“Great Evening as a Panelist for Felician University’s 15th Annual Business Symposium 2026 The AI Factor”
I appreciated the opportunity to be a panelist at Felician University’s 15th Annual Business Symposium 2026 on “The AI Factor”. My discussion explored how organizations are integrating the technology and potential impact for the workforce. I addressed the audience questions on entering and navigating the AI-driven economy, valuable skills and behaviors, and strategies for managing and advancing their careers in an AI-enabled world.
Thank you Michael Omansky, Assoc. Prof. of the School of Business and Information Science, for inviting me to join other panelists Fred Munao, President of Select Records and Anthony J. Scardino, Assoc. Dean of Graduate Programs, SOBIS, and moderators Selma Jasarevic, Assoc. Dir. of Admissions, and Fanny Johnson, Assist. Dir. of ABSN Enrollment.
AI Adoption: A Change Management Blueprint
The process of introducing AI at your organization conceptually mirrors your past experience implementing technology or operational change in how you do business. During COVID we integrated virtual meeting platforms into employee and client communications. Using business intelligence systems to manage customer relations and develop strategy are now everyday practices.
There’s understandable concern about how AI might affect education, career choices, and the workforce. These changes are real—some roles will evolve, and others may disappear. Two core components of successful adoption are management taking an active leadership role and employee buy-in which are reflected in the following 5 elements:
- Justify and quantify reasons for change
- Select the stakeholder team
- Create and communicate the vision & solution plan including examples of AI applications
- Evaluate resistance and support for change
- Assess talent and training needs for new skill acquisition
“8 Behaviors That Stall Organizational Growth”
You have a presence on social media. You’ve spent money on digital advertising, website design and SEO to drive web orders and sales leads. You are fully staffed. The bank has approved your much needed loan. You are an established business or a fully-funded start-up.
Yet, you’re still not where you want to be? The answer might lie in the improvement opportunities I’ve seen experienced by the solo entrepreneurs to major organizations:
- Business practice loopholes in business development and sales
- Floundering and stuck in a comfort zone of doing things
- Lack of accountability to coworkers, deadlines and outcomes
- Could be more proactive in optimizing touchpoints with the customer
- Supervisory ownership to improve performance and engage employees
- New initiatives get bogged down during execution
- Manager style and silos hinder a productive and a healthy work culture
- Hiring the right people and keeping employees
If you recognize any of these challenges and are now ready to address them, I invite you to reach out. Together we can identify root causes with customized solutions to make a difference for you.
“The “Must Do” approach: making planning a regular business practice”
Are you struggling with making planning a regular practice at your business? You are not alone. You will receive a range of reactions to the planning question. Some say they don’t have time to plan, others think plans are outdated once written, some say they don’t need to, or it’s too hard to plan as no one agrees on direction, and plans are just forgotten in the daily tasks at hand.
Is there a viable solution? I advocate for a boot-camp type planning approach: an action-oriented, simplified, and practical process – that is realistic and relatable to your agreed upon priorities. Engaging a plan that does what it is supposed to do by actually achieving objectives can reinforce its value to your team. How to conceptualize it?
- Distinguish your objectives into what you “Must do” and what you would “Like to do.
- Address the “must-do” objectives. These are the priorities and tasks that require immediate attention—often the issues that could keep you up at night
- Set a completion timeframe of six months to one year, with a maximum of two years.
- Keep “like to do” items on the radar, adjust/update priorities/timeframes as circumstances change. Assign items to a “dormant” list as appropriate.
- Anticipate the future. Two years out. Plan for industry changes and market trends
Final thoughts…keys are defining the must-do’s and staying focused…the like to do’s have their place but can distract from the core mission. Tackling your current priorities impacts the likely success of your longer term aspirations.
“The Five A Lots™”
Is your organization working to address how to effectively engage your people to both attract job candidates and retain your employees.
I recommend employing the management technique I created called the “Five A Lots™” to contribute to fostering a more collaborative and employee-engaged culture. The ability to create an organizationally engaged work environment is a highly valued management competency. Research has demonstrated that engaged employees are related to the degree of customer commitment and results.
The Five A Lots™ is communication and relationship focused approach involving transparency, accessibility and visibility to employees.