A private equity operator, newly installed as CEO of a portfolio company, needed to have termination conversations with senior leaders who had lost their drive post-liquidity event.
HR provided standard training materials, but the conversations required psychological nuance the operator didn't feel equipped to deliver. With significant organizational stakes and no safe space to practice, he turned to Jeremy Utley for guidance on whether AI could meaningfully help him prepare.
Utley built a three-window ChatGPT workflow using ChatGPT Voice and O1: one window to profile the person being terminated, one to role-play the conversation via voice mode, and a third to deliver Kim Scott-style feedback on the executive's approach.
The PE operator conducted his termination conversation and received unsolicited praise from the head of HR, who called it "the most effective conversation I've ever witnessed in the company", without knowing AI had assisted in the preparation.
The entire preparation cycle, profiling, role-play practice, and expert feedback, was completed in approximately 10–15 minutes using off-the-shelf ChatGPT, requiring no proprietary tools or significant investment.
A non-technical NPS facilities manager built a custom GPT in 45 minutes that compressed federal statement-of-work paperwork from 3 days to under 1 hour per project. One colleague alone saved an estimated 40 days of labor per year (20 SOWs/year × 2-day reduction). Scaled across the park service, Jeremy estimated 10,000+ days of labor could be saved annually.