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Larry English, CEO of Centric Consulting, joined the Everyday MBA podcast to discuss why AI literacy has become a leadership imperative and what separates companies that scale AI from those stuck piloting it.
Everyday MBA, hosted by Kevin Craine, features interviews with best-selling authors, thought leaders, and executives on strategies not taught in business school.
On the episode “How AI Is Reshaping the Role of the CEO,” Craine asked English why so many chief executives lack the AI proficiency needed to lead effectively today, and how the pace of change is redefining the job itself.
English said a CEO who doesn’t understand how AI is touching every part of the business, from new competitors to internal operations, can’t set strategy with any confidence.
“You have to get your hands dirty. You’ve got to see what’s being built. You’ve got to talk to customers,” he said, adding that CEOs also need to talk with the innovators inside their companies to understand the problems AI is solving for the business.
A Faster, Bigger Shift Than Digital Transformation
English drew a sharp line between AI and the transformation waves that came before it. Digital transformation was something a CEO could delegate and stay loosely aware of, he said. AI moves at a different scale entirely. “AI is logarithmic,” he said.
Centric now updates its own AI strategy every eight weeks, and English has restructured the organization so AI reports directly to him.
Closing the Gap Between Piloting and Scaling
Much of the conversation centered on why AI initiatives stall between experimentation and enterprise deployment, particularly with agents. English pointed to real-world incidents of agents exposing data they shouldn’t and costs spiraling out of control when usage goes unmonitored. He advised managing agent access the same way an organization manages employee identity and access, with clear boundaries on what an agent can see and do.
He also emphasized that the technology is only half the equation. Getting employees to adopt AI tools requires the same discipline organizations bring to any AI change management effort, including hands-on training tied to how people already do their jobs and a willingness to push adoption along rather than wait for it to happen organically.
When asked for three action items, English told listeners to invest in governance, security, and data infrastructure before scaling AI, to prioritize use cases with clear return on investment, and to not underestimate traditional change management, process design, and organizational design skills as AI adoption accelerates.
Listen to the full episode, “How AI Is Reshaping the Role of the CEO,” on Everyday MBA, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
