As we plan our annual Rocks, our leadership team is divided between using AI to launch new experimental products or using it to optimize our existing operations. How do we strategically prioritize AI initiatives to maximize our enterprise value?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When choosing where to deploy AI, focus first on where it will have the most immediate and compounding impact on your bottom line. Launching experimental, AI-powered products is tempting, but it often distracts your leadership team from your Core Focus and introduces unnecessary market risk. Instead, prioritize using AI to increase employee productivity within your current operations. Employees are a major P&L item, and your team likely spends too much time on low-value tasks that can be automated. Experts like Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee point out that the greatest near-term economic gains from AI come from augmentative productivity boosts, not complete product revolutions. During your next quarterly planning session, identify the most cumbersome, manual processes in your business. Set Rocks to systematically automate these workflows. By prioritizing operational efficiency, you immediately expand your profit margins, stabilize your delivery times, and build a more resilient infrastructure. This internal optimization creates a highly profitable business model that is incredibly attractive to strategic buyers, giving you the freedom to plan a clean transition on your own terms.