The Pantomime Horse Grows a Third Pair of Legs 🍺
A first for us, someone else at the bar. And she earned her special tankard.
Nicole Alos — founder of Socratyc, executive coach, and creator of Socratyc Sidekick — heard the steam engine episode, recognised exactly what Kieron was describing from her own leadership work, and emailed in. So, we pulled up a third stool.
What followed is one of the best conversations we've had. Nicole built an AI roleplay tool that lets executives practise difficult conversations before they have them — closing what she calls the knowing-doing gap. She used her own tool to practise pitching to a venture accelerator. She got in. Out of 3,600 applicants to Lovable's She Builds competition, she was one of 210 accepted into a 48-hour AI build-a-thon.
And she did all of it while homeschooling her neurodivergent son as a single mum — working with European clients before he wakes, then after he sleeps chasing West Coast clients into the night.
There's a framed photo on her wall of him aged five, taking notes on her presentation practice. Now he's embarrassed to tell his classmates his mom has an AI product — 'Mom, stop it' 😂
Also in this episode: what's left of leadership when AI takes the admin (spoiler: the relationships — which delights some leaders and horrifies others), the Socratic guardrails that turned a 17% drop in student maths results into a 127% improvement, whether American confidence is backed by competence, and Nicole's answer to yesterday's third-beer question — is AI conscious? Hers might surprise you.
Two mates and a new friend. A bar. And all they want to talk about is AI.
Pull up a stool — we'll get the beers in. 🍺
