Using AI at Work: AI in the Workplace & Generative AI for Business Leaders

Send us Fan Mail
AI adoption stalls when leaders delegate the thinking. In this episode Chris sits down with Geoff Woods, bestselling author of The AI-Driven Leader and founder of AI Leadership, to explore why AI strategy must begin with the CEO and executive team. Geoff explains the difference between using AI for minor tasks and using it as a strategic thought partner for the decisions that shape enterprise value.
They break down the CRIT framework, practical prompts for solving major business problems, a financial review exercise that created stronger operating visibility, and a leadership exercise designed to multiply the value of high-performing employees. Geoff also shares what changed in the updated 2026 edition of his book and how leaders can access its companion training and bonuses. Listen to learn how to move AI from scattered tool usage into a leadership discipline that improves judgment, alignment, and execution.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
03:23 From Executive Operator to AI-Driven Leader
07:12 Why AI Leadership Belongs to the CEO
10:10 Solving Strategic Problems With the CRIT Framework
15:48 Two Sticky Notes for Daily AI Adoption
17:01 The AI CFO Prompt and Financial Visibility
24:37 Scaling AI From Strategy to Company-Wide Execution
27:19 How AI Champions Drive Cultural Adoption
34:27 What Changed in the Updated Edition
37:58 The Executive Multiplier Exercise
43:16 Book Bonuses, Leadership Training, and the Team Accelerator

🔎 Find Out More About Geoff Woods:
Geoff Woods Official Bio: https://www.aileadership.com/geoff-woods/
Geoff Woods on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoff-woods-8534774
Book: The AI-Driven Leader, updated 2026 edition: https://www.aileadership.com/book/
Bonus redemption page:
https://www.aileadership.com/book/redeem
AI Leadership: https://www.aileadership.com/
AI Leadership Newsletter: https://www.aileadership.com/newsletter
The AI-Driven Leader Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2qSY9ZFTBJisoKp9eACbeb
The AI-Driven Leader Podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ai-driven-leader/id1723615439

🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned:

The CRIT Prompt Framework
CRIT stands for Context, Role, Interview, and Task.
Context: Describe the problem in vivid detail.
Role: “You are a world-class chief growth officer who is also an aggressive, growth-minded board member. You think strategically about the business that could put us out of business and how we could build it first. Focus on the 20% that drives 80% of the results.”
Interview: “Interview me. Ask me one question at a time, up to three questions, to gain deeper context.”
Task: “Give me the top three high-impact, non-obvious strategies I can deploy to solve this problem.”
CRIT framework resource:
https://www.aileadership.com/newsletter/crit-happens-the-viral-framework-transforming-how-leaders-think
Financial Review CRIT Prompt
Context: “Here are my financials for the last month.” Attach the relevant financial statements.
Role: “You are a world-class CFO who is excellent at telling a CEO what they do not know, but should know, about their business based on their financials.”
Interview: “Interview me. Ask me one question at a time, up to five questions, to gain deeper context.”
Task: “Tell me the top five things I am not seeing that I should be seeing, and what I should do in the next 30 days to improve the financial health of my company.”
Executive Multiplier Exercise
Write a CRIT prompt that asks AI to help you identify your greatest strengths, including strengths you may not currently be using inside the business. Compare those strengths with the company’s goals and cast a vision for how you could bring 10 times to 100 times more value.
Then identify:
The high-value work to double down on
Work that should stop
Work AI can augment or automate
Work that still requires a human
The responsibilities, priorities, onboarding plan, and job description for the person who could take over the remaining work
This exercise is based on the leadership example Geoff shares during the episode.
The Two-Sticky-Note Exercise
Sticky note one: “How can AI help me do this?”
Sticky note two: “Context, Role, Interview, Task.”
Place both notes where you work and use them as a daily trigger to apply AI to meaningful strategic problems rather than only administrative tasks.
ChatGPT
https://chatgpt.com/
Claude
https://claude.ai/
Microsoft Copilot
https://copilot.microsoft.com/
Google Gemini
https://gemini.google.com/
Claude Code
https://www.anthropic.com/claude-code
ElevenLabs
https://elevenlabs.io/
AI Leadership Collective
https://www.aileadership.com/collective/

Send us Fan Mail
The labor market is moving faster than most leaders can see. In this episode Chris sits down with Cary Sparrow, founder and CEO of WageScape, to discuss how real time labor market intelligence is reshaping hiring, compensation, workforce planning, and the competition for talent.
Cary explains why traditional labor market data often moves too slowly for executive decisions, how pay transparency is changing the talent market, and why AI literacy is becoming a practical requirement across roles. The conversation gives leaders a clear view of how AI is affecting both workforce strategy and individual career resilience, making this episode worth listening to for anyone responsible for hiring, talent, or organizational performance.

Chapters:
(00:00) Introduction
(03:50) From Submarine Officer to WageScape Founder
(07:56) Why Traditional Labor Market Data Falls Short
(11:38) Building a Global Labor Market Data Engine
(14:53) How WageScape Uses Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT
(17:37) Better Pay Decisions With Local Talent Intelligence
(21:02) What Pay Transparency Really Means
(25:57) AI Literacy Is Showing Up in Job Descriptions
(30:55) What Hiring Teams Really Mean by AI Literacy
(36:17) Where AI Creates Growth and Workforce Risk
(43:07) Why Executives Need Strategic AI Fluency
(49:38) Career Advice for Executives and Staff Leaders

Resources:
🔎 Find Out More About Cary Sparrow:
Cary Sparrow LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carysparrow

WageScape
https://wagescape.com

WageScape LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/wagescape-1 

🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned:
WageScape
https://wagescape.com/ (WageScape)

Claude
https://claude.com/ (Claude)

Anthropic
https://www.anthropic.com/

ChatGPT
https://chatgpt.com/

OpenAI
https://openai.com

Google Gemini
https://gemini.google.com

Bureau of Labor Statistics
https://www.bls.gov/

Send us Fan Mail
AI in education is no longer a future debate, it is a leadership decision happening now. In this episode Chris talks with Jason Hill, Deputy Superintendent and CBO at Redlands Unified School District, about what AI adoption looks like inside a large K-12 school district with major operational, safety, instructional, and community considerations.

Jason explains how Redlands approached staff AI access, parent concerns, student safety, AI use policies, and the importance of teaching AI literacy as a core readiness skill. He also shares practical lessons business leaders can apply immediately, including acceptable-use levels, human review, workflow automation, and the mindset shift from prompting to delegation.

Listen to this episode to understand how responsible AI adoption happens when leaders balance speed, governance, trust, and real-world execution.

Chapters

00:00 Episode Trailer
02:20 Meet Jason Hill: Leading AI Adoption in K-12 Education
05:41 Overcoming Fear: The Strategy to Flip the AI Switch
11:42 Navigating Parental Pushback and Teacher Concerns
17:05 The Core Argument: Preparing Students for the Future of Work
22:41 What Parents Should Ask Their School Districts About AI
23:49 Implementing Levels of AI Access for Different Age Groups
26:37 Safety First: Filtering and Monitoring AI Interactions
29:41 How Parents Can Get Involved in AI Policy Decisions
35:16 Real-World AI Application: Analyzing Complex Financial Reports
42:11 The Future of AI: From 'The Thing' to an Everyday Tool
47:06 Establishing Acceptable Use Policies in Business and Education

Resources

🔎 Find Out More About Jason Hill

Jason Hill on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsn-hill

Redlands Unified School District Business Services: https://www.redlandsusd.net/departments/business-services (redlandsusd.net)

Redlands Unified School District: https://www.redlandsusd.net

Jason Hill email: jason_hill@redlands.k12.ca.us

🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned:
Claude https://claude.ai
Gamma https://gamma.app
ChatGPT https://chatgpt.com
OpenAI https://openai.com
Anthropic https://www.anthropic.com
Google Gemini for Education https://edu.google.com/products/google-workspace-for-education/gemini/
Circle https://circle.so
Codex https://openai.com/index/introducing-codex/

Send us Fan Mail
AI adoption often succeeds or fails in the ordinary work leaders overlook. In this episode Chris sits down with Artem Koren, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Sembly AI, to discuss how organizations can turn everyday conversations into structured intelligence, clearer decisions, and measurable execution. Artem’s work focuses on agentic systems, professional workflows, and making AI useful, safe, and practical for teams. 
Chris and Artem explore how AI-powered workflows can replace manual meeting admin, surface the work that matters, and help managers spend more time on strategy, judgment, and people. They also discuss responsible AI adoption, trust, and what executives need to understand before scaling AI across the organization. Leaders should listen for a grounded view of how to make AI adoption useful inside real operating teams.
Chapters:
(00:00) Introduction
(04:38) Starting Sembly AI Before the Market Was Ready
(07:42) The Hard Technical Problems Behind AI Meeting Notes
(10:48) Selling AI Meeting Assistants Before AI Was Mainstream
(16:04) From Meeting Notes to Meeting Intelligence
(23:04) Defining Meeting Intelligence for Business Outcomes
(25:31) Turning Meeting Context Into Proactive Workflows
(34:30) How to Evaluate AI Meeting Assistant Tools
(37:30) The Shift Toward Agentic AI in Business Workflows
(45:31) Creating Client Ready Business Materials With AI
(49:53) Where to Learn More About Artem and Sembly AI 

🔎 Find Out More About Artem Koren:
Artem Koren Website https://www.artemkoren.com/
Artem Koren LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/akoren
Sembly AI Website https://www.sembly.ai/

🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned:
Sembly AI
https://www.sembly.ai/

ChatGPT
https://chatgpt.com/

Otter.ai
https://otter.ai/

Gong
https://www.gong.io/

Fireflies.ai
https://fireflies.ai/

Granola
https://www.granola.ai/

Recall.ai
https://www.recall.ai/

Rev
https://www.rev.com/

Speechmatics 
https://www.speechmatics.com

Send us Fan Mail
The internet is filling up with content that looks real but may not be. In this episode Chris sits down with Max Spero, co-founder and CEO of Pangram Labs, an AI text detection company helping organizations distinguish human authored content from AI generated content. They explore how AI generated content is reshaping social media, recruiting, education, search, and business communication, and why trust is becoming a strategic business issue.
Chris and Max discuss the rise of AI slop, the risks of outsourcing critical thinking, the role of detection and transparency in AI adoption, and how leaders can create policies that encourage responsible AI use without sacrificing productivity. If you want practical guidance on balancing AI efficiency with human authenticity, this episode will help you prepare for what comes next.

Chapters:
(00:00) Introduction
(04:18) AI Slop, Agents, and Executive Blind Spots
(08:03) What Happens When Most of the Internet Is AI Generated?
(09:26) The Business Cost of Inauthentic Content
(12:11) LinkedIn, Social Media, and Detecting AI Replies
(15:03) Pangram's Detection Platform and Chrome Extension
(16:25) SEO, Content Automation, and Google's Response
(18:20) AI, Education, and Critical Thinking Skills
(23:23) Recruiting, Hiring, and AI Generated Applications
(29:17) Watermarking, Detection, and Verification Strategies
(31:06) Internal AI Policies and Workplace Transparency
(34:56) How Content Platforms Use AI Detection
(38:22) Preparing Students for an AI Driven Workforce
(42:13) Three Trust Building Actions for Leaders
(45:29) The Future of AI Detection and Digital Authenticity

Resources:

🔎 Find Out More About Max Spero

Max Spero LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxspero
Pangram Labs
https://www.pangram.com
Pangram LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/pangramlabs/ (LinkedIn)
Technical Report on the Pangram AI-Generated Text Classifier
https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.14873 (arXiv)

🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned:

Pangram
https://www.pangram.com
Pangram Chrome Extension
https://www.pangram.com
ChatGPT
https://chatgpt.com
Claude
https://claude.ai
OpenAI
https://openai.com
Google Gemini
https://gemini.google.com
Ashby
https://www.ashbyhq.com
Quora
https://www.quora.com
Reality Defender
https://www.realitydefender.com
AirOps
https://www.airops.com
Apollo
https://www.apollo.io
OpenClaw
https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw