Episode 320: How To Use AI In Consulting To Grow An HR Business - with Zoe Walters from Empowered AI

In this episode, Ben speaks with Zoe Walters, founder of Empowered AI, about the practical and human sides of AI transformation.

You can find the show here on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, and other podcast players.

Zoe shares her career journey from working on cruise ships and in recruitment to leading HR at Diesel, Adidas, and Condé Nast. She explains how those experiences shaped her understanding of people, culture, technology, and organizational change.

The conversation explores why businesses should begin with a problem rather than a tool, how AI can improve operations without creating more complexity, and why HR has an important role in leading AI adoption. Zoe Walters also discusses moving from corporate leadership into business ownership, building relationships through marketing, and preparing people for a changing future of work.

BEFORE WE START:

Check out our upcoming free webinar: Still Waiting for Your HR Consultancy to Pay Off? - How to attract better clients, win more profitable work, and build an HR consulting business that rewards your experience and expertise.

Topics discussed

• Zoe’s career across cruise ships, recruitment, fashion, Adidas, and Condé Nast, including her experience helping organizations move from print to digital

• How Empowered AI helps people-first businesses improve operations, connect technology systems, and use tools such as Copilot and Gemini more effectively

• Why HR can lead AI transformation through corporate education, management development, leadership development, and cultural evolution

• The consultancy’s work with former HR professionals who are building their own businesses and want to use AI across client acquisition, delivery, and operations

• Why time efficiency sits underneath almost every AI project, particularly for businesses trying to create more capacity

• The importance of starting with a problem statement rather than AI tooling, and why putting AI into a chaotic process can amplify the mess

• Zoe’s view that AI should help amplify and streamline human work, while judgment, empathy, wisdom, and emotional understanding remain distinctly human strengths

• The transition from being a CHRO to becoming a business owner, including the need to leave behind corporate conditioning and rethink the role entirely

• How Zoe changed her view of sales by focusing on the “know, like, trust” process rather than treating sales as something incompatible with HR

• Why relationship-building needs to come before a sales request, particularly when using LinkedIn and other professional networks

• How Empowered AI finds larger opportunities through AI alerts, RFP monitoring, referrals, recommendations, and consistent visibility around the problems it solves

• The personal discomfort involved in marketing a business, including cold calling, social media, networking, and putting yourself forward as an expert

• Zoe's PhD research into the future of work and the intersection between human capabilities and technology

• Meditation, breathwork, gratitude, nature, and journaling as practical ways to create space, notice patterns, and regulate reactions

• The idea of detaching from outcomes while still acting with intention, particularly in sales, networking, and business development

How Empowered AI markets and grows

Zoe describes marketing as a necessary part of building an AI consultancy, not an optional extra. Empowered AI creates visibility by sharing the problems it solves, maintaining a strong online presence, running webinars, and using referrals and recommendations to reach potential clients.

The business also uses AI alerts and scheduled searches for relevant RFPs, allowing the team to proactively identify opportunities rather than waiting for prospects to announce that they need AI transformation.

For potential clients, the focus is on practical demonstrations and working sessions rather than generic sales calls. Empowered AI shows how its tools can work in a specific business, then spends 20 to 30 minutes understanding the client’s operations and problem before deciding whether it can help.

Zoe also stresses that growth depends on building relationships over time. Her advice to HR professionals is to understand what matters to a prospective client, engage with their actual concerns, and avoid immediately pitching after making a connection.

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About The A Better HR Business Podcast

The A Better HR Business shares strategies, tactics, success stories, and more about marketing for HR consultancies and marketing for HR tech companies, and how to get more clients.

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For show notes and to see details of our previous guests, check out the podcast page here:

www.GetMoreHRClients.com/Podcast

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