Top Tips Archives - Don't Stop Us Now

AI Agent Landscape Decoded – Claire & Greta

April 7, 2026April 7, 2026
by Claire

Are you hearing about AI agents everywhere right now? Whether it’s their presence in the software you use daily, special purpose or task “agents”, or customer service “agents”, it’s safe to say they are the topic ‘du jour’.

In this week’s episode, we segment this confusing landscape and cut through the hype to help you make more sense of it all.

After weeks of interviewing guests across different corners of the agentic AI world, we realised the market has become genuinely bewildering, even for us! Vendors are slapping the word “agent” on almost anything, and it’s getting harder to tell what’s substantive and what’s marketing.

Listen in to hear about the simple framework we’ve developed to bring clarity to the whole ecosystem. It maps out the key choices facing any business considering agents, the questions you should be asking, and where the real risks are quietly hiding.

Regardless of whether your organisation is ready to start experimenting with agents or not, this episode will help you take the first steps when you are ready. As they say, when you can see something clearly, your decisions become easier.

In this episode you’ll learn:

The four very different ways to bring agents into your organisation — and why the question isn’t “which is best?”
Why some of the SaaS tools you already pay for might quietly be putting you in a “hostage situation”
What a team of Harvard, MIT and Stanford researchers just uncovered about one of the most hyped agent platforms on the market
The layer of the agent ecosystem where the real cyber security risks live
Four sharp questions to ask any vendor before letting their agent anywhere near your data and systems

Enjoy this practical and jargon-light guide to a topic that isn’t going away anytime soon.

Useful Links

McKinsey / Quantum Black report: Seizing the agentic AI advantage
Capgemini report – ‘Rise of Agentic AI’
MIT Sloan & BCG Report – Leading in the age of AI Agents (useful for Governance and structuring once you’ve made agentic decisions)

Top Tips

NAIL your 2026 Planning

January 13, 2026January 13, 2026
by Claire

Happy New Year to you dear listener!

Have you ever felt that familiar January anxiety either because you’re feeling guilty that you don’t have a perfect set of goals for the new year or because you’re second-guessing if your goals are ambitious enough, structured enough, or even the right ones? If that’s you then this episode is for you. (Happens to us every year!)

They say it takes one to know one 😂so as 2026 began, we both wanted to help ourselves (and hopefully help you too) get the year off to a great start.

We got busy on our laptops and in this episode, we share our personal experiments where we used AI to reflect on 2025, as well as help us set meaningful goals for the year ahead.

We road-tested ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.

The results were super interesting . . . and helpful. One model delivered a remarkably accurate summary of Greta’s entire year (likely because she’d used it most consistently), while another coached Claire through building a custom Project that will track her goals throughout 2026.

In this episode we discuss:

The tension between letting AI lead your thinking versus using it as a thought partner
How to set up an AI project (or GPT, Gem etc.) that coaches you through goal-setting
How you can quickly create vision boards and mind maps, and . . .
How AI may just change how you frame and think about your entire year.

Whether you’re a seasoned AI user or just getting started, listen now for practical approaches you can try out right away.

Wishing you an intentional, productive and fulfilling 2026!

Useful Links

Claude – Anthropic’s AI assistant

ChatGPT – OpenAI’s AI assistant (try “show me my year” for your personalised review)

Google Gemini – Google’s AI assistant (find Nano Banana here by looking in the prompt window on the bottom left and clicking on ‘tools’ then choose ‘create images’.“)

Notebook LM – Google’s interesting AI tool that will allow you to create a Mindmap, an audio episode, presentations, flashcards, and many other forms of content from uploaded files. Definitely worth a play.

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Amplify Your Leadership with AI – Claire and Greta

December 3, 2025December 3, 2025
by Claire

Recently we spoke with a group of CEOs who said they felt confident leading their organisation’s AI investments. Yet when we asked how often they actually used AI, only one third of the group used it daily.

This disconnect is everywhere. Around boardroom tables and in senior leadership meetings, executives aren’t using AI consistently. The latest data backs this up: most people still aren’t using AI daily and that’s a problem given how fast AI is changing and improving.

If you’re not using AI regularly; learning from it and about it as you go; how can you effectively contribute to, or lead, your organisation’s AI strategy?

So in this episode, we get super practical to help leaders become power users. We share five specific ways we use AI to amplify our own leadership work and impact, including practical tips on how exactly you do this. Our use cases range from handling difficult conversations to tackling the strategic challenges that keep us awake at night.

We also reveal which AI model significantly outperformed the others for a particularly valuable leadership task and why one very specific technique of using AI as a thought partner has become indispensable in our own work.

Enjoy this super practical episode with ideas we know you’ll want to start using immediately.

Top Tips

Levelling Up Your AI Skills – Claire and Greta

October 28, 2025October 28, 2025
by Claire

Ever wondered if you’re missing out on some easy AI hacks?

We were both surprised recently to read the results of some research we’d conducted with senior executives about their AI usage to see that most people are barely scratching the surface of what these tools can do. That’s prompted us to create this episode bringing you a practical guide to the techniques that actually make a big difference.

We’re sharing the most powerful techniques and hacks we’ve discovered after constant AI use and refinement. These aren’t theoretical concepts or beginner basics, they’re the strategies and simple steps that can transform how effectively you work with tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Co Pilot.

In this episode, we reveal four separate and easy approaches that will upgrade your AI outputs immediately. Don’t worry, you won’t need to spend hours learning or implementing any of these hacks.

For example, you’ll discover how to get AI to do the heavy lifting on prompts themselves (yes, really), and learn a great way to tackle repetitive tasks with ease, avoiding re-inventing the wheel time and time again.

Some of the techniques you’ll hear about include:

The metaprompting technique that can save hours of prompt refinement
How Projects, Gems, GPTs and Custom Co Pilots may turbo-charge your productivity
A step by step explanation of how you can set up these tools, and
Exactly how AI was used to help generate some of the copy you’re reading now.

Whether you’re already comfortable with AI or still finding your feet, we’re confident that at least one of these techniques will help you level up your own AI skills and outcomes.

Listen now for practical and real examples of how these techniques work in action to help you work smarter with AI.

Top Tips

How Others Are Using AI – Claire and Greta

April 24, 2025April 24, 2025
by Claire

Our episode this week tackles that quiet question many of us ponder: are others using AI more effectively than we are?

We explore some fascinating new research just published by Harvard Business Review that reveals the top 100 AI use cases based on actual user reports. It shows some dramatic changes in how people are using AI compared with just one year ago. We know it will give you new insights on how you could be using AI right now too.

What’s particularly interesting is that the top five use cases have been completely reshuffled. Entirely new entrants making their debut straight into the top five spots. From deeply personal uses to professional applications, we were surprised by the findings.

The research has a unique approach which we explore in this episode as well as:

Explore the top 5 use case types and share prompts and experiences
Share personal examples of how others are using AI to save hours organising their lives
Discuss why certain uses have skyrocketed in popularity, and
Examine a thought-provoking observation about why AI is unfolding completely differently to any other tech.

If you’ve been fretting that your workplace is falling behind in the AI race we share exactly why this might be. And if you have been wondering how your use of AI compares to other peoples’, then this episode may answer that question too.

If you’re looking for inspiration on how to use AI then stay tuned for a wealth of practical ideas. Enjoy this episode.

Useful Links

Full list of HBR’s Top 100 AI use cases below:

Harvard Business Review article on Top 100 AI use cases

Andrej Karpathy’s blog post on consumers as AI power users

Subscribe to Don’t Stop Us Now – AI Edition wherever you get your podcasts to stay in the loop on what you need to know to remain relevant in this fast-changing world.

Image: Created by ChatGPT

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Wondering What Next? Greta’s Unique Listening Tour

May 22, 2024May 22, 2024
by Claire

Our episode this week looks at an under-appreciated concept for reflecting on, and gaining new insights for your next career step or business idea.

We go on a journey with Claire to learn about a ‘World Listening Tour’ that Greta did some years back. She had decided to leave her intense role at (RED) and wasn’t sure what she wanted to do next, nor even which country she should live in!

This dilemma about what next prompted Greta to put together her very own listening tour to learn what had been happening in the world outside the bubble of her all-absorbing (RED) role, as well as discover what other interesting things were happening in the space she was interested in. At the same time, she figured, she’d also get a ‘feel’ for whether she’d want to live in particular cities or not.

In this unique episode we share:

What a Listening Tour is
What Greta wanted from her ‘World Listening Tour’
How she secured her meetings, sometimes with amazing people
What you need to consider to have your own successful listening tour, and
How you can have one these days without leaving home.

What we love about the concept of a Listening Tour is that there’s no limit to the kind of topics or themes you might want to explore. And, as you’ll discover, through curious and well prepared conversations with contacts and strangers, a lot of insight can come.

Perhaps a Listening Tour is exactly what you need now?

Enjoy this episode!

Top Tips

Burning Out? Top Tips from Claire’s Health ‘Intervention’

October 8, 2023
by Claire

Burning Out? Top Tips from Claire’s Health ‘Intervention’

Feeling burnt out? Wondering how you’ll get to the end of the year? Well that’s exactly how Claire was feeling a few weeks ago. . . until she decided an intervention was needed.

A gruelling work schedule for ten months plus a second bout of Covid earlier this year left Claire wondering if she’d ever feel 100% again. So, realising she had a short window of time, she did what any self-respecting woman lucky enough to be in a position to do: she booked herself into a health retreat!

The good news is that you don’t have to go anywhere to learn what Claire learnt during her retreat because we’re sharing all the goodies here.

In this episode you’ll hear:

What made Claire choose the retreat she did
The massive insight she had about her behaviours in the past two years
How she survived without her mobile or wifi
Fun facts about the gut, and
Her key takeaway habits and rituals – that you can easily do too.

Plus you’ll hear why you should think of your body (not your bank balance) as your retirement fund.

Suffice to say we had a lot of fun talking about Claire’s week away and we think you’ll have fun listening too. Plus, your body may well thank you for it….

Useful Links:

Eden Health Retreat

Elise de Giovanni – Functional Neurology Tops – her website has lots of great tips and videos

Top Tips

5 years in – Here’s what we’ve Learnt

June 6, 2023June 6, 2023
by Claire

Blow out the candles and sing a merry tune for Don’t Stop Us Now! is 5 years old!

A lot has happened in the past 5 years and we’re so grateful to have had some incredible conversations with incredibly inspiring women.

So in this special birthday episode, we take a step back and reflect on the key insights and lessons our guests have shared over more than 165 episodes. What we find is that there are common themes that keep cropping up again and again.

Whether it’s a female leader and innovator in London, Bangkok, Silicon Valley or Costa Rica or Sydney, it turns out there are universal challenges our amazing guests have faced. We’ve also faced them and we’re pretty sure these are challenges that you’ve likely had, or may be facing too, they’re that universal.

It’s not that our stellar guests are in a different league to the rest of us, it’s simply that they’ve found a way to work through these challenges en route to their success.

And you can too.

In this episode you’ll hear:

The 5 key challenges that crop up again and again
The lessons to navigate these challenges more successfully
Thoughts, confessions and struggles from leaders including internationally renowned author and speaker, Rachel Botsman; former entrepreneur and current member of the House of Lords and board director of Chanel, Martha Lane Fox and Forbes Philanthropy Hero, Audette Exel; and…
How we all have fear and if we’re not feeling a bit of it right now, then we’re playing too safe.

In short, this episode is jam-packed with 5 years worth of wisdom.

So grab a slice of (birthday) cake and enjoy our special 5th birthday episode.

Episodes we feature:

Rachel Botsman – https://dontstopusnow.co/ever-wanted-to-do-a-ted-talk/

Audette Exel – https://dontstopusnow.co/audette-exel-make-your-own-rules/

Courtney Hohne – https://dontstopusnow.co/courtney-hohne-the-truth-about-innovation/

Lindley Edwards – https://dontstopusnow.co/lindley-edwards-wisdom-to-live-work-by/

Caroline Issa – https://dontstopusnow.co/caroline-issa-feel-the-fear-and-do-it-anyway/

Holly Ransom – https://dontstopusnow.co/holly-ransom-curious-on-purpose/

Martha Lane Fox – https://dontstopusnow.co/martha-lane-fox-a-powerful-voice-where-few-women-are-heard/

Que Dallara – https://dontstopusnow.co/que-dallara-unlocks-what-it-takes-to-be-successful/

Tina Sharkey – https://dontstopusnow.co/tina-sharkey-web-pioneer-industry-disruptor-tech-legend/