In this week’s episode, Jeff Dillon sits down with Chris Meador, an AI coach and founder of Yes & Thinking, whose approach to AI adoption starts with people, not prompts. Chris brings a rare background: he trained as an actor at, spent nearly two decades helping organizations adopt what's new—leading brand and video solutions globally at Facebook during its shift to mobile and video, directing global product marketing for Xbox at Microsoft, and serving as VP of marketing at Wistia.
Chris argues that AI is the fifth big technology shift he's lived through, but it's fundamentally different because it's coming for everyone—not just the tech team. Every role, every person, will be impacted. He calls this the tension between "big AI" (frontier models, media hype, forces we can't influence) and "little AI" (the embedded tools we use every day that we can influence). The conversation we're having in the media is not the conversation we need to have on campus.
He offers a practical framework—Direct, Control, Own—for moving from abstract anxiety to concrete action. And he proposes a simple but radical idea: what if every faculty and staff member got two hours of guided play with AI? Not a training, not a policy, not another tool. Just time and space to explore, with someone there to help. That, he argues, is what actually unlocks adoption.
For any higher ed leader, manager, or faculty member wondering where to start with AI, this episode offers a grounded, human, and surprisingly fun approach.
Key Takeaways
- AI Is the Fifth Big Shift—But This One Comes for Everyone: Mobile, video, social, and cloud all required adaptation, but AI is the first technology that will change every person's behavior in every role. It's not just for the tech team.
- Big AI vs. Little AI: "Big AI" is the frontier models, the headlines, the world ending scenarios—forces we can't influence. "Little AI" is the embedded tools we use every day (Spotify playlists, Gmail completions, AI features in our workflow). Focus on what you can influence.
- The Blame Game Ends with the Person Who Pressed Send: One bad AI written message can land in 30,000 inboxes. There is no line between individual accountability and institutional responsibility—the individual is the voice of the university, and the university is responsible for making sure they are the right voice. Both have to work together.
- AI Slop Is Just Bad Work: There's no such thing as AI slop—only slop created by people using AI. It's lazy work. It doesn't answer the question, it's not easy to read, it doesn't give you the information you need. If you use AI for a first draft, you better be putting in a lot of edits.
- The Two Camps: Google Ecosystem vs. Own Your Data: Some will say, "All my data lives in Google already—let's just use what's there." Others will say, "Let's build our own ecosystem." That's the decision we'll all have to make, individually and institutionally. Chris is building Dotty, a personal AI context layer, to help people own their own data.
- The Theater Training Still Shows Up: Chris's acting background taught him empathy—the ability to think through what the other person is going through, where the gap is between what you see and what they see. It also taught him "Yes, and"—the improvisational skill of accepting what's in front of you and building on it. That's exactly what AI adoption requires.
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Chapters
- (00:00:00) - Intro: AI Slop and Laziness
- (00:00:34) - Guest Introduction: Chris Metter
- (00:01:50) - Theater Roots and Empathy in AI Adoption
- (00:04:35) - AI as the Fifth Big Shift
- (00:05:25) - Big AI vs Little AI, Embedded Tools
- (00:08:44) - Why AI Tools for Educators Lag Behind
- (00:09:53) - Creatives Thriving in the AI Era
- (00:11:47) - Lack of AI Training in Higher Ed
- (00:13:23) - The AI Driver's License Concept
- (00:14:49) - Direct, Feed, Control, Own Framework
- (00:17:01) - Building Your Own AI Ecosystem
- (00:18:55) - Using AI for Real Campus Tasks
- (00:21:52) - Accountability for AI-Generated Messages
- (00:24:41) - Defining Real AI Slop
- (00:26:51) - Learning AI by Building: Dottie
- (00:28:05) - Closing: Two Hours of Guided Play
- (00:30:04) - Outro and Where to Find Chris
