Entrepreneurs Guide to AI | Abby Knowles & Mike Calhoun

AI is getting installed everywhere, but leadership is still the bottleneck. From our live conversation in Dallas, we sit down with Abby Knowles, a 28-year Verizon technology leader turned advisor, to get honest about what’s changing as AI moves from hype to operational reality and why CEOs can’t outsource the learning anymore.We talk about the telecom industry from the inside: how fiber, wireless, Wi‑Fi partnerships, and satellite internet are pushing us toward “communication ubiquity” where customers expect seamless connectivity at all times. With margins tightening, telecom becomes the perfect environment for artificial intelligence, automation, and data analytics to drive efficiency, improve reliability, and create customer experience wins based on insights people actually value.Then we go where most AI conversations get uncomfortable: workforce change. Abby explains why HR must become a true thought partner in AI transformation, doing workforce engineering and shaping culture, not just filling roles. We also dig into human-centered AI, responsible transitions when automation displaces jobs, and why governance is not red tape but the structure that protects data quality, cybersecurity, permissions, and brand trust especially as AI agents and models keep changing under our feet.If you’re a founder, operator, or executive trying to “do AI” without wasting money on overlapping tools, you’ll leave with a clear starting point: commit to learning, set up an AI council with guardrails, and track quarterly KPIs tied to real business value. Subscribe, share this with a leader who’s still avoiding AI, and leave a review with your biggest AI adoption question.