The Path to AI Readiness Starts with Better Business
As I've been preparing for the fall semester teaching Operations Management, one topic I struggled with but committed to including in the curriculum is Artificial Intelligence.
Every business leader, and every student entering the workforce, needs to understand how AI will influence the way decisions are made, work gets done, and performance is maximized.
Every company wants to know how AI can improve productivity, increase efficiency, strengthen customer relationships, and help employees become more effective. Those are important questions.
It makes me think of a key question:
Is the business prepared to maximize AI's potential?
Businesses that are getting the most from AI have already done much of the hard work. They understand their operations, trust their data, have defined processes, empower their people, and have leaders committed to learning, adapting, and continuously improving. To put it simply, they have a strong operational foundation.
That aligns closely with a recent blog I shared, The Businesses That Win with AI Will Have One Thing in Common. AI doesn't replace operational excellence. It amplifies it.
The same principle applies in the classroom. Preparing students for an AI-enabled workplace isn't just about teaching AI tools. It's about teaching them how strong businesses operate, how decisions are made, and why operational discipline is critical.
The same is true for business leaders.
Over the past year, I've been developing a Business Performance & Value Assessment to help business owners better understand where they are today, identify opportunities to improve performance, and ultimately increase the value of their business.
As I continued building that framework, it became obvious that there was a logical next step.
If improving business performance creates greater business value, then businesses with that foundation are also the ones best positioned to leverage AI.
That's why I developed the AI Business Readiness Assessment.
Not as a standalone AI exercise, but as a practical extension of helping businesses build stronger operations.
The progression is straightforward.
Business Performance → Business Value → AI Readiness → Competitive Advantage
Each step builds on the one before it.
Businesses improve performance by strengthening their people, processes, systems, and leadership.
Businesses with that foundation are in the best position to leverage AI, not just to automate tasks, but to make better decisions, improve customer experiences, increase productivity, and ultimately create sustainable competitive advantage.
Technology will continue to evolve, and we know AI will continue to become more capable. New tools will emerge, and today's tools will at some point be replaced by something better.
AI may be changing the tools we use, but it isn't changing the fundamentals of building a great business.
In many ways, it's reinforcing them.
Is your business prepared to take full advantage of AI?
If you're not sure where your organization stands, that's exactly why I developed the AI Business Readiness Assessment. It provides a practical framework to evaluate your organization's readiness, identify opportunities for improvement, and prioritize the initiatives that will create the greatest business value.
I'd welcome the opportunity to share the assessment, discuss your results, and help you build a practical roadmap for becoming an AI-ready business.
