The Undeniable Leader with Rob Cressy

The Undeniable Way To Win In The AI Era

• Rob Cressy

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The leaders who win in the AI era become someone different first. In this episode of The Undeniable Leader, Rob Cressy breaks down The Undeniable Way: the 3 Pillars that separate the best from everyone else. He shares the framework for Being (who you are), Creating (what you do), and Building (what you multiply), along with the exact practices, systems, and mindset shifts that drive real performance. This is what undeniable leadership looks like in the AI era.

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Before we get to today's show, one of my core values is live in action. And that means that I'm willing to take action before everything is completely figured out and perfect. So here's what's happening. This is actually the debut of the Undeniable Leader podcast. I've rebranded the podcast from Built for the Game. Why? Because Undeniable is my word of the year for 2026, and I am all in. And I want to embody it in every way that I can, including with this podcast. Built for the Game served us well for so many years, but it's time to evolve. The undeniable leader is clearer, sharper, and it matches the mission. And today's episode is me planting the flag. This is what it means to be an undeniable leader and win in the AI era. If you've been with me from Built for the Game, thank you. Welcome to the evolution. If you're new here, welcome to the undeniable leader. Enjoy. Welcome to the undeniable leader. I'm Rob Cressy. And today I'm breaking down the undeniable way to win in the AI era. Because being an undeniable leader is an identity, it's a mindset, a lifestyle, and a way of being. And when you apply this to creating growth in your business and in your life, this becomes an absolute superpower. And this is something that is not for most people. It is only for the best of the best, the 1% of the 1%. And today, what I'm going to do is give you a framework that you can follow. And I'm going to share three pillars that separate undeniable leaders from everyone else. And those three pillars are number one, being who you are. Number two, creating what you do. And number three, building what you multiply. And by the end of this, my promise for you is that you will know exactly what it takes to win in the AI era with heart and excellence. Let's go. So let's start with pillar number one being. And this is about who you are as a leader, your identity, your standards, your heart. Because winning in the AI era starts with who you are and then who you become. Because this is not about what you know, what your background is, or what you do, it's all about you. So I want to introduce a few different concepts that are key to creating who you are being as an undeniable leader. And number one, it's got to start with that heart and that soul. Because for me, this is all around the human first approach to leading and winning in the AI era. Because what I want you to do is to embody who you are, because AI can help multiply more of that. And this is why we always talk about you're the leader, AI is your assistant, right? Because it's one of the top things that people fail at. Because so much of the world is going to outsource their authenticity in connection to AI and the robots. And because of this, this is why it's even more important for those of us who are undeniable leaders to do the work. Air quotes, the inner work on ourselves, making ourselves better every single day. That's that heart, that's that soul, that's that thing that you can feel inside of you. That is one of the biggest things. And that is why it is number one. Number two is vision. I want you to have a big vision. There's a quote that I love that I learned from Ed Milette: make your dreams so big that the dreams of others fit inside of yours. Because in the AI era, thinking big is an absolute superpower and is legitimately a skill. Because there is no ceiling and no capacity to what you can create with AI. And once you understand this, this is your invitation to keep going bigger. And at the same time, that is why there's multiple pillars to this. Because when you've got big dreams and goals and visions and you can make them happen, you got to make sure that your container that you are creating for yourself can hold and create that. Because number three is confidence. And in the AI era and in life, confidence is earned, and you put in the work every single day, especially when things are hard. And so many people are out there being like, there's no such thing as an AI expert. Well, guess what? There is an expert in you. You are the best version of yourself. And the more you put in the work, the more that you do, the more that you grow, the more expert you become at this. And experts are created by doing the work. And I want you to see in the AI era, you as an undeniable leader, I want you to see yourself as an expert. And this includes an AI. Because when you understand that one of your big keys to success with AI is that everything you need is already inside of you, and then we're just gonna use AI to multiply that there, then it's like, of course I'm an expert at this because I'm an expert at me, and I use AI to help amplify that. Number four is your standards. And what I want you to do is to elevate yours because right now we have the biggest opportunity of our lifetime with what we've been given to be able to create with the world of AI. So an undeniable leader, they are someone who is the example. They set the standard not only for themselves, but for others. And there's a quote that I love from Andy Frisella who said, Don't negotiate excellence. That's your standard. And for me, and hopefully for you, there is no other person that is going to have a higher standard for who I am than me. So when so many people are talking about tech and tools and coding and automation, what they're failing to realize is our standard of excellence. I want your standard to be one of one. Nobody else in the world has a higher standard for you because that's what it looks like to be an undeniable leader. And then number five here is a willingness to learn. And this is growth mindset 101. And this is a non-negotiable for winning in the AI era, because right now, not knowing is not an excuse for why you're not in the game or why you're not taking action. Because the real superpower when you get this is not knowing is the path for your next level. Because some of the best things in the world come from not knowing, and especially in the AI era. So, what I want you to think about is number one, who are you learning from? You're already on the right path learning from me because I'm a top of the food chain one-of-one guy who's living this and breathing this every single day. But audit your inputs. What are those other influences that are coming into you that is building your undeniable leader, identity, mindset, and way of being? And then the next thing is what is your system for learning around AI? And this is something that I see a massive hole in the boat for so many people is they're just not intentional about how they're doing this. And this isn't anything hard, right? So if you wanted to learn how to ride a bike, you would have a consistent thing of every single day after work, I'm gonna practice riding the bike. Or the same with learning how to play guitar, you'll start with something simple. The same if you want to learn Brazilian jujitsu, right? You start at the lowest level, you commit to the time, and you do this every single time. But for some reason, people think that somehow AI is different because I don't have a tech background. Throw that in the trash. Because when you understand that everything is in your control, especially with how you learn and what you don't know becomes the path for your next level, this becomes unlimited growth for you. So, to wrap a bow on the being pillar, what I want to share is being someone different is what's required right now for winning in the AI era. I build confidence by doing things that few other people do. This is like doing 75 hard in the live hard program, running marathons, reading a book for 30 minutes first thing in the morning for 15 years in a row. Because everybody right now wants easy. But undeniable leaders, we take the road less traveled because that's where the transformation actually happens. And being someone who is willing to invest in yourself is the number one thing that you can do to grow right now as an undeniable leader, because that's all around expanding who you are being. So now that we've gone into identity, let's move this over to pillar number two: creating. And creating is all around what you do, this is about action, this is about taking your learning and turning into actually doing things. This is around creating momentum. In undeniable leaders, we move, we take initiative, we don't make excuses, and we don't wait until we're ready. We create. So let's get into the key concepts around this pillar. And we're actually gonna start with the way that we ended the last one, with your willingness to learn, because now we're going to apply this because we're not here just to play AI or learn AI. No, our goal is to turn a dollar into a dollar fifty, to take something that we create and turn it into action. And this is where you actively seek out that which you don't know, and then you create with it on top of AI. And this is why it is an absolute superpower. Because 99% of the people out there in the world or on LinkedIn are gonna be like, I don't know how to do these things. I can't do anything. And I'm sitting there with a smile and I'm like, I legitimately have a process for finding things that I don't know, bookmarking them, and then going and creating with them in AI, because I call this signal recognition, your ability to see gold out there in the world and be like, I don't know this, boom, but I know somebody who can help me with this AI. And a thing that's very simple right now, and this is a recommendation for you, is right now, I highly encourage you to start learning how to use Claude code. This is a non-negotiable, it is something that I'm sharing with every single one of my clients. Because what I want you to do is to remove the thought that I don't have a tech background or I'm not a coder, so I can't learn anything about code. Right now, we're in an era where if you can speak or type, you can build anything you want in the world with Cloud Code. And this will get you thinking around how to build infrastructure in your business towards a GENTIC AI, which is the absolute superpower. So the question that I want to leave you with here right now is what are you learning right now? And if you don't have an answer for that, I want you to learn Claude Code. Number two for this pillar around creating is experience. And this is the absolute key to your next level because I gotta get you to get in the reps because uh the AI era is completely unromantic about who you are, what you do for your business, how much money is in your bank account, what you did or did not know. It's gonna say, show me your receipts. How are you putting in the work? How are you spending time in AI? So, no different than learning how to play guitar or ride a bike. The only way to get better is to actually do it. But so many people in the world, and I know we're not most people, right? But most people do not want to put in the work. And for me, that puts a big old smile on my face as somebody who does the work every single day. Because learning AI requires reps. And anytime I'm advising a client or a company and they're looking at, hey Rob, what are our keys to success? I'm like, nice and simple. Experience, get in the reps. Because number three for me is relentless action because pace matters. And I did a post recently that said, there's so many people in the world out there that see the opportunity with AI, but don't want to do the work, so they do nothing. But then there's those of us who are all in on AI, and we have this relentless action in this pace in which we are operating and doing the work of 10 people. And that's what it looks like to be an undeniable leader right now in the AI era. Because those of us who are getting it and seeing it, it's like we can barely sleep. And this isn't hustle culture. This is we see the opportunity of things that have never been available or possible ever in the history of the world, and we can be the ones who create them. So it's like, holy smokes, Batman, you're telling me we can do what? So there's a relentless pace to being an undeniable leader of which you get to control. And when you see the rest of the world with slow or no pace, and you're sitting there with relentless action, boom, shakelaka, baby. That is how we win. Because what I want you to do is to be in a hurry to create your next level. We, as undeniable leaders, we are relentlessly on offense because that's where this pace comes from. We're not talking about scarcity or oh my god, I gotta do this. It's like, no, this is the biggest opportunity in our lives. Let's go faster, faster, faster, bigger, bigger, better, better, better, better, right? Because that's what's possible, and that's what winning looks like in the undeniable leader era. So the next thing here is time. Time as a tool. Because time is a tool, not a constraint, and it is the number one thing that I see people self-limiting themselves with of why they are not growing and winning in the AI era. Because AI is shifting the way that we do work in a way that has never been done before, and we all live full lives between business, family, personal lives, working out, children, everything in between. So, so often it's like, oh yeah, Rob, let's have a conversation. I like this idea, but oh, I can't really get to it now. Let's check back in Q4. And I look at them like they've got 10 eyes. I'm like, see you later, dog. This is not a nice to have, this is a non-negotiable. And if you let time be the reason for why you are not in the game, you will not win. Because undeniable leaders, we use time as a tool. And there's a quote that I love that I learned from Ed Milette: time is a multiplier or a punisher, right? So the more time you spend in AI, the greater the ceiling and capacity, the more that you grow. The more time you do nothing with AI is the more time you stay where you're at. And here's the thing: you think that's where you're gonna stay, but actually, there's an invisible tax that's happening right now that people don't realize because they are masquerading, I don't have enough time. My encouragement for you if you have a scarcity mindset around time where I don't have enough time to learn or create with AI, please throw that in the trash because an undeniable leader, we have an abundance of time. Because if this is the greatest opportunity in the history of the world to create anything that you want, because right now, there's never been a better time to make your dreams happen than right now. So I don't care what you did for the rest of your life before this. Right now is the opportunity to say, wait a second, this is the new game, this is where things are going. I'm all in. I am going to create the time. And I want to give a very simple tip for you. And this is something that I do both for myself as well as advise my clients. And what I want you to do is to write down how many minutes a day you are using AI. Nice and simple, right? Because this is the most honest feedback you will ever get. And if you sit there and you're stacking zeros there, well, there's your honest feedback. If you're sitting there, you're just getting a little 10 minutes, 15 minutes here and there, all right, cool, you're in the game, but you're playing small because uh what you inspect, you expect, right? So measurement is important for this. So I even looked at myself, and I'm sitting there and I was like, wow, there's probably someone on Twitter right now, all in on AI, using all of the tools 12 plus hours a day. That person is gonna crush me, and that's even with me already being all in using this two or four or six hours every single day. And once again, few people will ever do this, but we are not most people. So, what does this actually look like for me in my current business? Every single day from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., my calendar is blocked off for creating time, right? I gotta create that space intentionally where no one else in the world is able to touch it. And every single Friday is completely blocked off. No client calls, no calls, nothing on my schedule. So it's two hours every single day and all day on Friday just to create. And that's just the baseline. That doesn't mean that that's the only thing that I'm doing, that's the non-negotiable there. So my encouragement for you pop open your calendar. Where are you creating the time to create with AI? And the last thing here in the creating pillar is contribution. And this is your willingness to share with others because I legitimately feel a responsibility and an obligation to share this with you because I know there's not a lot of other people in the world who are coming from this perspective. Yeah, there's people in AI, talking tech and tools and coding, and can give you tips and tutorials. I get it, but how many of them are coming from a human-first, heart-first perspective to where we want to grow our business and our lives and rise together. Because when one of us wins, we all win. And this is a way that we can create in the AI era because I legitimately believe this is the greatest opportunity for us to create positive impact in the world ever. And imagine all of us on this right now, listening or watching, we embody these pillars of what it takes to be an undeniable leader and win in the AI era. And we're doing this with a heart first, human first perspective to leadership in the AI era. And we want to make the world a better place. And we want to grow our businesses, and we want to grow others. And then we're gonna pass that knowledge along the way. And there is plenty out there for all of us. So make sure that contribution is a part of this because we need leaders who lead by example. So here's my challenge for you this week. And it's the simple one. And I already said it. Track your AI minutes this week. How many did you create? And this can be something where you just write it down manually on a piece of paper. I use an app on my phone called Tally, and I'm currently building out an automation in Claude to where I'm going to have my MacBook send it my app usage every single day so I can manually track this right here. Because once again, what you inspect, you expect. And if this is the most important time in the history of the world, then I want to inspect how much time I'm spending creating with AI. And with the creating to wrap a bow on this here, this is all around momentum, action, and learning. Because movement is something that will create growth in your life. This isn't hard. This can actually be simple. And now, once we've understood who we are being and how we are creating, now let's get to how we are building aka what multiplies. Because pillar three in building is about leverage, it's about systems, it's about infrastructure and about what you multiply. And once again, there'll be a lot of similar themes and terminology here, but 99.9% of people will never touch this level right here because they don't see the game this way and they do not create the infrastructure around them to play this game at the highest level. This doesn't have to be hard. This can actually be simple and intentional by design. Because the leaders who win in the AI era, they don't just use AI, they build systems that scale, they create infrastructure that compounds. So let's get to the key concepts around the building pillar. And number one is structure and organization. And this is the most underrated skill that you can have right now, and it is absolutely foundational. It is literally the infrastructure of everything that you're building, and it is the least sexy thing that you are rarely going to hear from anybody because most people aren't doing the work and most people don't have this skill. Because what I want you to see and to start building is an AI future ready database or infrastructure. So what does this mean? Simply put, write everything down. Because when you write everything down, it goes from in your head or your team's head and then it lives somewhere. And if it lives somewhere, we can have accountability, we can have visibility, we can turn action items into this thing. And more importantly, you know what that does? It gives you the opportunity to allow agencai to read and understand everything that's going on in your world. So the action item for you around structure and organization is a simple one. And it's something that I went through a few weeks ago. Clean up your digital garden. And what does this mean? For so many people, you've got stuff in your Google Workspace, you've got an Evernote or Notion or a sauna or in your notes file or in your phone, or maybe most of it's not written down, right? There's disparate information all over the place. People can't find it, it's not easily accessible. Well, guess what? If people can't find it and it's not accessible, guess who else can't find it? AI agents, right? Because this true superpower in all of this is when you write it down and you do so in a way that's organized and structured, then you've built a scalable infrastructure that can literally build a rocket ship to the moon just like this, because it's easy to understand where things are. And this isn't any sort of revelation because this is just business 101, but it is something that is very unsexy because most people do not do this because uh easy is oftentimes chaos, hard is oftentimes simple. Simple scales, structure scales. And I'm qualified for this because I've got a background in PKM called personal knowledge management. I took a uh I learned a course back in the day called Building a Second Brain All Around, your ability to organize your digital life right there. And it is an absolute superpower. And the one advisement that I would have for you is start documenting everything you do inside of Notion. I'm not romantic about the tools, but I know Notion connects to everything. So that's where I am building my AI infrastructure. Because the undeniable leaders who win in the AI era will undoubtedly have better structure and organization than everybody else. It's not hard, you just set it up and then you keep feeding the machine there. Because number two, systems. Systems scale. And one of the biggest gifts that I want to give you is to have systems thinking. Because once again, we're gonna go back to the playing big in the AI era. In order to do it, it doesn't have to be harder. All you want to do is say, huh, if I'm doing something more than white, if I'm doing something more than once, how about I just turn this into a system? Well, what does that look like? Document it, write it down, turn it into a standard operating procedure, and then you can go and ask Claude or Chat GBT, hey, I want to build this in a way that has a gentic structure so that a future AI agent could read this. How do I do this? Cool. Say hello to my new standard for how I'm doing everything. Because if you turn everything into a standard operating procedure, you've then created a completely scalable business and infrastructure. Huh? Do you think that would be valuable when agentic AI is at a push of a button, which is pretty much here right now? Yeah, that's why there's gonna be such a gap between undeniable leaders and everybody else. And this is probably the number one thing that is gonna hold 99% of people and organizations back. They do not have a system for how they do dot dot dot. Prompting, structure, organization, meetings, everything, right? Because so many people say, but Rob, I don't understand how to create systems because I'm not a systems person. Guess what? Me too. Until so here's a moment that changed my life. Uh, two of my mentors who I've already talked about, Andy Versell and Ed My Led, I'm a part of the RTA Syndicate, their entrepreneurship group. And for seven years, I've been a founding member there. And early on, they were like, system scale, system scale, system scale. They drilled it into our heads. And I sat there and I was like, listen, I hear you, I believe you, I want this, and I've never built a system before in my life. And you know what the path was to creating my first system? Creating my first system, right? So throw in the trash that somehow I don't have this because if you want to create a system, who is the best thing or person in the world to help you create a system? AI. All I need you to have is that mindset that you are going to have systems thinking. Everything you do can be turned into a system. And this can even go into do you have a system for how you are learning and staying on top of AI? For me, of course I do. And it's very simple. I have an AI Twitter list that I use that I check every single day that has the top companies, influencers, and thought leaders in the world of AI. And side note, if you're not aware, AI Twitter is the number one hub to learn about real-time innovation in AI. Not all techie and coding. This can be whatever you want, but the more you see, the more you can see. And the more you don't know, the more you can bookmark it, send it to AI, and then implement it in yourself. If this is something that you would like access to, just shoot me a DM at Rob Cresse and I'll shoot you over the link to that Twitter list. And then the last thing here in building is weakness as opportunity. This is very contrarian to what most people would think, but weakness is something not to be run from, but run towards, right? Because weakness is an opportunity to create a better solution. So this is where bottlenecks, this isn't, oh my God, I got all these problems in my business, I can't do anything with it. No, what stands in the way becomes the way. So, what I want you to do, step one, identify those bottlenecks or that weakness in your business or in yourself. And then number two, let's attack them and remove them, right? So the way that I like to always say this is let's find the holes in our boat so that we can plug them and build a better boat. And this is completely contrary in mindset to the way that 99% of the world operates. Because I hear the language in my DMs and on phone calls every single day. All the lack, the not enoughness, the scarcity for why we can't do things or things aren't working our way. No, whatever is holding you back is now the opportunity for you to go into AI and make it happen. So here'd be my encouragement for you: write down the top five bottlenecks in your business right now. And if you don't want to use the word bottlenecks, challenges or friction. I like to call it with my clients friction traps. What are those things you do not like doing? Take those, go into Claude and say, Hey, Claude, here are five friction traps that I have in my business, bottlenecks that I do not like. How can you help me with them? And you start creating. Because when you understand that your willingness to identify your weaknesses is your path to winning in the AI era. Because this becomes your massive advantage. When everybody else is chasing tools and tech, what we are doing is focusing on that foundational layer that makes everything else 10x or 100x and be more effective. So to me, those are the three pillars for being an undeniable leader and winning in the AI era being, creating, and building. And my encouragement for you is to be very intentional about auditing where you are in every single one of these pillars, right? Because I gave a good amount of these. And this is the beauty of those of you who are still here right now, because the last point was all around weakness. Everything for you is an opportunity. I just gave you a blueprint for how to win in the AI era. I've been living this every single day for three years in the AI era and 15 years as an entrepreneur. My clients are embodying and living this every single day. And one of the massive keys, once again, the signal recognition is your ability to see what other people are doing very intentionally and going, oh, I like this. I'm gonna take some of this and implement this in my own business. Hey, AI, can you help me do this? Rinse and repeat into perpetuity. Because once again, the bigger the dreams, the deeper the foundation. These three pillars are your foundation for being an undeniable leader and winning in the AI era. Because when you come from this level, this standard, this mindset, this way of being, you become built for the game. You're able to stay on offense, you're able to have constant improvement, and you're able to attack relentlessly. And at the same time, because you're an undeniable leader, you understand the macro, the high level vision where things are growing, where you're going with things. And then you can zoom down into the micro that dirt, that tactical, what you're doing every single day. As I like to say, stacking ones over zeros. This is the undeniable way, and this is what it means to be an undeniable leader. And here's my call to action for you. I would love for you to pick one of the pillars this week and focus on them. Is it being? If so, I want you to raise your standard in one area, do that inner work. Number two, is it creating? I want you to track your AI minutes and then DM me after that. Or number three, building. I want you to document one process and turn it into an SOP. And when you do, hit me up. Because once again, when one of us wins, we all win. You can hit me up on Instagram or LinkedIn at Rob Crassey. Sending tons of love and good vibes your way. Here's the having amazing rest of the day.