LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif., Oct. 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leaders ADAPT announced the publication of AI Leadership Mastermind: The 7 Strategic AI Mistakes CEOs Make When They Lead Alone by Andreas Pettersson, the three-time CEO who became Canon's youngest standalone CEO and built Arcules, a Canon-backed video and AI company, to more than 150 employees. The book names those mistakes and sets out the decisions that turn the same tools every competitor has into lasting competitive distance.
AI Leadership Mastermind Book Cover
Pettersson's central claim is uncomfortable for most boardrooms: the technology is no longer the advantage. Based on his work embedding AI within leadership teams across marketing agencies, manufacturing, and commercial services, he estimates that only about one in 20 CEOs converts AI into a measurable competitive advantage within a year. The rest, he says, convert it into a line item.
At the heart of the book are seven traps Pettersson has watched swallow AI strategy across industries and company sizes. The IT Delegation Trap hands the most consequential decision of the decade to the department least equipped to make it. The AI Merchant Trap lets vendors set the agenda. The AI Project Trap treats AI as a project, and even great companies stall. Each chapter names the pattern that pulls a leadership team in and the decision that leads back out.
The second half turns those lessons into an operating rhythm built on three weekly questions: where the gains compound, what must not be multiplied yet, and what each move lets the company decide faster. It is not a tutorial on tools. It is a sequence of leadership decisions, written for CEOs, COOs, and founders with no engineering background.
"You have the same AI on every desk as your competitors. Within a year, one of you turns it into distance," said Andreas Pettersson, founder of Leaders ADAPT. "AI is a leadership decision. What separates you is who owns the decisions and the order in which you make them. Hand AI to IT and a force multiplier gets contained, not multiplied. Wait until you understand it, and you only delay the decisions that matter. I wrote this book for the CEO whose board is asking about AI on Thursday and who does not have an engineer to hide behind."
Availability:
AI Leadership Mastermind is available for order on Amazon or at leadersadapt.com/book/aileadershipmastermind.
About the Author:
Andreas Pettersson is a three-time CEO and the founder of Leaders ADAPT. He became Canon's youngest standalone CEO and built Arcules to more than 150 employees, leading applied computer-vision work. Today he embeds AI inside leadership teams and coaches CEOs and founders running $1 million to $10 million companies. He is the author of Power Without Permission, a No. 1 Amazon bestseller in the Women in Business category, and host of the Adapt or Die podcast.
About Leaders ADAPT:
Leaders ADAPT is an executive coaching and leadership development firm based in Laguna Niguel, California, working with CEOs, founders, and senior executives nationwide. Its programs include 1:1 CEO coaching, the CEO Mastermind, the AI Mastermind, and The 5-Minute Leader, all built on the ADAPT Framework. Learn more at leadersadapt.com.
Media Contact:
Milica Jovanovic, Communication Specialist & PR Manager, Leaders ADAPT
milicaj@leadersadapt.com · leadersadapt.com · Laguna Niguel, California
Review copies, interviews, and images are available on request.
Press Inquiries
Andreas Pettersson
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