Four types of people at the AI cliff. Which are you?
My book has a name! (Not something I expected 5 episodes into the 30-day-podcast-to-book-sprint!)
The name - Swan Dive Backwards.
(Sub header TBD)
This is also exactly how I entered the world of AI.
I was not in the famed first 6 million people who tried ChatGPT that first weekend.
I’d seen too many clunky “AI-ish” tools before that overpromised and underwhelmed.
So I watched.
I listened.
I ignored it for a minute.
Then a couple of people I deeply trust said some version of: “Wait… you, of all people, are not on this yet?”
I logged in.
A week late.
And then I refused to leave.
What grabbed me wasn’t the hype.
It was the pattern break.
Credible output.
Handling big, messy, real work.
And accessible to anyone who could type.
In that moment it became a 'cliff' to my mind.
You know that feeling when the trail ends, and the ground just drops away?
That.
The phrase “swan dive backwards off the cliff into AI” came out of my mouth on a podcast one day.
I said it as a joke.
But people kept repeating it back to me.
Commenting on it.
Quoting it.
Then when I posted about my 30 eps in 30 days to write my book, my friend and brilliant illustrator Alison Garwood-Jones read it and said: Name it Swan Dive Backwards.
Alison, notably, was my professor at University of Toronto, School of Continuing Studies many moons... suns?... ago!
And she is right.
That name LANDED for me!
Swan Dive Backwards is not a book about prompts or tools.
It’s a book about how we move into AI as humans, leaders, and organizations.
The cliff moments.
The fear.
The thrill.
The politics.
The people who jump or DIVE.
And the people who quietly stay at the top, waiting for a bridge.
I’ve realized there are at least four types of people at that cliff:
Divers - jump first, press all the buttons, learn in public
Pathfinders - map the risks and routes, ask the hard questions
Operators - turn experiments into reliable, repeatable workflows
Bridge Builders - create the systems, training, and guardrails so others don’t have to jump cold
Most of us are a mix.
Our mix determines whether AI becomes a plaything, a threat, or an infrastructure shift.
That’s the heart of Swan Dive Backwards.
Bold, imperfect movement into AI.
Without pretending the water is always warm, or the rocks don’t exist.
Same energy I’m bringing to this book.
So yes.
The book is named.
The frameworks are forming.
I’m building this book in public.
The podcast, AI Literacy for Entrepreneurs, has become my “thinking lab”.
For 30 days I’m recording daily episodes that will feed the chapters of Swan Dive Backwards.
If you’ve ever felt:
late to AI
secretly curious but cautious
frustrated by the hype and the hand-waving
…this one’s for you.
Your turn
If you’re willing to be honest with yourself for a second: When it comes to AI at work right now, which one are you mostly?
Diver
Pathfinder
Operator
Bridge builder
I’m using real stories from this list as I shape the book, so hit me up. And yes - that might mean your experience ends up, anonymized or otherwise as you prefer, in a chapter.
Connect with Susan Diaz on LinkedIn to get a conversation started.
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