AI strategies are optimizing for the wrong thing.
By Lisa Taylor
Right now, many organizations are approaching AI the same way early pilots approached flight.
When airplanes first took off, pilots navigated by following the roads and rivers below. They were using a radically new technology, but still organizing around the old system.
I see the same thing happening with AI.
Organizations are adding new tools to existing workflows, processes, and roles. But the bigger opportunity is to ask a different question: If this technology changes what is possible, should the work itself change too?
In this 3-minute video, I use the story of early aviation to explain why AI adoption needs to move beyond fitting new tools into old structures.
The real opportunity is the wide open sky.
For leaders, that means looking beyond implementation and thinking more deeply about how work, roles, decisions, and career systems may need to be redesigned.
Career infrastructure is an essential part of that redesign. Organizations need systems that help their people build capability, navigate change, and contribute as the work itself evolves.
If this is something you’re thinking about in your organization, I’d be glad to compare notes.
Lisa Taylor is a global authority on the future of work and the systems that shape it. As Founder and CEO of Challenge Factory, she advises governments, multinational organizations, and C-suite executives navigating workforces redefined by AI, longer working lives, and accelerating change. She is the author of multiple books including The Talent Revolution: Longevity and the Future of Work (University of Toronto Press) and a sought-after media commentator who has been featured in The Globe and Mail, Forbes, CBC, Toronto Star, OECD Future of Work reports, and more.