Methods
of the Masters
A blog on the art & science of creative action.
Real Concerns, Wrong Conclusion
A real concern is not a valid conclusion. An EVP in finance emailed me last week about AI sycophancy. Most people raise that concern as an off-ramp. He made it the curriculum.
This Is What Real Augmentation Looks Like
There are levels of AI augmentation: Some people use AI to draft emails. Josh used it to run 27 agents on a single problem, from his mobile on the road, with all the context of his laptop at home. Those are not the same thing.
What’s Your Word?
Andrej Karpathy hasn't typed a line of code since December. That sentence has a blank in it — fill it with your word, and something shifts.
The Answer Is Yes. What's Your Question?
When Manu Ginobili raised his hand during a Spurs AI session and said "Could AI...?" — that was the ball game. The answer to almost every "could it" question is yes. The problem is most people don't have a question yet.
Not Behind Enough to Panic. Too Afraid to Learn.
There are two fears circulating in the age of AI. One is fuel. The other is self-fulfilling. A neuroscientist recently explained why — and it changed how I think about every AI conversation I have.
From Authorship To Stewardship
This Week: Guest Post from Brice Challamel , Head of AI Strategy and Adoption at OpenAI — If AI can draft the memo, build the deck, and prototype the product, what exactly is the professional's contribution? Brice says it's not "less" — it's "different." Read his case for the shift from authorship to stewardship.
It's a Skill, Not a Pill
A 40% quality boost, available to anyone. Taken up by fewer than 3% of the workforce (and that number is going down, not up). At Wharton this week, I accidentally said the thing that explains why.
Your AI Dashboard Is Lying to You (And What to Measure Instead)
The engineer who experiments with 40 prompts shows up on the dashboard. The finance manager who quietly kills three recurring reports doesn't — even though she's the one who actually changed. A guest post from Logitech's Head of Global AI.
The Rising Opportunity Cost of Being Human
AI can make you 100x more productive at work, and make being present at home feel 100x more expensive. That tension isn’t just personal weakness. It’s a new economic reality.
Are You More of What You Value?
I almost moved a family trip for two business opportunities. That moment made me ask a question I think every AI power user needs to sit with: What if your biggest AI risk isn’t bad output, but a misallocated life?
I Have a Team (A Collection of “Wherewithal Moments”)
I'd been stuck for weeks — not because the technology wasn't available, but because I hadn't thought to ask. I've started calling these 'wherewithal moments.' They're hard to manufacture. But they compound.
Do You Feel The Pain Of Idle Agents?
Most people treat AI like a better search engine. The few who've broken through treat it like a team that never sleeps. If you don't feel the pain of idle agents, you haven't grasped what's available to you.
Diversify Your Bets
Finance 101 says diversification — holding a broad range of investments from safe bonds to growth equities — is the best way to reduce your risk and maximize return. So why is your AI strategy all municipal bonds?
The Imagination Ceiling: Why 70% of Your People Are Stuck on AI
AI adoption is plateauing. I analyzed 5,000 anonymous survey responses looking for the culprit. I found it. And it's not what I expected.
Close the Loop
A senior executive called to tell me my talk was "one of three ingredients in the best idea I've ever had." That almost never happens. Here's why it should.
The Doing Gap Will Kill More Companies Than AI
89% of HR leaders believe AI will impact jobs next year. Only 67% say it's impacting work now. That 22-point gap between belief and action is where companies go to die.
Your Board Can't Imagine the Future
If your board members haven't personally experienced what AI can do, they cannot exercise their fiduciary responsibility. Fiduciary duty used to mean financial oversight. Then it expanded to include strategy, risk, culture. Now it includes imagination.
You're Not Tired of AI. You're Scared of It.
Everyone's “exhausted” by AI talk, or at least, that’s what I’m hearing. But there’s a more nuanced undercurrent. When I asked a room full of executives to show me what they'd actually built, everybody froze. That's not fatigue. It's something else entirely.
The First Time AI Blew My Mind
Standing in my hallway surrounded by broken glass, I asked AI for 10 terrible ways to respond. What came back changed how I think about parenting—and about AI.
Stop Being a Hypocrite
Here's what I've noticed over the past year. (And yes, I include myself in this.) Leaders are really good at telling their teams to embrace AI. They're much less good at embracing it themselves.