What's the real problem leaders are running into with AI? According to David Hickman, it's overwhelm: too many tools and too many opinions about which one is right.
In this episode of the Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush sits down with David Hickman, expert EOS Implementer and author of the new book The Intelligent Business, to talk about how leadership teams can move past the noise and start using AI with intention. David has spent almost 10 years helping companies get clear on where they're going, rally their teams, and execute, and his book lays out the forces he believes every leader needs to build an intelligent business: cadence, clarity, momentum, and connection.
Here's what you'll learn by watching or listening to this full episode:
• How to stop chasing every new AI tool and instead pick one LLM, stick with it, and let it learn your business.
• How to use AI in the meeting room to capture context and decisions without turning note-taking into the main event.
• Why David's "Two Quiet Minutes" exercise gets a team's real, unfiltered thinking on the table before groupthink sets in.
• How AI acts as a mirror for leadership by showing a team exactly what was said and what actually matters in the room.
• Why a visual "priority palette" makes it nearly impossible for a team to keep avoiding the real elephant in the room.
• How to avoid the single most expensive AI mistake: losing hours in the rabbit hole instead of handing the exploration off to someone who has the time for it.
• Why protecting trust, empathy, and real human connection gets more important as AI takes over the busywork. How to turn a vague goal into a SMART rock by letting AI sharpen the metrics and milestones while a human still owns the call.
• How to start using AI in your next leadership meeting with one simple move: record the session, transcribe it, and let AI sort the priorities and action items.
• Why letting AI generate a team's priorities without real ownership behind them quietly kills follow-through.
Find all the show notes and links here: https://www.businessbuildersplaybook.com/David-Hickman