Reader ,

This month we're talking about the implication of AI for business and ministry leaders. This article is for you if:

• You’ve tried AI for content. The results were generic, off-voice, maybe even made up facts that never happened.
• You’ve written it off. “AI doesn’t get me” or “It’s not ready yet.”
• You’ve wondered if you’re missing something — but you’re not sure what.

What if you’re not missing something about AI? What if you’re missing something about yourself?

I was in all three places. Until a photographer who’d shot Prince Charles showed me what I was doing wrong.

The Forum Post That Humbled Me

I thought I was ahead of the game.

I’d been using a tool called Castmagic to process my coaching sessions. Import a Zoom recording, generate a transcript, run prompts against it, produce session notes. It worked for me. I felt good about it.

So when someone in a private CoachAccountable forum asked how people were using AI, I shared my workflow. Would others find it as useful as I did? Would they have questions? I expected validation; instead, I got Louise.

​Louise Beattie spent 15 years at sea in the oil industry coordinating multi-million dollar subsea construction projects.

Then she reinvented herself as a photographer: commissioned to photograph Prince Charles, shot world championship motorcycle racer Scott Redding twice, and presented business masterclasses at Europe’s largest photography convention, the SWPP. Now she helps solopreneurs build independent incomes through her company Forge & Flourish, having served over 3,200 clients.

Her response to my forum post was generous. She validated Castmagic. She shared her own experience with it. And then she opened a door I didn’t know existed:

“Recently I have been through a program with Max Bernstein called Signal > Noise. It was the first iteration, and he changed it from a cohort to 1-1 to ensure that we received the most from it and to improve it. He has massively over delivered… The objective is to be able to deeply analyse your transcripts and other sources to extract your IP, repeating patterns and much more so that you can systemise your IP. Essentially it helps you extract the knowledge in your head that you use instinctively and turn it into systems… The patterns I am now seeing across multiple clients and calls, not just in the challenges my clients face, but how I respond and help them has been astounding.”

She wasn’t criticizing what I was doing. She was showing me there was another level.

What would I have missed if I’d scrolled past her response? What doors stay closed because we think we’re already far enough along? How many times have you dismissed someone’s suggestion because you thought you already knew enough?

I emailed her immediately and asked for a meeting.

The One-Week Wake-Up Call

What makes this story uncomfortable to tell?

I’d just spent six months building a content bank. Handwritten articles. Carefully crafted. Enough to post consistently for months. We’d been publishing for exactly one week when I saw Louise’s forum response.

One week.

I met with Louise and watched her use AI to generate newsletter and blog content. The speed was different. The depth was different. The integration with her actual expertise was different.

I could have felt like I’d wasted those six months. Did I? No.

I discovered: I’d concluded “I’m already a content creator” a year earlier, after decades of composing weekly sermons. I wasn’t starting from zero. Those six months weren’t wasted time; they were foundation-building time.

AI wasn’t going to replace that; it was going to accelerate what I’d already developed. But only if I learned how to use it properly. Was I willing to be a beginner again?

Continue reading this article here​