By Ray Titus
Two core values we stress at United Franchise Group have to do with embracing change and adopting a people-first philosophy even as we accelerate our use of technology. Two books I’m recommending lately perfectly align with those beliefs: one by an expert in AI; the other by me, paying tribute to my late father-in-law and general manager at one of our brands.
The AI-Driven Leader: Harnessing AI to Make Faster, Smarter Decisions by Geoff Woods
Anyone who knows me knows I’m a big fan of AI, which is transforming businesses by empowering employees to do their best work in creative new ways. Books about it are always at the top of my reading list. But none has been as fascinating and useful as Geoff Woods’ The AI-Driven Leader: Harnessing AI to Make Faster, Smarter Decisions. Woods, who helps leaders harness the power of AI to “escape operational overwhelm and think strategically to accelerate growth,” puts his expertise to work in a highly practical, inspiring book.
Here are three of the most important lessons I took away from it:
Takeaway #1: AI is a tool, not an end goal.
“The true game changer isn’t using AI to write better emails,” Woods writes; “it’s harnessing AI to elevate your strategic thinking.”
He calls AI a “thought partner,” which gives you the sense that AI is a tool you can use to make yourself, your team and your company more productive — not just by writing your emails for you, though it does that beautifully, but by taking you to a higher level of thinking and helping you solve problems.
At my company, we’ve used it to help us in decision-making processes like whether to add certain brands to our portfolio. One of our employees uploaded my books into an AI tool to check if his goal setting aligned with the methods I encourage.
Woods reminds us that AI is not foolproof; its findings still need fact-checking—just like you wouldn’t automatically believe everything a family member or friend tells you.
Takeaway #2: Successful leaders embrace change.
The AI-Driven Leader falls squarely into one of our core values: Embrace change. I embraced AI years ago, and today our entire company has integrated it into everything we do. We work with a company that interviews every division and every employee to find out what they’re currently doing with AI and what more they could be doing, and we encourage our teams to read about AI in books like Woods’.
It’s not something you can just put in place and move on. We offer seminars and workshops to help our teams understand how they can best use AI. We promote it at every monthly meeting, asking employees to share their AI success stories. It’s a constant push to help our teams internalize AI and keep it top of mind.
Takeaway #3: The quality of your communication determines the quality of your results.
I’m often astounded at how quickly AI can respond to requests for information. But it’s the ultimate demonstration of “garbage in — garbage out.” You can’t expect good results if you don’t feed it specific direction and tell it exactly what you want — just as you’d give your human colleague as much information as you can when working out a problem.
The trick is to know what to ask and how to ask it in your prompts. That’s where The AI-Driven Leader really delivers. The final section is a practical, detailed exercise in prompt-writing. Woods teaches you how to find the right questions to ask for the result you want.
The Bottom Line: Put Your Partner to Work
If you can get your company to embrace AI, your level of abilities and what people can get done in your company will increase significantly. They’re bound to do better once you encourage every employee to use this unique tool that can enhance their work.
Put a Little JJ in Your Life by J.J. Prendamano and Ray Titus
Embracing change was high on the list of priorities for my father-in-law, J.J. Prendamano, who always had the latest and greatest gadget and believed strongly in innovation. But his greatest gift to our company was the way he always respected the human side of business.
Put a Little JJ in Your Life is based on the last speech J.J. gave at our company’s annual team-building conference for our many brands. I found it while cleaning out his office after his passing. I remember when he gave the speech, which got a standing ovation and a literal outpouring of emotion: There wasn’t a dry eye in the place. I knew the rest of the world needed to hear it, so I published it in book form.
From “Embrace change” and “Don’t whine” to “Improve every day,” it’s full of J.J.’s uncommon sense. Its most powerful message, for me, is his urging those of us at the top to act as “servant leaders”: “Start rendering service,” he said. “The more you serve, the greater your fortune.” Or, in the words of famed motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, said, “You can have everything in life if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
Those who know me and also had the privilege of knowing J.J. often tell me they recognize me in a lot of the book’s comments. That shows you how influential J.J. was for me. I still refer to the book when I need to refresh myself on its valuable guidance, and I can’t think of a better mentor for anyone in business or in life, whether they’re just starting out or in the middle of their journey.
