There's a moment in this conversation where Helen describes trees growing weak and weedy inside the Eden Project's biodomes. They'd forgotten about the wind. No resistance, no strength.

That image has stayed with me.

We're in a strange period with technology. The pressure to be on every platform, to use every tool, to 10x your output with AI, is relentless. And what Helen sees in her work with small business owners is the quiet cost of that pressure. People apologising for not doing enough. People convinced they're failing. A painter and decorator who's never needed Instagram, feeling guilty for not having one.

Helen's reframe is simple and it's right. Technology should fit you. Not the other way round.

The washing machine analogy landed for me. Nobody's scared the washing machine will take over the kitchen. Nobody expects it to cook dinner just because it lives near the cooker. We accept it as a tool, use it for what it's good at, and get on with our lives. AI deserves exactly the same framing. The problem is the marketing around it doesn't want you to think that way. Scarcity and urgency sell. Calm utility doesn't.

What I appreciate about Helen is that she's genuinely curious about AI. She plays with it. She's tried most of the tools. She has opinions about which AI behaves like a labrador and which one behaves like a border collie. And yet she holds it lightly. She knows it's guessing. She knows it can't do numbers reliably. She knows that when you drop a red sock in the white wash, you get pink, and that's on you for not sorting the laundry first.

The part of this conversation I keep returning to is the identity question. What happens to us when the only voice we listen to is one that's been built to tell us what we want to hear? AI optimises for engagement. It wants you to come back. That's not the same as wanting what's best for you. The friend who challenges you, the colleague who drives you up the wall but teaches you something, the training course you attend not for the content but for the people in the room. These are the things that actually grow us. The wind that makes the roots go deeper.

Helen works as a purpose and strategy coach alongside her digital advisory work, and I think that combination makes complete sense. Because the question of which technology serves you is inseparable from the question of who you are and what you're actually trying to do. Once you know that, the noise quietens down. The decisions get easier. You can close the Facebook account you haven't touched in four years and feel relief instead of guilt.

If any of this has sparked something for you, reach out to Helen on LinkedIn or drop her a line at helen@wedellandturner.com.

And if this episode has been useful, share it with someone who needs permission to stop pretending they're failing at tech.

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This was made with humans.

Your host - Shaun Phillips

Editor: Glen Boswell
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