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LeaderbookAI

LeaderbookAI

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Summary
 LeaderbookAI is where leadership meets AI execution. Join Felicia Shakiba for candid conversations with CEOs, executives, investors, and operators making high-stakes decisions in real time. From enduring leadership principles and decision frameworks to practical AI strategies that drive measurable results, this podcast delivers the clarity leaders need to move faster — and create real value.417554 Economics Management Management & Leadership Personal Finance
Episodes
  • Building Teams That Challenge Ideas | Karan Yadav

    Building Teams That Challenge Ideas | Karan Yadav
    Nov 10 2026
    How can leaders turn disagreement into better decisions? Karan Yadav joins Felicia Shakiba to discuss productive friction, hiring people who learn and solve problems, and building teams that challenge ideas before committing to a shared direction. Drawing on his experience at Apple, Workday and OrbitShift AI (a Sequoia backed company), Karan explores how leaders pressure-test ideas, use AI without losing originality, and make culture visible through everyday behavior. They also discuss coaching after customer calls, explaining the reasoning behind decisions, and ensuring quieter team members are heard. Guest: Karan Yadav, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Americas at OrbitShift AI at the time of recording. Host and interviewer: Felicia Shakiba. CHAPTERS 00:00 Opening and introduction 00:28 Meet Karan Yadav 02:32 Friction in startups and large organizations 04:47 Scaling sales and marketing at OrbitShift AI 09:44 Why hiring becomes a search for familiar patterns 13:49 Encourage dissent, then commit together 16:52 Pressure-testing ideas: lessons from Apple 20:45 AI, productivity and human judgment 23:55 Using AI without losing your voice 25:19 Building a culture of creativity and disagreement 33:08 Leading change in established organizations 38:24 Coaching and two-way feedback after customer calls 46:21 Explaining intuition to remove decision bottlenecks 49:20 Making room for the quietest person 53:17 Connecting teams across cultures and locations 57:10 The cost of a culture of agreement About LeaderbookAI LeaderbookAI offers consulting and AI-powered diagnostics for private equity and portfolio companies. Explore how LeaderbookAI (https://leaderbook.ai) can support your team. Follow the LeaderbookAI podcast in your listening app for more conversations with leaders. More episodes: The LeaderbookAI Podcast : AI in Business (https://leaderbook.ai/podcast)
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    59 mins
  • Inside the Mind of a CEO: Deciding with Impact I KP Reddy

    Inside the Mind of a CEO: Deciding with Impact I KP Reddy
    Nov 3 2026
    AI makes prototyping easier. Building a business that lasts still depends on clear priorities, close customer contact, and sound judgment. Felicia Shakiba speaks with entrepreneur and investor KP Reddy about his return to the operator’s seat with Zero RFI, applying AI to construction, and what he looks for in early-stage founders. They discuss how a North Star guides decisions as a business changes, why founders need direct contact with customers, and how intellectual curiosity shapes the relationship between founders and investors. KP also explains why CEOs and boards should build with AI themselves, drawing on his hackathons for non-coders. In this episode: Applying AI to construction and traditional industries Using a North Star to guide a changing business Customer discovery and founder commitment Evaluating founders when prototyping is easier Why investors need to keep learning Hands-on AI experience for executives More conversations: https://leaderbook.ai/podcast
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • The Human Side of People Analytics: What AI Can't Replace I Bessemer Venture Partners, Todd Carlisle

    The Human Side of People Analytics: What AI Can't Replace I Bessemer Venture Partners, Todd Carlisle
    Oct 27 2026
    Why do well-supported people decisions still meet resistance? Todd Carlisle, Partner and Chief People Officer at Bessemer Venture Partners, joins Felicia Shakiba to discuss how leaders can make data useful in real conversations and evaluate where AI belongs in HR. Todd explains how he prepares stakeholders before a meeting, combines employee stories with engagement data, and considers the personal peer groups that shape expectations about pay. He also shares four practical criteria for evaluating AI and the moments when human judgment still matters. In this episode Prepare stakeholders before presenting a decision, and pair the numbers with employee stories. Understand why employees’ chosen compensation peers may differ from your formal benchmarks. Assess AI through time saved, money saved, employee experience and the HR team’s experience. Thank you to our sponsors Ikon Analytics at the People Analytics World Conference for hosting. Chapters 00:00:00 Teaser and introduction 00:01:35 Building people analytics at Google 00:03:01 Why correct analysis can fail to persuade 00:06:59 When data meets human assumptions 00:08:00 Preparing stakeholders before decisions 00:11:42 Making compensation data land 00:14:12 Persuading the head and the heart 00:17:12 Pairing employee stories with data 00:19:37 Benchmarking and employees’ chosen peers 00:21:24 Compensation transparency and fairness 00:23:16 Variable pay and performance 00:26:02 Measuring AI’s return on investment 00:31:14 Human judgment and empathy in HR 00:33:42 Learning development and mentorship 00:36:01 Leadership advice for investment firms About the hostFelicia Shakiba is the founder and CEO of LeaderbookAI and an industrial-organizational psychologist. She advises capital-backed companies on leadership, execution and AI transformation. About LeaderbookAI LeaderbookAI offers consulting and AI-powered diagnostics for private equity and portfolio companies. Explore how LeaderbookAI can support your team. Follow the LeaderbookAI podcast in your listening app for more conversations with leaders. More episodes: ⁠The LeaderbookAI Podcast : AI in Business
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    38 mins
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