The real advantage isn’t AI

photo-1745674684468-b9fc392fda3f

Over the last few weeks, we’ve talked about where to start with AI, what tends to get in the way, and where it’s actually helping businesses today.

To wrap this up, I want to simplify this as much as I can. Because it’s easy to get pulled into the noise and feel like you should be doing more, faster, just to keep up.

In last month’s Ask the CFO session on AI, we had a great discussion with Ken Scales, and one of the most important takeaways didn’t really have anything to …

Read more…

Where AI actually works

photo-1718241905462-56e7b9f722f3

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve focused on where most businesses go wrong with AI—starting with the tool instead of the problem, and trying to automate processes that aren’t clearly defined yet.

This week, I want to shift gears a bit and talk about where AI is actually helping, because there are real opportunities if you approach it the right way.

In last month’s Ask the CFO session on AI with Ken Scales, we spent time breaking this down into practical areas where…

Read more…

AI won't fix this

photo-1739805591936-39f03383c9a9

Last week, I asked you to step back and identify where your business isn’t running as well as it should.

Most people can do that pretty quickly. There’s usually a part of the business that feels slower than it should be, more manual than it should be, or harder to manage than it needs to be. That’s a good starting point.

But here’s where most businesses go next—and where things start to break down: They assume the solution is technology.

More specifically right now, they assume the solution i…

Read more…

Start here before you touch AI

photo-1713345248737-2698000f143d

 There’s a question I keep hearing right now, and it usually comes up pretty quickly in a conversation:

“How should we be using AI in our business?”

It sounds like the right question. It feels practical. It feels like something you shouldhave an answer to right now.

But it’s actually the wrong place to start.

In last month’s Ask the CFO session on AI with Ken Scales, we kept coming back to something much simpler. Ken Scales said it directly:

“What are we trying to achieve first? It’s not, l…

Read more…

AI for Growing Businesses: Where It Actually Helps (and Where It Doesn’t)

In this session of Ask the CFO, I sat down with Ken Scales to talk about AI.

It’s everywhere right now. Every company feels like they need an AI strategy. Boards are asking about it. Leadership teams feel like they’re behind if they don’t have an answer.

But most of the conversations I’m having with business owners aren’t about strategy—they’re about pressure. It usually comes out like this: “What are we supposed to be doing with AI?”

So instead of trying to cover everything, we focused on wh…

Read more…