Episode
236: Why Most Founders Are Using AI All Wrong with Geoff Woods
- Podcast
- Beyond A Million
- Published
- Jul 9, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3123
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Summary
Today I'm talking with Geoff Woods, author of The AI-Driven Leader and founder of AI Leadership, about why so many founders are using AI on the wrong problems. Geoff helped drive Jindal Steel & Power's market cap from $750M to $12B in four years, and one of his points really stuck with me: you don't get beyond a million because you write great emails. But that's exactly how a lot of entrepreneurs are using AI right now. Writing emails, cleaning up inboxes, building random agents, and mistaking activity for leverage. That's the trap. AI can make you feel productive while you point all that horsepower at work that doesn't actually move the business forward. Geoff walks through what it looks like to flip that: using AI as a strategic thought partner instead of an errand boy, why most leaders are skipping steps they haven't earned yet, and how to think about AI in a way that improves decision-making, focus, and team performance. Geoff also shares what he learned helping scale a multi-billion-dollar company, why letting the right fires burn is part of leadership, and the move his assistant made to rewrite her own job description and 100x her role. If you've been treating AI like a faster Google, this conversation will reframe what it can actually do for you as a founder. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/beMjviX1_B8 Let's Connect: Website | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok | Twitter | Facebook