But here's the thing, leadership creates the culture. I call it the monkey see, monkey do effect. You know, when you go to the zoo, the monkeys copy each other. Technically it's called mirror neurons but monkey see, monkey do is easier to remember.
Well, as the CEO, and I am the head monkey, if I don't do something, I can't expect anyone else to want to do it either. Super simple yet so many leaders don't get that.
In early 2023, I decided our $100M+ software company was going all-in on AI. Twenty-four products. Fifty people. No committees. No consultants. I'm the head monkey leading first.
Here's what I learned:
Monkey see, monkey do. Your team watches what you do, not what you say. If you're not in Claude at 7 am building your board deck, don't expect your VP of Sales to touch it.
You can't fake it. You don't need to be a developer. But you need to know how to prompt. You need to know the difference between Claude and ChatGPT. If you can't demo your own work, you haven't done the work.
Don't hire someone to do this for you. That's a 5-year plan. Lead it yourself, and you're 18 months out. Hire someone, and you'll still be "evaluating tools" in 2028. I call that putting the nerds in the corner, theoretical AI work without practical application.
Today, I spend 40-50% of my time in AI tools. My team averages 62%. Some hit 70-80%. We track it. We publish it. That didn't happen because of a strategy document. It happened because I went first.
If you're a CEO waiting for your CTO to figure out AI for you, you're going to be disappointed, and you're going to have a really uncomfortable conversation with your board in the not-so-distant future.
