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Like what you read here? Practical insights for business owners on where AI can create value, how to improve the way work gets done, and how leaders and employees can shape and sustain change.
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If I Turn Off AI Training on Our Data, Can I Enter Confidential Information?
No, not based on that setting alone. Turning off AI training is a good step, but there is more to the story.
The Value of Knowing Your Business
Most owners assume the hard part of adopting AI is choosing the technology. It usually is not. The models, and the platforms used to build AI assistants, are widely available, and your competitors can buy the same ones you can. What cannot be bought is knowing your own operations well enough to point AI at the right problem.
Three Companies the Same Size, Years Apart
Over the past several months I have had detailed conversations with owners and executives about where AI actually is being used inside their businesses. What surprised me most was how little the company size impacted their progress with AI adoption.
Bad Data Kills Good AI
An AI pilot project runs for a few months, and the results we expect don’t show up. The conclusion is that AI just didn’t work in our business. But what went wrong?
Shadow AI Is a Governance Problem
Most owners know their people use AI. Fewer are aware of what company information has gone into those tools, on what terms, and who approved it.
Measuring AI Performance
Most AI reporting measures activity. How many people have licenses, how many prompts were run, how many documents were processed. Activity is easy to count and it tells you almost nothing about whether the AI budget you’ve allocated is working. There is a better measure. What does it cost us to produce one successful outcome?
We’re Replacing Our Accounting System. Should We Wait on AI?
Partly yes. But most companies are unaware there is part they should take care of immediately.
Adoption Scales Through Your Managers
Technology scales through systems. Adoption scales through people, and specifically through the supervisors and department leads between you and the front line.
AI Belongs in the Workflow
Here is a pattern to consider. A company buys AI licenses, runs training, and a few months later usage has quietly dropped by everyone except a handful of enthusiasts. The tool worked. People used it during the pilot. Then it faded.
Someone in Your Company Has Already Figured This Out
In nearly every company I visit there are two or three people who have quietly worked out how to make AI genuinely useful. They are rarely the people you would guess.
Start With the AI You Already Own
Before you approve a single new AI purchase, there is an important question to answer. What AI have you already paid for and never turned on?
The Human-in-the-Loop Trap
Here is a test. If you left for a week starting tomorrow, would the AI-assisted work in your business keep moving, or would it quietly pile up waiting for your approval?
Will This AI Do What I Need?
Most proposed AI solutions describe what the system will do. Fewer describe the business activities that will interact with the AI solution being suggested. That disconnect is usually the difference between a proposal that works and one that simply doesn’t meet expectations.