Search is broken. Email is harder. Paid ads cost more. Lead flow is drying up across the board—and most marketers are still playing by the old rules.
In this episode of AI: Voice or Victim, Greg Boone sits down with Marc Sirkin, former CEO of Third Door Media, and Chris Long, co-founder of Nectiv and SEO strategist behind brands like Adobe and Amazon. Together, they dissect the lead flow crisis facing revenue leaders, marketers, and operators in 2025—and why ignoring it could be fatal.
This is not another "SEO is dead" debate. This is a hard look at what happens when Google flips the switch to AI Mode, when attribution models collapse under platform incentives, and when product-market fit becomes the only thing that matters. The conversation cuts through the noise with tactical clarity on how AI-powered search, zero-click results, and LLM-driven experiences are reshaping the entire customer journey.
If you're responsible for growth, pipeline, or revenue, this episode will challenge how you think about channels, authority, and where your customers actually are.
In this episode, you'll learn:

What the lead flow crisis actually is and why it's hitting now
How AI Mode will replace Google's 10 blue links faster than you think
Why attribution data is disappearing and what that means for proving ROI
The real difference between product-market fit and marketing tactics
How Reddit, forums, and human-generated content became irreplaceable to LLMs
Why technical literacy is now a non-negotiable skill for marketers
How to build authority in an AI-first search ecosystem
Where small businesses and mid-market brands can still win
What happens when platforms like ChatGPT, Google, and Perplexity own the entire customer experience

Key moments:

Why Google has no choice but to roll out AI Mode (and when it's likely to happen)
The stair-step strategy Google is using to train users for full LLM search
How Reddit became a battleground for brand reputation and LLM training data
The hidden risks of building your brand on rented platforms
Why marketers need to think like engineers to survive the next 12 months

This episode is required listening for CMOs, CROs, founders, and marketing leaders navigating the fastest transformation in digital history. The rules changed. The question is whether you're ready to adapt.

👉 Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone navigating the AI revolution.
Subscribe to AI: Voice or Victim for more conversations that move you from AI anxious to AI curious. Hosted by Erica Rooney and Greg Boone aka AISerious™, we're helping people and organizations embrace AI ethically, strategically, and with humanity at the center.
Follow us and join the movement to shape the future — before it shapes us.
🔗 Follow us and dive deeper:
On the web: https://voiceorvictim.com/
Greg Boone on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregboone
Erica Rooney on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericarooney/
© 2025 Walk West Production

For the first time in history, young people aren't the early adopters. And that's a problem.

Recorded live at MIT during the AI Powered Women Conference, this episode features Caren Cioffi, CEO and founder of Agenda Hero, an AI platform that eliminates manual calendar work. But this conversation goes far beyond productivity tools.

Caren reveals a troubling trend: Gen Z and Gen Alpha students are being actively blocked from using AI in schools. They're threatened with failing grades, disciplinary action, and even expulsion if caught using these tools. Meanwhile, the rest of the workforce is rapidly adopting AI and building fluency that will define the next decade of work.

The stakes are high. These are the students whose jobs will be most impacted by AI, yet they're being systematically prevented from learning how to work alongside it. While professionals are using AI to eliminate tedious work and focus on meaningful human connection, students are being taught to fear it.

This episode is for parents, educators, leaders, and anyone who cares about preparing the next generation for a world where AI is infrastructure, not optional.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why Gen Z and Gen Alpha are not adopting AI (and why that should worry us)
• How schools are punishing students for AI use instead of teaching responsible adoption
• The false choice between cheating and learning when it comes to AI tools
• How AI eliminates tedious work across professions (from doctors to lawyers to parents)
• Why curiosity matters more than skills in the AI era
• What happens when we free up human capacity for connection instead of paperwork
• How one founder built a global company solving a problem AI made newly possible
• The real risk of keeping our most capable generation on the sidelines

Erica and Caren discuss the uncomfortable truth that expensive college degrees may be preparing students for jobs that no longer exist, while simultaneously blocking them from the tools that will define their careers. But the conversation is grounded in optimism: when we eliminate the tedious, we create space for what truly matters.

If you're a parent wondering whether your kid should still study engineering, an educator trying to navigate AI policies, or a leader thinking about how to prepare the next generation, this episode will give you clarity without the panic.

👉 Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone navigating the AI revolution.

Subscribe to AI: Voice or Victim for more conversations that move you from AI anxious to AI curious. Hosted by Erica Rooney and Greg Boone aka AISerious™, we're helping people and organizations embrace AI ethically, strategically, and with humanity at the center.

Follow us and join the movement to shape the future before it shapes us.

🔗 Follow us and dive deeper:

On the web: https://voiceorvictim.com/

Greg Boone on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregboone

Erica Rooney on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericarooney/

© 2026 Walk West Production

What’s the difference between AI literacy and AI fluency - and why does it matter for leaders right now?

Recorded live at MIT during the AI Powered Women Conference, this episode of AI: Voice or Victim breaks down why understanding AI tools is no longer enough. Erica Rooney was joined by Elena Alikhachkina, a global technology and data leader with over 25 years of experience across companies like Dow Jones and Johnson & Johnson.

Together, they explore how AI has been influencing decisions in hiring, healthcare, finance, and content personalization for years - long before ChatGPT entered the spotlight. The real risk today isn’t AI itself, but passive leadership that fails to question, guide, or challenge automated systems.

This conversation is designed for executives, HR leaders, founders, and non-technical decision-makers who need practical clarity on AI without hype or jargon.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The key difference between AI literacy and true AI fluency
• Why AI fluency is a leadership and behavioral skill, not a technical one
• How AI already impacts hiring, recruiting, healthcare, and financial decisions
• Where leaders unknowingly become “victims” of AI systems
• Why curiosity, critical thinking, and asking better questions are future-proof skills
• What it means to manage both human employees and AI-driven systems

If you’re responsible for people, strategy, or organizational decisions, this episode will help you move from reacting to AI - to shaping it with intention.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome to AI: Voice or Victim
01:05 Live at MIT: AI-Powered Women Conference
02:10 Meet Elena Alikhachkina
03:40 AI Literacy vs AI Fluency
06:15 AI Before ChatGPT
08:40 AI in Hiring and Recruiting
11:10 When Leaders Become the Victim
13:55 The Three AI Opportunity Zones
17:45 Why Digital Transformations Fail
20:30 Leadership Mindset in the AI Era
24:10 Managing Digital Employees
27:45 Trust, Bias, and Overconfidence
31:10 Curiosity as a Leadership Skill
34:20 Teaching Better Questions
38:00 Human-to-AI Trust
41:15 The Future of AI Leadership
44:10 Elena’s AI Fluency Framework
47:30 Choose Your Role: Voice or Victim
49:00 Closing Thoughts

👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone navigating the AI revolution.

Subscribe to AI: Voice or Victim for more conversations that move you from AI anxious to AI curious. Hosted by Erica Rooney and Greg Boone aka AISerious™, we help people and organizations embrace AI ethically, strategically, and with humanity at the center.

Follow us and join the movement to shape the future — before it shapes us.

🔗 Follow us and dive deeper:

On the web: https://voiceorvictim.com/Greg Boone on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregboone
Erica Rooney on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericarooney/© 2025 Walk West Production