Lintu Solutions, Inc.

08/25/2026

Six years ago today, on August 25, 2020, I signed the Articles of Incorporation for Lintu Solutions, Inc. 🎂

It’s hard to believe how much life can change in six years. Lintu was born in the middle of a pandemic, in a world that looked very different from the one we’re living in today. Remote work was suddenly becoming normal. AI was largely something happening behind the scenes. ChatGPT didn’t exist. Today’s AI agents certainly didn’t exist. And the world of government contracting looked very different.

Since then, Lintu has grown, struggled, adapted, succeeded, learned, changed direction more than once—and kept going. We’ve supported important federal programs, developed apprentices, worked with commercial clients and helped organizations navigate some extraordinary changes in technology.

But when I look back over these six years, the story isn’t really just about a company. My whole life changed along with it.

I moved to West Virginia and somehow this beautiful place became home. I became part of a community that I couldn’t have imagined when I signed those papers six years ago.

I gained two dogs who have brought an enormous amount of companionship, laughter and occasional chaos into my life. 🐾 And perhaps most wonderfully of all, during these six years I became a grandmother—not once, but three times. ❤️

Along the way there have been new neighbors, business colleagues, church friends, community friends, artists, fellow volunteers and people who simply showed up at exactly the right moment and became part of my life.

There have also been losses, difficult seasons, uncertainty and plenty of moments when the path ahead wasn’t obvious. Maybe that’s why I think differently about success today than I did six years ago.

Success isn’t just revenue. It isn’t a contract award. It isn’t a certification or a title or how quickly a company grows.

What matters is community and being able to contribute something to the place where you live. So does watching your grandchildren grow. And interestingly, my thinking about technology has changed in much the same way.

Six years ago I was much more likely to ask: What can technology automate? Today I’m increasingly asking: How can technology help people live and work better without diminishing the things that make us human?

Technology has changed enormously in six years.

- So has government contracting.
- So has business.
- So has Lintu.
- And so have I.

But perhaps one of the greatest lessons of these six years is that growth isn’t always about getting bigger. Sometimes growth looks like becoming more rooted, more useful, more grateful and more certain about what really matters.

So today I’m celebrating six years of Lintu Solutions. But I’m also celebrating six years of unexpected life. A company, two dogs, three grandchildren, a community, a host of wonderful new friends, and more lessons than I could possibly count.

I certainly couldn’t have predicted all of this when I signed those incorporation papers on August 25, 2020. I’m very grateful I didn’t know exactly where the road was going. Some of the best parts would have been impossible to plan. ❤️

Happy 6th birthday, Lintu Solutions. Here’s to the next chapter.

08/21/2026

Are you training AI to replace yourself?

Every time you use AI, ask yourself one uncomfortable question:

Am I teaching this tool to make me better at what I do — or am I teaching it how to do what I do without me?

There’s a difference.

If you use AI to write every email, make every decision, generate every idea, solve every problem and even tell you what you think… eventually, what exactly are you bringing to the table?

I work in technology, and I believe AI can be incredibly useful. But I’m becoming increasingly convinced that the most important skill of the AI era may not be learning how to use AI.

It may be learning when NOT to use it.

Use AI to eliminate drudgery.
Use it to organize information.
Use it to explore possibilities.
Use it to help you move faster.

But keep doing the things that make you valuable:

🧠 Think deeply.
💡 Create original ideas.
🤝 Build relationships.
🎨 Make things with your own hands.
❓ Wrestle with difficult questions.
🧭 Exercise judgment.
❤️ Develop empathy.
📚 Learn things instead of always asking for the answer.

And sometimes, write the first draft yourself.

Because if we outsource every uncomfortable, difficult or time-consuming part of thinking, we shouldn’t be surprised when our ability to do those things begins to weaken.

The goal shouldn’t be to make humans unnecessary.

The goal should be to use technology to make humans more capable.

So here’s my challenge for the weekend:

Before you open an AI tool, ask yourself:

“Is AI helping me exercise my human capabilities — or helping me avoid exercising them?”

That may turn out to be a much more important question than, “What can AI do?”

08/21/2026

I’m no longer interested in selling you AI.

I was doing business transformation long before ChatGPT existed. I worked in Business Process Reengineering when companies were tearing apart decades-old ways of working and rebuilding them around new technology.

I went on to lead technology work in major corporate and federal environments—including work supporting NASA—where technology had to perform in the real world, not just look impressive in a demo.

I’ve worked in cybersecurity.

And over the last several years, I’ve gone deep into AI: studying it, building with it, teaching it and helping organizations figure out what to do with it.

And I’ve become convinced we’re asking the wrong question.

“How can we use AI?”

That’s not where I want to start anymore.

I want to ask:

“What is preventing your business—and your people—from performing better?”

Because I’ve watched technology waves come and go.

The pattern is remarkably familiar.

A breakthrough arrives.

Vendors rush in.

Consultants promise transformation.

Executives become afraid of falling behind.

And suddenly everyone has a solution looking for a problem.

I’m not interested in doing that with AI.

Bring Lintu Solutions the business problem.

If AI is the best answer, we’ll use it.

If ordinary automation can solve it for a fraction of the complexity, we’ll use that.

If you’re paying for software that already does what you need, we’ll tell you.

If the real problem is cybersecurity, we’ll address it.

If the process itself is broken, we’ll help fix it.

If your employees need better tools or training, we’ll work on that.

And if a capable human should continue doing the work?

We’ll tell you that, too.

That’s not anti-AI.

That’s experienced technology leadership.

After decades in this business, I don’t believe the goal is to help companies adopt more technology.

The goal is to help companies become more capable, more productive, more secure and more profitable because of the technology they choose to use.

That’s the next chapter for Lintu Solutions.

People first.
Business outcomes first.
Technology with a purpose.
AI when it earns its place.

There are thousands of companies willing to sell you AI right now.

I’d rather be the technology partner you trust to tell you when you don’t need it.

08/19/2026

💡 Tech Tip Tuesday: What’s Your Technology Plan If the Internet Goes Down?

For most small businesses, the internet has quietly become part of almost everything we do.

Then one day…it goes down.

Could you still:

💳 Take payments?
📞 Reach your customers?
📅 Access your schedule?
📂 Open the files you need?
📧 Communicate with employees?
🧾 Create an invoice or look up an order?

If the answer to several of those is no, you may have a bigger business-continuity risk than you realize.

This week’s Tech Tip is simple:

Spend 10 minutes thinking through what your business would do if you lost internet access for an entire business day.

Start with your five most critical activities. For each one, ask:

➡️ Does it require an internet connection?
➡️ Is there an offline alternative?
➡️ Could a phone or cellular hotspot temporarily keep us operating?
➡️ Do we have important contact information somewhere other than the cloud?
➡️ Does everyone know what to do if our primary system isn’t available?

You don’t necessarily need an expensive disaster-recovery system. A small retail business might need a backup way to take payments. A professional-services company might need offline access to critical files. Another business may simply need a documented procedure and a mobile hotspot.

The important part is figuring it out before the internet goes down—not while customers are standing in front of you.

Technology resilience isn’t just an IT issue. It’s a business issue.

At Lintu Solutions, we help small businesses look at technology from that bigger perspective—from everyday IT and websites to cybersecurity, AI, software, automation and business continuity.

Because good technology isn’t just about what happens when everything works.

It’s also about being prepared for when it doesn’t.

08/11/2026

💡 Tech Tip Tuesday: CLICKED A SUSPICIOUS LINK? Here’s what to do next.

It happens.

An email looks legitimate. A text appears to be from someone you know. You click—and then something about it doesn’t feel right.

Don’t panic, but don’t ignore it either. What you do next matters.

If you clicked a suspicious link:

1. Stop interacting with the page. Don’t enter a password, payment information, or other personal information.
2. Close the page. If anything downloaded, don’t open the file.
3. If you entered a password, change it immediately—using the legitimate website or app, not the link you clicked. If you’ve used that same password elsewhere, change it there too.
4. Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA) if you haven’t already.
5. Tell whoever handles technology or cybersecurity for your business. Don’t be embarrassed and don’t wait. Early action can prevent a small incident from becoming a much bigger one.
6. If you entered banking or credit-card information, contact the financial institution directly using a trusted phone number or app.

And one important point for business owners:

Create a culture where employees feel safe reporting a mistake quickly.

An employee who immediately says, “I think I clicked something I shouldn’t have,” gives you a chance to respond. An employee who’s afraid to admit it may unintentionally give an attacker hours or days to work.

Cybersecurity isn’t just about buying security software. It’s also about having good habits, good processes, and knowing what to do when something goes wrong.

At Lintu Solutions, we help businesses strengthen cybersecurity while keeping it practical and understandable for the people who actually have to use the technology.

Save this post—you may be glad you have it someday.

08/10/2026

We don’t mind getting our hands dirty. But there are some lines we won’t cross.

There’s a lot of conversation about AI right now that happens at 30,000 feet—autonomous agents, artificial general intelligence, ever-larger models and predictions about a future that hasn’t arrived yet.

At Lintu Solutions, we’re much more interested in what happens on the ground, in the real world.

- Can AI save your employees five hours a week?

- Is it safe and does it protect privacy?

- Can it help someone find the information they need in seconds instead of searching for 20 minutes?

- Can it reduce repetitive administrative work?

- Can it help a small team handle more business without immediately adding another salary?

- Can we measure whether it actually worked?

That’s the AI we’re interested in building. And we’ve decided there are some lines we won’t cross.

We believe AI should make people more capable—not make human judgment irrelevant.

When an AI-generated result matters, a qualified human should have a meaningful way to evaluate it. We won’t recommend autonomous AI simply because it’s technically possible.

And we won’t automate people out of a process when the better answer is to use technology to make those people dramatically more effective.

Sometimes the best AI solution isn’t particularly glamorous. It might eliminate three hours of data entry. Find the right document instantly. Draft something that an employee reviews in two minutes. Catch something that otherwise might have been missed.

That’s okay. Because we’re not trying to win an AI science experiment. We’re trying to help businesses work better.

- Build what is useful.
- Verify what matters.
- Measure the result.
- Keep humans in control.

That’s our approach to human-centered AI at Lintu Solutions. And yes, sometimes we’re willing to get a little muddy doing it.

08/07/2026

There are evenings when the sky seems to remind us that progress doesn’t always mean moving faster.

I spend a lot of my professional life thinking about AI—what it can do, where it’s going, and what it means for businesses trying to keep up.

And then I look out my back door and see this. No algorithm required.

As AI becomes more powerful and more embedded in our work, I think the competitive advantage will increasingly belong to organizations that know what should be automated—and what shouldn’t.

Use AI to eliminate drudgery.
Use it to find insights hidden in data.
Use it to help small teams accomplish things that once required much larger ones.

But preserve the things that make a business—and a life—distinctly human:

Judgment.
Relationships.
Creativity.
Community.
Trust.
The ability to stop long enough to notice a sky like this.

At Lintu Solutions, that’s increasingly how I think about AI adoption.

The goal isn’t more AI.
The goal is a better business—with humans still firmly at the center of it.

And sometimes, the smartest thing we can do is simply look up.

08/04/2026

💡 Tech Tip Tuesday: Before You Buy Another App, Ask AI How to Use What You Already Have

One of my favorite things about AI is its ability to look at what you already have and suggest possibilities you may not have considered.

I recently did this in my own kitchen. I had ingredients that needed to be used and leftover dressing from cucumber salad. Instead of starting with a recipe and buying more ingredients, I told AI what I already had.

It helped me turn those odds and ends into a delicious Asian-inspired meal.

And that got me thinking: small businesses can do exactly the same thing.

Before buying another software subscription, hiring someone, or replacing a system, ask:

➡️ What technology are we already paying for?
➡️ Which features aren’t we using?
➡️ What repetitive work could we simplify?
➡️ Could our existing systems work together better?
➡️ Where are we wasting time or duplicating effort?

Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, QuickBooks, your website, CRM, scheduling software—and even your existing customer information—may have capabilities you’re barely using.

AI can help you identify those opportunities.

The smartest technology strategy isn’t always adding more technology. Sometimes it’s getting more value from what you already have.

That’s also how we approach technology at Lintu Solutions. We can help you figure out what you already own, what you actually need, and where AI, automation, website improvements, cybersecurity, or better integration could make your business run better.

Think of it as looking in the business refrigerator before going shopping. 😊

08/01/2026

AI is powerful. But human beings are extraordinary. This video is a fascinating reminder of just how sophisticated the human body really is.

Every moment, our bodies are processing information, responding to our environment, regulating complex systems, adapting, healing and communicating with us—often without our conscious awareness.

And that offers an important perspective as artificial intelligence becomes more capable.

AI is exceptionally good at certain things: processing enormous amounts of information, recognizing patterns, generating content, automating repetitive work and helping us solve problems faster.

But those capabilities represent only a small part of the total human experience—perhaps 10–15% is a useful way to think about it.

Human intelligence isn’t just what happens in our conscious thoughts. It’s also experience. Intuition. Emotion. Physical sensation. Relationships. Creativity. Values. Judgment. Context. Conscience. And all of the incredibly complex biological systems working together inside us.

That’s why at Lintu Solutions, we believe the best future for AI isn’t one where technology replaces people.

It’s one where we use AI for what machines do exceptionally well—so people have more time and capacity to do what humans do exceptionally well.

The human body and mind are remarkable systems that we still don’t completely understand. Maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to assume that the goal is to recreate them.

Instead, we can build technology that supports them. That’s what human-centered AI means to us.

Use the technology. Get the efficiency. Capture the value. But keep humans at the center.

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print i...

07/28/2026

💡 Tech Tip Tuesday: AI Can Help You Find Value in What You Already Have

Yesterday I had one of those “What’s for dinner?” moments.

I had some tofu, rice, chives, yellow and orange bell peppers…and a container of leftover dressing from a cucumber salad.

Not exactly a recipe.

So I asked AI:

“Here’s what I have in my refrigerator and pantry. What can I make?”

The suggestion surprised me.

It recommended using the cucumber salad dressing as the base for an Asian-inspired stir fry sauce. A little soy sauce, garlic, ginger later, I had a delicious meal that I probably never would have thought to make on my own.

It reminded me of something I see every day in business.

Many organizations are looking for the next shiny technology while overlooking the value sitting right in front of them.

- The software you already pay for…
- The customer data you already collect…
- The expertise your employees already have…
- The processes you’ve built over the years…

Sometimes the biggest opportunity isn’t buying something new—it’s using what you already have more creatively.

That’s one of the best uses of AI. Not replacing your judgment. Not making decisions for you.

But helping you connect ideas, discover possibilities, and make better use of the resources you already have.

Whether it’s creating dinner from leftovers or finding hidden opportunities in your business, AI can be a surprisingly creative partner.

What’s the most unexpected way you’ve used AI recently? We’d love to hear about it in the comments!