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In this episode of Sidecar Sync, hosts Mallory Mejias and Amith Nagarajan take a deep dive into Model Context Protocol (MCP), a revolutionary standard making it dramatically easier for AI to interact with data, tools, and systems—no code required. Mallory shares her personal setup experience with Claude for desktop, walking through a live example of using MCP to automate file organization. Amith expands on why MCP is a game-changer for association leaders, how it enables business users to go from idea to execution quickly, and why data liberation is the missing piece for many organizations. The duo also breaks down new insights from Anthropic’s Economic Index, which reveals that AI is currently used far more for augmenting human effort than full automation. It’s an episode rich with practical insights, technical clarity, and a peek into the fast-arriving future of AI in the workplace.

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🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
MCP Quickstart Guide ➡ https://modelcontextprotocol.io/quickstart/user
Claude for Desktop ➡ https://www.anthropic.com
Zapier ➡ https://zapier.com
Cursor ➡ https://www.cursor.so

Chapters:
00:00 - Welcome to Sidecar Sync and What’s Ahead
01:02 - Catching Up: Spring Break and Autonomous Driving
05:02 - What Is Model Context Protocol (MCP)?
07:06 - How MCP Works: Mallory’s Simple Explanation
08:11 - Step-by-Step: Setting Up Claude Desktop With MCP
12:42 - Live Demo: Moving Files Using Claude and MCP
18:01 - Why Associations Should Care About MCP
26:44 - MCP and the Role of AI Data Platforms
33:07 - What Is the Anthropic Economic Index?
35:59 - Key Findings: Augmentation Over Automation
39:34 - Amith on Real-World Automation Examples
44:46 - Vibe Coding: Cool Concept or Caution Zone?

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More about Your Hosts:

Amith Nagarajan is the Chairman of Blue Cypress 🔗 https://BlueCypress.io, a family of purpose-driven companies and proud practitioners of Conscious Capitalism. The Blue Cypress companies focus on helping associations, non-profits, and other purpose-driven organizations achieve long-term success. Amith is also an active early-stage investor in B2B SaaS companies. He’s had the good fortune of nearly three decades of success as an entrepreneur and enjoys helping others in their journey.

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Mallory Mejias is the Manager at Sidecar, and she's passionate about creating opportunities for association professionals to learn, grow, and better serve their members using artificial intelligence. She enjoys blending creativity and innovation to produce fresh, meaningful content for the association space.

📣 Follow Mallory on Linkedin:
https://linkedin.com/mallorymejias