The AI-Driven Leader

Most CEOs hear about AI and delegate it to IT or HR. Manuel Diez did the opposite.
In this episode, Geoff Woods sits down with Manuel Diez, CEO of Grupo Diesco, the Dominican Republic-based leader in plastics packaging and non-alcoholic beverages operating across the Caribbean, Central America, South America, and the southeastern US.
Manuel had already budgeted for an AI hire when he had a realization: if AI was going to transform the business, it couldn't be delegated. So he told his executive team, "I just hired that person. That person is me." What followed was a six-month transformation, from a non-technical CEO learning to use AI as a thought partner™, to rebuilding how the executive committee runs, to embedding an AI driven execution system across the company.
In this conversation:
The Eric Schmidt moment that convinced Manuel AI is underhyped, not overhyped
Why he cancelled the AI hire and took the job himself
How the leadership team validated an AI driven strategy in two hours instead of months
The humbling meeting report that exposed the company's biggest bottleneck
Why the executive committee, not a use case list, was the first thing to fix
The 20% discipline: using AI and CRIT™ (Context, Role, Interview, Task) to focus on what actually drives the business
Real ROI: budget projections that used to swing wildly now landing within 2 to 3%
You'll learn:
Why delegating AI is the most common mistake CEOs make
How Manuel got past the fear of being non-technical: the only way to start is to start
The blunt outside report that made him defensive, then changed everything
Why they said "not now" to 150 AI use cases and fixed one meeting instead
The 20% discipline and the CRIT™ prompt (Context, Role, Interview, Task) any leader can copy today
The results: budget projections that used to miss wildly now landing within 2 to 3%
If you know AI is the future but feel behind, Manuel's advice is simple: it's never too late to start, but every month you wait, you lose time you can't get back.
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Stephan Gratziani spent 32 years as a Herbalife distributor before becoming CEO of the $5 billion global company. When he stepped into the corporate world, his first earnings call went so badly he slept in the office. His second attempt was nearly a disaster. Then he found a better way: using AI as a thought partner™ to take everything he needed to communicate and deliver it in his own voice.
In this episode, recorded live in Vienna after Geoff and Stephan trained 4,000 top Herbalife distributors, they discuss what it takes to drive AI transformation from the top of a global organization.
You'll learn:
How Stephan went from AI skeptic's process to holding his executive team to an AI-driven standard
The moment his writers went from fearing replacement to refusing to work without it
How Herbalife used Speed to Alignment™ to align global market leaders in 2 hours, a process that used to take months
The strategy behind transforming a 45-year-old direct sales company into a health and wellness platform
Why the winning move is building AI that makes the human irreplaceable

What does it take to move from “I don’t know where to start” to “I’m going to lead this”?
That’s the journey we’ve taken together in Season One of The AI-Driven Leader. Across 12 episodes, you’ve heard from six executives who began where so many leaders are today — curious, cautious, even skeptical. And you’ve witnessed their transformation: from hesitation to bold action.
In every interview, they shared the doubts, turning points, and decisions that changed everything. And in every CRIT™ session, you saw what happens when AI stops being a gimmick and starts acting as a true Thought Partner — surfacing non-obvious solutions in minutes, not months.
The lesson is clear: you don’t have to be an AI expert to lead in this new era. You just have to become an AI-driven leader. Someone willing to think differently, cast a vision, and lead change with the courage to act before the playbook is written.
As Season One closes, keep the momentum going:
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Because here’s the truth: the future doesn’t wait, and neither should you.

In our last episode, he showed how vulnerability and courage turned skepticism into company-wide adoption. But in this CRIT™ session, the challenge was different: how do you keep excitement from stalling out in confusion?
Through CRIT™, AI acted as a strategic advisor to his executive team. It surfaced the need for structured listening, a weekly AI narrative, and clear success gates. It pushed him to elevate a “big bet” team into a startup studio — not just to use AI, but to sell with AI.
And then came the extraordinary moment: Abraham Lincoln, on his AI board, challenged him to write a human constitution for AI: “Man shall not be replaced, but released into his greatest potential.”
The clarity that emerged in minutes would’ve taken months of consultants. His reaction said it all: “Outstanding, mind blowing at times.”
Today’s AI-Driven Leader is Geoff Gilmore, President, CEO, and Director of Worthington Steel.

Imagine going from saying, “AI has no place in steel manufacturing”… to declaring, “It is my expectation that you use AI” across 6,000 employees — all in under six months.
That’s exactly what happened when one leader flipped the switch. At first skeptical, he was convinced AI couldn’t touch a 65-year-old steel company. But a persistent senior leader put the right books in his hands — Co-Intelligence and The AI-Driven Leader — and suddenly, curiosity turned into conviction.
Within months, he vulnerably admitted, “I wasn’t an expert, but I led anyway.” That courage gave his people permission to act. Pilots surged: predictive inventory, machine reliability, contract analyzers, and more — initiatives powerful enough to potentially move stock price. And through it all, he kept a people-first philosophy: “Work-life balance matters as much as stock price.”
Today’s AI-Driven Leader is Geoff Gilmore, President, CEO, and Director of Worthington Steel.