The Power of Partnership: Redefining Leadership and the Role of Executive Assistants in the Age of AI

In this deeply reflective conversation, Matt Kurleto, CEO of Neoteric and AI strategist, shares how his journey from solo founder to ecosystem builder taught him that innovation is never just about technology, it’s about people, trust, and structure. He reveals how Executive Assistants can become true “force multipliers,” how AI will transform rather than replace them, and why the most resilient leaders of tomorrow will be those who know how to orchestrate both human and machine intelligence.

Matt Kurleto | CEO at Neoteric | Poland | LinkedIn | Website

Matt Kurleto is a globally recognized entrepreneur, AI strategist, and keynote speaker with a proven track record of turning vision into value. He is the founder and CEO of Neoteric, an AI consulting and software development company that grew from a solo venture into a 100+ person organization serving clients such as Boeing, ZF Group, the World Bank, and Crowdstrike. Creator of the Neoteric AI Innovation Funnel and co-author of the Amazon bestseller The AI Advantage, Matt has led over 5,000 hours of consulting and workshops, guiding global enterprises in scaling AI for measurable business impact.

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Elizabeth Sutkowska: When you look back to the early days of Neoteric, starting as a one-person initiative and growing into an AI consultancy, what was the turning point where you felt the company’s mission had shifted from simply building software to truly shaping innovation and impact?

Matt Kurleto: When I look back at the early days of Neoteric, the biggest shift was moving from survival mode as a solo entrepreneur to building an organization that could truly shape innovation. In the beginning, I was doing everything myself: sales, delivery, marketing, accounting, even booking my own travel. That gave me a full-spectrum understanding of what it means to run a business, but at that stage, our work was transactional: we delivered software, solved problems, and moved on.

The first turning point came with building a team. You can manage seven people effectively, but once you grow beyond that, the role changes. Leadership becomes about developing other leaders, setting direction, and creating culture. When we reached 40–50 people, another transformation happened: there were too many leaders to manage directly. That’s when I built an executive team. With that structure, the company could run independently, even without me for months, while staying on course. That was the moment we stopped being just a delivery shop and started becoming a true consultancy, driving innovation for clients.

But the most personal breakthrough for me was the role of an Executive Assistant. Building an executive team freed the company; having an assistant freed me. Suddenly, all the noise, scheduling interviews, submitting speaker applications, organizing trips, chasing receipts for accounting, managing inboxes and contacts, was no longer on my shoulders. My assistant would only bring me decisions when they were necessary, packaged with clear context so I could act quickly. That structure allowed me to do the equivalent of ten days of work in five.

Yes, we now have GPTs and automation, but managing them still requires oversight. An Executive Assistant is not just a support role, it’s a force multiplier. It gave me the space to think strategically, write, speak, and most importantly, to design the frameworks and methodologies that shaped Neoteric into an AI consultancy focused on measurable business impact.

Looking back, the true turning point wasn’t one project or one client, it was the moment we built the structures, people, and systems that made the company bigger than me. That’s when our mission shifted from building software to shaping innovation at scale.

Elizabeth: You’ve worked with some of the world’s most innovative organizations, from Boeing to the World Bank. How has having the right partners, including Executive Assistants and other close collaborators, shaped the way you lead and make decisions at that level?

Matt: When you start working with organizations like Boeing or the World Bank, you quickly realize that operating at that scale requires two things above all else: clarity and process. And here’s the paradox, clarity is something I thrive at, but process has always been my weak spot. With ADHD, following step-by-step routines feels like torture. Yet large organizations expect it. They need structured workflows, documentation, and predictability.

That’s where having the right partners becomes transformative. For me, an Executive Assistant acts as the interface between my natural way of working and the expectations of the outside world. They take the raw energy, ideas, and decisions I generate and translate them into structured communication, organized schedules, and reliable follow-ups. Without that bridge, I would either drown in details or slow down decision-making. With it, I can stay in my zone, strategy, innovation, and big-picture alignment, while ensuring stakeholders experience consistency and reliability.

The same is true for close collaborators and leadership teams. At a certain level, you stop being the smartest person in the room and start being the one who asks the right questions. Having trusted partners means you can delegate execution while you focus on vision and alignment. It’s not just about efficiency, it’s about decision quality. When the operational noise is handled, you make fewer reactive calls and more deliberate choices.

Working with top organizations taught me that leadership is not about doing more yourself, it’s about orchestrating the right environment. And that requires a network of partners, executive assistants, executives, advisors, who create structure, filter distractions, and bring clarity to complexity. That’s how you scale decision-making from being personal to being institutional, and how you move from delivering software to shaping innovation.

Elizabeth: You are featured as one of the experts in the bestselling book The AI Advantage, which helps executives demystify AI and see it as a practical partner rather than a threat. With growing conversations about AI replacing Executive Assistants, what’s your perspective on this, and where do you see the true opportunity for EAs in the AI era?

Matt: AI assistants are becoming increasingly capable, but they’re still far from being seamlessly blended into our daily lives. Until we have a true “one agent to rule them all” that integrates across every system and context, it’s very hard to imagine them replacing Executive Assistants. If anything, it’s the more routine, “regular” assistant roles that are at risk.

The real power of an Executive Assistant is not in scheduling meetings or sending reminders, it’s in anticipating context, understanding priorities, and shaping decisions before they even reach me. AI agents today are great at individual tasks, but they lack that holistic perspective. To me, the breakthrough moment will come when approving a contract doesn’t just trigger the question “Who should I send it to?” but instead delivers a complete solution: a notary appointment already set, time blocked in my calendar during the Uber ride there, documents prepared for review, flights adjusted to fit the schedule, and even dinner with my wife moved to a nicer table that same evening, all without me lifting a finger.

That’s the vision. But we’re not there yet. Current AI tools require prompts, setups, and integrations that still demand oversight. Managing them becomes a job of its own. An Executive Assistant, on the other hand, acts as that seamless orchestrator today, bridging between my way of working and the structured processes that organizations expect.

So where’s the true opportunity? It’s in Executive Assistants who learn to use AI as leverage. Those who can orchestrate agents, automate routine tasks, and free themselves to focus on high-level coordination will become exponentially more valuable. The future isn’t AI replacing Executive Assistants; it’s AI-powered Executive Assistants redefining the role, moving further into strategic partnership. In a way everyone is becoming an Executive Assistant.

Elizabeth: In 2019, I stepped into my very first Executive Assistant role working alongside you as my first CEO. You gave me a broad scope of tasks and treated me like a trusted business partner, something that’s not always the norm. What would you say to other executives about how to truly unlock the potential of an EA by building partnership, not hierarchy?

Matt: For me, the role of an Executive Assistant has never been about hierarchy; it’s about partnership. My natural flow of work is extremely chaotic: I chase new ideas, start ten projects at once, and rarely think in terms of structure or follow-ups. That’s a strength when it comes to vision and innovation, but it’s also a weakness if left unmanaged. An Executive Assistant bridges that gap. They turn chaos into execution, ensuring that ideas don’t just start, they actually get finished.

The real power of an EA is that they don’t just support me, they leverage the whole organization across all departments to get things done. And it’s important for executives to understand the different levels of delegation. You can delegate tasks, like you would to an intern or even an AI tool. You can delegate goals, like you would to a project manager. But at the executive level, you need something more: the ability to fully let go.

With a true partnership, the fires are no longer yours. The contracts, the approvals, the partner calls, the endless follow-ups, they disappear from your daily mental load. Your EA only brings things to your desk when a decision is required and gives you all the context to make that decision quickly. Everything else is handled.

So if I tell my EA, “I want 100 Innovation Ecosystem Leaders in Gdansk,” I don’t think about it again. I don’t call partners, schedule meetings, or chase follow-ups. I just know it’s going to happen. That’s what partnership looks like.

To other executives, my advice is simple: stop treating your EA as an administrator and start seeing them as a force multiplier. The more you trust them with ownership, the more space you create for yourself to focus on what only you can do: leading, setting vision, and shaping the future.

Elizabeth: If you could leave one message for the next generation of leaders, and for the Executive Assistants who will walk alongside them, what wisdom would you share about building trust, resilience, and vision in an age defined by AI?

Matt: If I could leave one message for the next generation of leaders, and for the Executive Assistants who will walk alongside them, it would be this: in the age of AI, trust and resilience matter more than ever. Technology will change faster than you can imagine. AI agents will grow more capable, automation will reshape industries, and what feels like disruption today will soon feel like routine. But none of it works without trust between people.

For leaders, that means creating space where you don’t have to carry everything alone. Build teams and partnerships where you can delegate not just tasks, but outcomes. Trust your Executive Assistant not only with your calendar but with the responsibility of turning chaos into structure, vision into execution. That trust is what allows you to lead with clarity instead of drowning in noise.

For Executive Assistants, the opportunity is bigger than ever. AI will take over routine tasks, but that only elevates your role. You are the orchestrators, the ones who connect the dots between vision and reality. You’re not just support, you are multipliers of leadership. The more you embrace AI to automate the mundane, the more you can step into being true strategic partners.

And for both leaders and EAs, resilience comes from alignment. Fires will come, changes will come, AI will keep evolving. But if you have a shared vision and mutual trust, you can navigate anything. Leadership in this era is not about control, it’s about orchestration. The ones who succeed will be those who can harness both human trust and machine intelligence to build something greater than themselves.

So my advice is simple: embrace AI, but build your foundation on trust. Let vision guide you, let resilience carry you, and let partnership define how you lead. That’s how you thrive in an age where change is the only constant.

Thank you!

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