Why Most Founders Are Using AI All Wrong with Geoff Woods

**Geoff Woods** (0:00)
One of the greatest mistakes I am seeing is people are abdicating their responsibilities, the thought leader.

**Brad Weimert** (0:05)
How do you think about implementing AI inside of an organization today?

**Geoff Woods** (0:09)
I interviewed over 200 leaders. One hundred percent of them said AI was the future. One hundred percent of them said they would adopt it. Less than five percent at the time had done anything. And when I peeled back the onion and asked why, I realized they didn't know where to start. People think they've started, but they're just using it like a Google or writing better emails. And that is what I call the leadership gap.

**Brad Weimert** (0:26)
Geoff is the man behind The One Thing, the book that everybody knows. He also was the Chief Growth Officer of a company that was at 750 million and it went to $12 billion under his watch in four years. And today he's helping AI-Driven Leaders implement AI in the businesses.

**Brad Weimert** (0:43)
What is the biggest level that you can point AI at to transform the business?

**Geoff Woods** (0:47)
One of the most underrated ones that is also the simplest and most accessible is.

**Brad Weimert** (0:54)
Congrats on getting Beyond A Million. What got you here won't always get you there. This is a podcast for entrepreneurs who want to reach beyond their seven-figure business and scale to eight, nine and even 10 figures. I'm Brad Weimert and as the founder of Easy Pay Direct, I have had the privilege to work with more than 30,000 businesses, allowing me to see the data behind what some of the most successful companies on the planet are doing differently. Join me each week as I dig in with experts in sales, marketing, operations, technology, and wealth building, and you'll learn some of the specific tools, tactics, and strategies that are working today in those multi-million eight, nine, and 10 figure businesses.
Life can get exciting Beyond A Million.

**Brad Weimert** (1:37)
You wrote a book that we've got front and center here, The AI-Driven Leader. So many things to cover, but I want to start with, you went from the one thing, which is a philosophy about focus, to AI, which feels like infinite distraction.
What do most entrepreneurs commonly misunderstand about AI and losing focus or maintaining it?

**Geoff Woods** (2:00)
Yeah, I think most people are focused on all the distractions around AI, instead of the priorities. First and foremost, I don't think AI adoption is the goal of any company. But if I look at the number of companies that we're inside of, the way they talk about AI, they treat it like it's the goal of the company when it's not. It is something that you now have access to that can help you achieve your goals, which might be creating a better business, creating better lives. But I think so many people are using it for the things that really don't matter. The vast majority of people are using it like a Google or writing better emails. Last time I checked, you didn't get Beyond A Million because you wrote great emails.
People are really majoring in the minors.
My last few years has been really focused on, how do we major in the majors? How do we harness this technology in a way that matters when it comes to building a better business, while also keeping human interest at the center?

**Brad Weimert** (2:57)
Speaking of strategic decision-making, as opposed to the tactics, which fundamentally is the idea of like, can I use AI to do something quickly versus, how do I think about it? You made an interesting choice, which is you moved from the one thing to Jindal Steel, and you were the Chief Growth Officer there. You helped them go from 750 million to 12 billion.
What were the high leverage strategic decisions at that scale that smaller entrepreneurs wouldn't see?

**Geoff Woods** (3:23)
Jindal Steel, think of it like a family office. They own a bunch of companies all rolled up into the Jindal group. I had been the coach to the chairman of the board when I was with The One Thing and I coached his whole executive team. When I sold my stake in The One Thing, Naveen called me and said, what are you going to do next? I said, honestly, I'm prepared to take a few years off. He says, well, why don't you come in house? I asked him, what's the job? He said, you know our business, you tell me.
The thing that I realized is they had all these operating companies, all individually pretty large organizations, but they weren't playing as one cohesive team, one cohesive group. I found myself wondering, what are the timeless things that drive growth of a company?