LinkedIn Voices: Conor Grennan

LinkedIn Voices: Conor Grennan

Conor Grennan stands at the frontier where behavioral science meets artificial intelligence. As Chief AI Architect at NYU Stern, bestselling author, and CEO of AI Mindset, he’s helping global leaders move beyond the buzzwords, showing that true AI transformation starts not with tools, but with people.

From corporate boardrooms to classrooms and MasterClass stages, Conor’s message is clear: AI adoption is a behavioral revolution disguised as a technical one.

Who Is Conor Grennan?

Conor Grennan is an AI strategist, educator, and bestselling author bridging technology, leadership, and human behavior. He currently serves as Chief AI Architect at NYU Stern School of Business, where he leads initiatives to make generative AI fluency a core competency across business education.

He is also the Founder and CEO of AI Mindset, a consulting and training organization helping leaders and teams navigate the human side of AI transformation. Through workshops, keynotes, and enterprise programs, Conor works with organizations like OpenAI, McKinsey, NASA, Google, and JP Morgan to accelerate responsible, high-impact adoption of generative AI.

Conor is a MasterClass instructor, a Board Member of the SHRM Foundation, and co-host of the “AI Applied” podcast, one of the top-ranked business news shows exploring how AI changes leadership, work, and culture.

His earlier career as a New York Times and #1 international bestselling author (for Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal) adds a rare human dimension to his work, connecting technology to empathy, purpose, and storytelling.

From Storytelling to System Design

Conor’s journey began far from machine learning labs. After years of humanitarian work in Nepal, he saw firsthand how storytelling could inspire global action. That experience laid the foundation for his unique approach to technology: start with human behavior, not technical capability.

When the generative AI wave began reshaping industries, Conor noticed the same pattern repeating; organizations rushing to deploy tools without addressing the habits, fears, and behaviors that determine whether innovation sticks.

“AI adoption isn’t a software problem; it’s a people problem,” Conor often says.

This realization led to the creation of his flagship framework: The AI Mindset™, a behavioral-first approach that helps organizations rewire culture, redefine workflows, and make AI part of daily decision-making.

Mission: Building AI Fluency for Everyone

Conor’s mission is to make AI understandable, adoptable, and empowering for everyone from executives to educators to students. Through AI Mindset, he helps teams develop the behaviors that drive lasting transformation.

His message is simple yet radical: AI success depends less on access to tools and more on the mindsets that shape how we use them.

His results and influence speak for themselves:

• 100,000+ LinkedIn followers engaged in AI leadership dialogue

• Partnerships with top global organizations

• Featured speaker at Fortune, Microsoft, digitalNow, and Nationwide events

• Reached millions through YouTube, MasterClass, and podcasts

  
  

Themes & Message Pillars

1. Behavioral AI Adoption

   • AI transformation starts with mindset, not mechanics. Train leadership first, then the organization follows.

     
     

2. The Four Horsemen of AI Adoption Failure

   The Lighthouse Case, The AI Champion, Use Case Overload, Tool Rollouts without Behavior Change; Conor’s framework identifies why most AI rollouts stall and how to overcome them.

   
   

3. Upskilling with Purpose

   Shift from “pilot programs” to “behavioral transformation.” Define success through real workflow redesign, not experimentation.

   
   

4. Human-in-the-Loop Leadership

   Build systems where human judgment complements AI efficiency, not replaces it.

   
   

5. AI Literacy for All

   Advocates for early education in AI fluency, cross-generational collaboration with Gen Z, and embedding curiosity into corporate culture.

   
   

LinkedIn Content Strategy: Leadership Meets Literacy

Conor Grennan On LinkedIn

On LinkedIn, Conor Grennan has built one of the most influential voices in the intersection of AI, leadership, and human behavior. His content blends academic depth, practical frameworks, and storytelling, making complex ideas accessible without diluting rigor.

Strategy Highlights:

• Behavior-first storytelling: Uses relatable corporate and personal examples to explain why AI adoption fails and how to fix it.

• Educational Playbooks: Breaks down frameworks like “The Four Horsemen” and “AI Mindset Breakthroughs” into step-by-step actions.

• Timely Analysis: Reacts to AI news (OpenAI, Copilot, McKinsey reports) with behavioral insights rather than hype.

• Leadership Voice: Speaks to C-suite audiences while remaining approachable to students and early-career professionals.

• Collaborative Posts: Frequently co-creates content and keynotes with his Gen Z co-host, highlighting intergenerational learning.

  
  

Top LinkedIn Posts:

www.linkedin.com

Microsoft's Copilot: AI for Everyone, from Pies to Health | Conor Grennan posted on the topic | LinkedIn

Breaking! Microsoft just made some big Copilot announcements - but my *favorite* thing was Mustafa Suleyman showing people how to use AI. I swear, it’s perfection. Check this out: First: Mustafa goes back to London and meets with a bunch of regular folks doing regular things - like this woman Annie who makes (savory meat) pies. Watch this video. I swear, I was getting emotional, and I’m not paid by Microsoft. It’s just that this is my dream - to go to every person on earth and just HELP them do this. (This was my excerpt - you can find the longer video on YouTube on Copilot Sessions: Fall Update) Okay, on to Copilot Features: Copilot Memory and User Control * Copilot now has long-term memory, meaning it can remember details from past conversations * You control what Copilot remembers -if you change your mind, you can update or delete any stored memory, either via chat or settings Connectors Across Services * Copilot can connect with other tools - Outlook, OneDrive, Gmail, Google Drive- so it can work with your calendar and stuff Health and Care Navigation * About 40% of users currently ask Copilot health-related questions each week, so Microsoft has integrated trusted partners like Harvard Health for reliable answers * Copilot can now help you find doctors near you, providing key info (ratings, contact details, and accepted insurance) Real Talk and Emotional Support * The new "Real Talk" mode lets Copilot challenge or push back on your ideas (less synchophancy!!) * Copilot is designed to be supportive, mirroring your conversation style and offering a warm, adaptive tone so it's less robotic * Mico, the avatar, helps Copilot appear more friendly and expressive, especially for users seeking emotional support or study help Study Mode, Quizzes, and Flashcards * In Mico's Study Mode, Copilot can patiently explain concepts, formulas, facts, and help users learn in a safe space with no judgment * New educational features (interactive quizzes, flashcards) focus on learning, not just giving answers directly—users can develop new skills and knowledge at their own pace Windows and Edge Integration * On Windows 11, you can summon it with "Hey Copilot" from anywhere when your PC is unlocked * Copilot Mode in Edge means you can ask it to summarize pages, book hotels, fill out forms, and more. Journeys let you revisit previous tasks or research threads easily Collaboration and Creation * Group copilot chats allow up to 32 participants to discuss, brainstorm, and split tasks with Copilot summarizing options and votes * File uploads, collaborative canvases (Copilot Pages), and new search functionality help users work together ++++++++ UPSKILL YOUR ORGANIZATION: When your organization is ready to create an AI-powered culture—not just add tools—AI Mindset can help. We drive behavioral transformation at scale through a powerful new digital course and enterprise partnership. DM me, or check out our website. | 145 comments on LinkedIn

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Exciting news: I’m now a MasterClass instructor! I'm co-teaching AI Strategy at Work: How to Become Indispensable. Drops tomorrow! You’ve heard me say it a million times - the barrier to AI adoption… | Conor Grennan | 216 comments

Exciting news: I’m now a MasterClass instructor! I'm co-teaching AI Strategy at Work: How to Become Indispensable. Drops tomorrow! You’ve heard me say it a million times - the barrier to AI adoption isn't technical. It's behavioral. That’s why in this class, I work alongside futurist Amy Webb from NYU Stern School of Business and Nichol Bradford, Executive in Residence at SHRM, to teach you how to work with AI like a strategic coworker. We show you how to audit your role using O*NET data and custom GPTs. We teach scenario planning frameworks so you can anticipate change before it happens. We cover validation techniques like chain-of-thought reasoning that can dramatically reduce AI errors. It's awesome. Most importantly, we teach you how to cultivate the distinctly human qualities - judgment, discernment, original thinking - that AI can't replicate. Communication skills are AI skills. Strategic thinking is your competitive advantage. This will be fun :-). | 216 comments on LinkedIn

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Don't fire employees for not using AI. Upskill them instead. | Conor Grennan posted on the topic | LinkedIn

So it begins. "Use AI or you're fired." If you're in leadership, please listen: This is a horrifying, awful strategy. Here's what to do instead: This approach is organizational suicide. When you do this, are actively discarding the irreplaceable value of your organization - the people who have spent years learning what quality looks like in your industry, what strategy means for your customers, what separates good work from garbage. These are the people AI is supposed to make superhuman, not replace. Upskilling people in AI is doable. What is NOT doable is recovering from the loss of institutional knowledge, strategic thinking, and hard-won expertise that walks out the door with them. You can't just have people who know how to use AI but have no idea what good looks like. A junior employee with ChatGPT and no domain expertise is just someone who can produce plausible-sounding nonsense faster. You need both. Always both. People driving innovation with AI + Domain Experts who are slower to adopt but who can be trained. The problem is that we are treating AI as if it is something you just turn on and start using. It is not. When we demand people "use AI," we're treating it like a professional accountant who has suddenly decided they like the feel of pen and paper instead of Excel. In that case, you SHOULD say "use Excel or you're fired" because the process of accounting is built around the accuracy and efficiency of that narrow tool. Excel doesn't change how you think about accounting. But AI is a new way of thinking. Telling people they need to "just use it" is like telling your company "we want to be healthier - everyone start eating less and exercising, go!" It's a behavioral shift, not a tool adoption. That's why one of the Four Horsemen of the AI Adoption Apocalypse is the tool rollout: thinking you can put a treadmill in every house in America and you're gonna cure heart disease. So here's what to do instead: upskill the entire organization. NOT by giving them access. NOT by telling them some use cases. NOT by showing them all the functionality. You have to shift how they think, which requires understanding literally what is happening in their brains to hold them back. This is what I teach a MasterClass on. It's what I've taught the biggest companies in the world. This approach works. If you are a leader and you are confident that you have the right people in place to drive value, then TEACH THEM AI through a behavioral-based training method - don't fire them and bring in young people who can fake their way through the first couple of months by using AI. Those cracks will show. You need your best brains using AI. You need people of all skill levels using AI. But if you're firing people who aren't using it, this is on YOU, not on them. There's a way. When you're ready, AI Mindset can help: DM me or visit our website at AI Mindset. You'll find what you need to transform your organization. | 141 comments on LinkedIn

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#digitalnow | Conor Grennan | 104 comments

A professional highlight! Finn Grennan and I just gave a joint keynote to 200 association leaders in Chicago at digitalNow, hosted by Sidecar. Finn discussed the disconnect between his generation (Gen Z) and the generations above him in the workforce. He got specific on -how young people are viewing AI -why they view it that way, -what real partnership can look like between students, new professionals, and those in leadership. And he described the framework they use at St. Luke's School. I won’t brag and share that 3 different people stopped him afterwards and asked how he became such an incredible speaker at age 16, bc who wants bragging on LinkedIn? (Insert winking or eye rolling emoji here- or maybe both.) So I’ll just say that working with him is a joy. Huge thanks to Sidecar and Blue Cypress for hosting! #digitalNow | 104 comments on LinkedIn

Tone & Style

• Analytical yet accessible: Simplifies complexity without oversimplifying truth.

• Empathetic leadership: Centers human behavior in technology transformation.

• Forward-looking: Positions AI not as replacement, but as augmentation of human potential.

  
  

Some of His Talks & Series

Conor Grennan, Keynote Speaker and Trainer on AI

The Most Important AI Study Yet - AI and Teams! (2025 Results)

Chief AI Architect at NYU Conor Grennan: How to Adopt AI Without Causing Chaos

Why Conor Grennan Matters

Conor Grennan represents a new generation of AI thinkers; one that refuses to separate data from humanity. In an era dominated by hype, he reminds leaders that technology only transforms organizations when people do.

By grounding AI in psychology, leadership, and storytelling, Conor is helping global organizations make AI adoption not just efficient, but human.

“AI doesn’t change your company. People do. AI just shows you who’s ready to lead.” - Conor Grennan

Profile Summary

Info	Detail
Name	Conor Grennan
Title	Chief AI Architect, NYU Stern; CEO, AI Mindset; MasterClass Instructor
Focus	AI Adoption, Leadership Behavior, Organizational Transformation
Experience	AI strategy, leadership training, behavioral transformation, best-selling author
Key Frameworks	The AI Mindset™, The Four Horsemen of AI Adoption
Audience	Executives, CHROs, educators, transformation leaders, Gen Z innovators
Engagement	100K+ LinkedIn followers; 1K+ average post reactions; global keynote speaker
Platforms	MasterClass, LinkedIn, YouTube, AI Applied Podcast
Media Features	Forbes, Entrepreneur, Washington Post, BBC
Clients	OpenAI, McKinsey, Google, NASA, JP Morgan
Website	www.ai-mindset.ai

Conor Grennan LinkedIn Profile:

www.linkedin.com

Conor Grennan - New York, New York, United States | Professional Profile | LinkedIn

Location: New York · 500+ connections on LinkedIn. View Conor Grennan’s profile on LinkedIn, a professional community of 1 billion members.