AI strategy for owners and directors who decide on AI without being technical. Strategy goes before technology. The AI Officer Circle is free to join.
Joined June 2008
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Cut half the team for AI, then hire them back?
The AI was installed; the work was never redesigned. Before a chair goes empty, run the Empty Chair Test: name the three things that leave with it and who catches each on Monday.
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Skipped the nodes and arrows because they felt too technical? You didn't miss the boat. That stage is ending.
Brief your AI like a new hire: what it's for, what good looks like, what it must never do.
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(Clip: Nick Saraev)
40-person manufacturer. Clients pay 20% more because an engineer calls back within the hour.
AI project A: automate the calls. Parked.
Project B: AI drafts the quote, engineer still calls, 20 min instead of 60. Advantage.
One card decided. Free at skool.com/aimoat
Strong executive presence.
ALT Two-panel cartoon: a CFO types 'ROI of AI?' into his laptop; the smiling chatbot on screen replies 'Great question!'
Fifty AI pilots. Zero live. The pilots worked; nobody owned the day after.
The Tuesday Test: whose ordinary Tuesday changes when it goes live, and what do they stop doing? No name, no pilot.
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The best results from AI come from the best communicators, not the best programmers.
Say what you want, what good looks like, what must never happen.
If you can't, the AI fills the gaps with its own ideas.
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(Clip: Matt Pocock)
Great momentum.
ALT Three-panel cartoon of the same board meeting: the slides read 'Q1: AI Exploring', 'Q2: AI Scaling' and 'Q3: AI Exploring at scale', and the audience applauds each time.
What if your AI ran the meeting better than you?
It can capture every word. It cannot own a trade-off.
The Disagreement Test: what did we disagree about today, and who made the call?
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Before any AI vendor talks price, ask:
1. What can we do that we couldn't last year?
2. If a competitor buys the same, what's still ours?
3. Who here can explain why we're buying it, by name?
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(Clip: Nick Saraev)
Commodity — Apple: cap each employee's AI spend by Dec 1; cheapest model wins.
Capability — Talkdesk: pilot one team for 30 days; stop at the first wrong refund.
Commodity — BILL: ask your vendor the AI price by Nov 30.
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Zero to sixty. Eventually.
ALT Cartoon: a bored executive in a red sports car labelled 'AI Platform' is stuck on a narrow cliff road behind a slow horse-drawn cart labelled 'Approvals'.
What if your company got ten times faster and went the wrong way?
The Arrival Test: if this gets ten times faster, who arrives first, the customer or our own inbox?
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Use AI to understand the topic. Use the original document to make decisions.
The AI summary is a map, not the contract.
Let the AI find the right page. Then read it yourself.
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(Clip: Matt Pocock · CBC News)
Commodity — Revolut: coding tools sell 10x apart; price two cheaper ones.
Commodity — Menlo: companies spent 2.5x their AI budget; cap tokens before December.
Capability — ElevenLabs: voice wins calls over 2 min; pilot 30 days.
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Well diversified.
ALT Cartoon: a presenter points at an 'AI Budget' pie chart split almost entirely between Licences and Consultants, with a thin sliver labelled 'New ways of working'; the CFO gives a thumbs up.
What if the board demanded an AI strategy by Friday?
The No-Logo Test: strike every tool and vendor name from the deck. If the business vanishes with the logos, it's a shopping list, not a strategy.
Join The AI Officer Circle → pf1.es/whatif-x
AI labs: give our model your most ambitious goals.
Ambitious tasks make great demos and terrible first projects.
Start boring: routine emails, meeting summaries, first drafts. Real numbers first, big project later.
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(Clip: Matt Pocock)
Capability — Northeastern: one AI-assisted junior, 30 days; time to first solo task.
Commodity — Notion & Atlassian: list AI-credit tools, who may turn overflow on, and the cap.
Commodity — Remote: buy cheap, build on your data.
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Production next year.
ALT Cartoon: executives in party hats applaud around a cake reading 'Happy 3rd Birthday, Pilot' next to a bored robot wearing a 'Pilot' badge.
What if your board replaced you with a CEO who really gets AI?
The board swapped the person, not the habits.
The Agenda Test: in your last three leadership agendas, how many items changed who decides, not just how fast?
Join The AI Officer Circle → pf1.es/whatif-x