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AI Adoption with Maryrose Lyons explores what it really takes for SMBs and midmarket teams to learn, adopt, and apply AI in a way that improves daily work. Maryrose Lyons, founder of the AI Institute, joins Mike Montague to talk about why AI training needs to stay live, current, practical, and human-led as tools change faster than traditional courses can keep up. The conversation covers AI certificates, team confidence, prompt quality, Claude Code, Microsoft Copilot, custom GPTs, agents, and the shift from experimenting with AI to building real capability inside the business. 

For business owners and marketing directors, the big takeaway is clear: AI adoption works best when leaders start with real use cases, give teams permission to learn, and focus on better outcomes instead of shiny tools. Maryrose shares how companies can move from fear and confusion to practical fluency by training people around the work they already do. This episode is a useful listen for leaders who want their teams to save time, improve productivity, and use AI with more confidence, context, and human judgment.

Takeaways:

• AI training needs to stay current and human-led. Maryrose shared that the AI Institute delivers live training because the tools change too quickly for static, pre-recorded courses to stay useful.
• Teach people through real use cases. Instead of walking teams through generic tool features, she recommends showing employees how AI applies to the actual tasks they already do every week.
• Different learners need different kinds of support. Maryrose described corporate learners as dreamers, believers, soldiers, and cynics, which means leaders should expect different levels of enthusiasm, fear, and skepticism during adoption.
• Cynics can become strong adopters when they see AI solve their own work problems. When skeptical employees use AI to complete a familiar four-to-six-hour task in 15 to 20 minutes, their mindset often shifts quickly.
• Deep training creates a long-term advantage. Companies that invested in serious AI training early have already moved ahead by hiring AI program leads, heads of AI, and internal teams to support adoption and governance.
• Use case workshops turn excitement into a roadmap. Maryrose explained that after training, teams need help sorting their ideas into what they can do themselves, what needs support, and what deserves to become a built-out AI agent.
• AI adoption now needs governance. As employees begin building agents across the business, leaders need to think through ownership, oversight, quality, and what happens when the person who built an agent leaves.
• The future worker becomes the “CEO of your own role.” Maryrose said employees will increasingly manage agents, tools, and workflows around their responsibilities instead of simply completing every task manually.
• Better prompts start with better thinking. She recommends pausing before opening PowerPoint or starting the task, gathering the right information, and using that context to produce a stronger AI-assisted result.
• The real win is better work, not just saved time. Maryrose emphasized that AI should help teams produce higher-quality work and feel more capable in their jobs, which is the adoption sweet spot for business leaders.

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