Husband and dad, striving to live Isaiah 1:17. Love Idaho. Founded Riskalyze back in 2011. Using AI to amplify the impact of human relationships at @ContioAI.
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Joined May 2008
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Just put the finishing touches on September's monthly email...all those subscribers got to read the essay below about a month ago! The world moves fast, so subscribe today. Link in bio. 😉
I think you'll love last month's post...subscribers sure did!
This was such a blast of a conversation with the one and only @nathanbarry. I love what a clear thinker he is as an entrepreneur…this is a must-listen!
I joined @AaronKlein on Beyond the Meeting and shared the decision framework we used during one of the biggest moments in Kit’s history, our rebrand from ConvertKit.
If you lead a team and it’s hard to get everyone on the same page, this episode will help you make better decisions together.
The one and only @nathanbarry's question before every big decision: "What do you feel you need to say, but you're a little nervous to bring up?"
Then let it sit. Don't fill the silence.
Ep. 4 of Beyond the Meeting is out.
Full episode here if you want it 👇
go.contio.ai/nb-launch-li
Aaron Klein 🇺🇸 retweeted
Only a three minute speech. Just 272 words. The USA was still a young nation in 1863 and under tremendous turmoil in the middle of a Civil War that killed around 700,000 people.
President Abraham Lincoln accepted the invitation to speak at Gettysburg. His wife begged him not to go (she was still recovering from a suspicious accident), his son had a fever (they had lost their other son a year before), there were threats against his life (he was regularly threatened), and yet he knew he had to go. He knew slavery was wrong and it had to be abolished. The loss of life was staggering. The cost was massive. He was trying to keep the states united. He got a fever from small pox on his way home from this trip and his personal assistant died from the same fever afterwards.
The speaker before him went for two hours. President Lincoln was finished before the photographer could capture the moment. Yet his words spread quickly across the globe.
One of the most famous speeches ever made reminded people where it all began in 1776 — with the Declaration of Independence that boldly declared: “All men are created equal”.
“Of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”
President Lincoln ultimately gave his life for those words — strongly held truths that the way we treat each other matters.
The Gettysburg Address was delivered 157 years ago this month. Lincoln was despised and hated by many — and adored by others — and he stood by his principles and he paid with his life — abolishing slavery and keeping the country together. Ultimately, even his assassin who believed that killing him would unravel Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and stir the South back to fighting — failed. Lincoln was extraordinary. Courageous. An incredible human being.
Speak to your clients in words a third grader could understand.
That’s the standard @DerrickTKinney laid out in our conversation on Beyond the Meeting. And it takes more work on our side. We have to understand what we do well enough to explain it without the industry terms we use all day.
Try it before your next client conversation: describe the problem you help with in one plain sentence. If you need to explain the words in that sentence, try again.
Watch our full conversation here:
go.contio.ai/grader-x
I think cutting account managers is the wrong first goal for AI in a benefits agency.
I asked a broker team last week what they'd do with more capacity. They wanted more client reviews and more opportunities for licensed support staff to earn commissions.
At @ContioAI, we're building Benny to take renewal busywork off account managers' desks. He fills carrier spreadsheets, drafts proposals for the broker to review, and much more.
We're building Benny so the people who already know your clients have more time to advise them and take on new business.
Aaron Klein 🇺🇸 retweeted
“It only takes 90 seconds” is a terrible reason to keep doing something yourself.
I had about 70 of those little email chores waiting for me every weekend. Now Donna handles them, and I’m down to five emails that need my attention.
This is the part of building an AI assistant that gave me my Saturdays back.
“It only takes 90 seconds” is a terrible reason to keep doing something yourself.
I had about 70 of those little email chores waiting for me every weekend. Now Donna handles them, and I’m down to five emails that need my attention.
This is the part of building an AI assistant that gave me my Saturdays back.
Your smaller clients should benefit from AI, too.
When AI cuts down on prep and paperwork, you have more time to spend with them. And when it helps you remember the little details from past conversations, you can make that time count.
Say a small employer told you they were losing good employees. A few months later, they ask about adding a benefit. AI can connect that question to the concern they shared earlier, helping you ask: “Is this part of your plan to keep people?”
Now you’re talking about what they’re trying to solve, without making them explain everything again.
That’s the kind of AI investment I’d want an agency to make: more time for clients, with a better memory of what matters to them. Even the smallest account should feel the difference.
Aaron Klein 🇺🇸 retweeted
AI should help you build stronger human relationships.
@DerrickTKinney’s point here is simple: connect with the problem your client is facing before you try to impress them with your technology.
That’s what we’re building Contio for. Remember what mattered in the last conversation. Give the person in front of you your attention. Follow up with work that reflects what they actually need.
The best of both worlds: technology that helps you remember and follow through, paired with the care and judgment you bring to the relationship.
Watch Derrick’s full conversation with @AaronKlein on Beyond the Meeting.
go.contio.ai/dk-clients-x
Congrats to the Brewers and all their fans. This was your year, and you did it with class and dignity. Way to make us all proud of baseball. ⚾️ 🇺🇸
I helped rename Riskalyze to Nitrogen. Looking back, we did it too early.
We knew we wanted the company to offer more, but customers couldn’t yet see enough of that change in the product. The new name gave them a question we hadn’t fully answered.
@danzitting and I talked about that gap on Beyond the Meeting. His advice: build and release the expanded product offering before changing the name. Customers should already be using what makes the company different when you announce the rebrand.
A rebrand can describe where you’re going. Customers still judge what they can use today.
Considering a rebrand? Watch my conversation with Dan Zitting before you change the name.
go.contio.ai/rebrand-x
In 1986, nobody could foresee that this man would one day be banned from the NBA for an entire season.
Red carpet service shouldn’t be reserved for your biggest clients.
Think about what makes a client feel known: you remember what they told you, ask about that change in their business, and call before they have to chase you.
That kind of conversation takes human attention. Preparing for it used to mean digging through months of emails and notes.
Of course, I'm now using @ContioAI to put that kind of intelligence right at my fingertips. Every client is 10x easier to truly know, and remember details about.
Imagine calling a small-business owner: “Last time we talked, you were planning to hire. How’s that going?” You can spend the call going deeper, instead of starting from scratch.
This is AI that amplifies the impact of human relationships.
Everyone deserves the red carpet.
I appreciate how openly @DerrickTKinney talks about learning to let his team take more ownership.
Their ask was simple: let us do it 70% your way. Give us room to handle the rest.
When you’ve built a business around your own standards, that takes trust. It’s a useful question for any founder: where could your team take more responsibility if you gave them room to do things differently?
Watch or listen to the full episode of Beyond the Meeting below.
go.contio.ai/bottleneck-x
I've worked with some GREAT executive assistants in the past, but Contio isn't big enough yet to afford one.
I shared last week about how I built Donna (named after the famous EA in the TV show Suits).
Let's talk about how Donna helps me schedule meetings. She can't do everything a great EA can do, but it's way better than having it all on my plate.
Part two of my behind-the-scenes look at Donna...
There’s a simple step Scott can take. He should tell the @united board to cut his $34 million salary to $30,000 and voluntarily mail the rest of it to the federal government.
Whenever someone recommends socialism, they should agree to go first.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby wants to show customers in seat 34B he feels their pain by endorsing a national wealth tax. Such virtue-signaling is cheaper than complimentary pretzels.
on.wsj.com/485lKmq
