I Built an AI Chief of Staff for €70 — And It Destroyed My Company - #112 episode artwork

EPISODE · Jan 21, 2026 · 39 MIN

I Built an AI Chief of Staff for €70 — And It Destroyed My Company - #112

from The AI Cookbook: AI Tools | Enterprise AI | Leadership · host Malcolm Werchota

Where have I been for 10 days? Vibe coding. Building something that changed everything about how I see my own business.We built an AI Chief of Staff — a system that mines every email, every call recording, every file across our entire company. Not just my inbox. Everyone's. And then we gave everyone access to query it.What it revealed was brutal: ThyssenKrupp — one of the biggest defense contractors in Europe — reached out for a workshop. I never answered. NG Spain wanted to train 100 people. I ghosted them. Promised case studies to customers in November. Never sent. The list goes on.But here's what really hit me: I asked the AI, "What's the biggest bottleneck in this company?" And it said: YOU. You, Malcolm, are the biggest constraint on growth.This isn't a tool to show you how amazing you are. It's a tool that shows you 99% of your failures — every broken promise, every strategy drift, every customer you forgot. And it cost €70 to build.If you think you know what's happening in your company, you don't. Nobody does. And this episode is the raw, unfiltered truth about what happens when AI finally shows you.🎙️ ABOUT THE HOSTMalcolm Werchota has led AI workshops for executives at Microsoft, LGT, Raiffeisen, Swiss MedTech, and ENGEL — and runs AI adoption programs for companies across Europe. After 15 years in corporate roles across pharma and oil & gas on multiple continents — including Novartis and Schlumberger — he now helps leadership teams cut through AI hype and drive real adoption.🚀 ABOUT WERCHOTA.AIwerchota.ai helps organizations turn AI from threat into competitive advantage. We believe AI adoption is a leadership challenge, not a technical one — and that it should amplify human capability, not replace it🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES📚 Join Chief AI Academy (cohort-based AI courses for leaders): https://www.werchota.ai/chief-ai-academy👥 Join our community of AI leaders: https://chief.werchota.ai/getting-started🎧 LISTEN TO THE PODCASTEnglish: ▸ Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/the-ai-cookbook-ai-tools-enterprise-ai-leadership/id1823547405 ▸ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3MZ755kss8qdI5lQfxIUhH ▸ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@werchota-theaicookbookshow📱 FOLLOW MALCOLM▸ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/malcolmwerchota ▸ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@malcolmwerchota ▸ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/malcolmwerchotaai/

Where have I been for 10 days? Vibe coding. Building something that changed everything about how I see my own business.We built an AI Chief of Staff — a system that mines every email, every call recording, every file across our entire company. Not just my inbox. Everyone's. And then we gave everyone access to query it.What it revealed was brutal: ThyssenKrupp — one of the biggest defense contractors in Europe — reached out for a workshop. I never answered. NG Spain wanted to train 100 people. I ghosted them. Promised case studies to customers in November. Never sent. The list goes on.But here's what really hit me: I asked the AI, "What's the biggest bottleneck in this company?" And it said: YOU. You, Malcolm, are the biggest constraint on growth.This isn't a tool to show you how amazing you are. It's a tool that shows you 99% of your failures — every broken promise, every strategy drift, every customer you forgot. And it cost €70 to build.If you think you know what's happening in your company, you don't. Nobody does. And this episode is the raw, unfiltered truth about what happens when AI finally shows you.🎙️ ABOUT THE HOSTMalcolm Werchota has led AI workshops for executives at Microsoft, LGT, Raiffeisen, Swiss MedTech, and ENGEL — and runs AI adoption programs for companies across Europe. After 15 years in corporate roles across pharma and oil & gas on multiple continents — including Novartis and Schlumberger — he now helps leadership teams cut through AI hype and drive real adoption.🚀 ABOUT WERCHOTA.AIwerchota.ai helps organizations turn AI from threat into competitive advantage. We believe AI adoption is a leadership challenge, not a technical one — and that it should amplify human capability, not replace it🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES📚 Join Chief AI Academy (cohort-based AI courses for leaders): https://www.werchota.ai/chief-ai-academy👥 Join our community of AI leaders: https://chief.werchota.ai/getting-started🎧 LISTEN TO THE PODCASTEnglish: ▸ Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/the-ai-cookbook-ai-tools-enterprise-ai-leadership/id1823547405 ▸ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3MZ755kss8qdI5lQfxIUhH ▸ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@werchota-theaicookbookshow📱 FOLLOW MALCOLM▸ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/malcolmwerchota ▸ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@malcolmwerchota ▸ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/malcolmwerchotaai/

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I Built an AI Chief of Staff for €70 — And It Destroyed My Company - #112

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This episode was published on January 21, 2026.

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Where have I been for 10 days? Vibe coding. Building something that changed everything about how I see my own business.We built an AI Chief of Staff — a system that mines every email, every call recording, every file across our entire company. Not...

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