Thursday, October 1, 2026
In a business world flooded with buzzwords, rushed technology adoption and constant pressure to “keep up,” Susan Gatti believes most leaders are asking the wrong question when planning for an AI investment.
Instead of starting with the latest AI tool or flashy software platform, the founder of Disruptive Spark® says companies should begin with something much more human: clarity, mindset and trust.
“We want to be the voice in your head that’s guiding you toward factual decisions, not knee-jerk reactions,” Gatti said during a recent interview about her executive mentorship and consulting work. “Being good stewards of your reputation, your company and the people who work for you, that’s what matters.”
Gatti is a Long Island-based business advisor, executive mentor, speaker and founder of Disruptive Spark®, a boutique performance consultancy that works with growth-minded leaders and mid-sized businesses. Drawing on decades of leadership experience in industries including banking, hospitality, retail and education, she helps organizations navigate change, improve operational performance and embrace emerging technology without losing sight of company culture or human connection.
At a time when businesses feel mounting pressure to adopt artificial intelligence and automation tools, Gatti said many executives are being manipulated and operating from fear messages.
“Leaders are being told, ‘Do something with AI or we’re going to be left behind,’” she explained. “That pressure to be relevant, mixed with the reality that many organizations don’t yet know what actually needs to be done, leads to uncertainty that causes indecision."
That uncertainty is exactly where Disruptive Spark® steps in.
Rather than pushing businesses toward expensive technology purchases, Gatti’s consulting model focuses first on identifying the actual problem a company is trying to solve, then following a proven decision model to help business leaders make smarter, more confident decisions.
“We’re not looking for a tool,” Gatti said. “We’re looking to solve a fundamental problem in the business.”
According to Gatti, most companies struggle with three common operational pain points: inefficient repetitive tasks, customer service friction and concerns around security and financial risk. AI can help solve each of those issues, she said, but only if leaders approach implementation strategically.
Long Island businesses, she said, are in a particularly important moment right now. Rising costs, hiring challenges, fraud concerns and increasing competition are placing enormous pressure on local companies to operate more efficiently while protecting the relationships and reputations they’ve spent years building.
“Every dollar counts right now,” Gatti said. “AI tools that allow businesses to go deeper with the client base they already have are always less expensive and more valuable than constantly chasing new customers.”
Another major focus for Disruptive Spark® is helping companies navigate is the often overlooked emotional side of business transformation for team members. “Nobody wants change, not even change for the good,” she said. “Our whole body is designed to keep us the same.”
She believes that resistance is one of the biggest reasons large-scale technology initiatives fail.
Early in her consulting career, she recognized the problem often had less to do with the technology itself and more to do with how organizations communicated and prepared for change.
“It’s not the system or the process that usually fails,” she said. “It’s individual resistance.”
Gatti points to a striking statistic that has become central to her work: “Ninety-five percent of our decisions are automatic and come from our subconscious neural networks,” she said. “Surprisingly, what leaders say, and how they say it, actually influences the level of resistance our teams experience more than we ever realized.”
That philosophy shapes many of the coaching strategies she uses with both executives and implementation teams to increase acceptance for the change. Through workshops, mentoring sessions and organizational training, Gatti teaches leaders how communication patterns directly influence productivity, confidence and resistance to change.
“One of the things we do all the time is help leaders change their words to a more receptive language frequency,” she said. “It’s the easiest thing to do, but it’s incredibly powerful.”
She said resistant thought patterns that keep team members stuck in a resistance loop are deeply ingrained and often formed long before adulthood.
“We train leaders to spot resistance types and patterns by listening to a person’s word choice in response to readiness questions,” Gatti said. “All you have to do to change the program is to change the language and the body responds differently.”
Even simple shifts in how we present change and examining our own internal dialogue can have measurable effects on performance and decision-making, she said.
“For example, if you repeat phrases that affirm the outcome you want, like: ‘Today is going to be a great day.’ ‘Everything is always working out for me.’ ‘All the right things will get accomplished; you will naturally experience less internal resistance,’” Gatti said.
“It sounds so simple, but it reframes the internal narrative and tone.”
That mindset work becomes especially important during periods of uncertainty and rapid change — conditions many businesses are experiencing right now.
Disruptive Spark® now works with organizations to reduce that resistance by building readiness campaigns before implementation begins. The company offers leader education, communication strategies, readiness assessments and coping practices that empower teams to feel calmer, more comfortable and more engaged during transitions.
“We found that when people understood the value for them personally, adoption rates skyrocketed,” Gatti explained. “Companies that really invest in helping their teams build readiness can see 70 to 80 percent engagement with new systems in a very short period of time.”
Gatti believes local companies must take cybersecurity and data protection far more seriously as AI tools become more widespread.
“Fraud is on fire right now,” she said. “And it’s not just a big company problem anymore. Every business is at risk.”
One of the key services Disruptive Spark® offers is helping organizations establish ethical AI standards and clear communication policies before problems arise.
“I would double down very quickly on creating AI ethics and standards of behavior inside organizations,” Gatti said. “Everybody is experimenting with AI right now, whether the company has sanctioned it or not.”
By creating those guardrails early, businesses can protect themselves legally and financially while building trust internally with employees and externally with customers.
Beyond consulting, Gatti is also a nationally recognized speaker and workshop leader whose programs focus on leadership wellness, workplace culture and sustainable performance. Her keynote presentations, including “Less Hustle, More Flow,” encourage leaders to rethink burnout culture and create healthier systems for growth.
At the center of all her work is one consistent belief: successful organizations are built by leaders who learn how to stay grounded, intentional and adaptable.
“If you want to change and influence the things around you, start with yourself,” she said.
For companies feeling uncertainty, her message is both practical and reassuring: start small, focus on the real problem and build from a strong foundation.
“The success of a tree’s growth is determined by the foundation of the soil in which it’s planted,” Gatti said. “That’s true for businesses too.”
Visit www.disruptivespark.com or call 516-202-8884 for more information.
