What Will you do with Your $2 Trillion Dollar Gift?
Globally, AI spending will reach $2 Trillion in 2026. So, “How will you utilize this $2 Trillion-dollar gift to improve your efforts and those of your company?” Geoff Woods wants to help you answer that question.
About Geoff Woods
Geoff Woods is the bestselling author of The AI-Driven Leader and The AI-Driven Leadership Collective. Former Chief Growth Officer of Jindal Steel, “Geoff’s strategic leadership helped the company grow its market cap from $750 million to over $12 billion in just four years.”
The book in a sentence (or two):
Strategic thinking lies at the heart of effective business. Geoff Woods wants to help you harness AI to think strategically and make much better strategic decisions. Woods will tell you, “AI is not your ‘answer man,’ it is your Thought Partner and YOU are the Thought Leader.” And he is very clear about this: “AI won’t replace you; those who harness AI will replace those who don’t.” 24
My Quick Take on The Ai-Driven Leader
I am upping my reading (and implementation) game when it comes to AI; this technology that rivals the printing press, light bulb, automobile, and smart phone for its transformative impact. I want to ensure our institution (Lancaster Bible College) maximizes AI to help us accomplish our mission and equip every student to understand and utilize AI as a powerful tool to help them accomplish what God calls them to do in the world.
Is AI the silver bullet to solve every problem, right society ills, and usher in a golden age? Nope! But any leader who does not have this tool in their box is driving a horse and buggy when they could be riding in a Tesla.
AI is just a tool! Your leadership is the difference that will make the difference as to whether or not you (and your organization) maximize the tool. Geoff Woods’ The AI-Driven Leader teaches you how to use the tool. He will explore the skills and lessons you need, and provide GREAT “hands on” learning opportunities along the way.
But here’s the kicker … and part of the reason Geoff wrote the book. After 200 one-on-one interviews with executives, he found:
100% said AI is the future.
100% said their company would adopt AI.
Less than 5% had done anything about it. 26
This book is written to help you do something with AI. And throughout the book you will hear this drumbeat: The key to remember is AI is not a substitute for your judgment and experience as a leader. 167
How the Ai-Driven Leader Differs from other Ai Books:
The AI-Driven Leader — A practical how-to, graduate course in USING AI, with a very clear emphasis that YOU are the the thought leader and AI is your thought partner. Woods will tell you how AI works; more importantly, he teaches you how to utilize it for strategic advantage.
Superagency: What Could Go Right With AI — LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and Greg Beato push safety concerns aside (for now) to address the vast potential of AI in areas such as global knowledge and mental health.
Empire AI — Karen Hao carefully researched her expose on issues relating to AI and Safety (human, environmental impacts), particularly with respect to Sam Altman and OpenAI.
2084 and the AI Revolution — Oxford mathematician and Christian apologist John Lennox carefully evaluates the strengths and prospective dangers of AI while providing the best biblical perspective I’ve seen thus far.
Born To Be Wired — Less a book on AI, more a lifetime of lessons from a digital innovator who wired America for the Internet.
Other books, among them Dan Wang’s Breakneck and Keyu Jin’s The New China Playbook help clarify differences between the ways China and America address this technology.
Overview and Analysis
The AI-Driven Leader is divided into three parts:
Part 1 - Redefine Your Leadership In The AI Era
Most go through life asking the question, “How can I do this?”; the new question is, “How can AI help me do this?” Stop worrying about AI replacing you; start focusing on how AI can enhance you and your leadership. 7Part 2 - Become An AI-Driven Leader
Essential to becoming an AI-Driven Leader is understanding WHAT AI is, HOW it works, and HOW you can communicate with it to get results. 64 Woods provides an introductory explanation of the different types of AI and how AI works; more importantly (for this book), he demonstrates how to utilize it to (1) make people more productive, (2) make operations more efficient, and (3) make products and services more valuable.Part 3 - Build An AI-Driven Organization
Strategic thinking is the business leader’s super power. Part 3 helps leaders think strategically and utilize the power of AI to maximize that thinking. See below for more.
What makes The Ai-Driven Leader valuable to me:
What sets this book apart is that it is practitioner focused. Woods explains AI in “layman’s terms.” He gives six simple ways to leverage AI: (1) Strategic thinking, (2) Decision-making, (3) Content creation, (4) Idea generation, (5) Analysis (data, content, ideas), and (6) Research. He is going to summarize the key ideas of each chapter for you, and point you a free crash course to get started. He shows you how to leverage it by asking the right kind of prompts (See more on the CRIT framework). Seven ways this book benefits me:
The Practicality: Woods provides essential AI prompts, his CRIT framework, QR codes, and more to help you leverage content for impact!
The focus: You over AI! “What determines your success? It’s not technology. It is you as the leader.” 49 “AI is meant to enhance your thinking, not replace it.” 148
The 20% - At the end of each chapter Geoff Woods gives you that 20% of what he said that will yield the 80% of results that you want.
The Crash Course - The author provides a path to his free AI Crash Course. Visit aileadership/disco.co
The CRIT Framework - Geoff says, “if all you take from this book is this CRIT framework, you will take your results with AI to a completely new level.” 78
CONTEXT: Describe the problem or opportunity you are facing and give lots of context.
ROLE: Your role is to act as (describe the type of person or expertise you want access to).
INTERVIEW: Interview me, ask me one question at a time (up to three questions) to gain more context.
TASK: Then complete the task of (describe the task you want it to complete).
The Recognition of Risks: Geoff shares an interaction he had with Daphne, his daughter, who was learning to use AI as her thought partner. Daphne started sharing feelings with AI, and Woods grew noticeably concerned about what he was hearing: “It hit me: AI was becoming a trusted Thought Partner for her. And I had no idea what kind of guidance it was giving her. What data was the model trained on? What biases might it have? Did it align with our values?” 71 Woods does not wave these off as no big deal. He discusses the challenges of biases, hallucinations (AI making things up), loss of privacy, and the potential damage to relationships when machines, not people, form the relational partnership.
The leadership insight beyond AI: As noted, this is a great book on strategic thinking as well as on AI. Woods fuses the two. I came away with a better plan to utilize AI and some essential coaching on being a better leader as well.
Where are you on the curve?
People adopt ideas differently. Generally, change is hard. As Woods noted, when 100% of two-hundred executives say, “AI is the future,” but only 5% have done anything about it, “change-management” is going to top the list of leadership initiatives. As all know, readiness and willingness to accept change are going to occur differently among organizations and the people who power them. To facilitate that change, Woods pleads for leaders to understand and utilize the Adoption Curve and the Empowerment Curve.
The Adoption Curve
Woods notes, “The adoption curve, derived from diffusion theory, shows how change in your company will happen across five groups of people.” 45 Woods offers strategic insights for helping to meet the needs of each group. See pages 46-48.
Navigating the AI Adoption Curve, The AI-Driven Leader, p. 45
The empowerment Curve
The Empowerment Curve offers insights on key phases or “mile markers” team members will encounter as they encounter and expand their awareness and engagement with AI. See pages 48-55.
As with the rest of this work, Woods stresses the pivotal role the leader plays in moving the organization from operations to strategy. As he will say again and again, “You are the Thought Leader, AI is the Thought Partner. As leader it is your responsibility to assess and guide your team to greater awareness and engagement. Chapter 3 is going to help here!
My Takeaways
Geoff’s AI Mantra: “Strategy first. Technology second.” 13, 80
Geoff’s most-repeated line: It’s tough to read the label when you’re inside the box. Sometimes, you are so close to the business that you can lose sight of important information in your decision.” 123
You are the Thought Leader; AI is your Thought Partner: “As the thought leader, you communicate the direction and let the team come up with a plan and own the execution to deliver the result. . . . The important thing to remember is that AI lacks the context and perspective you bring to the table. It lacks your leadership. This is why you must remain in the role of thought leader. AI is your thought partner.” 35-36
My job as a leader: “Your job as a leader is to teach people to think.” Gary Keller
Personal Improvement: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Jim Rohn (187)
The focus on Strategic Thinking: The decisions you make can either make your business or put you out of business. The AI-Driven Leader is part strategic thinking boot camp, part AI boot camp.
The best part of your job: “The best of your job is that it is your job. And if you try to give me pieces of your job, you will no longer have one.” Gary Keller 122
insights on Strategic thinking:
Gary Keller’s line immediately below stopped me in my tracks! What a great question. One of the things I appreciate about Geoff Woods book is his proven expertise when it comes to strategic thinking and strategy implementation. He does a wonderful job of drawing a line from the Thought Leader’s (you) strategy to working with AI as the Thought Partner to test, refine, and implement that strategy.
What’s the business that will put us out of business? How can we build it first? Gary Keller (147)
"Part of being an AI-driven leader is not about having all the answers; it’s about having the skill to ask the right questions and leverage data and technology to search for the right answers.” 147
7 Essential questions: (147-148)
What long-term competitive advantage are you building?
How do you know if it's defensible and will lead to success?
What would your business need to look like to realize this advantage?
Based on that, what must you achieve this year to make meaningful progress toward your long-term vision?
Where do you need to recommit time and resources for maximum impact?
What are you currently saying yes to that is distracting you from what matters most?
What can you do about it?
The four drivers of growth:
Woods highlights the four drivers of growth on pp. 144ff and 181ff.
Strategy: Your competitive advantage.
Execution: Your progress on your strategic plan.
People: The right people in the right seats doing the right things and moving in the right direction.
Technology: Harnessing technology to help improve systems and processes.
The Author Piqued My Curiosity About These Books
Words to Ponder
Are you a strategic thinker or a “mere manager”? Woods writes, “The process of defining your strategy, then aligning your actions to achieve your most ambitious goals. This critical skill is the backbone of effective leadership, and the difference between you becoming a visionary leader, or a mere manager.” 5
What are the “essential skills” you need?: “What are the skills I can master that are so valuable they will serve me no matter where I go?” And what jobs can help me develop those skills? 14
How you know you have a world-class product: “You’ll know you have a world-class product when every customer brings you another customer. Go build that!” Gary Keller, founder of Keller-Williams 15
The missing (team) link: “Anytime you’re hitting a ceiling of achievement, you’re just missing a person.” 17
Conclusion
There is a reason this is the #1 Best Seller on Amazon. I highly recommend Geoff Woods’ The AI-Driven Leader. I will ask our team to read excerpts of books I have mentioned above, or take time to digest my reviews of them. But one book I am requiring them to read is The AI-Driven Leader. The AI landscape is broad and complex. This book is a compass, expert guide, and “how to” for navigating AI, but more importantly harnessing this tool for personal effectiveness and strategic competitive advantage for one’s business.
Notes
On AI Spending in 2026: “According to Gartner, global AI spending will reach close to US $1.5 trillion this year and will top $2 trillion in 2026 as ongoing demand fuels IT infrastructure investment. This significant growth is driven by hyperscalers’ ongoing investments in AI-optimized data centers and hardware, such as GPUs, along with increased enterprise adoption and the integration of AI into consumer devices like smartphones and PCs.”
