Sara Sheehan’s guest in this episode is AI Strategist, Digital Transformation Leader, and founder of AIboration, Nicole Hilgenkamp. Nicole discusses AI and how it is more than just an IT function; it is a transformative force in business. The new role of Chief AI Officer reflects the cross-functional nature of AI and Nicole explains why dedicated leadership is required to integrate AI across entire organizations. Ensuring that it is embraced to ensure a future-ready company is essential.
Nicole shares strategies for AI integration and recommendations on how to stay updated on AI developments through focused newsletters, by joining communities, and through experimenting with tools like Perplexity. She advocates for leaders to champion AI from the top down so a culture where employees are encouraged to use AI safely and creatively is fostered. Mindset shifts are key to using AI in the promotion of self-awareness and personal growth.
Sara and Nicole look ahead to agentic AI, which are AI systems capable of decision-making and functioning as digital team members. Such systems will change the structure of organizations and put humans in charge of overseeing AI agents in customer service or sales roles. Nicole advises that everyone upskill to avoid being left behind, and urges the adoption of AI now, being mindful of bias and data protection, and committing to lifelong learning.
About Nicole Hilgenkamp:
Nicole is a digital transformation leader with the world’s largest companies, where she leads enterprise scale AI and digital transformation across global operations. She is also the founder of AIboration, an AI consulting firm that helps businesses implement generative AI.
Nicole is an optimist who believes people and technology can work better together. With a background in sociology, she has always been fascinated by how people group, interact, and adapt—whether in organizations, markets, or digital spaces.
Her work revolves around structuring chaos—helping businesses use technology to improve processes, enhance collaboration, and drive results. Nicole sees patterns in people, systems, and data, making sense of complexity and turning it into strategy.
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Resources mentioned in this episode:
- “The AI-Driven Leader: Harnessing AI to Make Faster, Smarter, Decisions” by Geoff Woods’
- The Neuron newsletter
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Contact Sara Sheehan | Sara Sheehan Consulting:
Contact Nicole Hilgenkamp:
- Email: aiboration@outlook.com
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Transcript
Sara Sheehan: [00:00:02] Hi there, I’m Sara Sheehan and welcome to my podcast Transformational Thinkers with Sara Sheehan. Today I’m joined by Nicole Hilgenkamp. She is a digital transformation leader with the world’s largest companies, where she leads enterprise scale AI and digital transformation across global operations. She is also the founder of AIboration, an AI consulting firm, helping businesses implement generative AI to enhance performance, simplify processes and drive sustainable growth. With over 30 years of experience in operational excellence and innovation, Nicole offers a practical, people-focused approach to successful AI adoption at scale. I am so excited to have you here with me today. Nicole, welcome to the show.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:01:04] Thanks, Sara. Happy to be here. I’m excited to talk about artificial intelligence. It’s changing every single day. As soon as we hit pause on the recording, what we’re going to talk about will probably be obsolete, but let’s see if your listeners can take away some key aspects from today.
Sara Sheehan: [00:01:24] Absolutely. What is so interesting about you, Nicole, is I have not come across a Chief AI Officer or AI consultant yet. So you are truly one of a kind, and I really want to dive into this conversation as deep as possible.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:01:48] Absolutely, and welcome to jobs of the future. The chief AI officer, you’re seeing lots of new titles in executive leadership over the years, like Chief Growth Officer, Chief Change Agent, etc. Chief AI Officer is a recognition that artificial intelligence does not necessarily need to sit in IT, in information technology. It is a technology, yes, one of the biggest revolutions of my time that I think I’ll ever see. But it is, and should be, used across enterprises, in personal and professional growth. What I love about Chief AI Officer as a job of the future, it just goes to show you that this isn’t going to necessarily fit well if you put it under Chief Technology Officer. It shouldn’t be there, it should be a job of its own because of its vast disruption that it’s going to make in how we do business and live our life.
Sara Sheehan: [00:03:00] It’s truly cross-functional.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:03:03] Absolutely cross-functional.
Sara Sheehan: [00:03:05] So it needs to be in its own function.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:03:10] Exactly, and that’s why I think we saw the creation of this job. That it’s been recognized as not a CTO event, it is actually across the entire business.
Sara Sheehan: [00:03:22] Excellent, that’s a great distinction to make. Talk with me a little bit about how AI is revolutionizing work, the workplace and business decision making. What are you seeing?
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:03:40] Lots of different aspects. Everyone’s going to assimilate more so with automation. Absolutely automation. What people need to start to think about is, how do we leverage artificial intelligence to be our strategic partner? And how do we leverage artificial intelligence to help drive change and influence individuals? There’s a great book out there called ‘The AI-Driven Leader’ by Jeff Woods. He talks about going into a boardroom with artificial intelligence where they, in jest, did all of the different personality types of the board members. Then what they did is they shared the deck that they would have normally presented in their board meeting for that quarter. They said, what is the board going to ask about? Those decks can get pretty long, and based on the board’s members’ personalities that they ingested, that ended up being that CEO’s best board meeting that they’ve ever had because he was prepared with some of the questions and the blind spots that he didn’t necessarily recognize or prepare for in his own slide deck. That’s just a great way to say, how can we look to better influence based on personality type, based on being interviewed or role playing with artificial intelligence so that we can make faster decision makings and make change happen a little bit faster than what is happening today.
Sara Sheehan: [00:05:30] That is fascinating. ‘The AI-Driven Leader’, that’s the book. I’m definitely going to be picking that up for certain. What are some practical ways that leaders can harness AI to enhance communication and creativity?
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:05:53] As I stated in the beginning of the podcast, this is cross-functional. We hope that CEOs don’t just hand this over to the CTO if they don’t create a Chief AI Officer and recognize the importance of doing so. If they recognize the importance of this at all levels of their organization, then at every level of their organization-this is newer in the past three years, the boom of AI. It’s been here for long before that, but it’s really now getting normalized to where people can assimilate to it. Now that they can assimilate to it, I ask that everyone get involved in at least one newsletter that keeps you abreast of what happens every single day, but not to let it overwhelm you. Two, to join a community. Because everyone needs to enable themselves and everyone needs to start somewhere and they will grow from there. Three is to get involved in experimentation and learning. Everyone’s going to take it a bit different and everyone’s going to utilize it for different use cases. My practical advice is, depending on where you are, beginner, intermediate, novice, advanced, there’s somewhere you can continue to go because this is evolving so fast. You’ll need to do so to stay on the coattails of it so that you don’t find yourself, your company, your business growth, and your time in the rear view mirror.
Sara Sheehan: [00:07:36] You gave some good examples of things that people can do. Do you have recommended thought leaders? For example, I love their AI newsletter or I love this AI community. Or by the way, my favorite place to do experiential things is X.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:07:58] I love a lot of different things. At the end we’ll talk about my LinkedIn profile that anyone can go in. I immerse myself in a lot of communities that you’ll see out there around females in AI, but there are a lot of great newsletters that you don’t have to look far for. You have to find one that works for you. ‘The Neutron’ is one I love, and I can share these to our listeners. Some of these links are the ones that I assimilate to. Just like when it comes to large language models, everyone starts with one and may stay with that one or move to another. I’m a big perplexity girl. I love perplexity as the large language model that I use, but that is the newsletter that I like. Microsoft is doing a lot of great communication around training individuals, and there’s a lot of free training out there. I also suggest people get involved in cybersecurity and learning about that, because that’s going to come right along with AI. You’re going to want to know a little bit about how to protect yourself, your company, and those are great skills to have. And there’s some free training that they’re offering in that space. You don’t have to look hard to find it, and you can utilize AI to help you, quite frankly. AI, what is some of the best free learning that I can do? What are some of the best newsletters for my type of business or position?
Sara Sheehan: [00:09:30] That’s a great idea. Make your own prompt and see what comes back for the best newsletter, the best community, the best place to learn. That’s very practical and timely, and that’s something that everyone can go do right away.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:09:48] And it’s a great point because we forgot about it. Sara, I know you use AI every day, as do I. But it’s about making a habit, and habits are hard to form. They take seven times, 21 days, etc., and so if you’re not doing that, then it’s not going to become a habit. Then it doesn’t become as easily thought of as ‘ask AI’. But once it does, then the flywheel begins.
Sara Sheehan: [00:10:16] That’s right, that’s a great image to leave with our listeners. Just get out there and start practicing and using the skill, and you’ll start to refine it even more. Nicole, what are some of the mindset shifts that are necessary to use AI and successfully lead change in a rapidly evolving landscape?
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:10:40] I think a lot of personal growth comes when people are self-aware. I’m a leader and I manage a lot of performance. When I have someone that I make self-aware, if they’re already not, with something that they’re doing that could be improved upon, and they accept that feedback, they’re going to be one of the successful people that continue to grow and work themselves out of whatever performance concern that there is. The people that have a performance concern, that are not self-aware and do not accept feedback, are the people that are going to not be successful. What I love about AI is to utilize it, to become a little bit more self-aware. I’m going to give you a couple examples. As you use a large language model, and I would say anywhere from at least 3 to 6 months, it will begin to understand your personality, how you think a little bit, because you’re the one asking questions, how you ask those questions. After utilizing a large language model for 3 to 6 months, ask the AI what they think of you. Say, you’ve gotten to know me, what do you feel, what is the perception I give, what do you foresee?
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:11:56] There’s some really great prompts out there that drive into that. Then right in front of your screen, I was blown away. Mic drop. I had to digest, take a night and think about the feedback that I got from my AI. It was groundbreaking. There is no boss out there that is going to be as thorough as the type of feedback I got from my AI after I worked with my AI for six months after feeding it prompts and questions and the types of things that I was asking it about. It was great for me because then I’m like, now I know where my blind spots are. Then I can grow from learning that. The other fun thing I love to suggest is that, for personal growth, but then I like to ask the AI to be my drunk best friend and tell me what they think of me. A whole different perspective. And you know that the most candid and honest thing is going to come from your drunk best friend. When you’re then self-aware, my big point is really understanding where you are in the change curve. Where you are that you need to take it a little bit further and the people that you’re trying to influence of their change.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:13:12] If you know where to meet them, then you’ll know where to move the change needle. Because everyone’s always at a different place. So if you’re looking to make those changes, let AI help you find where that needle is and help everyone move a little bit further. The other thing that AI does in change management that I absolutely love is, I used to be on change champion calls, where every week we get together and we try to pull together all of our water cooler feedback and rumors that we had heard about what was happening at the time. You now can use AI to start to monitor. You could put some monitors in place where it’s pulling right off the web, the usage, it’s pulling the feedback. You could put little stars. Yes, no. And you can have that more dynamic and real time and how great is that to be able to adjust ten times faster than you ever were?
Sara Sheehan: [00:14:14] That’s an interesting application. I’m thinking and listening to you, you could use Copilot. If you’re using Copilot now to not only look at all your meeting notes, but go look at team chats, emails and a lot of other things.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:14:35] All that, and then what it does is it says, you have an issue cropping up here with Susie Jo because I can feel the resistance in how she’s asking the question, etc. We’re not going to go through every single email and try and figure that out, but AI would be able to spot that blind spot in a second. What am I going to do next as a leader? I’m going to call Sally Jo and I’m going to say, let’s talk about how you’re feeling.
Sara Sheehan: [00:15:06] Sure. I have been actively using AI in my real plans with clients. Where it manifests literally in line items in the communication plan. So that a leader conveys a message and a presentation, we’re using a note taker in that meeting. No matter what it is, whatever the client uses, we’re able to create notes and we’re able to actually write a message based on that presentation recording that then goes out as an email. So it creates actual communications for the plan that a human doesn’t have to do.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:15:58] Absolutely. That’s a 10x, what we used to work on. And you’re just doing that for actions. You can also do that against, we were talking about feelings. Transcripts are power, AI can pick up on that transcript, and it can provide multiple use cases. Actions, emotions, blind spots, etc.
Sara Sheehan: [00:16:27] That’s very powerful. I think there are going to be more ways to incorporate it practically in plans that will reveal itself over time as more unique and interesting software platforms come out that are AI powered or enabled. I think it’s going to be really fascinating to see. Anything like using a Mentimeter to get sentiment when you’re able to actually post results on that, and you’re able to include it in a prompt across different inputs, possibly your change readiness survey data. That’s where it really gets very interesting and compelling.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:17:15] Absolutely. I think there will always be a proponent of humans in the loop. I want people to understand that. You and I are talking so eloquently about how we use it today, but there’s a lot of people that haven’t even dipped their toe in the water, that are really fearful of it. Like you said, get immersed and start playing. Just start. Then people will start to be more comfortable with it. They’ll start to understand the parameters that they personally need to put in around their personal data, their customer data, the bias that happens in artificial intelligence. If they don’t do that, what’s the cost of doing nothing?
Sara Sheehan: [00:18:07] The cost of doing nothing is huge right now. Because if you’re not learning how to use it, you will get left behind.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:18:17] Absolutely, and that’s super concerning. Just look at the US job market of the past three months, it has taken a complete turn. So many displaced individuals, especially the federal workers that weren’t necessarily continuing to evolve and grow themselves are now finding themselves without the skills to be able to go into other workplaces and industries. That’s where it is so important for all of us, every single person out there, to start to understand this because it will actually impact your livelihood.
Sara Sheehan: [00:19:03] And I think for the younger generations, the actual roles that they can aspire to in the workplace, they’re going to change.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:19:17] Everything’s going to change. Education, how we educate those individuals, is going to change. That’s why I want everyone to be hyper-cognizant of where they are going to start to participate. What does that mean for them, because there’s so many things to consider. I have a daughter about to enter college and I’m like, is she going to pay for four years of tuition in a role that’s not going to be here in four years? And that’s a real reality.
Sara Sheehan: [00:19:44] It’s a huge concern.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:19:46] Just think of that tuition of four years that could be wasted if we don’t think about that constantly as, is this a knowledge worker position? Because if it is, then we have to start to question ourselves. Don’t get me wrong, how do we then do that knowledge worker industry, but leverage AI with it so that you’re ready to go into the workforce with the artificial intelligence expertise. Because everything, fashion, creatives, songwriters, everyone’s going to have to bring AI with them as their copilot, as their strategic partner.
Sara Sheehan: [00:20:28] It’s a fascinating, game changing moment. There’s no question about it. What actionable insights can you provide on using AI to empower employees, streamline processes and future proof organizations?
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:20:46] What I would tell anyone in an organization or even in a small business, and everyone, I’m going to tell you, they’re not telling their bosses that they’re using AI, they’re doing it. I’m going to tell you, I’m working on a laptop on one side, and I’m working on my company computer on another because the company doesn’t let me in all the places that I want to be in yet.
Sara Sheehan: [00:21:08] I understand that totally.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:21:10] That’s how I work, so it’s happening. The practical advice that I will give any business leader or small owner or founder is to start at the top, go to the top. Whether you’re at the bottom, the middle, the mid management or you’re at the top, then you have a role to play. And that role to play is to tell your organization, I’m in the game with you. I support artificial intelligence. It is what we’re going to do to continue to grow. I want you to know that you can do it in a safe place. And as you do it and as you free capacity from your role, I have plans for you to. They don’t say things like that. Then that’s where people are still working their little silos and offline and do things that help them do their job, but not too much because it’s the fear of losing their job. That’s where the top has to come in and has to make a statement that says, we want to build capacity and everything that everyone does, please use AI as much as possible and bring your best practices into our community of our business. If you do that, you’ll be rewarded with learning new skills and investments and being able to build upon your personal growth.
Sara Sheehan: [00:22:27] And I support you in doing that. I’m going to help you progress your career because you’re willing to grow and you’re willing to put yourself out on the small branch and try.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:22:41] Yes, I think that leaders are missing that. I think they just assume because they bought the software and it’s out there on the company’s computer that people are going to adopt it. If they don’t give that encouragement and that testimonial, then I think that’s where people are going to not necessarily scale it as what the CEO would have liked.
Sara Sheehan: [00:23:08] I’ve been on a project where we’ve used AI in all of our meetings. We’ve recorded all the meetings and we’ve used it for meeting notes. When you have an environment like that, you’re going to encourage more people to learn more. When it’s just an expectation, at the beginning of a meeting, you have to give clearance. You know that the meeting is being recorded and you know what it’s being used for. You acknowledge it and support it. But that also has each person that’s in a meeting every time thinking about, what could I do with that?
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:23:57] Also, a practical advice I’d like to give your listeners is that when you do that and you have everyone bought in and you’re recording every meeting and it becomes how you work, you’re going to see some talent start to crop up. You’re going to see people making a lot of great connections and moving a little bit faster in adopting and becoming very competent with utilizing AI. Those are the people that you want to bring forward as your change agents, and you want to give them more and more responsibility because you see that they are talented in this space. Now they know your business, and now they’re assessing how to utilize more AI in your business, and you need to pull them up. You need to pull them up as a super user, as a leader or a manager, because they’re going to get super engaged and that’s going to get even more return on investment of what you’re going to do to them by putting them in a promotional state or in a lead position because you see the talent.
Sara Sheehan: [00:24:59] It’ll be interesting to see what leaders find when employees at any level start to innovate more using AI. Maybe they come up with a new solution or a product that the team may have never thought of when you have these super creative opportunities that may 10x their business.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:25:28] You find those people that are really going to get good at AI, you’re going to find that creative or you’re going to find that inventor. It could be your next biggest thing for your company. If you put that into your incubation and you allow it to happen at your company, because you’re going to want to be there to pick up. I’m going to tell you, if I was the one that found that groundbreaking idea I’d be like, do I walk out the door with it, or do I give it to this company? You’ll want the trust of those individuals to say, look at what I found.
Sara Sheehan: [00:26:03] You want them to say that and then say, now will you help me get a patent on that, and let’s talk about how we can operationalize it and take it to market. It’s a very exciting time, honestly, for those that are willing to embrace the possibilities. Nicole, what are you learning now and why is that important?
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:26:30] The buzzword of this week is agentic AI and how to leverage. I’m trying to wrap my head around managing the team that I manage and knowing that someday that team that I manage, four of them will be digital agentic agents. Agentic AI, they will get trained to be able to make decisions. Therefore, they’ll hold a position or a role in the organization to be that decision maker. That’s what we’re starting to see crop up . Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had automation and it can do things faster, but as it starts to do more and more, it then starts to learn to be able to be your customer service rep like I just got off a call. You’ll have an agent that is your customer service rep, you’ll have an agent that is your sales rep, you’ll have an agent taking your phone calls that come into the company and responding as they’re talking to an individual. So that’s what I’m trying to get my head wrapped around, because that’s where artificial intelligence is going right now. To put it in perspective, I see an org chart that has my name over a team of individuals that I have, and I see over time that some of those roles become agents that I need to continue to watch. Always with a human in the loop to say, how are they performing? Where are they getting hung up? How do I get them off of that getting hung up, and how do I continue to train them like I would any individual. But more so, now this is a digital agent that I have to take care of.
Sara Sheehan: [00:28:26] Fascinating. I did have my first outreach from an individual that’s wanting voice actors to train AI so that it sounds like a human this week.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:28:41] That’s what I’m learning, and I don’t know what I’ll be learning next week, Sara.
Sara Sheehan: [00:28:44] It’s unbelievable at the pace and the acceleration around this work.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:28:53] Like nothing of our time. We could talk about the cell phone, we could talk about the computer, nothing like this.
Sara Sheehan: [00:29:00] It is unnerving a little bit too, but I am very excited in the end to see how it will accelerate creativity and innovation and some of the good things, allowing people to be more of a knowledge worker and less mired by administration.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:29:21] I’m excited to see AI cure our first disease. It’s going to happen.
Sara Sheehan: [00:29:27] That’s going to be very exciting.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:29:29] I hope I’m here to see it, and I think I will be at the speed in which it’s going. There’s a lot of things like that. The first disease, helping the economy, helping global climate change, weather patterns, extinction, all sorts of different things. I think that it can do for the good. AI for good, AI with humans in the loop.
Sara Sheehan: [00:29:55] Nicole, do you have any other big goals and aspirations that you’re working on?
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:30:01] My mind is always racing. This is where I’m spending a lot of my time and passion right now. I’m also really passionate about ensuring that no one’s left behind. Anytime that I can get on a podcast, I’m getting on a podcast. Or I’m posting on LinkedIn and right now I’m starting to learn other mediums that I’m not as comfortable with. I’m not as comfortable with X and Instagram. And I’m going to do my first TikTok, I’m going to do my first LinkedIn live. I’m going to do some of those things so I can continue to spread the word, because I don’t want anyone left behind. That’s where my passion is these days, is around this topic, because there’s so much to know.
Sara Sheehan: [00:30:50] And if you are conveying AI for good and what people can learn and do today to build those skills and habits, it will perpetuate good. That’s a wonderful goal, so I do applaud you on the AI for good. Let’s see what good we can do. Is there anything else that you want to share today?
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:31:18] Again, some practical advice is please dip your toe in the water and you’re going to find that the water is warm and you’re going to recognize that you want to swim in it all day. The other thing I would watch out for is, understand that the large language models have learned history, years and years of history, and that there is bias. Watch out for bias and if you see a bias in some of your outputs, correct the AI and say, don’t ever do that again. When I ask you for a CEO, give me all of the types of CEOs that are out there. Then also ensure that as much as you’re learning AI, make sure that you’re watching and safeguarding your data. Those are the advice that I give everyone for practical advice around things to watch out for that I wanted to leave your listeners with. I’m happy to have conversations like this each and every day. You can find me on LinkedIn and as I learn more about X and etc., then you’re going to see me on other social media.
Sara Sheehan: [00:32:31] Excellent, Nicole. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the time today that you’ve given me and this fascinating conversation.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:32:39] Thank you for having me. AI for good, let’s do it.
Sara Sheehan: [00:32:40] Excellent, AI for good for sure. So our listeners can find you on LinkedIn?
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:32:48] Nicole Hilgenkamp. I’m the only one out there at this time.
Sara Sheehan: [00:32:56] Excellent, and is there an email address you’re willing to share?
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:33:00] My AI consulting email, I’m at aiboration@outlook.com.
Sara Sheehan: [00:33:11] Excellent, and do you have a website yet?
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:33:14] Not yet.
Sara Sheehan: [00:33:15] LinkedIn is the way to go for sure. Well, thanks so much for your time today, Nicole.
Nicole Hilgenkamp: [00:33:23] Great, thank you for having me.
Sara Sheehan: [00:33:26] Thank you so much for listening to today’s conversation with Nicole Hilgenkamp. Here are three key takeaways. First, AI belongs across the business. Don’t silo AI under IT, it’s cross-functional and deserves its own seat at the executive table. Building AI into all facets of your operations, future-proofs your business and accelerates innovation. Second, start small and stay curious. The best way to embrace AI is to dip your toe in the water. Subscribe to a relevant AI newsletter, join a learning community and experiment with tools like Perplexity or Microsoft’s free training. Habitual everyday use is how you and your team get comfortable and stay ahead. Third, human and AI is a powerful partnership. AI is your copilot. Use it to enhance self-awareness, streamline processes, and uncover blind spots in your team communication, but always remember to keep a human in the loop. Ethical oversight and creativity matter more than ever. Thanks so much for listening today. As always, please share your thoughts in the comments and subscribe so you never miss an episode.
