AI Is Making You a Worse CEO — Ecomm Breakthrough

In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley discusses why judgment is the most valuable skill he looks for when hiring. Drawing from his experience scaling an ecommerce brand to eight figures, Josh explains that while AI can efficiently handle repetitive tasks, human judgment remains irreplaceable for making sound decisions with incomplete information. He outlines four key indicators of good judgment, shares a Steve Jobs story about ruthless prioritization, and warns against over-relying on AI for strategic thinking, emphasizing that wrestling with difficult decisions is what sharpens judgment over time.

Bullet Points:

Importance of judgment as a key skill in hiring team members.
Distinction between judgment and execution in business success.
Role of AI in handling repetitive tasks and its limitations in decision-making.
Characteristics of good judgment, including decision-making with incomplete information.
Indicators of individuals with good judgment, such as driving results and identifying constraints.
The significance of focus and prioritization in achieving impactful outcomes.
Learning from experience and feedback to develop judgment within a team.
The necessity of saying no to less important tasks to maintain focus.
The example of Steve Jobs simplifying Apple's product line to illustrate effective judgment.
Caution against over-reliance on AI for strategic thinking and decision-making.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 The Most Valuable Skill in Hiring
The host introduces judgment as the single most valuable skill he looks for when hiring new team members.

00:00:58 Execution vs. Judgment
Business success shifts from execution to judgment, which involves making critical decisions on pricing, products, data, and team management.

00:02:09 AI's Role in Execution
AI is excellent at executing repetitive, process-driven tasks, making human executors less necessary in modern business operations.

00:04:21 The Value of Human Experience
Hiring smart individuals brings valuable experience, including lessons learned from past failures, which builds strong judgment for the team.

00:06:57 Defining Judgment
Judgment is making solid decisions with incomplete information, unlike intelligence. It's about knowing what to do and what to ignore.

00:09:13 How to Identify Good Judgment
Key indicators of good judgment include a track record of results, identifying constraints, focusing on impactful tasks, and acting decisively.

00:13:02 Developing Judgment in Your Team
Develop team judgment through experience, creating feedback loops for learning from wins and losses, and teaching them to say no.

00:15:23 The Importance of Learning from Experience
Team members must have a feedback loop to articulate why something worked or didn't, and then refine systems accordingly.

00:17:26 The Power of Saying No
Good judgment involves prioritizing the few key tasks that drive results and saying no to less important initiatives.

00:18:30 The Steve Jobs and Apple Story
Steve Jobs simplified Apple's complex product line to just four core products, demonstrating judgment by focusing on what truly mattered.

00:21:59 Busyness Doesn't Equal Results
Activity and being busy do not guarantee success. The focus must be on whether the work is producing meaningful business results.

00:26:09 The Leader's Role in Judgment
A leader's job is to ensure the team works on what matters, not just completing tasks, and to stop unproductive projects.

00:29:39 A Warning: AI Can Weaken Your Judgment
Over-relying on AI for strategic thinking and communication can weaken a leader's own judgment by removing necessary mental friction.

Links and Mentions:

Tools and Technologies
"Claude": "00:03:12"

Concepts and Ideas
"SOPs": "00:02:09"
"AI as an executor": "00:03:12"
"Feedback loop": "00:15:23"
"411 meetings": "00:16:28"

Examples and Anecdotes
"Steve Jobs and Apple": "00:20:54"

Key Takeaways
"Judgment vs. Execution": "00:06:57"
"Identifying constraints": "00:10:21"

Recommendations
"Hiring for judgment": "00:13:02"

Transcript:

Josh Hadley 00:00:00 I'm going to share the single most valuable skill that I look for when I hire someone today, and more importantly, how you can develop more of it within the team that you already have. Welcome to the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, I'm Josh Hadley. I've scaled my own ecommerce brand from 0 to 8 figures, and I'm actively building towards nine figures in sales. This podcast is where I document that journey and share the systems, the strategies, and the lessons learned in real time so that you can learn what actually matters and scale your own business. My name is Josh Hadley. First and foremost, I'm a man of faith. I'm a husband to a beautiful wife and the father of four children. I've been selling in the e-commerce space for over a decade now, doing over $20 million in annual revenue in multi-million on channels such as Amazon, TikTok, Shop and Shopify. And I am also the host of the number one business strategy podcast for ecommerce entrepreneurs, Ecomm Breakthrough. Today, I'm going to share why judgment is the number one skill that you should be looking for whenever you hire someone.

Josh Hadley 00:00:58 Look, at the end of the day, you can have all the SOPs, the dashboards, the data and the right team, but still make the wrong call because at a cer