In this episode of The Leadership Exchange, Danny Thompson sits down with Mike Davey, VP of Product at Raptor Maps, to explore the impact of AI on product design, team efficiency, and the renewable energy sector. Mike shares lessons from working across fintech, adtech, and now clean tech—highlighting how AI can drive data efficiency without compromising quality.

They unpack the human side of leadership, including the balance between empathy and accountability, the power of user manuals at work, and what separates good hires from great ones.

Keypoints from this episode:

- AI in renewable energy – Mike discusses how large language models (LLMs) can improve data quality and efficiency in industries like clean tech by reducing manual work and unlocking value from messy or incomplete datasets.

- Balance between efficiency and oversight – The conversation highlights the importance of maintaining a human feedback loop when using AI tools to avoid over-reliance and ensure quality doesn’t suffer in the pursuit of speed.

- Creativity vs. automation – Mike shares a cautionary tale about how auto-generated content can flatten user experiences, emphasizing that AI should amplify human value—not replace it.

- Hiring in the AI era – From adding “just enough friction” to application forms to looking for outcome-oriented thinking, Mike explains how leaders can spot strong candidates and foster growth through structure, not micromanagement.

Chapter

0:00 – AI bios and loss of differentiation
0:40 – Intro to Mike Davey
2:10 – AI and data efficiency in clean tech
5:03 – Over-automation risks
7:05 – Human oversight in AI processes
10:01 – RAG and agentic workflows
12:09 – Creativity loss with AI-generated content
14:29 – AI tools in product and design
18:25 – AI in hiring and filtering candidates
21:48 – Identifying future leaders
25:23 – OKRs and outcome thinking
27:01 – Empathy vs accountability
29:07 – User manuals for team alignment
31:12 – Soft skills and adaptability
33:43 – Wrap up

Follow Mike Davie on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveymichael/

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