🧠 After the Diagnosis: What Actually Changes an Expert's Mind

​As leaders, we're asking our most experienced people to embrace AI and fundamentally rethink how they work. But what happens when the skills, knowledge, and expertise that made someone successful are suddenly being challenged by technology?

​For many professionals, resistance to AI isn't about motivation. It's about identity. When your sense of professional value is tied to how you've always done things, adopting AI can feel less like an opportunity and more like a threat.

​Join Sidebar member Michael Hirsch for an interactive, facilitated roundtable exploring one of the toughest challenges in AI transformation: How do you help accomplished experts embrace change when their professional identity is tied to the old way of working?

​Drawing on his work with professional services firms, Michael will share what he's learned about the psychology of AI resistance and what it actually takes to shift deeply held beliefs.

​💡 What we'll explore together:

• ​Understanding resistance: Why do some of our smartest, most accomplished people push back hardest against AI, even when they recognize its potential?

• ​When expertise becomes an obstacle: How do you help people evolve when their professional identity is built around skills and approaches that AI is disrupting?

• ​Changing minds, not just behaviors: What actually helps someone move from feeling threatened by AI to seeing it as an opportunity?

• ​Leading through identity shifts: How can leaders build trust, create psychological safety, and help teams redefine what expertise looks like in an AI-powered world?

• ​Working through real challenges: How do you approach a specific person or team that seems stuck, skeptical, or resistant to change?

​This isn't another conversation about why people resist AI. Michael will kick things off with a brief five-minute recap of his Sidebar Speaker Series talk, then we'll move beyond the diagnosis to explore what actually works.

​Come prepared with a specific person or team you're struggling to bring along on the AI journey. Together, we'll compare experiences, challenge assumptions, and work through practical approaches to helping people move forward.

​You'll walk away with fresh perspectives, actionable strategies, and a better understanding of how to lead change when the barriers are deeply human.