In this episode of Catalyst, Tammy is joined by Tanarra Schneider, founder of Rebel 75 and a veteran designer and culture strategist who has led design practices at Fjord and Accenture, built one of the first streaming cooking school platforms and spent years helping organizations create healthier, more human workplaces. Tanarra brings a sharp lens to why AI adoption keeps failing and what organizations need to do differently.

Highlights from the episode include:

• AI is sitting in the middle of your relationships. Every time a new tool gets introduced, it disrupts the context people share with each other. AI is doing that at a much larger scale, quietly replacing conversations between designers and engineers, agencies and clients, and even C-suite collaborators. We may be gaining efficiency but we’re losing important context for the work.
• Rebuilding trust takes more than changing the strategy. Organizations that pulled back on AI investments because of cost are sending a clear message to their people: the reversal was about money, not about them. Rebuilding employee trust requires acknowledging what was broken, not just adjusting the budget.
• Solve for the 20% to solve for the 100%. Edge cases may be the most useful design input you have. When you build for people whose needs fall outside the mainstream, the benefits usually extend to everyone. Tanarra applies the same logic to neuro inclusion and argues that AI could be a genuine equalizer if organizations choose to use it that way.

Check out the full episode to learn more about the difference between a rebel and a chaos monster and why the next generation's skepticism toward AI might be exactly what we need.

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Please note that the views expressed in this episode may not necessarily be those of NTT DATA.