By PLUS Labs
PLUS Communications’ success has always been driven by the dedication and hard work of our team members. In this edition of our “AI Innovators” series, we’re featuring the leadership of Rebekah Gudeman. Rebekah is a Senior Managing Director in our digital practice. She has been with PLUS for eight years and has received four promotions during that time. Rebekah also played a key role in the growth of Speak4, an award-winning online advocacy platform, that was incubated at PLUS.
This year, Rebekah has been instrumental in embedding artificial intelligence (AI) deep into our culture, improving her own efficiency and empowering the team members she manages. AI is transforming communications and advertising. Rebekah’s dedication to harnessing this exciting new technology is providing our clients with a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
“AI is a force multiplier, allowing our entire team to work smarter and faster to deliver results for our clients,” said Partner Jamie Wren. “Rebekah has led the charge by pioneering smart strategies to leverage the latest and most powerful AI tools in everything from messaging to media monitoring. She’s not only created the playbook, but she’s championed its adoption – energizing her colleagues to put these technologies to work.”
“From day one, eight years ago, Rebekah has pushed our digital practice, and the company,” said Partner Chris Georgia. “Now, we’re seeing the benefits of pairing AI and our best people. Tasks that used to take hours take minutes, and entire projects that were prohibitive before are now possible. Thanks to innovators like Rebekah, PLUS is experimenting, building and scaling AI solutions that are making our business stronger and our clients more successful with their advocacy campaigns.” Read this Q&A on how Rebekah is innovating with AI.
As The Office’s Kevin Malone, an innovator ahead of his time once said, “Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick?” I started this year with a pretty bold goal: double my team’s total work output. Not theoretically. Literally double the number of clients and projects we support. And I set that goal before even factoring in AI as part of the equation.
AI is the reason that goal is actually tracking toward reality.
My general philosophy is that work should not create more work. So, I have spent the last year building small but mighty AI systems that eliminate busywork across PLUS. A few examples:
These are not flashy innovations, but they add real hours back into people’s weeks. AI moves me from “doing tasks” to “designing systems that prevent tasks,” which is way more fun.
It’s tempting to pick one shiny example, but the real win is bigger than a single output. AI is the only reason I can pursue a goal like doubling team capacity without sacrificing quality or people’s sanity.
One moment that stands out was a new business proposal that required us to interpret current stock market conditions and tie our recommendations to the client’s performance goals. Normally, that would mean about eight hours of channeling my inner “finance bro” to build the narrative from scratch.
Instead, using an AI workflow, I generated a clean introduction, a clear problem statement, a smart definition of our solution and tailored tactical recommendations — all in about two hours.
It wasn’t just faster. It was more precise. The narrative was stronger and the strategy work had more room to breathe.
Innovation is not always about the big reveal. Sometimes it’s about giving someone back half a workday, while also delivering a better product to the client.
I love that AI is elevating human strategy. It takes on the heavy lifting so we can spend more time thinking instead of formatting.
A simple example is AI image generation. For one client, we used to spend hours hunting for a stock image that had the right people in the right place with the right context and none of the elements we didn’t want. It was a strangely specific treasure hunt that rarely paid off.
Now, we generate images in seconds that match our exact specs. No compromises. No digging through 47 pages of search results. It has made the work better and raised the bar for what “good enough” looks like.
We are entering a chapter where AI expands creativity instead of limiting it. The tools get better. The humans get sharper. That is the part I am excited about.
I am a worrier by nature. It is part of my charm and also part of why people trust me with big decisions.
My main concern is people using AI to maintain instead of obtain. If the goal becomes “how do I avoid effort entirely,” we are missing the point. AI should raise the bar, not lower it.
There is also value in failing. If AI removes every friction point, we skip the learning moments that build instincts. Though if AI wants to save me from a few of my more spectacular failures, I will not fight it.
Side note: I do think we will eventually laugh at how obsessed everyone was with “catching people using AI.” It will feel like trying to police internet usage in 2002.
Now that AI has proven it can scale output, my next focus is expanding on an AI intelligence layer for PLUS. Something that connects:
…into one hub that answers questions in seconds, spots patterns earlier and helps teams work smarter without needing a treasure map of folders.
Basically a PLUS brain that gives everyone superpowers.
Reasonable superpowers though. Nothing that requires a cape.
As a recovering perfectionist, I once struggled with the whole “move fast and break things” mentality. AI helped by lowering the cost of failure. When failure is cheaper, you get braver.
One of my biggest personal fears is unfulfilled potential. The idea of looking back and thinking I could have done more or learned more or pushed further has always motivated me in a slightly chaotic but productive way.
AI lets me confront that fear daily. It gives me endless opportunities to test, tinker and try ideas I never would have had time or resources to explore before. It turns ambition into action instead of anxiety.
I stay current by using the tools every day, running tiny experiments, breaking things in low stakes ways and staying curious. Curiosity is undefeated.
AI is going to separate the problem solvers from the doers. Execution alone will not cut it anymore. AI can execute all day. What it cannot do is think strategically, solve puzzles or ask the right questions. That is where humans shine.
And if you are like me and your biggest fear is unfulfilled potential, AI is actually the antidote. It lowers the cost of experimentation, which means you learn more by default and become more capable faster.
If you are worried AI will replace your job, you are thinking about it the wrong way. AI is here to amplify your work, not erase it. Use it to remove the repetitive parts so you can focus on the judgment, the nuance and the taste that only humans bring.
Think of AI as your intern. A very fast intern. One that never sleeps. And occasionally gets things wildly wrong. But with the right direction it can make you look very good.
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