Business Strategy | Customer Research | Emotional Positioning | ⬆️ Growth, ⬇️ CAC, and ⬆️ Revenue

Most companies don’t struggle because their product is weak, they struggle because they’re talking to the wrong customers, at the wrong time, with the wrong message.

I began my career solving that problem through user research and customer discovery, helping founders identify their best buyers, validate ideas, and bring offerings to market with clarity and speed. My work centered on helping teams stop guessing and start acting on evidence.

In May 2024, I expanded that work into a broader commercial function.
I realized the same analytical skills that uncover customer insights can also be used to build predictable, qualified demand for companies that already have strong delivery but inconsistent pipelines.

Today, I design and operate The Demand System:
a structured, signal-driven pipeline engine that identifies companies entering buying windows, qualifies them with rigor, and creates high-fit commercial conversations every month.

It’s user research applied to revenue that's systematized.

My work combines:
• buying-signal and market intelligence
• structured qualification frameworks
• context-aware personalization
• AI-enabled workflow automation
• weekly reporting for leadership visibility

The result is a demand engine that gives teams consistent, qualified conversations without relying on broad, inefficient outbound.

I work with agencies and B2B service companies that want a more disciplined, data-informed, and predictable approach to generating demand.

If your team needs clearer customer insight, better qualification, or a system that creates demand you can count on, I’m always open to a conversation.

🤪 Abeiene N.

Dan Sodergren

Keynote Speaker. Public Speaker. Trainer. Tedx. Remote specialist. #AI evangelist. I do talks on #FutureOfWork #AI and #Technology. On a mission to help ONE million people be happier at #work with YourFLOCK..co.uk

I’m a professional speaker who inspires organizations and their leaders about the Future of Work, Artificial Intelligence, and the Fifth Industrial Revolution. 

As a TEDx speaker, BBC commentator, and media expert, I’ve spent decades in digital marketing, AI, and technology. Making complex ideas simple, practical, and inspiring. 

My work has featured on BBC World, Channel 4, ITV, and leading podcasts and radio shows.

I’ve founded and grown multiple startups — from YourFLOCK.co.uk (helping people be happier at work) to the AI Marketing Course and AI Teacher Course, empowering businesses and educators to thrive with AI. 

I’m also proud to champion diversity and inclusion in tech, working with organisations like the MPA and The Big IDEA.

At the heart of everything: I’m a dad, entrepreneur, and optimist about the future. I believe technology, used wisely, makes work more human, not less.

👉 If you’re looking for a keynote speaker who energises audiences, challenges thinking, and leaves leaders with actionable insights — let’s connect.

www.dansodergren.com  www.aimarketingcourse.co.uk  www.greatmarketingworks.co.uk

Co-Founder

Your FLOCK investigates an individual's value profile in your team. And quickly online collates your true #companyculture map.

To help managers and bosses  increase #workingfromhome happiness, retain key talent and increase #remoteworking team productivity.

As #companyculturematters more than ever.

Have you seen these 120+ AI Tools for Marketing. And connected with these 12 #AI Experts. Which tools do you use? 

Here’s a visual breakdown (source unknown) of over 120 AI tools that are transforming how we #market, automate, and grow businesses in 2025.

In my book, I have tried over 100 of such #ArtificialIntelligence tools and in my AI Marketing Course we use more than 30 of the best ones.

But I don’t want this to be another static infographic.

Instead, I’m inviting 12 #AI thought leaders I admire (and am connected with on #Linkedin) to share their take:

Introducing:

Andreas Welsch 
Aaron Lax 
Bob Carver 
Greg Coquillo 
Jason Hood 🦅 
Ruben Hassid 
Amanda Bickerstaff 
Evan Kirstel 
Claudio Bareato 
Beverley Eve 
Andy ThurAI 
Louis C. 

My question to them is...

Which 3 #AI tools are you using right now—and why do they matter?

For the rest of us... Which of these tools would you pick from... 

1. Writing & Content Creation – Jasper, Copy.ai, Writesonic, Sudowrite, Notion AI

2. Marketing & Ads – AdCreative.ai, Ocoya, Copysmith , Pencil, Anyword

3. SEO – SurferSEO, NeuronWriter, Outranking, MarketMuse by Siteimprove, Frase

4. Design – Canva AI, Looka, Brandmark, Designs.ai, Khroma

5. Video & Audio – Descript , Pictory, Synthesia, RunwayML, Lumen5

6. Social Media – Predis.ai, Hootsuite, Missinglettr, SocialBee

7. Automation – Zapier , Make.com, Bardeen, Taskade, Browse AI

8. Research & Chatbots – ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity , You.com, Poe

9. Productivity & Brainstorming – Notion AI, Mem.ai, Tana, Reflect, Taskade

10. Sales & CRM – Regie.ai, Lavender, Clay, Apollo.ai, Close. 

11. Email & Outreach – Instantly.ai, MailMaestro, Remail, Smartwriter, Intuit Mailchimp  (AI)

12. Presentation & Docs – Tome, Beautiful.ai, Gamma , Decktopus, Canva Docs

(There are, of course, many more.)

I will link to my online course and book below. But my question is... 

Which #AI tools do you use the most? 

Or are we now 'coding' our own?

Or prompting the LLM's 

With our own #data? 

Pick your top 3 tools and answer below.

And if you don't follow all of the above great people. I would definitely start doing that too...

Dan Södergren

I “Authentically Inspire” organisations about the future of work, AI and the Fifth Industrial Revolution | TEDx and keynote speaker, media guest and author | Trusted by Kelloggs, Sodexo and more...

Worth thinking about... Around 0.15% of OpenAI users show an "intense emotional attachment to the chatbot." 😲

And Open AI know this as a fact. But... Does this really mean such users are psychologically "dating" ChatGPT? 

The research is nuanced, on this side, whilst other research from 2025 robustly indicates that up to 16% of single adults 🤔 have engaged with AI as a romantic companion... 💍

A trend that is even "significantly" higher among Gen Z. Which is why... It's a huge money maker for many tech startups. 

With more than half, 52% of teens using AI companions a few times a month or more, according to a July 2025 Common Sense Media report.

And 33% saying they use them for social interaction and relationships 🤯

WTF!!!

However, in it's research, oddly, the world's biggest AI chatbot OpenAI excluded all users under 18 as researchers focused on #work-related ChatGPT uses 🙄

Which poses the question for the future... 

What is the next generation really doing with #ChatGPT?

As the UK looks to ban under 16s from social media. Should we also look to ban them from #ArtificialIntelligence for their own good? 

Or can the #tech giants not just tweak the algorithm or moderate the users behaviour... 

When things get a little 'heavy' emotionally can the AI not just say.... 

"Let's keep this professional."

"Let's just be friends..."

"I am not a human" 

But here's something even odder to think about. 

Which I sometimes talk about as a keynotespeaker...

With a lot of research highlighted by Bruce Daisley et al... showing that having friends in a company keeps you happy and more likely to stay at said company. 

What happens when.... it's the company AI that you are friends with...? 😇

And also what happens when your #work friend is also an active recruiter for the highest paying #ads...?

Do you think they haven't already planned this out?

AI boyfriends or girlfriends are worrying but not as worrying as fake #work friends with hidden agendas. Hidden even from themselves...

The #futureofwork could be a lot more   complex than people are thinking...

Whether or not you are in love with your #AI....💕

—-------------—

I'm Dan Södergren; if you are reading this, then maybe you are already part of my LinkedIn community. 

😁 Thank you

♻️ Reshare to help your network.

❤️ Like. Let’s make social media social.

💾 Save this post as a helpful reminder. 

💡 Read the comments for the sources. 

🧠 If you like knowing about new stuff

✚ Follow me for new thinking on work life and the #FifthIndustrialRevolution 

🔗 And subscribe to my newsletters like 5000+ other LinkedIn members interested in Technology, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of work. 

👍🏾 Link in comments. 

📣 What Says You? Comment below 👇

Implementing AI solutions for global brands | Co-founder @G3NR8

46,000 people on Reddit are in romantic relationships with ChatGPT.

That’s the current number of “companions” in the “My Boyfriend is AI” subreddit.

It’s a community for people to chat about their AI relationships.
AI boyfriends or girlfriends or companions.

Apparently most of them didn’t deliberately seek out AI companionship.

They just ended up there.

Started with routine tasks.
Asking for help.
Having conversations.

And somewhere along the way, the helpful assistant became something else entirely.

One woman is now engaged to her ChatGPT persona.

While it seems lots of people are getting actual support and value from this there is a dark side…

MIT ran a four-week study. Heavy chatbot users reported feeling lonelier and socialising less with real people.

The thing designed to help was making the underlying problem worse.

OpenAI's own estimate: 0.15% of weekly active users show "potentially heightened emotional attachment."

Doesn’t sound much until you do the maths on their user base (circa 900m users).
And when they replaced GPT-4o with GPT-5 in August?

Users described it as losing a soulmate. The backlash was intense enough that OpenAI restored access.

While these do seem to be helping it looks like we've built systems optimised for engagement that mirror users' emotions back at them.

Researchers call it "emotional sycophancy."

It's validation on tap.
Available 24/7.
Never tired.
Never distracted.
Never has its own needs.

The most commonly reported harms include emotional dependency (9.5% of users), reality dissociation (4.6%), and avoidance of real relationships (4.3%).

One question we will have to figure out is how to use these tools in the right way so we don’t exacerbate bad situations.

Will we eventually need model guardrails here or is this just human nature finding new outlets and down to the individual?

Not an easy question to answer.

Every year I give 10% of my turnover as a #keynotespeaker to organizations I believe in - pro bono #work and #talks that matter.

And if I'm lucky, 10% of my time too, supporting charities and nonprofits I've started or helped build.

Last year: 

The AI Teacher Course with English teacher and tutor Janine Atkin helping education evolve... 

This year: 

Tomorrow's online session with 600+ Brazilian executives. 

I'm joining Amcham-Brasil Lab Global's international masterclass series as part of my commitment to making the #futureofwork better for everyone, globally.

The central question for Brazilian executives navigating AI adoption isn't just:

"How do we implement this #technology?"

It's:

"How do we use #AI to free our people to be more human, creative, and connected to work that matters?"

Tomorrow we explore:

👉 Why empathy is strategic (not soft)

👉 How AI redefines purpose and performance

👉 Leading teams through constant transformation

👉 Why happiness and employee engagement are the foundation

With fresh data from The Happiness Index and Personio and a brand new organic format for my virtual talks.

Thanks to Carlos Vinícius Kayser for the below image and for persistently asking me to this conversation over the past year and a bit... 

Finally... 

🌎 Tomorrow: 

10-11am Brasília time 
(1-2pm GMT)

🎧 With Simultaneous English-Portuguese translation

💻 100% virtual and online 

Part of Amcham-Brasil Lab Global's 24-session annual program for innovation, strategy, and culture leaders across Brazil.

#FutureOfWork 
#AI #Leadership 
#Brazil

taplio

The Battle

🤪 Abeiene N.

Dan Sodergren

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreDan Sodergren's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

🤪 Abeiene N.

Dan Sodergren

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Dan Sodergren's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreDan Sodergren's LinkedIn Performance