Brains Before Bots: How Agencies Can Use AI Without Losing Their Edge, with Michael MacDonald

Welcome to episode 167. This conversation is all about how agencies can get smarter, safer and more intentional about using AI.

I'm chatting with Michael MacDonald, Founder of Brains Before Bots which helps independent agency founders get clarity on how AI is actually being used across their teams. 

He spent fifteen years co-founding and running two agencies in South Africa, including a pharma-focused agency working with Sanofi, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Roche, where he led client service through the digital transformation of pharmaceutical marketing. That experience is the foundation for Brains Before Bots, which helps agencies move from scattered AI use to client-ready workflows, particularly those serving regulated and high-scrutiny clients.

We cover:
- why governance shouldn’t be seen as red tape, but as a way to make the agency more resilient and easier to scale
- why simply plugging AI into old workflows can create more rework, more vanilla thinking and more risk
- practical advice, including how to audit the tools your team are using
- why you need a data traffic light system
- the importance of building a prompt library
- why account managers may become the “context engineers” of the agency.

And we also talk about the very human side of AI adoption: fear, psychological safety, honest conversations with your team and why the brains still need to lead before the bots follow.

You can connect with, and find out more information about, Michael MacDonald and Brains Before Bots here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrmichaelmac/
https://brainsb4bots.com/
https://brainsb4bots.com/ai-workflow-clarity-audit

If this conversation gets you thinking about how your own agency is operating, how your AMs and PMs are working together, and how AI is changing delivery, client relationships and agency growth, then I’d love to tell you about AM:PM - a new 1.5 day event taking place in Atlanta, Georgia on 29th and 30th September 2026. I’m co-hosting it with Brett Harned. It’s for agency owners, account managers, project managers and operations leaders who want to step back and have honest, practical conversations about growth, delivery, communication, AI and the operational reality of modern agency life.

We’ll be joined by David C. Baker as our featured speaker, and the event is designed to help agency teams create better alignment between leadership, account management, project management and delivery.

So if your agency is dealing with overloaded teams, scope challenges, communication breakdowns, unclear ownership or AI uncertainty, this event is for you.
You can find out more and buy tickets at https://theampmevent.com/