Growth Elevated Leadership Podcast

AI keeps slipping down the priority list when there is another deal to close, role to fill, or quarter to finish. How can CEOs help their teams get started while the business keeps moving?In this special episode of the Growth Elevated podcast, Julian Castelli welcomes Rick Lindquist for a practical conversation about getting employees comfortable using AI in their daily work.They explore stage one of Julian's AI adoption framework, which focuses on building employee confidence and habits before tackling broader process automation or adding AI to a company's product.Rick raises practical questions about permissions, time commitments, resistance, and costs. Julian explains the role of an AI champion, a short charter, and the CEO's own participation in making the program work.They also discuss a proposed two hours of daily AI use, structured peer learning, and a shared log of employee experiments. That log can surface projects for further investment and identify people ready to lead them.Julian distinguishes launching the program from building fluency, suggesting roughly 30 to 45 days to launch and three to six months for stage one. The conversation gives leaders a starting point for making that learning part of how their teams work.Key TakeawaysWhy CEOs need to use AI themselves and stay involved in adoptionWhat an AI charter should cover, from approved tools to human accountabilityThe thinking behind a two-hour daily AI practice mandateHow peer working groups help employees share and apply useful discoveriesHow employee experiments can feed the next wave of company automation projectsVisit us at: https://growthelevated.com/Follow us on LinkedIn for daily leadership inspiration and updates: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growth-elevated/#Leadership #CEO #RickLindquist #GrowthElevated #JulianCastelli #AIAdoption #TechFounders

Victor Cheng spent nearly a year using AI before realizing something surprisingly basic: it did not even know the name of his company.It did not know what the company sold. It did not know who his customers were. It did not even know who his best customer was.That realization became the foundation for his book, Teach AI Your Company.In this episode of the Growth Elevated Leadership Podcast, Julian Castelli sits down with Victor, CEO of SaasCEO.com, to explore why the quality of AI output often depends less on switching models and more on the context a company gives the model in the first place.Victor explains why businesses need to capture the tacit knowledge currently living inside employees’ heads, meetings, presentations, customer conversations, documents, and workflows. His own team spent months transcribing years of material, eventually building a knowledge base of roughly four million words.But the breakthrough started much smaller. Victor created a basic company overview and ideal customer profile. With only a few pages of additional context, he says his AI outputs became roughly two to three times better.🔑 Key Takeaways:Why disappointing AI results may actually be a context problemWhat it really means to “Teach AI Your Company”How to turn tacit company knowledge into usable AI contextWhy Victor digitized years of presentations, recordings, and company knowledgeHow just a few pages of context improved his AI outputs by roughly 2 to 3 timesWhy company-specific knowledge can make AI dramatically more usefulThe lesson is simple but powerful: before expecting AI to understand your business, you have to teach it what your people already know.👉 Learn more about Growth Elevated: https://growthelevated.com/

What if your executive team could turn an 8-hour weekend finance project into a 5-minute task without opening a single piece of software?In this episode of the Growth Elevated Leadership Podcast, Julian Castelli sits down with Zaigo Co-founder and Managing Director Kyle Richless to explore how custom AI agents are eliminating "decision latency" and automating the workflows that slow growing tech companies down.Zaigo acts as an outsourced AI implementation team for mid-market and owner-led businesses, operating in rapid sprints to map workflows and deploy intelligent systems. But adopting AI isn't just about buying new tools. Kyle argues it requires navigating internal resistance, or "political antibodies." Drawing on a diverse background as a lawyer, venture capitalist, and startup operator, Kyle brings a rare, operator-first perspective, demanding strict business ROI in a technology space currently clouded by FOMO and confusion.From automating FP&A variance memos and candidate screening to building secure, open-source "Company Brains" that connect your entire software stack, this conversation dives into what it really takes to scale operations efficiently.🔑 Key Takeaways:Why successful AI adoption is 2/3 leadership buy-in and only 1/3 a technology challengeHow to identify and beat the "political antibodies" resisting AI in your workforceThe strict "2-Sentence ROI Rule" every CEO needs before approving an AI projectHow to build a secure "Company Brain" to query your business data instantlyWhy you shouldn't automatically hand your company's AI strategy over to your CTO👉 Visit us at: https://growthelevated.com/ 📲 Follow us on LinkedIn for daily leadership inspiration and updates: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growth-elevated/

What if the smartest product decision is to stop building?In this episode of the Growth Elevated Leadership Podcast, Julian Castelli speaks with Vitalii Sydorenko, serial entrepreneur and partner at AI product studio Gearhart, about how AI is changing product validation and MVP development.Vitalii shares how his team stopped a founder after one week of development, returned to customer discovery, and created more than 10 product iterations in roughly 10 hours. The process helped the founder test ideas faster, reduce risk, and improve the chances of finding product-market fit.Vitalii also explains why industry access matters more than knowledge alone, and why validation should never be confused with growth.🔑 Key takeaways:Why Vitalii stopped a product build after one weekHow AI enabled 10 iterations in 10 hoursWhy customer access is essential for validationRapid prototyping can reduce cost and riskWhy founders must validate before they scale👉 Visit us at: https://growthelevated.com/ 📲 Follow us on LinkedIn for daily leadership insights and updates: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growth-elevated/ 

What if the housekeepers cleaning your hotel room were replaced by robots?In this episode of the Growth Elevated Leadership Podcast, Julian Castelli sits down with Brian Coyne, CEO of The Service Companies, to explore how automation is already reshaping the hospitality industry and what it means for the workforce behind the scenes.The Service Companies provides outsourced cleaning to luxury hotels, casinos, and timeshares, recruiting more than 10,000 people a year. But reliable labor keeps getting harder to find, and Brian is betting that robots and drones are part of the answer. Drawing on 25+ years in the US Marine Corps, where he rose to colonel and led more than 7,000 Marines, Brian brings a rare mix of operational discipline and systems thinking to a business most guests never see.From floor-cleaning robots already deployed on property to why culture is what happens when no one is looking, this conversation dives into what it really takes to scale a people-driven business.🔑 Key Takeaways:Why robots are already cleaning hotel floors todayHow COVID forced a rebuild from the floor upWhy reliable labor is hospitality's biggest challengeWhat the Marine Corps taught Brian about scaling peopleWhy outsourcing is about more than cutting costs👉 Visit us at GrowthElevated.com 📲 Follow us on LinkedIn for daily leadership inspiration and updates 

What does practical AI adoption actually look like inside a growing enterprise software company?In this episode of the Growth Elevated Leadership Podcast, Julian Castelli sits down with John Peebles, CEO of Administrate, to explore how a former AI skeptic found real business value in Claude Code, agentic coding, and internal workflow automation.John shares how Administrate’s enterprise onboarding process became increasingly complex as the company moved toward larger customers. With project managers, solution consultants, legacy systems, manual configuration, and “wild spreadsheets” all part of the process, implementation work had become slow, repetitive, and difficult to scale.Rather than starting with a flashy AI product feature, John focused on a painful internal bottleneck. Using AI, his team helped turn complex configuration decisions into a structured, reviewable workflow that could import setup data in about 30 seconds.This is a grounded conversation about where AI can create real operational leverage: not by chasing trends, but by solving the manual work teams already know is holding them back.🔑Key takeaways:Why John was initially skeptical of AIHow Claude Code changed his perspectiveWhy coding is powerful because it can be testedHow internal AI automation can improve speed, quality, and customer experienceWhy CEOs should start with practical workflows before chasing AI hype👉 Visit us at GrowthElevated.com📲 Follow us on LinkedIn for daily leadership inspiration and updates

Have you been told that great leaders need to constantly fix their weaknesses?In this episode of the Growth Elevated Leadership Podcast, Julian Castelli sits down with Michael Guymon, CEO of SQA Services and former leader at SpaceX and Rocket Lab, to challenge that idea.Michael shares why trying to turn every weakness into a strength is not just inefficient, it is a leadership trap. As companies scale, the role of a CEO shifts dramatically. You cannot do everything yourself, and trying to will slow your growth and burn you out.Instead, Michael explains why the best leaders build around their gaps by hiring people with complementary strengths. From navigating imposter syndrome to creating a culture that encourages real debate over artificial harmony, this conversation dives into what it actually takes to lead at the next level.🔑 Key Takeaways:Why fixing weaknesses is an uphill battleHiring for strengths and building balanced teamsThe difference between right person and right seatWhy conflict driven cultures outperform passive teamsHow first time CEOs evolve their leadership style👉 Visit us at GrowthElevated.com📲 Follow us on LinkedIn for daily leadership inspiration and updates

Are you a $500/hour executive stuck doing $5/hour work? Most founders who scale past the $5M mark eventually hit a growth ceiling, not because of product or market, but because they’re still buried in the day-to-day noise of the business.In this episode of the Growth Elevated Leadership Podcast, Julian Castelli sits down with GetLevrg CEO Jamie Shanks to unpack what he calls the “founder’s trap”.Jamie is a serial entrepreneur who has trained over 250,000 sellers and built three seven-figure agencies. In this podcast, he shares the framework he uses to help leaders shift from low-value execution to high-impact decision-making by trading $5 tasks for $500 outcomes.We explore his “Three Ps” framework: Principle, Process, and Platform, and how offshore talent and AI can be combined to remove operational friction and accelerate growth.Jamie also breaks down his “DSO Zero” strategy, which allowed him to scale a 115-person global team starting with nothing more than a credit card and a disciplined approach to cash flow.If you’re navigating the messy middle of scaling, or trying to step out of execution and into real leadership, this episode offers a clear, practical blueprint.👉 Visit us at GrowthElevated.com📲 Follow us on LinkedIn for daily leadership inspiration and updates.

In this episode of the Growth Elevated Leadership Podcast, Julian Castelli sits down with Jay McEntire, founder and CEO of ARVA Intelligence, to unpack a hard truth: modern farming is under serious pressure, and many farmers are struggling to survive.For decades, agriculture has been optimized for one thing: producing cheap calories at scale. But that model is breaking down under rising input costs, volatile markets, and unsustainable practices.Jay shares how AI is transforming key decisions in farming, from fertilizer use to soil management. By leveraging data at the field level, farmers can optimize inputs more precisely, reducing costs while improving yields and resilience.The conversation also explores how regenerative practices are turning farms into carbon assets, creating new revenue streams through environmental impact and carbon markets.If you are interested in how AI is reshaping agriculture and unlocking new economic opportunities, this episode offers a clear perspective on the future of farming, sustainability, and long-term profitability.Ready to take your leadership to the next level? 👉 Visit us at GrowthElevated.com 📲 Follow us on LinkedIn for daily leadership inspiration and updates 🎧

In this episode of the Growth Elevated Leadership Podcast, host Julian Castelli sits down with Aaron Ross, bestselling author of Predictable Revenue, to discuss how sales and go-to-market strategies are evolving in the age of AI.Aaron reflects on the original ideas behind his book predictable revenue and explores whether those principles still apply in today’s rapidly changing business environment. While AI and automation are transforming sales tactics, Aaron explains why the core principles behind building a pipeline and driving growth remain relevant.The conversation also explores a broader shift toward nonlinear growth. As technology accelerates change, companies and individuals are moving beyond rigid, spreadsheet-driven models toward more adaptive strategies built on relationships, trust, publishing, and referrals.If you’re a founder, sales leader, or operator navigating the future of go-to-market, this episode offers practical insights on building sustainable growth in the AI era.👉 Visit us at GrowthElevated.com📲 Follow us on LinkedIn for leadership insights and updates.Let’s grow together!