You’re reading The Steady Beat, a weekly pulse of must-reads for anyone orchestrating teams, people, and work across the modern digital workplace — whether you’re managing sprints, driving roadmaps, leading departments, or just making sure the right work gets done. Curated by the team at Steady.
Stuck in the middle
Most AI transformations stall out — not for lack of models, but because companies get mired in the molasses of misalignment, spaghetti systems, and business units that don’t want to play ball. Bain offers a pragmatic map out of the mess: centralize a small, empowered AI product team with a direct line to the CEO, ruthlessly prioritize use cases with clear business value, and integrate AI into the muscle memory of the org — not as a science experiment, but as software that ships. In other words, connect the AI transformation to P&L instead of standing up another “AI lab.” Bain’s checklist is refreshingly unsexy, which is exactly the point. Want your AI bets to pay off? Less “disruption,” more “distribution.”
— Bain & Company, 7m, #ai-strategy, #digital-transformation, #orgdesign, #ai-transformation
Who’s coaching your AI?
Most companies are treating AI like a solo act, when it’s really a team sport, and they’re fumbling the handoff. In this sharp breakdown, Rebecca Hinds argues that AI success isn’t just about tech; it’s about team dynamics. The companies winning with AI have cross-functional teams where engineers, PMs, data scientists, and end-users work in lockstep. The losers? They silo expertise, slap AI on top of broken processes, and expect magic. Hinds unpacks why the best-performing orgs bake in collaboration from the start, make space for iteration, and resist the temptation to chase shiny tools over real outcomes. One crucial takeaway: treating AI like a “project” with a fixed end date is a red flag. Instead, the most resilient teams approach it like a product — with ongoing learning, governance, and a bench of people who understand both the tech and the problem it’s meant to solve. Think less AI moonshot, more AI scrum.
— Inc., 6m, #ai, #leadership, #teamwork
Culture is the killer app
Most companies think AI will make them faster. Fewer realize it will also make them weirder. This World Economic Forum piece argues that in the AI era, competitive advantage won’t come from having the best tech, but from building the strongest culture. AI tools are increasingly commoditized, so what separates winners from losers is how teams work, decide, and adapt. That means doubling down on the human stuff: trust, curiosity, clarity, and the courage to rethink norms. The authors call it “cultural readiness,” and it’s what lets organizations integrate AI in ways that stick, scale, and surprise.
— World Economic Forum, 6m, #leadership, #ai, #culture
The AI-proof skill set
While machines get faster, cheaper, and freakishly good at pattern-matching, there’s still no substitute for a human who can actually think. This piece zeroes in on the three human skills that keep you irreplaceable in an AI-powered world: judgment, courage, and charisma. Judgment is about making decisions when the data is fuzzy or conflicting. Courage is about being willing to act on that judgment when it’s unpopular or risky. And charisma? It’s what lets you bring people with you, whether you’re selling a vision, leading a team, or just getting your kid to eat broccoli. These aren’t just nice-to-haves — they’re the differentiators that separate you from the code. TL;DR: your edge isn’t how fast you can compute, it’s how deeply you can connect.
— Prof G Markets, 5m, #leadership, #ai, #career
The AI-native is here
Move over digital natives, there’s a new archetype at work: the AI-native employee. Elena Verna makes the case that this isn’t just someone who knows how to prompt ChatGPT. It’s someone who builds a new mental model of how work gets done with AI as a default coworker. AI-natives don’t just automate tasks; they redesign their workflows to maximize leverage. They pair judgment with execution, using AI to “scale themselves” in ways that transform solo contributors into force multipliers. For team leads, the delta between AI-native and AI-resistant workers is widening — fast. Managers who recognize, reward, and rewire around these new skill sets will win. Organizations that don’t adapt? They’ll end up like the ones that shrugged at the internet. Verna outlines the implications for hiring, onboarding, and strategy, arguing that in this new world, judgment is table stakes, but AI fluency is the multiplier.
— elenaverna.com, 7m, #futureofwork, #leadership, #ai
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