 01

  You know, things like that. Do simple things. Yeah. And that will really get you moving and you'll understand, you know, the power of all this.

• 20:20Speaker 00

  Absolutely. And my last question for you, you've spent your career helping organizations navigate disruption and change. As AI reshapes every industry, what gives you the greatest optimism about the future of human potential?

• 20:39Speaker 01

  I think we're harnessing AI, I'll use that word again, augmentation. I know in my own world, I'm 10 times more productive than I was a year ago. I mean, I can measure it in the pages of output, however you want to do it. You know, I post my blog every week at thecautionary.com and it's doing it now is so much easier than two years ago. So I think the tools are valuable, but I think we're gonna have many more leaders than we had before because, you know, information started to be democratized with search and Google and all that kind of stuff. Now it's fully available, anything you want to know, anything you want to learn. So I think we're

• 21:22Speaker 01

  gonna have more leaders and the leaders might be your kids teaching you how to do stuff. They're gonna come from different directions. So that gives me some optimism that there's going to be people who who are going to pull us along and and share, all right, and use technologies and, you know, for the better of everybody.

• 21:38Speaker 00

  Absolutely. And on that note, George, I just want to say, what a fascinating conversation this one has been with you. Thank you for talking to me about your own journey and your book, No Idea Left Behind. You know, AI is almost like an all pervading skill, all pervading technology available to each one of us and how we use it is, you know, in our own individual ways, dependent on us. But it is there to stay. It is the faster we all, certainly the older people, learn to accept that AI is a skill to be understood, not necessarily mastered, the happier

• 22:20Speaker 00

  everyone is going to be to be able to make their own lives productive. Thank you again for speaking to me and good luck to you.

• 22:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, my pleasure.

• 22:30Speaker 00

  Thank you for listening to The Brand Called You, videocast and podcast, a platform that brings you knowledge, experience and wisdom of hundreds of successful individuals from around the world. Do visit our website, www.tbcy.in, to watch and listen to the stories of many more individuals. You can also follow us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Just search for The Brand Called You.