Paul Roetzer Joins the Podcast
This week on the podcast we hosted Paul Roetzer, the founder and CEO of Marketing AI Institute and SmarterX, co-author of Marketing Artificial Intelligence, host of The Artificial Intelligence Show, and creator of MAICON.
He’s advised hundreds of organizations, from startups to Fortune 500s, and has studied AI’s business impact since 2011. Prior to AI, Paul founded PR 20/20, HubSpot’s first partner agency, which he built and sold in 2021.
Paul’s work consistently reinforces a simple idea: leaders who learn to use AI gain an advantage over those who don’t.
That mindset anchors our latest AI First with Adam and Andy conversation, and frames the CEO mandate for 2026.
The CEO Mandate for 2026
In this episode, Paul, Adam, and Andy surface the most consistent gaps they see across leadership teams and the practical guidance they’re giving CEOs right now.
Paul Roetzer’s Advice for CEOs
“Focus on 10X innovation — not 10% productivity gains.”
The first wave of AI adoption was dominated by efficiency: faster emails, summarized meetings, incremental productivity gains. Those wins matter, but they don’t create durable advantage. AI’s real value is in unlocking entirely new products and services, entering new markets faster, changing how decisions get made, and building operating models competitors can’t easily replicate. CEO takeaway: Use AI to question assumptions and redesign how value is created. Efficiency sustains the business; 10X thinking transforms it.
“Show, don’t tell — build something yourself.”
Leaders don’t truly believe in AI until they experience it firsthand. Paul urges CEOs to build, not just approve budgets. He shared how he built a custom “Co-CEO” GPT trained on his company’s strategy and constraints, using it to pressure-test growth ideas and make complex decisions in days instead of months. No engineers. No code. Just leverage. CEO takeaway: If AI isn’t saving you time or expanding your thinking, it won’t matter to your organization.
“We spent $2M on Copilot. We bought the tools… but never trained anyone how to use them.”
Paul hears this story constantly, and it’s where AI initiatives quietly fail. Tools are purchased without enablement, leaders push for ROI before literacy, and agents are introduced before teams understand what autonomy really means. CEOs focus heavily on the R (return) and far too little on the I (investment in learning, experimentation, and change). CEO takeaway: Buying AI without training people doesn’t create leverage, it creates confusion, fear, and wasted spend. In this phase, many CEOs must effectively act as the Chief AI Officer.
“You can’t build your company based on what models can do today.”
AI capability is shifting every 3–6 months, which fundamentally changes how CEOs should think about hiring, org design, leadership roles, and long-term cost structures. Paul now asks a simple question before hiring: “Will I still need this role in 12 months?” Most organizations and HR teams aren’t yet equipped to answer that. CEO takeaway: AI strategy is inseparable from workforce planning and leadership design. Stay at the frontier, and assign clear ownership for pushing AI forward every day.
Paul’s advice isn’t about tools. It’s about leadership posture.
AI-First CEOs:
think in 10X, not 10%
learn by doing, not delegating
invest in people before ROI
plan for where AI is going — not where it is today
AI-First companies start and end with AI-First CEOs.
Stay Curious. Stay AI-First.
Forum3 | Helping leaders build AI-First organizations that grow, adapt, and win.