Creating the Future of AI with Marc Stoiber
A brilliant Creative Director is writing the future of marketing services
Welcome back to The Workaround. I’m Bob 👋
You’re in good company with thousands of fellow entrepreneurs and innovators who follow my stories from a career in tech startups and corporate innovation.
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Listen by hitting the play button above or with your favorite Podcast app. Or listen and watch on YouTube.
I’m excited to share the next podcast episode in my series of conversations with interesting people on topics where business and life intersect.
My discussion partner this week, Marc Stoiber, is a Founder, Consultant, and Strategist who (re)invents himself and leading brands for a living. I first got to work with Marc when he was Executive Creative Director for the Grey advertising agency. Together, our teams turned around the iconic Mr. Clean brand, then Marc and I traded our comfortable jobs for the rollercoaster ride of entrepreneurship.
Marc and I were catching up a few weeks ago when he said he’s been building a one-person strategy+creative agency…with the help of an army of AIs. That stopped me in my tracks—and I just had to get the rest of the conversation on the record.
Here’s a summary, a teaser, an amuse-bouche to get you to hit the play button above ^^^ or see our faces on YouTube.
AI is my Creative Wingman
Marc tells the story of going from absolute beginner to creating a virtual team of AI experts to handle everything from account service to idea brainstorming. Through patient testing, he got his AI assistant to move from “dumb intern” to “creative wingman.” Marc laughs at people frustrated that AI tools can’t be experts out of the gate. We don’t expect interns to deliver on their first day, so why AI?
Marc then decided to try to build a 1-person agency with only AI help. Setting this goal helped him double down on learning—and it’s paying off. He is increasing his client work at almost no additional cost. Perhaps more importantly, Marc can spend most of his time on the work that he is one of the best in the world at.
Look through the Augmentation Lens
We all start with the basics of AI, which is fine, but too many people get stuck thinking only about how the tools can reduce “mindless” work. Marc describes how most people stop at “write me an email.”
Marc took his highest-level thinking and challenged himself to make that even better. He created a brainstorming board of AI-generated personalities based on some of his business heroes, such as Alan Weiss and Blair Enns. The result: “Overnight, I had high-value advisors who sounded like my brain, just more focused.”
This idea of replacement vs. augmentation is shaping up to be the two paths ahead for our use of AI in the workplace, and there are debates about whether jobs will go away or get better. Which side will you be on?
Embrace Your Inner Cluelessness
Marc shares the story of falling into a career in advertising…In Hong Kong. He didn’t know anything about the industry at the time. Heck, he didn’t even know Hong Kong was an island. But the immersive challenge accelerated his learning.
That early experience made Marc comfortable with the “terrifying but fun” process of jumping into the unknown. It forces you to learn and improve. And it seldom actually kills you. He says, “If you’re curious and hands-on, you’ll be two years ahead of everyone just outsourcing garbage.”
We ultimately agreed that AI isn’t a magic wand—it’s a craft. The secret is staying involved, asking tough questions, and constantly iterating like a great creative director. I’m excited that we have creative veterans like Marc who keep one foot in the best practices of the advertising days of the past, and put the other stretched out into opportunities to change the game for the better.
To enjoy the whole chat, hit the play button above, subscribe to the podcast on Apple or Spotify, or watch us below on YouTube!
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How we might work together…
Fleet is our holding company for services businesses. We invest in leaders ready to start their own companies (we also do some M&A). If this might be you, hit my Office Hours link.
A2 Influence is our content development agency that helps some of the biggest brands and retailers create and distribute authentic content at scale, including social+influencer. CEO Rob Reinfeld would love to share our approach.
Revelin is our consulting practice that helps with revenue alignment, growth management, and other RevOps functions. CEO Jess Shuman is standing by to share a no-cost assessment of your business.
Feel free to schedule a chat during my Office Hours to discuss questions, feedback, networking, or any other topic. Seriously, any topic! You can also reach me on LinkedIn or by email.
BONUS: Cool Content of the Week
A little something I found meaningful. You might agree…
Learning Resilience
It’s great to see my college, Duke University, continue to improve long after I graduated. In particular, the school has brought in experienced business leaders to teach courses in “real-world” topics. For example, my friend from P&G, George Grody, recently retired from teaching one of the most popular courses in media and marketing.
My second favorite example is Aaron Dinin, a multi-time startup founder and investor who shares great lessons on Medium and teaches courses in the Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship program. He hosts world-class speakers to share their wisdom with his students…and us!
I loved this Facebook Reels clip from his course titled “Learning to Fail” of a talk with guest lecturer Dr. Becky about Resilience. I wish I had seen these two minutes of brilliance on campus in the early ‘90s. But it’s never too late to learn:
"He created a brainstorming board of AI-generated personalities based on some of his business heroes, such as Alan Weiss and Blair Enns"
I played with making a newsletter that would give you financial news in the voice of Munger and Buffett last year. I ended up thinking that it was a kind of fun thing but sort of a gimmick at the end of the day and not exciting enough to me to spend time on
I think i still have a mental block that prevents me from working with AI in a deep way. Interesting to hear how he gets value from it