Perspectives

Making Sense of AI's Organizational Impact

AI isn't just changing what's technically possible—it's reshaping how organizations work, how value gets created, and what leadership needs to look like.

Everyone now has access to the same AI. The organizations that thrive won't be the ones with the best tools; they'll be the ones that use AI well—reliably, with judgment, and by redesigning the work itself. These essays lay out how I think about that, and how I work with clients.

This isn't AI hype or fear-mongering. It's about what's really happening in organizations right now—and what you can do about it.

Strategy

The Efficiency Trap: Everyone Has the Same AI

Access is universal, so efficiency is table stakes. The durable edge is imagination—using AI to create value that wasn't feasible before, not just to cut costs.

The Judgment Premium

When making things is cheap, the value moves to the judgment that picks the one right output and refines it.

The Measurable-Output Test

AI automates against outputs you can cheaply verify. That single test predicts where it will move in—and where your people stay essential.

Capable, but Not Reliable

AI's capability and its reliability are two different questions. The gap between them explains why the demos amaze and the results disappoint.

AI Is Amazing, But Is It Any Good?

AI most impresses the people least able to judge it. Telling "amazing" from "good" is itself an earned skill—production got democratized; evaluation didn't.

How AI Creates the Illusion of Competence

AI removes content creation as a signal of quality, producing work that looks polished but lacks substance.

Your Employees Are Already Using AI. Here's How to Lead It.

The biggest barrier to benefiting from AI isn't technology—it's trust.

The New Productivity Paradox

Individual AI gains don't become organizational gains, because organizations are processes, not piles of tasks.

The New Generalists

AI lets employees work across traditional role boundaries in ways that weren't feasible before.

Don't Be That Guy: The AI Layoff Playbook Is Already Backfiring

The firms going hardest on AI-justified cuts and mandates are the ones now walking them back.

The Prompt Engineer Was Always a Manager

Getting good results from AI isn't a technical trick—it's management: defining the task, giving context, and giving feedback.