Introducing AI to Organizational Projects
Why Leadership Matters more than ever in the Era of AI.
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My first attempt at higher education was a degree in Business Administration. I had worked for private companies before that and had also led my family’s retail business for six years. Since I left university, and throughout all my endeavors as a businessman and an employee – and there were many – it wasn’t until I was 48 that someone in a job first told me that personal leadership mattered. Reflecting on that, it is telling that no one had told me that to achieve my objectives with excellence, I had to lead myself first – clearing the inner noise that erodes clarity.
I had begun earlier, in my twenties, when I first understood who God was and how much I wanted to give my very best in everything; I did that in businesses but I wasn’t told this explicitly until my later years in an organizational environment.
That attitude is indispensable when wielding AI and aiming it to achieve anything of significance.
Why Personal Leadership Is Essential to Wield AI?
The Parable of the Archer
A young apprentice asked the master:
“If I had the finest bow, the straightest arrows, and the strongest arm… would I always hit the mark?”The master replied:
“Only if you can ‘see’ it.”“And if I had eyes as sharp as the eagle’s?”
“Still, you must ‘know’ what the mark is.”“And if I had a guide to tell me where to shoot?”
“Then it is no longer your aim.”
No matter how skilled the one who guides your aim is, it still has to be “your aim;” and no matter how skilled your assistants and team are, even if you have the very best at your disposal, there is no substitute for your vision and intention.
Business organizations often, more than they are willing to recognize, have no real vision of what they are aiming at. That confusion trickles down to their teams and throughout the organizations. My contention is that it doesn’t matter if you are in such an organization, as long as your responsibilities are well delineated and defined, you can have a fulfilling experience and your decisions can impact you and your teammates. All you need is personal leadership, and that is developed with habits and a vision of where you want to go. Do everything with excellence.
AI is like an outstanding team of assistants that can provide all you need to achieve what you aim at – there is a catch – you cannot lead a great team unless you have a basic minimum of skills:
A vision of where to go
Clarity on what success looks like when you get there.
Identify when a step is bringing you closer to what you are aiming at.
Whether you’re in marketing, sales, finance, operations, or administration – whether you lead a team or are being led – what truly matters is that you lead yourself with excellence in everything you do and, most importantly, you have that attitude when using AI.
A Plain Example
A Plain Example
Let’s say you work in finance and are tasked with finding a new accounting software solution because the current system has been unreliable, and support hasn’t resolved the ongoing issues.
The worst first step would be asking ChatGPT (or Google) to list software options. Why? Because unless you’ve defined your evaluation criteria in advance, you’re not deciding – you’re just browsing.
You might know that “support” is important. But every company claims to offer great support. What you need is to lay down the ground rules for what truly matters to your department. For example, that means defining what “good support” means in your context: is it 24/7 live help? Ticket resolution in under 2 hours? Dedicated account reps?
If you simply gather a list of features and put them in a table, you’re skipping the most strategic part: deciding what success looks like first.
A good way to start is to ask ChatGPT to help you define your decision-making criteria. For example with the following prompt:
“I need to present a shortlist of accounting software options for our department. Can you help me define the top value factors that should guide our decision? Please consider aspects such as cost-effectiveness, user experience, integration with our existing tools, quality of customer support (real, not just advertised), scalability, data security, and any industry-specific compliance needs. Create a decision matrix or list to help us prioritize which features matter most to our organization.”
Even if you’re unsure what “value factors” to include, ask ChatGPT to help you identify them – but don’t stop there.
The most important step is to own the answer. Don’t just copy and paste the list and run to your boss to confirm ‘your value factors selection.’ If you’ve worked in that department, you know the pain points: read the list carefully, identify what applies, what’s missing, and what doesn’t reflect the department’s actual needs. You are the one who confirms or discards what the model suggests – not the other way around.
This same process applies to every step through to the final benchmark report. AI can help you structure, score, and format your findings – for example, building an Excel sheet with value criteria, comments, and scores – but you must validate and direct the process.
Yes, AI models can make you more efficient and productive. But only if you lead. If you own each step, question each output, and correct the course as needed – that’s when you grow. That’s when you become strategic.
Why are Habits Important in Wielding AI?
Have you ever used a GPS to reach a place you've never been, and then you found you couldn’t return without using the GPS again? That’s what happens when you follow tools blindly.
When using AI models in an organizational environment and in your work, healthy habits are indispensable. Here are the basic ones you cannot discard:
Ask the right question: this is a forgotten skill, or at least a very rare one. The right question prompts two important solutions: Purpose and orientation on how to get there. If you are not sure how to frame the question, ask the model, How would you formulate a question to help me discern X, Y, or Z?
Read every response as if it’s telling you how to survive: don’t think any mistake is just a misstep; in life you are either ascending or descending, there is no standing in one place. You don’t know what misstep will determine your fall out of grace and kill your hopes for a better life, or which will be a step-up that will change your outcome in life.
Don’t use AI models to make you look good: pride and false representation are catastrophic to our growth in personal leadership and developing character. Use AI models to assist you in learning and develop your skills, you need to finetune your aim to get where AI con only help, not do your aiming.
And most importantly, assume accountability for every step of the process. There is no way to stress this enough: it is an indispensable habit while working with AI in achieving a mark.
We are living in the most pivotal moment of human history. Our tools have never been more powerful. And yet, they cannot replace our responsibility. The Western model is in crisis, and AI, the most advanced tool ever created, can either amplify our confusion or empower our clarity. It all depends on… What are we aiming at?
If you are interested in deeply understanding AI, how it came about and what truly is, I recommend our first series AI, friend or foe?
