How a Non-Technical CEO Made His Company AI Driven in 6 Months | Manuel Diez

2026-07-20

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Most CEOs hear about AI and delegate it to IT or HR. Manuel Diez did the opposite.In this episode, Geoff Woods sits down with Manuel Diez, CEO of Grupo Diesco, the Dominican Republic-based leader in plastics packaging and non-alcoholic beverages operating across the Caribbean, Central America, South America, and the southeastern US.Manuel had already budgeted for an AI hire when he had a realization: if AI was going to transform the business, it couldn't be delegated. So he told his executive team, "I just...

Most CEOs hear about AI and delegate it to IT or HR. Manuel Diez did the opposite.

In this episode, Geoff Woods sits down with Manuel Diez, CEO of Grupo Diesco, the Dominican Republic-based leader in plastics packaging and non-alcoholic beverages operating across the Caribbean, Central America, South America, and the southeastern US.

Manuel had already budgeted for an AI hire when he had a realization: if AI was going to transform the business, it couldn't be delegated. So he told his executive team, "I just hired that person. That person is me." What followed was a six-month transformation, from a non-technical CEO learning to use AI as a thought partner™, to rebuilding how the executive committee runs, to embedding an AI driven execution system across the company.

In this conversation:

The Eric Schmidt moment that convinced Manuel AI is underhyped, not overhyped

Why he cancelled the AI hire and took the job himself

How the leadership team validated an AI driven strategy in two hours instead of months

The humbling meeting report that exposed the company's biggest bottleneck

Why the executive committee, not a use case list, was the first thing to fix

The 20% discipline: using AI and CRIT™ (Context, Role, Interview, Task) to focus on what actually drives the business

Real ROI: budget projections that used to swing wildly now landing within 2 to 3%

You'll learn:

Why delegating AI is the most common mistake CEOs make

How Manuel got past the fear of being non-technical: the only way to start is to start

The blunt outside report that made him defensive, then changed everything

Why they said "not now" to 150 AI use cases and fixed one meeting instead

The 20% discipline and the CRIT™ prompt (Context, Role, Interview, Task) any leader can copy today

The results: budget projections that used to miss wildly now landing within 2 to 3%

If you know AI is the future but feel behind, Manuel's advice is simple: it's never too late to start, but every month you wait, you lose time you can't get back.

Get The AI-Driven Leader: https://aileadership.com/book

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