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Time to read: 5 minutes
{{first_name | default: 'there'}}, Welcome back from your summer break!
Maybe you read about Agnieszka's perfectionism while enjoying the beach. How she spent weekends fixing already-good reports. How her team stopped trying because she would redo everything anyway. But here's what happened next.
Three months later, she had a family emergency. Two weeks off, immediately. The old Agnieszka would have panicked and written seventeen handover documents. This time? One email: "Team, you've got this."
When she came back, her team had landed a new client she had been hoping to get for six months. Their proposal was different from what she would have done. It was better.
Here's what perfectionism really costs you. It's not just the late nights. It's the innovation you'll never see because your team learned that different means wrong. It's the future leaders who won't grow because they never got to fail. It's the brilliant solutions that die because "the boss will redo it anyway."
The most controlling leaders often started as star employees.
They got promoted by being fixers. Problem-solvers.
But the skills that got them promoted are now holding their team back.
Agnieszka, who is also my executive coaching client, told me recently: "I wasn't protecting quality. I was protecting my identity. If I wasn't the person with all the answers, who was I?"
This is the real work. Not delegation tricks. It's about changing how you see your value. When you stop being the hero, you become something better: the leader who creates other heroes.
The shift from 'I need to fix this' to 'my team's got this' isn't just about trust. You're not laying every brick anymore. You're the architect. And great architects don't build the structure—they design spaces where others can build something amazing.
When AI Gets Smarter, We Get Lazier (Unless We're Careful)
Speaking of letting go and trusting new capabilities, have you seen what happened while Europe was on summer break? We now have GPT-5. And it changes everything about how we work with AI (yeah, again!).
GPT-5 combines the reasoning abilities of its o-series models with the fast responses of its GPT series. But here's what I love most: You don't have to pick which model to use anymore. The system automatically decides whether to use its Chat or Thinking mode for your request.
Simple question? Quick answer. Complex problem? It stops to think. Just like we should.
I've been using it for coaching and workshop design. It doesn't just spit out generic advice. It asks questions. It considers context. It even pushes back when my assumptions don't make sense.
And it's not just work stuff.
- Last week I locked myself out and faced a two-hour wait for my husband. I uploaded photos of the lock, grabbed some tools from the garage, and GPT-5 walked me through picking it. Door open in 10 minutes.
- Or take my trademark registration nightmare. GPT-5 researched the Swiss process, found the forms, told me what to choose, and drafted the emails. What should have taken hours took 30 minutes and no legal costs. The Change Republic®trademark came through last week!
People treat GPT-5 like a magic answer box. Type question, get answer, move on. That's missing the point. The real power comes from treating it like a thinking partner.
But with great power comes great responsibility. And most people don't know the first thing about using AI safely.
Two AI Settings That Will Save Your Career
The jump from GPT-4 to GPT-5 is huge. But if you're not careful, you might be sharing way more than you think. Here are two settings I wish I knew earlier talks about.
1. First, protect your data. Go to ChatGPT Settings > Data Controls. Turn OFF "Improve the model for everyone."
Why? When that's on, your conversations might train future AI models. Your business strategies. Your client discussions. All of it could become training data.
Think about what you've typed into ChatGPT lately. Company plans? Sensitive information? Do you want that in an AI model's permanent training set? Didn't think so.
This isn't paranoid. It's smart. You wouldn't leave confidential papers at Starbucks. Don't leave your AI conversations unprotected.
2. Second game-changer: Voice Mode. Not the microphone button that types what you say. Real conversation. With a paid account, you actually talk to it and it talks back.
This changed how I work. Walking to lunch? I'm talking through client challenges. Driving home? Processing the day. Speaking out loud unlocks different thinking than typing.
Try explaining a complex problem out loud versus typing it. The flow is different. Ideas come differently. It's like texting someone versus calling them. I am using the voice of Juniper and really love it.
Voice mode makes me a better ChatGPT user—I naturally give more context and explain things properly. Because if you ask lazy questions, you get lazy answers. Treat it like a thought partner, get breakthrough insights.
We're living through the biggest work change since the internet. Some use GPT-5 to avoid thinking. Others use it to think better. Which are you?
Oh, I almost forgot. Send me your top question, that you always wanted to ask from an AI coach. Just hit reply or put your question here.
Did you miss our last newsletters?
Inboxes can get a little crazy, right? Just in case you missed them, here are the links to our previous newsletters:
- Newsletter #14: I’m sharing how to make your return from vacation less overwhelming, why fitting into the wrong culture can erase who you are, and how AI storytelling tools can make work feel more human again. → LINK HERE
- Newsletter #13: I’m sharing how smart experimentation can outpace perfect planning, why small AI trials beat waiting for certainty, and how changing your goal mid-climb can transform the outcome. → LINK HERE
- Newsletter #12: I’m sharing how toxic workplaces can bury your self-trust, why AI might feel safer than human feedback, and how our new AI coach is helping people rebuild clarity and confidence → LINK HERE
Thanks for reading. Just drop a quick reply if you have any feedback.
Wishing you a great weekend ahead.
Warm regards,
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