The Conversation I Have Every Week
A CEO sits across from me. "We need AI," they say. "Our board expects it. Our competitors have it. We're falling behind."
Then I ask the obvious question: "What problem does it solve?"
Silence.
They're not stupid. They're smart people running real businesses. But they're caught between two truths: AI genuinely matters, and they have no idea why it matters for them specifically. So they chase the tool instead of solving the problem.
Stop Asking "Do We Need AI?"
The right question is: "Where do we need leverage?" Leverage is what you're actually after, whether that's speed, scale, capital efficiency, or margin. AI is one tool that delivers leverage in specific situations. But so are better processes, smarter hiring, automation, or delegating.
Most CEOs land on AI because it's the shiny object. But here's what I see in my advisory work: when you start with strategy, what does this business need to win?, the right tools follow naturally. Sometimes AI is the answer. Often it isn't.
"The real question isn't whether you need AI. It's where you need leverage."
My Three-Question Filter
First: What is the bottleneck slowing us down? Be specific. Not "we're not growing fast enough." But "our customer service team spends four hours a day on repetitive inquiries" or "our sales team wastes 30% of their time on admin work."
Second: Would removing that bottleneck move the business forward meaningfully? A real impact on revenue, cost, or customer experience. Not a nice-to-have efficiency.
Third: Is AI the best way to solve it? Maybe. Maybe it's hiring one person. Maybe it's changing your process. Maybe it's a simple workflow tool. Test this assumption before you build.
When all three answers are clear, you know whether you need AI. More importantly, you know exactly what problem you're trying to solve.
Strategy First, Tools Second
This is how I start every advisory engagement. We never talk about technology until we've nailed strategy. Because the best AI implementation in the world can't fix a broken business model. And the wrong AI project will drain resources you need elsewhere.
Your board isn't impressed because you have AI. They're impressed because you grew revenue, cut costs, or moved faster than the competition. AI is the vehicle, not the destination.