AI Foundations for Business Leaders

AI Foundations for Business Leaders is a 2.5-day, fully residential, in-person intensive designed for SME owners and senior leaders who want to confidently and practically bring AI into their business.

You’ll step away from day-to-day distractions and stay on-site for two nights, allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the learning, the conversations, and the application. Accommodation, meals and the hosted dinner are all included in your course investment.

This is not a technical course. It’s a business-first programme built around real NZ mid-market examples, hands-on work with your own documents and workflows, and clear guidance on where AI can actually create value safely and responsibly.

This programme is designed for:

Business owners and founders
CEOs, GMs, COOs, CFOs
Senior leaders responsible for growth, productivity, operations or transformation.

You don’t need any technical background just a desire to understand what AI means for your business and how to use it well.

By the end of AI Foundations, you will have:

Plain-English confidence in what AI is (and isn’t)
Hands-on experience using AI with your own documents and workflows
A clear understanding of where AI fits across your business functions
1–2 validated, high-value AI use cases tailored to your organisation
A custom Prompt Playbook for your business
A phased 90-day action plan to move from insight to implementation
Practical guardrails for safe, people-first AI adoption

AI Foundations is delivered as a residential, 2.5-day immersive experience, combining expert facilitation, practical application, real-world examples and peer learning.

By staying on-site together, participants build deeper relationships, have richer discussions, and leave with stronger momentum and accountability.

Programme structure

Day 1 – Foundations & Context

Why AI, why now? The business case for NZ SMEs
AI fundamentals explained clearly for non-technical leaders
Hands-on leader workflows: emails, reports and planning
Site visit + hosted dinner: see AI in action inside a real business and debrief together

Day 2 – Application & Design

Responsible AI: simple guardrails for safe, people-first use
Functional breakouts tailored to your role (sales, marketing, ops, services, support, etc.)
Use-case design: identify and shape 1–2 high-value opportunities
Extra prototyping time to build and test real prompts and workflows

Day 3 – Action & Momentum (Half Day)

90-day plan refinement and prioritisation
Future-focused discussion on where AI is heading for SMEs
What to do next, what to ignore, and how to keep momentum without overwhelm

AI Fundamentals

What it is (and isn’t), in plain language for non-technical leaders

Hands-On Leader Workflows

Use AI on your own emails, reports and plans

Hosted Site Visit

See AI in action inside a real business, then debrief over drinks

Functional Breakouts

Key sessions tailored to your world (sales & marketing, ops, services, support, etc.)

Expert Facilitation

Learn from those with real AI world experience

90 Day Action Plan

Turn ideas into 1–2 high-value AI opportunities for your business then refine and pressure-test your action plan