This week on the GeekWire Podcast, our guests are Adam Brotman and Andy Sack, co-authors of AI First: The Playbook for a Future-Proof Business and Brand.
Brotman was Starbucks’ chief digital officer and later co-CEO of J.Crew. Sack is a founder, investor, and longtime advisor to tech leaders. Together, they run Forum3, a Seattle-based company that helps brands with customer loyalty and engagement.
For their book, they interviewed experts including Bill Gates, Sam Altman, Reid Hoffman and Ethan Mollick, and spent time with companies and leaders that have seen early AI success.
We talk about the shocking prediction that Altman gave them, how Moderna achieved 80% employee participation in an AI prompt contest, the CEO who supercharged sales by using AI to analyze call transcripts, and what businesses can do to roll out AI successfully.
Listen below, and continue reading for my 5 top takeaways.
1. Leaders need their own “holy shit” moment. AI has a better chance of being adopted when executives personally experience and use the technology themselves.
“It doesn’t mean that the CEO has to become an expert in AI,” Brotman said, “but they have to at least demonstrate that mindset, that curiosity, and a little bit of passion for what they don’t know, and empower the organization to go ahead.”
2. Formalize AI efforts with a dedicated team. Instead of ad-hoc adoption, create an internal group to lead the charge. A good starting point is a cross-functional “AI Council” or task force composed of passionate employees and at least one C-suite member.
Brotman and Sack were challenged by Wharton professor Ethan Mollick to push companies even further, to establish internal “AI Labs” to truly go all-in on experimentation.
3. Treat AI like an evolving intelligence, not static software. Unlike traditional technology implementations, AI capabilities change weekly. Companies need an “always-on experimentation mindset” rather than a deploy-and-maintain approach.
“This is a new thing. This is not software,” Sack said. “It’s a being, an alien intelligence.”
4. Make AI adoption fun and experimental. Moderna succeeded by turning AI learning into a “prompt-a-thon contest” with prizes, making employees feel comfortable with experimentation. This tapped into human psychology and removed the fear often associated with new technology.
“They really integrated the launch of that contest in the culture of the company,” Brotman said. “The ROI has been off-the-charts in terms of productivity for them as a company.”
5. The transformation is happening faster than you think. When Brotman and Sack interviewed Altman, the OpenAI CEO casually dropped a bombshell prediction: 95% of marketing as we know it today will be done by artificial intelligence within three to five years. That shifted their thinking and approach to the book.
As Brotman noted, “If you look at how the technology has progressed since we’ve had that interview, it’s right on schedule.”
AI First: The Playbook for a Future-Proof Business and Brand, by Adam Brotman and Andy Sack, is published by Harvard Business Review Press.
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