AI can multiply your company’s output, but it can also multiply its dysfunction. As CEOs explore AI intelligence, the real challenge is building the judgment, culture, and leadership needed to turn greater capacity into growth.
In this episode of The CEO Project Podcast, Jim Schleckser welcomes executive coach Maximos Lih, founder of Emboldened LLC, whose experience includes recruiting engineering talent at Google and supporting founders at Google Ventures. Together, they explore why scaling requires leaders to move beyond personal heroics and build systems that help people make good decisions without relying on the CEO for every answer.
Discover why strong performers and people with strong judgment are not always the same, and why that distinction matters when deploying AI intelligence. Jim and Maximos discuss values-based decision-making, hiring for adaptability and humility, and rethinking how employees are rewarded as AI expands their capabilities. They also explore how reinvesting time and capacity in employee development and new services can create opportunities beyond cost savings.
Check out this episode for a people-centered perspective on leading through change. Then ask yourself: What can your business do today that was impossible six months ago, and how are you helping your people make it happen?
Building the Leadership and Culture Needed to Scale
[00:00] Keeping People at the Center of Growth
Jim Schleckser welcomes executive coach Maximos Lih, founder of Emboldened LLC, for a conversation about human leadership in an increasingly automated workplace. Drawing on his experience at Google and Google Ventures, Maximus explores how leaders can scale teams while preserving trust, purpose, and performance.
[03:00] Moving Beyond Founder Heroics
The determination that launches a business can become a constraint as it grows. Maximos explains why founders must evolve their own leadership rather than remain involved in every decision. Adding AI without addressing those habits can multiply quality-control demands rather than create useful capacity.
[05:00] Using Values When the Rules No Longer Apply
Jim and Maximos discuss why growing companies need systems that help people perform without extraordinary individual effort. Clear values give employees a basis for decision-making when established procedures no longer apply, allowing leaders to maintain standards while giving teams greater independence.
[11:00] Building a Management Structure You Can Lead
Hiring executives does not automatically create a scalable organization. Maximos explains that CEOs must learn to manage through other leaders, or risk turning expensive executives into frontline managers. Without that shift, the CEO remains the switchboard through which every connection and decision must pass.
[15:00] Investing in the People Function Before Culture Fragments
Maximos distinguishes between teams built around an ambitious mission and those designed to deliver repeatable championship performance. He explains why companies need people leadership that can preserve standards, address friction, and prevent silos, rather than relying solely on administrative HR support.
Turning AI Intelligence into Better Decisions and New Opportunities
[18:00] Hiring for Adaptability, Humility, and Judgment
As AI changes how work gets done, Maximos argues that hiring must assess how candidates question assumptions and evaluate outputs. He shares ways to test adaptability through changing presentation constraints and assess humility through specific examples of apologies, disagreements, and putting the team first.
[21:00] Creating an Environment Where Problem Solvers Connect
Maximos describes how Google encouraged curious employees to encounter problems beyond their immediate responsibilities. Jim and Maximos explore how workplace design and management practices can foster collaborative problem-solving, helping talented people build systems rather than repeatedly performing the same tasks.
[24:00] Organizing AI Around Your Best Judgment
Maximos cautions that top performers and people with the strongest judgment are not always the same. Effective use of AI intelligence requires leaders to identify who can define excellence, guide outputs, and help others apply the technology. Purchasing more capability alone does not guarantee better results.
[26:00] Rethinking Compensation as Individual Impact Expands
When an employee can manage AI agents that perform work previously requiring additional staff, traditional compensation and promotion models become harder to apply. Jim and Maximos discuss how AI intelligence raises questions about rewarding impact, retaining valuable expertise, and creating career paths beyond managing larger teams.
[30:00] Using the AI Dividend to Create Something New
Maximos shares an IKEA example in which customer service employees were reskilled for remote interior design as AI handled routine inquiries. The discussion reframes AI intelligence as an opportunity to develop people and expand services. Jim and Maximos encourage CEOs to ask what is newly possible, as well as what costs can be reduced.
About Maximos Lih
Maximos Lih is an Executive Coach and founder of Emboldened LLC, where he helps small teams scale without losing their edge, and leaders grow with purpose and trust. His leadership philosophy was shaped by his grandfather—a self-taught orphan who became a four-star general—who taught him that true greatness is measured by how you make people feel. After immigrating to the U.S. and graduating from UC Berkeley, Maximos joined Google, where he specialized in recruiting top engineering talent before moving to Google Ventures. There, he guided hundreds of founders through rapid growth, witnessing companies like Uber and Flatiron Health scale at remarkable speed. Today, he draws on those experiences to coach the next generation of leaders in building mission-driven, high-performing teams.