Most executives I work with are obsessed with the usual suspects when it comes to scaling—strategy, people, cash flow. You know, the fundamentals from Scaling Up. But there’s this other thing that keeps coming up in every boardroom conversation: AI.
Everyone’s talking about faster decisions, better forecasts, workflows that actually work. And yeah, the potential is real. I’ve seen enough companies stumble to know this: AI won’t magically fix your business. If anything, it’ll make your existing problems worse.
The “More Tools = More Growth” Trap
I was in a meeting last month with a CEO who proudly told me about all their AI initiatives. Operations had a chatbot. Marketing was using a content generator. Finance was running AI forecasts. Each team is doing its own thing.
It sounded impressive until I started asking questions. It turns out that nobody was talking to each other. No shared strategy. No oversight. Each department is building their own little AI empire with zero connection to what the company was actually trying to accomplish as a whole.
This is what I call innovation theater. It appears to be progress from the outside, but underneath, it’s just expensive chaos.
The Scaling Up methodology already warns us that complexity multiplies as you grow. Add unmanaged AI to the mix, and you’re not scaling—you’re creating a mess.
Leadership’s Real Job: Direction, Not Tool Approval
AI that actually moves the needle starts with leaders who know what they want. I’m not talking about becoming an AI expert or rubber-stamping every shiny new tool someone brings you.
Before your next AI pilot program, answer these three questions:
- What specific problem does this solve? (And “efficiency” isn’t specific enough.)
- How does this align with our strategy and our values?
- Who’s going to own the results?
Skip these questions, and the technology will make the decisions for you. Usually badly.
AI: Your Business Amplifier (Whether You Like It or Not)
Here’s what I’ve learned from watching companies implement AI: it doesn’t create new systems. It amplifies whatever you already have.
Inconsistent processes? AI makes them inconsistent, but faster. Siloed departments? AI builds more and bigger silos. Bad data? AI produces confident-sounding garbage.
But when you’ve got your house in order—clear processes, aligned teams, clean data—AI becomes rocket fuel. It provides speed without compromising quality. Your leaders spot problems earlier, move faster, and have more resources to reinvest in growth.
Making Scaling Up Work with AI
The four disciplines from Scaling Up—People, Strategy, Execution, Cash—don’t get replaced by AI. They get supercharged by it.
People: Stop thinking about AI as a replacement. Use it to handle the boring stuff so your team can focus on work that matters. But be upfront about it—nobody likes wondering if they’re being automated out of a job.
Strategy: AI can crunch market data and run scenarios faster than any human team. Great. But someone still needs to connect those insights to your values and long-term vision.
Execution: Yes, AI can enhance the appearance of your dashboards and improve the speed of your reports. But if nobody’s accountable for following through, you’re just producing pretty reports about missed targets.
Cash: AI can spot trends in your numbers that might take weeks to surface otherwise. Early warning on demand shifts, pricing opportunities, and margin problems. But only if your financial data isn’t a disaster.
None of this works without leadership setting the rules. And I’m not talking about compliance for the sake of compliance, I mean the kind of governance that actually helps people make good decisions.
This Is Your Call
AI isn’t an IT project. It’s a leadership challenge. The companies that get this right won’t be the ones with the most tools in their stack. They’ll be the ones where executives lead with clarity and intention.
If your company is already experimenting with AI but the leadership piece feels muddy, now’s the time to step in. Before things get too scattered. Before the costs pile up. Before everyone gets frustrated and gives up.
Scaling with AI isn’t about collecting tools; it’s about leveraging them effectively. It’s about alignment. And that starts at the top.
Ready to bring some order to your AI initiatives? I work with mid-market CEOs who want to leverage AI as a growth driver, rather than a distraction. Let’s talk.
