Why Birmingham Leaders Called This AI Workshop a Breakthrough

Birmingham, Alabama, January 13, 2026 — AI is not a trend you "keep up with." It's a capability you build, or a competitive advantage you hand to someone else.

That's the conviction we carried into Oneal Steel in Birmingham, Alabama, on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. Not because AI is shiny, but because the gap between curiosity and execution is now the gap between strategic growth and stagnation. Leaders don't need more inspiration about what AI could do. They need a practical path to make it real inside their teams, in ways that protect customer experience and improve customer engagement.

The feedback from this session was unambiguous:

Content: 5

Deliverability: 5

Applicability: 5

Would Recommend: 100%

Those scores matter, but what moved us most was the language leaders used to describe the impact. Not "interesting." Not "good talk." Impact.

One CEO advisory group leader wrote:

"AI is such a critical topic for all members and their companies. By far, my members have said no one inside or outside CEO advisory groups has brought so much understanding and practical and powerful AI tools that provide immediate impact, both within the workshop and for members to take back to their companies."

Another said:

"One of the most impactful speakers we've had in my six years in CEO advisory groups."

And this one hit a simple truth about what leaders are starving for right now:

"One of the best and most interactive speakers we have ever had and certainly the most eye opening on using AI."

When leaders describe a workshop as "one of the most impactful and engaged presentations we have had in years," they are not talking about entertainment. They are talking about relief. Clarity. A sense that transformation can be navigated without losing their minds, their culture, or their standards.

The Birmingham Signal: Leaders Don't Want More Noise

If you lead a company, you already know this: your calendar is not open real estate. Every hour has to justify itself.

So when leaders respond like this…

"This is one of the most impactful and engaged presentations we have had in years. Awesome presentation and value received!!!"

…it's not because the topic was popular. It's because the session respected the real-life constraints executives live with:

• Limited time

• Competing priorities

• Fragmented systems

• High expectations from customers and employees

• Pressure to grow without piling more on the team

That is why the most meaningful compliment in Birmingham wasn't just that the content was strong. It was that the tools were practical and immediately useful.

Not theoretical AI strategy. Usable AI strategy.

What "Immediate Impact" Actually Means

When someone says "immediate impact," it can sound vague. But leaders don't mean "we learned something cool." They mean:

✓ We left with a clearer understanding of where AI fits in our business

✓ We can make decisions faster because we can see patterns faster

✓ We can produce higher-quality work with less thrash

✓ We can strengthen customer insights and use them to improve customer engagement

✓ We can protect customer experience by putting guardrails and review steps in place

In other words, immediate impact means the work gets lighter, not heavier. The business becomes more responsive, not more chaotic.

That's also the positioning edge BREATHE! Exp is built around: AI isn't the goal. Capability is the goal. Tools are useful only when they become part of a repeatable operating rhythm.

Why Interactivity Matters More Than Expertise

It's easy to find people who can talk about AI. It's harder to find people who can help leaders do something with it, in the room, under time pressure, with real business constraints.

The Birmingham feedback emphasized interactivity for a reason. In a hands-on environment, leaders can:

✓ See where their thinking is clear and where it's fuzzy

✓ Identify which processes are "AI ready" and which will break without guardrails

✓ Move from abstract to specific, especially in areas like AI in marketing, sales follow-up, customer support workflows, and internal decision cadence

✓ Leave with prompt frameworks and operating habits their teams can actually adopt

That's why one leader called it "the most eye opening" session on using AI. When you actually do the work, you stop arguing about the future and start shaping it.

The Real Shift: AI Leadership, Not AI Usage

Here's what we've learned across CEO advisory groups: the companies that win aren't the ones where a few people "use AI." They're the ones where AI leadership exists as a real internal capability.

AI leadership looks like:

✓ A clear owner who is accountable for outcomes (not a committee, not a vague "initiative")

✓ A measurable definition of success (a KPI, a target, a review cadence)

✓ A plan to protect sensitive data and reduce risk

✓ A pathway to adoption that doesn't rely on one enthusiastic early adopter

✓ A focus on improving customer experience and customer engagement, not just internal productivity

When leaders describe a workshop as one of the most impactful in years, we hear something deeper: they don't just want to be informed. They want to feel capable.

A Practical Learning Moment: The 30-Day AI Capability Sprint

If you want something you can use immediately, here is a simple framework that matches what leaders in Birmingham responded to: action, clarity, and power without complexity.

You can run this in 30 days, even with a busy team.

Step 1: Name the outcome before you name the tool

Pick one outcome tied directly to strategic growth or customer experience. Keep it narrow enough to finish.

Examples:

• Reduce response time to inbound leads

• Improve lead quality using stronger customer insights

• Shorten the time it takes to produce customer-facing proposals or follow-ups

• Increase conversion on a core offer through clearer messaging

• Reduce customer friction by improving support workflows and self-service answers

This is where AI strategy becomes real. Outcomes first. Tools second.

Step 2: Choose one owner and one weekly review

This is where most organizations stall. AI becomes "everyone's project" and nobody owns it.

Set a single owner. Then schedule a short weekly review (even 15 minutes).

In that review, ask:

• What did we test this week?

• What improved (or didn't)?

• What do we change next?

That's how transformation stops being theoretical.

Step 3: Build a "Minimum Safe Workflow"

Before you scale anything customer-facing, protect your brand and customer experience.

A minimum safe workflow usually includes:

• What can and cannot be entered into AI tools

• When human review is required

• Where prompts and outputs are saved for reuse

• How you validate accuracy before anything reaches customers

Trust is a growth strategy. It's also a risk strategy.

Step 4: Create a small Prompt Pack your team can actually reuse

This is where AI in marketing and customer-facing work becomes consistent.

A good starter prompt pack often includes:

• A customer insights prompt (persona, pains, outcomes, objections)

• A message clarity prompt (simplify, remove jargon, tighten benefit)

• A customer response prompt (email drafts, follow-ups, service explanations)

• A quality check prompt (tone, accuracy, compliance, next step)

You don't need 100 prompts. You need 10 that your team uses repeatedly.

Step 5: Turn the win into a repeatable system

If it worked, codify it:

• Write the workflow in one page

• Save the prompts in a shared library

• Train two people instead of one

• Add the KPI to your operating dashboard

That's how competitive advantage compounds. Not through random experimentation, but through repeatable systems.

What Makes This Different From "AI Training"

A lot of AI education focuses on features. Leaders don't need features. They need leverage.

The Birmingham feedback repeatedly pointed to three differentiators:

1. Practical tools with immediate business impact "Practical and powerful AI tools that provide immediate impact…"

2. Understanding that translates across functions Not just marketing, not just operations, but real integration across the business.

3. Engagement that keeps leaders involved "One of the most impactful and engaged presentations we have had in years…"

That combination is rare because it requires more than knowledge. It requires a method for turning knowledge into adoption.

Why GPS Summit Is the Next Step for Teams Who Want Momentum

A powerful workshop can give you clarity and momentum. The next challenge is what happens when you go back to the office and the week hits you.

That is where GPS Summit comes in.

GPS Summit is a three-day intensive (February 25-27, 2026) designed to develop your high-potential leader into an AI Systems Generalist—the internal connector who can:

✓ Translate AI opportunities into workflows across departments

✓ Lead responsible adoption with clear guardrails that protect customer experience

✓ Turn customer insights into measurable outcomes

✓ Build repeatable systems so AI doesn't live in pockets—it becomes part of how the organization thinks, plans, and executes

Your HiPo will leave with:

• A 90-day implementation roadmap specific to your business

• Hands-on skills they'll use Monday morning (not theory)

• A peer network of AI Systems Generalists from other organizations

• The confidence to lead AI adoption and turn workshop insights into operational reality

This is People-Process-Tech integration in action. This is how you turn "most impactful presentation in years" into "we have the internal capability to execute."

Take the Next Step

• Explore GPS Summit: https://www.breatheexp.com/gps-summit

• Enroll your high-potential leader in GPS Summit: https://www.breatheexp.com/event-details/breathe-gps-summit

• See the full competitive comparison: https://www.breatheexp.com/corporate-cohort

• Learn more about BREATHE! Exp: https://www.breatheexp.com/

If Birmingham taught us anything, it's this: leaders are ready for AI that makes work better, not busier. They're ready for AI strategy that leads to execution. They're ready for customer engagement that's more personal, more consistent, and more aligned with what customers actually value. They're ready for AI that strengthens customer experience instead of weakening trust.

And they are especially ready for a path that helps their teams become capable, not dependent.

A Closing Question Worth Asking

If you could appoint one AI Systems Generalist this quarter and give them a 30-day mission to create measurable competitive advantage, what would you choose as the first customer-facing workflow to improve?

And who on your team could become that internal leader—the one who turns "most eye-opening workshop" into "this is how we work now"?

BREATHE! Exp is a strategic growth firm that develops internal AI capability through world-class learning experiences. GPS Summit is our flagship three-day intensive for organizations ready to turn AI clarity into competitive advantage—with practical tools, immediate impact, and repeatable systems.