Beyond the Prompt dives deep into the world of AI and its expanding impact on business and daily work. Hosted by Jeremy Utley of Stanford's d.school, alongside Henrik Werdelin, an entrepreneur known for starting BarkBox, prehype and other startups, each episode features conversations with innovators and leaders to uncover pragmatic stories of how organizations leverage AI to accelerate success. Learn creative strategies and actionable tactics you can apply right away as AI capabilities advance exponentially.
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Henrik will be interviewing Jeremy about his new book, The Human Advantage: What AI Can't Do Without You, followed by a 45-minute AMA. Got questions about AI, entrepreneurship, writing, or anything we've talked about on the pod? Come join us!
Here's how to join: Pre-order Jeremy's book and send your receipt to preorders@jeremyutley.com to get your Zoom access code.
What Happens When the Jobs Stay but the Work Changes? Refounding Zapier with CEO Wade Foster
Episode 83
Wednesday, October 28, 2026 • Duration 54:40
After 15 years of building Zapier, Wade Foster is inviting his team to rethink almost everything. What started as a “code red” response to AI has become an opportunity to rediscover what the company could be. Wade describes the feeling as “10 out of 10 anxiety, but 10 out of 10 fun.” The challenge is getting an entire organization to see the possibilities, especially when change can feel threatening.
Wade shares what this looks like inside Zapier, including an experiment to let AI agents handle customer support emails. It turns out that handing work over to AI is much harder than simply adding an assistant to an existing process. The team has spent months figuring out how to make it work, with humans still playing an important role.
Henrik, Jeremy, and Wade also explore what it takes to thrive when the old rules no longer apply. They discuss curiosity, resourcefulness, and the instinct to act instead of waiting for instructions. And while Wade is giving his team permission to question everything, the conversation raises a harder question: how do you get people to challenge the way things have always been done when that's exactly what they've been taught to follow?
Key Takeaways
The work is changing, even when the jobs aren't disappearing. Henrik and Jeremy reflect on Wade's point that AI doesn't necessarily make a role obsolete, but it can fundamentally change what people do in that role.
Resourcefulness is becoming a superpower. Henrik and Jeremy discuss why curiosity, adaptability, and the willingness to act without all the answers are increasingly valuable. Sometimes the most important step is realizing you can just build something.
Question everything, but bring a better idea. Henrik points out that challenging the way things have always been done is only useful if you're willing to suggest or try something different.
You can't refound a company by announcement alone. Jeremy wonders how leaders can make questioning old assumptions part of everyday work. He and Henrik explore why established habits, defaults, and organizational structures can be harder to change than the rules themselves.
Do You Know Yourself Well Enough to Let AI Make Decisions for You? - with Nicholas Skytland Former NASA chief technologist
Episode 82
Wednesday, October 14, 2026 • Duration 01:07:49
Nicholas Skytland spent 25 years at NASA, where he helped bring people from around the world together through hackathons. He joins Henrik and Jeremy to share what makes hackathons work, why different perspectives matter, and how to help people through the moment they want to give up.
Nick is now bringing that approach to kids. When his wife wanted to run an AI hackathon at her school, restrictions on AI tools led Nick and his team to build Launch.Kids. At one event, 36 teams created 500 applications in a single day.
Try Launch.Kids: If you're a student, parent, or teacher interested in learning how to build with AI, we'd love for you to try out Launch.Kids, mentioned on the show. The first 100 listeners can sign up at https://launch.kids/welcome/beyondtheprompt for a free month of credit.
The conversation then turns to a bigger question: how well do we really know our own values? Nick, Henrik and Jeremy explore how to communicate what matters to us when working with AI, and why we shouldn't hand over our judgment just because technology makes it easy.
Key Takeaways
Hackathons are an underused tool Henrik and Jeremy reflect on how hackathons bring different people together, encourage experimentation, and create value even when they don't lead to a finished product.
Expect the moment of despair Getting stuck is part of building something new. Nick explains why good hackathons need mentors, encouragement, and a bit of fun to help people push through it.
The better you know yourself, the better you can use AI Henrik and Jeremy discuss why understanding your own values, preferences, and ways of thinking helps you give AI better direction and recognize when its answers don't fit.
Don't let AI do all the thinking for you AI can make decisions easier, but that doesn't mean we should stop questioning its answers. Henrik and Jeremy reflect on the importance of bringing our own judgment to the conversation, especially when we're dealing with something we don't know much about.
What Will You Do With the Time AI Gives Back to You? - with Alex Kuilman, Founder of The Practice
Episode 81
Wednesday, September 30, 2026 • Duration 01:04:20
Alexander Kuilman works with CEOs and executive teams to bring more humanity into how they lead. He joins Henrik and Jeremy to explore why, if leaders know AI matters, getting people to actually use it can still be so difficult.
Using Bob Kegan and Lisa Lahey’s Immunity to Change framework, Alex argues that “I don’t have time” can mask deeper fears about competence, relevance, and what happens when AI can do work you previously thought made you valuable. They also explore why psychological safety matters if people are going to admit what they don’t know and actually experiment.
The conversation ends with the “AI vampire” and Alex’s idea of “corporate numbing”: AI makes us more productive, but instead of taking the time back, we often fill it with more work. Which leaves a bigger question: when AI gives us time back, what do we actually want to do with it?
Key Takeaways:
AI resistance may be about fear, not time “I don’t have time” can mask deeper fears about competence, relevance, and what happens when AI can do work you thought made you valuable.
People need to feel safe enough to experiment Psychological safety gives people room to admit what they don’t know, try something new, and risk looking incompetent.
How leaders make people feel matters Henrik and Jeremy realize that some of the AI leaders they admire don’t just have good tactics. They make people around them feel safe enough to try.
Don’t let AI give you more work The “AI vampire” turns productivity gains into more work. Alex’s idea of “corporate numbing” asks whether staying busy is sometimes easier than deciding what we actually want to do with the time AI gives back. Alex Kuilman (transcript - fina…
How Do You Run a Company When You Can’t See Six Months Ahead? - with Axios CEO Jim VandeHei
Episode 80
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 • Duration 01:02:24
Jim VandeHei joins Henrik and Jeremy around the launch of his new book, Simplify: Do 50% More With 50% Less, co-authored with Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz. In the conversation, Jim shares how he’s leading Axios through AI, from turning himself into an “AI lab rat” to rethinking how the company works.
At Axios, Jim gave everyone access to ChatGPT, brought in training, and invited employees who took naturally to the technology to help others across the company. He also shares how AI fellows working directly with him prototype new ideas, why companies should delete unnecessary work before automating it, and how Axios is preparing for a world where more information moves from the open web into social platforms and personalized LLMs.
The conversation ends with a bigger question: what story are we telling people about an AI-enabled future? Jim worries that the negative case for AI is vivid and easy to understand, while the positive case often amounts to curing cancer or eliminating work. He makes the case for something more tangible: using AI to make people’s work and lives better while preserving human connection and the feeling that what people do still matters.
Leaders need to become AI lab rats Leaders need firsthand experience with AI to understand what it can do and give others permission to experiment.
Give the CEO an AI “SEAL team” Jim’s AI fellows help him prototype ideas quickly, stay current, and experiment outside the normal company processes.
From Knowledge Worker to Intelligence Worker: Why Human Judgment Matters More With AI - with OpenAI’s Brice Challamel
Episode 79
Wednesday, September 2, 2026 • Duration 01:13:00
After helping lead AI adoption at Moderna, Brice Chalamel has a new goal at OpenAI: help create 1,000 AI adoption success stories across large organizations.
Brice takes Henrik and Jeremy inside how work happens at OpenAI, where Slack has largely replaced internal email, agents help process information and draft responses, and some workflows are already moving agent to agent. But as AI takes on more responsibility, Brice argues that trust can’t be mandated. It has to be earned.
The conversation goes beyond tools into what it actually takes to lead people through change. Brice explains why, in a ten-step journey, nine steps may only be halfway, why our existing mental models shape how we respond to AI, and why leaders need to listen before trying to change someone’s mind.
They also explore Brice’s idea that AI could move us from “knowledge workers” to “intelligence workers,” a personal story about his mother using ChatGPT while caring for his father with Alzheimer’s, and why the benefits of AI need to extend beyond the people already living in abundance.
Key Takeaways
Trust in AI has to be earned
As agents take on more responsibility, people need experience with them before they’re willing to hand over judgment and communication.
AI adoption is a mind game and a heart game
Successful change depends not just on what people know about AI, but on what they believe, fear, and care about.
Nine steps can be only halfway there
The final stage of transformation is often where the hardest work begins and assumptions need to be questioned.
We’re moving from knowledge workers to intelligence workers
As AI handles more information processing, human value shifts toward judgment, perspective, influence, and decision-making.
Listen before you think
Changing minds starts with understanding the experiences and mental models behind someone’s point of view, not simply making a better argument.
Brice's LinkedIn:
Website:
What Happens When AI Adoption Actually Works? - with Eric Porres, Chief AI Officer of Logitech
Episode 78
Wednesday, August 19, 2026 • Duration 01:05:14
A year ago, Logitech had people experimenting with AI. Today, Eric says he can’t think of a single part of the company that isn’t building, exploring, or creating something with it.
Eric shares what helped make that happen. There’s a Build Advisor that helps employees figure out what to build and connects them with people who may have already worked on something similar. AI in Action moments are now part of company and leadership meetings. And before leadership presents to the board, there’s an expectation that their work goes through an AI Board Advisor first.
Henrik, Jeremy, and Eric also get into what comes next: how to measure whether all this AI activity actually creates value, why Eric built AI systems to manage his own information overload and sleep, and why creating something new should come with another question: what old report, process, or way of working can now disappear?
Key Takeaways
Embed AI into how work gets done
AI becomes more valuable when it’s built into existing workflows and expectations, rather than simply made available for people to use.
Make AI adoption visible and repeatable
Logitech keeps AI present through AI in Action moments, leadership routines, office hours, shared Gems, and a 175-person volunteer Champions Network.
Build resources that help people help themselves
Tools like the Build Advisor give employees a place to start, surface work that already exists, and connect them with colleagues who have tackled similar problems.
Ask what you can stop doing
Eric argues that every new AI-enabled artifact should come with another question: what old report, process, or way of working can now disappear?
Why Companies That Are Great at Innovation Still Fail - with Stanford Professor Charles O'Reilly
Episode 77
Wednesday, August 5, 2026 • Duration 43:30
Most companies know how to innovate. Far fewer know how to scale innovation.
Charles introduces the explore versus exploit framework, explaining why the same systems that help organizations succeed today can make them resistant to change tomorrow. As companies mature, they become better at serving existing customers, improving existing products, and optimizing existing processes. The harder question is how to create space for experimentation without undermining the business that already exists.
Henrik, Jeremy, and Charles explore what this means in the age of AI. They discuss whether AI should be viewed as a substitute or a complement, why Microsoft's transformation under Satya Nadella succeeded, how Amazon has built exploration into its operating system, and why leaders don't create adaptable organizations through vision alone. They do it by shaping culture through incentives, systems, and the behaviors they reward.
Key Takeaways:
The biggest challenge isn't generating ideas. It's scaling them.
Many organizations are good at innovation. The difficult part is giving promising ideas the support they need to grow.
Great companies become trapped by what made them successful.
The metrics, incentives, and culture that optimize today's business can make it harder to adapt to tomorrow's.
Culture is built through systems.
Leadership principles only matter when they're reflected in hiring, incentives, performance reviews, and everyday behavior.
The goal isn't to predict the future. It's to discover it.
The most adaptable organizations build processes that help them experiment, learn, and uncover new opportunities as the world changes.
00:00 Intro: Why Companies Die Fast 00:36 Meet Charles O'Reilly Explore Versus Exploit AI Substitute Or Complement Adaptability As Culture Resistance To Change Microsoft Culture Turnaround Ambidexterity And Lifespans Ideate Incubate Scale Scaling Needs Separation Amazon PRFAQ Machine Rituals And Failure Signals The Debrief
What You Can Learn From Asking AI for Brutal Honesty About Yourself - with Bestselling Author Daniel Pink
Episode 76
Wednesday, July 22, 2026 • Duration 50:50
The conversation begins with an experiment that caught Jeremy's attention. Dan asked ChatGPT to tell him what his friends wouldn't. From questions about his blind spots to what people might say behind his back, some responses felt completely wrong, while others landed with surprising force. Rather than accepting every answer, Dan explains why the real value comes from wrestling with AI's perspective, not simply believing it.
From there, Henrik, Jeremy, and Dan explore what it takes to use AI well. They discuss intellectual humility, prompting models to challenge rather than flatter us, and why AI works best as a sparring partner that exposes weaknesses in our thinking. The conversation also touches on taste, agency, and why, in a world where execution is becoming easier, discernment and original thinking become even more valuable.
Key Takeaways:
Use AI to make your thinking visible
The best AI conversations don't just generate answers. They help you understand your own assumptions, reactions, and ideas more clearly.
Treat AI as a sparring partner
Challenge AI's responses, ask it to critique your work, and use it to strengthen your thinking rather than replace it.
Taste is developed by creating
As AI makes execution easier, judgment and discernment become more valuable. The best way to develop both is by creating, not just consuming.
Agency depends on context
People don't become more agentic through willpower alone. The right environment, with autonomy and room to take risks, makes initiative possible.
00:00 AI as a Brutally Honest Advisor Meet Daniel Pink AI for Self-Knowledge A Brutally Honest AI What Do People Say Behind Your Back? Should You Trust AI's Advice? The Fear of Irrelevance Intellectual Humility AI as a Sparring Partner Teaching AI to Think Like You Why Taste Matters Agency Starts with Context A Future That's a Little Better Nostalgia vs. Reality The Debrief
📜 Read the transcript for this episode:
Are You Qualified to Challenge Your Team on AI? - with Geoff Woods, Author of The AI-Driven Leader
Episode 75
Wednesday, July 8, 2026 • Duration 53:03
Geoff Woods returns to Beyond the Prompt to discuss the updated edition of The AI-Driven Leader and what has changed over the past 18 months. Rather than focusing on the latest AI models, Geoff argues that leaders need to use AI themselves before asking others to, using it to think more clearly, shape strategy, and make better decisions.
The conversation explores why many organizations confuse access with adoption, why strategy should come before use cases, and how AI can change the way leaders approach everything from business strategy to organizational design. Along the way, Henrik and Jeremy challenge Geoff's ideas on authorship, judgment, and whether understanding AI changes what leaders believe is possible.
Key Takeaways:
Leaders need to use AI themselves
Using AI personally is what qualifies leaders to shape strategy and lead others from practice rather than theory.
Use AI to improve your thinking
The biggest opportunity isn't automating work. It's using AI to think better, solve better problems, and imagine new possibilities.
Start with problems, not use cases
Begin with the biggest challenges facing the business, then use AI to rethink how to solve them.
AI still needs human judgment
AI can generate ideas, but people are still responsible for reviewing the output and standing behind it.
Focus AI on your highest-value work
Use AI to amplify the small set of activities where your human strengths create the greatest impact.
00:00 Are You Qualified to Lead on AI? 00:35 Meet Geoff Woods 00:54 The AI Slop Dilemma 05:48 Putting Your Stamp of Approval What Changed in 18 Months Access Isn't Adoption Why Leaders Can't Delegate AI Strategy Before Use Cases BarkBox's AI Strategy Reinventing Strategy with AI Compressing Months into Hours Human Skills as Superpowers The Debrief
00:00 Intro: The Work Is Changing 00:48 Meet Wade Foster 04:49 Is Your Strategy Too Small for AI? 06:14 From Code Red to Refounding Zapier 07:31 10/10 Anxiety, 10/10 Fun 08:50 How Much Has AI Actually Changed? 10:41 Getting People Excited About AI 13:56 Why Jobs Are Changing 15:34 Rethinking How Work Gets Done 16:39 Inside Zapier's AI Support Experiment 20:14 When Existing Workflows Break 21:45 Identity, Curiosity, and Adaptability 25:36 The Instinct to Act Without All the Answers 29:39 Stop Waiting for an Assignment 33:28 You Can Just Build Something 34:43 What Does Refounding Actually Mean? 36:40 Giving People Direction Without All the Rules 38:36 The Future of Automation at Zapier 39:18 Wade's Advice for Refounding a Company 41:45 What Would a New CEO Do? 43:23 The Debrief
00:00 Intro: Don't Outsource Your Judgment to AI 00:20 Meet Nicholas Skytland 00:46 How NASA Opened Up Innovation 03:45 Measuring the ROI of Hackathons 05:04 Getting Past the Barriers to Open Innovation 07:51 Bringing Hackathons to Kids 09:19 Building Launch.Kids 14:44 Why “Just Play With AI” Isn't Enough 18:19 The Moment of Despair 21:36 How to Run a Hackathon 23:39 The Process, Not the Product 25:56 Inside Anthropic's Gathering of Faith Leaders 31:33 Be an Active Shaper of AI 34:36 Can AI learn good judgement? 39:00 Who Gets to Decide What's Good? 42:40 Communicating Your Values to AI 44:25 Don't Outsource Your Judgment 46:42 Henrik's Personal AI Playbook 51:10 The Debrief
00:00 Intro: The Problem of Corporate Numbing 00:23 Meet Alexander Kuilman 04:45 Why Aren’t People Using AI More? 06:49 The Hidden Assumptions Blocking Change 08:08 Jeremy’s Travel Problem 14:12 What Are People Really Afraid of With AI? 16:02 Stop Making Time to Experiment 22:25 Psychological Safety and AI Adoption 32:56 How to Hold Yourself 38:57 The Leaders Who Make People Feel Safe 40:33 What If AI Helps Us Think Less? 44:13 The AI Vampire 46:10 Corporate Numbing 54:08 Your Humanity Is the Advantage 58:05 The Debrief
Delete before you automate Before using AI to make existing work faster, ask which meetings, processes, and activities shouldn’t exist at all.
AI needs a better story about what goes right The negative future of AI is easy to picture. Jim argues we need a more tangible vision of how AI can improve people’s lives without losing purpose and human connection.
00:00 Intro: Predictions for the future 00:46 Meet Jim VandeHei 01:06 Becoming an AI Lab Rat 04:21 How Axios Got Everyone Using AI 05:46 Who Gets the Most Out of AI? 08:27 The AI Understanding Gap 11:04 How Jim Keeps Up With AI 14:20 Building Axios for an AI Future 20:47 The CEO’s AI “SEAL Team” 23:52 Writing for Humans and LLMs 26:49 Delete Before You Automate 30:46 The Monthly Mentality 35:58 AI-Assisted Writing and Authenticity 41:47 The Coming Political Backlash 47:42 A Better Story for AI 55:25 The Debrief
00:00 Intro: From Knowledge Worker to Intelligence Worker 00:30 Meet Brice Chalamel 01:18 From Moderna to OpenAI 04:50 The Mission: 1,000 AI Success Stories 07:45 How Work Happens at OpenAI 08:59 When Agents Talk to Agents 10:56 Trust Has to Be Earned 15:22 Brice’s Principles for Change 16:45 Nine Steps Is Halfway There 25:21 The Mind Game 30:24 Why Leaders Resist AI 35:28 The Human Side of AI 37:37 When ChatGPT Became a Lifeline 41:56 From Knowledge Worker to Intelligence Worker 43:37 Agency in the AI Era 46:31 Who Gets to Benefit From AI? 51:39 What Our Fear of AI Reveals 56:18 Listen Before You Think 01:03:07 The Debrief
00:00 Embedding AI Into the Workflow 00:52 Meet Eric Porres 01:15 The Cambrian Explosion of AI 06:20 Measuring the Value of AI 11:16 The Build Advisor 16:12 Keeping Up With AI 19:43 Making AI Part of the Culture 21:37 The AI Board Advisor 25:51 Building an AI Champions Network 29:15 Eric’s Personal AI Stack 32:17 The AI Vampire Problem 40:59 Building a Deep Memory 46:49 What Can AI Help You Delete? 55:19 The Debrief
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