That is the old mental model. Here is how I actually think about the job.
The CEO is responsible for the company and everyone in it. Not served by it. Responsible for it.
That reframe changes the question you ask yourself every day. Not how do I grow my influence, but where do I add the most value?
I am early in my career so admittedly there is a lot I still do not know. But I am certain about this: the next generation of leaders needs to lead the charge on AI. Not delegate it. Not outsource it. Lead it.
That is why I chose to run the AI initiative at Westlake Realty Group myself. Two reasons.
First, it adds real value. Thirty minutes to build a comp map that used to take three days. IC memos drafted by AI that was inside the deal for weeks before it wrote a single word. Sensitivity analyses running in real time while we are still in the room making the decision.
Second, it models what we say we believe. Kaizen is one of the five core values of our family and our company. Continuous improvement is not a poster on the wall. If I am not living it, the whole thing falls apart.
Here is what I have learned building this out: there is no one big AI solution that transforms a business. There are a hundred small ones that compound quietly until the results stop surprising you.
At Westlake, we have built more than 40 individual skills and agents for our acquisitions and operations teams. Not a platform. Each one thoughtfully designed for one specific problem, deployed one at a time.
A few weeks ago I shared our acquisitions mapping tool. One skill. Thirty minutes. A color-coded comp map I can pull up mid-underwriting that used to take half a day to put together.
In the coming weeks I am going to start sharing more of them, one by one.
Leadership in this moment is not about having the right AI strategy on paper. It is about being the one in the room who actually builds it.
What is the one part of your operation you keep meaning to bring AI into but have not started yet?
Everyone works for the CEO
