Recruiting candidates, helping new Chairs launch, and improving sales execution
Adam Lyons - The Human in Charge
Key Decisions
Vistage Decision Model
Key decisions in AI & Automation for CEOs
- What decisions stay CEO-level vs. get delegated to AI or staff?
(Stops overreach, tool sprawl, and “AI everywhere” chaos) 1.
- Which operational bottlenecks should be automated first to create measurable ROI? (Shifts AI from experimentation to execution) 2.
- How do we deploy AI safely without risking data, trust, or culture?
(Addresses governance, adoption, and risk in one stroke) 3.
The Telephone Problem
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, telephone adoption exploded:
- 1880: 50,000 subscribers
- 1900: 600,000 subscribers
- 1910: 5.8 million subscribers
New technology. Old behavior.
They used it to send telegrams. One sender. One receiver. One instruction. “Send forty boxes by Thursday.”
It took almost 30 years before they realized the true purpose of this technology:
Communication
Connection
Persuasion
Most companies use AI to do things they could already do with other software.
Do YOU use AI to do anything other than the following 3 things with regard to your work at Vistage?
- A Search Engine 1.
- Improving writing with templates 2.
- To build software based off pre-existing code 3.
Or they do something MUCH worse:
Like trying to make it do something it can't.
Replacing a human.
Ask AI to give you a random number between 1 and 25
We helped Vistage South Build AI tools that have a REAL impact on their day to day workflows
We helped Vistage South build a custom skill that will help their chairs find new candidates and hit their KPI's to succeed as a new chair.
Can be exported as a skill to any AI system
Tackles the heavy lifting of finding new candidates.
The Reality Check
MIT found that about 95 percent of companies using generative AI aren't seeing measurable ROI
That's not because AI doesn't work, it's because most companies use it wrong.
Does AI Exist?
Do you Remember what year Back to the Future 2 was set?
How Accurate Are LLM's (A.I.)?
“Humanity’s Last Exam” (HLE) is an advanced AI benchmark designed to test whether AI systems can perform at or beyond expert human level across many disciplines. It was created by the Center for AI Safety and Scale AI."
53.3% Is the Smartest L.L.M (A.I.) on Earth - as of August 2026
Academic Reasoning
Humanities Last Exam benchmark score
Agentic Tasks
Success rate on autonomous multi-step tasks
Scientific Knowledge
Retrieving information
The Test That Actually Made Sense
Here's what the researchers did.
Take any document. Now ask an AI to edit it, then ask the AI to reverse the edit.
You should get back to the original right?
The test: 310 round-trip relays across 52 professional domains. edit a doc. reverse the edit. compare to original.
19 models. 20 round trips each.
- gemini 3.1 pro (best in test): 19% content loss
- claude 4.6 opus: 27%
- gpt 5.4: 28%
- average across all 19 models: 50%
What are the next 2 words after this sentence?
"I looked in a tree and saw an apple. I reached out to grab..."
How You Think About AI Determines your results
5 Simple Shifts for AI Success
To truly maximize AI's potential, remember these fundamental principles:
Avoid Average Answers
AI often provides common responses. Your goal is to guide it to deliver the best, most strategic outcomes, not just the easiest.
Establish Clear SOPs
Well-defined Standard Operating Procedures are crucial. They improve AI output quality and significantly enhance your company's valuation.
Document & Share Processes
Documenting AI-based procedures ensures continuity, reduces redundancy, and safeguards critical knowledge, even when team members move on.
AI Governance
Safe and ethical AI usage hinges on strong governance that starts with your people. This is the foundation for responsible AI adoption.
Consistent Training & Rollout
Invest in training your team and ensure a consistent rollout of AI processes. This drives adoption and unlocks enterprise-wide value.
In chatGPT
"Tell me everything you know about Vistage International"
Confirm It's Correct
A problem with Vistage Iceland…
This is the foundation of any AI Work
We call it a "Doctrine Document"
We recommend that a company creates one Doctrine document that is approved by upper management and all employees use the same one.
“My role is (Your role Here) and a task I spend alot of my day doing is (insert the task here)"
DO NOT HIT ENTER
Give AI as much context as possible.
The Real Goal
Defining the core objective of the task
What Success Looks Like
Establishing measurable outcomes and KPI's
What Must Not Be Broken
Identifying critical constraints and non negotiables.
The Time Horizon
Setting realistic timelines for implementation and results.
“Who Are the Top 3 Experts in the world at doing this task, not the most famous, but the ones who get the best results objectively.”
Default AI Response
AI typically draws from the middle of the bell curve, focusing on common opinions and statistically frequent patterns. This leads to:
- Safe, generic answers
- Average thinking
- Incremental improvements
Strategic Prompting
By explicitly asking for "the top 3 experts in the world," we force AI to:
- Move to the edge of the distribution
- Pull from the top 1%
- Prioritize uncommon but proven thinking
“What would it look like If Those 3 Experts came together to Build a standard operating procedure for this task to help me exceed at my goals and KPI's?”
Check the plan and see if you like it.
When AI is guided by the "top 3 experts" prompt, it synthesizes knowledge across critical domains:
Strategy
Synthesizing market trends, competitive analysis, and long-term vision.
Operations
Optimizing workflows, resource allocation, and logistical efficiency.
Human Behavior
Understanding team dynamics, customer psychology, and user experience.
Risk & Constraints
Identifying potential pitfalls, regulatory challenges, and resource limitations.
The result is a comprehensive and actionable blueprint:
Unified System
All components work seamlessly.
Clear Priorities
Focus on what truly matters.
Executable Steps
A defined path to success.
This is consulting-grade thinking, compressed into minutes.
Now lets REALLY get it working
"Now write it up in full detail, with step by step actions, breaking down exactly what those 3 experts would have me do in order to achieve my goal for this task within vistage"
The Six-Figure Mistake
One of our clients, a marine construction company, had spent six figures on an AI project with a large consulting firm.
Six months later?
Nothing. Just pitch decks and meetings.
Why?
No one had defined success.
So we asked one question: "What's the one thing that, if improved, would make this investment worth it?"
They said: "Our Staff take hours to do tasks that should take minutes"
Case Study: Marine Infrastructure Company (Saudi Arabia)
A large marine infrastructure development company in Saudi Arabia, employing 800 people, faced significant inefficiencies with routine tasks.
The Problem: Hidden Time Leakage
Routine operational tasks were consuming hours instead of minutes. Staff frequently relied on coworkers for guidance, and managers lacked visibility into the actual duration of tasks, leading to significant time wastage across the 800-person team.
What We Did: Role-Based AI SOPs
We deployed custom GPTs tailored to each role, embedding Standard Operating Procedures directly into AI-led, step-by-step workflows. This allowed AI to replace "asking others" as the primary source of guidance, making task steps and expected durations explicit and visible.
Tangible Results
Task Time Reduction
Significant decrease in the time required for routine operational tasks.
Gains Realized Quickly
Measurable improvements observed and implemented within a rapid timeframe.
Employee Productivity Boost
Enhanced efficiency positively impacted every member of the workforce.
AI isn't the hero. It's the sidekick. But only if we tell it what winning looks like.
The Real Problem Isn't AI. It's Us.
Here's the truth. AI isn't failing. People are.
We deploy tools without goals
We automate chaos
We trust machines before we trust our own process
The problem isn't artificial intelligence, it's human impatience.
The companies that win aren't the ones with the newest model, they're the ones that understand this:
AI doesn't replace humans; it amplifies direction.
When you point AI at a mess, it scales the mess.
When you point it at clarity, it scales excellence.
The Framework
Five Shifts
Shift 1: Avoid Average Answers
AI will give you the most popular answer that the average person would give you, unless you direct it toward a higher standard.
Average Prompt
“How can we grow sales?”
Persona Prompting
“Act as a seasoned B2B growth strategist. Review our situation, identify the three highest-leverage moves, rank them by expected impact and difficulty, state your assumptions, and give a 30-day execution plan.”
The BIG Secret with Prompts
More Context, Less Direction.
When AI knows your goals, it is better at predicting the how to get you the results you want.
The clearer you are, the smarter AI becomes.
The Human in Charge Standard:
Reverse Prompting(3 Steps)
Context, Outcome, Who
Context:What is the current situation?
Describe the current scenario and or background in full.
Outcome: What is the Desired outcome?
Be sure to include KPI's and other important factors.
Who: Who are the top 3 experts who know how to do this?
Don't look for the popular answer, find the true experts with the best results
Shift 2: Establish Clear SOPs
When the Employee Leaves, the Process Should Stay
An SOP captures how the work is actually done, including the inputs, decisions, standards, exceptions, and desired result.
That document can then become an AI skill, a repeatable set of instructions that guides employees through the process and does much of the heavy lifting.
Company Standard
Your best employee’s method becomes the company standard for quality and efficiency.
Consistency
Everyone completes the task with greater consistency, reducing errors and variations.
Retained Knowledge
The knowledge belongs to the business, ensuring continuity even if staff changes.
SOPs Turn Knowledge Into AI processes that can boost the Value of a company
A company becomes more valuable when its results do not depend on specific employees remembering how everything works.
Reduced Risk
Minimize dependency on specific individuals, protecting your operations.
Accelerated Training
Streamline onboarding and upskilling, getting new hires productive faster.
Scalable Growth
Make successful work repeatable and easier to expand across the organization.
You are not simply documenting a task. You are transforming individual expertise into a company-owned system.
Shift 3: Document and share processes
If Nobody Can Find It, It Does Not Exist
Every approved AI tool, skill, and process should live in one shared repository that everyone knows how to access. This prevents employees from independently rebuilding the same solution and gives the company one proven way to complete the work.
Centralized Repository
One accessible place for all approved AI tools and skills.
Single Source of Truth
Ensure everyone uses the most current version of each process.
Clear Ownership
Designated owners are responsible for maintaining and updating processes.
Company-Wide Availability
Successful work becomes easily accessible to the entire organization.
Measure the Process, Not Just the Activity
Once an AI process is documented and shared, leadership can objectively measure its impact and ensure it's producing real business results.
Track the performance of each process against defined Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):
Resource Optimization
Quantify reductions in time and money spent on tasks.
Revenue Generation
Assess direct or indirect contributions to increased sales and income.
Error Reduction
Monitor the decrease in mistakes or quality control issues.
Improved Turnaround
Measure faster completion times for critical workflows.
Employee Adoption
Track active usage and engagement with new AI-powered processes.
If a process demonstrates positive impact, standardize it. If it doesn't, improve it or remove it.
Shift 4: AI Governance
The Human Must Be First and Last in every AI-assisted process.
Every output generated with AI must pass through a human verification loop.
Human-Led Initiation & Approval
A person must define the task, set the parameters, and give final approval before any AI output is acted upon.
AI's Role: Research & Draft
AI excels at researching, drafting, analyzing, and recommending. It's a powerful assistant in the middle of the workflow.
Employee's Role: Verify & Confirm
The human employee is responsible for verifying facts, calculations, and conclusions. Nothing should be sent or published without this critical check.
Ultimate Responsibility
If your name is attached to the work, you are responsible for the output. "AI produced it" is never an excuse.
NOTE: Consider asking AI for a percentage confidence score to help prioritize verification efforts, saving time on less critical checks.
Protect What Makes Your Company Valuable
Your intellectual property, data, and operating processes are your competitive advantage. Employees should never upload confidential information or build company workflows inside unapproved personal or free AI accounts. Once a proprietary process is exposed, it may be copied, recreated, or used to build tools that benefit your competitors.
Mandate Controlled Accounts
Ensure all AI tools and workflows operate within company-owned, secure environments.
Define Usage Policies
Clearly outline what information employees may and may not upload or process with AI.
Restrict Access by Role
Implement tiered access based on job function to limit exposure of sensitive data.
Ownership & Audit Trails
Maintain clear ownership, audit logs, and offboarding procedures for AI processes.
Treat your AI processes with the same care as your customer data, source code, and trade secrets.
Shift 5: From Tools to Teams
This is the BEST way to use AI in a company to get an ROI.
Before you start any project, fill in this blank:
'We are using AI to _________, which will save/make us _____.'
Case Study: Financial Lending Institution
A financial lending institution with ~$20M annual revenue aimed to boost growth but faced a significant internal challenge: zero AI adoption among its strong sales team, who actively refused new tools.
The Starting Point
Despite a strong sales team, the institution faced zero AI adoption. Employees actively resisted using AI, creating a bottleneck for efficiency and potential growth.
Shift #5: From Tools to Teams
Our approach was hands-on: monthly, practical AI training focused on real workflows, not mandates. The goal was to demonstrate AI's value by solving genuine daily challenges.
Operational Transformation
This led to an organic operational shift. As the team discovered practical benefits, AI was naturally embedded into daily sales processes, fostering enthusiastic adoption.
Tangible Results
The outcome was remarkable: a 50% ncrease in revenue in their first year! In part thanks to AI-assisted processes, proving the power of focused training.
The Human in Charge Model
H.U.M.A.N.
The H.U.M.A.N System
The Human in Charge Model is implemented through a practical leadership model: the H.U.M.A.N. System.
Horizon
Defining the future state of the company, the Horizon provides essential clarity for direction and purpose.
Where are we going?
What does success look like?
What matters most?
What do we stop doing?
This is Big 3 level clarity. Without a clear Horizon, AI creates noise and teams chase activity instead of outcomes.
Unify
Aligning leadership around clear ownership and seamless execution is paramount. We clarify roles to boost collaboration and accountability across your executive team.
Who owns what?
Who decides what?
What does success look like for each executive?
We remove blurred accountability and cross-functional friction, ensuring everyone is moving in the same direction. When leadership is unified, resistance drops and momentum increases, driving collective success and tangible results.
Mechanize
Building leverage directly into workflows, we embed tools, systems, and AI into real daily execution. This ensures that powerful capabilities are not just theoretical, but deeply integrated where they deliver immediate impact.
Sales Call Prep
Automating research and script generation.
Marketing Content
Accelerating production and personalization.
Operational SOPs
Streamlining processes for efficiency.
Financial Modeling
Enhancing forecasting accuracy and speed.
This is about mechanized execution—not theory, not policy. If it's not directly integrated into the workflow, it simply doesn't exist.
Assess
The final stage focuses on rigorous measurement and continuous refinement. We don't just implement; we analyze what works, what saves time, and what drives revenue, ensuring AI adoption is truly impactful.
Did it work?
Did it save time?
Did it increase revenue?
Did adoption actually happen?
Through objective data tracking and feedback loops, we remove assumptions and strengthen the systems that deliver tangible results. Clarity replaces conjecture, leading to sustained growth and optimization.
Normalize
This final stage is about embedding the new ways of working into the company's DNA, making them the default. It ensures that the systems and AI integrations become ingrained, operating smoothly without constant oversight.
Document It
Formalize processes and AI applications for clarity and accessible reference for all team members.
Refine It
Continuously improve and optimize systems based on ongoing feedback, performance metrics, and evolving needs.
Train It
Ensure all relevant personnel are thoroughly trained and proficient in utilizing the new systems and tools effectively.
Scale It
Expand successful implementations and best practices across departments and functions for broader organizational impact and efficiency.
Execution no longer depends on reminders, pressure, or the founder’s direct involvement. The system becomes the standard operating procedure, allowing the founder to shift from tactical oversight to strategic leadership.
The H.U.M.A.N. System: Monthly Flow
To ensure continuous progress and tangible results, your team will follow a structured monthly flow, cycling through the H.U.M.A.N. principles.
Week 1: Horizon + Unify + Mechanize (Directed)
An executive intensive to align on vision and assign ownership. Focus on what truly matters, clarifying roles, and defining immediate AI integration projects.
- Horizon: What actually matters?
- Unify: Who owns what?
- Mechanize: What gets built this month?
Week 2: Mechanize (Continued)
The core implementation phase. Your team actively builds workflows, integrates AI tools, and replaces manual effort with intelligent systems, directly embedding capabilities into daily operations.
- Workflows being built and refined.
- AI integrated into real work processes.
- Systems begin replacing manual effort.
Week 3: Assess
A critical evaluation period where we objectively measure the impact of implemented changes. This data-driven review informs what's working, what needs adjustment, and where true value is being generated.
- What worked and what didn't?
- What's actually saving time or driving revenue?
- Data-driven feedback for continuous improvement.
Week 4: Normalize
The final stage focuses on embedding successful initiatives. We formalize processes, document best practices, and train teams to scale new efficiencies across the organization, making them the new standard.
- What gets standardized and documented?
- What gets scaled across teams and functions?
- Ensuring long-term adoption and proficiency.
The Outcome
You remain in control.
Your team builds and uses leverage.
AI becomes an advantage, not chaos.
The human stays in charge.
The systems create the scale.
We are already working with the vistage south team, we'd like to offer our services for free to any of the other Vistage regions or departments.
Scan the code to set it up.
Actionable Takeaways
1) Pick One Process and Define the Win
This week, choose one recurring process and finish this sentence in writing:
"We are using AI to ___, which will save/make us ___.”
Turn AI into an active SOP that makes your most time consuming tasks a little bit easier.
Imagine a company where AI is trusted, governed, and profitable.
Where every employee knows exactly how to use it, and why.
That's not science fiction.
That's what happens when humans lead, and machines assist.
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