Marketing in an AI World: The Skills Students Still Need to Build

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

When AI can write copy, analyze campaigns, generate research, and produce video, what should students still learn deeply enough to do themselves?

David LaCombe, fractional CMO, educator, and author of Marketing2aT, argues that the answer starts with judgment. Technical fluency still matters, but young professionals also need business acumen, empathy, communication, perspective, and enough expertise to know when an AI answer is useful and when it is wrong.

Jason and David move from marketing into a bigger education question: AI cannot remain a separate class or occasional classroom tool. It is becoming part of the work itself. They discuss design thinking, deliberate practice, AI as a thinking partner, T-shaped skills, the value of generalists and specialists, and why students need opportunities to test ideas, get feedback, and make decisions in uncertain conditions.

The takeaway: prepare students to work with AI without handing their judgment over to it. Then look at your own curriculum and ask where AI should become part of the thread rather than an add-on.

ABOUT THE GUEST

David LaCombe is a fractional CMO, marketing educator, and author of Marketing2aT: Become the Marketer Every Team Wants. His work focuses on helping marketers connect technical skill with business judgment, communication, and cross-functional understanding.

GUEST LINKS

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidlacombe
Website: https://davidlacombecmo.com/
Marketing2aT: https://books.google.com/books/about/Marketing2aT.html?id=c7rx0QEACAAJ

TIME STAMPS

00:00 - From paramedic to marketer and author
06:27 - What AI changes about marketing
09:34 - Design thinking, empathy, and customer understanding
15:04 - AI content and what small organizations can realistically do
19:03 - Brand consistency, AI video, and avoiding slop
24:58 - Deliberate practice, feedback, and learning faster
27:34 - AI in higher education and the limits of prohibition
31:42 - Beginner's mind and AI as a curriculum thread
35:00 - Teaching students to use AI without giving up their thinking
39:24 - Marketing2aT and the case for T-shaped professionals
41:44 - What should a 14-year-old study for an AI-shaped future?
46:24 - Generalists, specialists, and why expertise still matters
48:09 - Philosophy, perspective, and human judgment
50:02 - Work, passion, relationships, and balance

CONNECT WITH JASON PADGETT

Jason Padgett | AI Solutions Architect | Co-Founder, Wooden Boy Industries | Host, AGI Podcast | AI Adoption, LLM Systems & Human-AI Workflows

AGI - Advance Grow and Innovate with AI Podcast Network
🌐 https://schoolsout.agipodcast.ai/

CoFounder, Wooden Boy Industries
🌐 https://woodenboyindustriesai.com/

Chief Solutions Architect, Chakra AI Solutions
🌐 https://chakrasolutions.ai/

📧 jason@agipodcast.ai

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Marketing2aT: Become the Marketer Every Team Wants
https://books.google.com/books/about/Marketing2aT.html?id=c7rx0QEACAAJ

Yeshiva University Digital Marketing and Media
https://www.yu.edu/katz/digital-marketing-media

Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/216369/creativity-inc-by-ed-catmull-with-amy-wallace/9780804127448

CORRECTION
At 52:54, Jason gives the Skynet date as August 31, 1997. The date in Terminator 2 is August 29, 1997.