The evolution of 'agentic AI' extends beyond content generation to automating the connective tissue of business operations. Its future value is in initiating workflows that span departments, such as kickstarting creative briefs for marketing, creating product backlogs from feedback, and generating service tickets, streamlining operational handoffs.

To save time with busy clients, create a "synthetic" version in a GPT trained on their public statements and past feedback. This allows teams to get work 80-90% of the way to alignment internally, ensuring human interaction is focused on high-level strategy.

To discover high-value AI use cases, reframe the problem. Instead of thinking about features, ask, "If my user had a human assistant for this workflow, what tasks would they delegate?" This simple question uncovers powerful opportunities where agents can perform valuable jobs, shifting focus from technology to user value.

Generic use cases fail to persuade leadership. To get genuine AI investment, build a custom tool that solves a specific, tangible pain point for an executive. An example is an 'AI board member' trained on past feedback to critique board decks before a meeting, making the value undeniable.

Instead of a generalist AI, LinkedIn built a suite of specialized internal agents for tasks like trust reviews, growth analysis, and user research. These agents are trained on LinkedIn's unique historical data and playbooks, providing critiques and insights impossible for external tools.

Treat advanced AI systems not as software with binary outcomes, but as a new employee with a unique persona. They can offer diverse, non-obvious insights and a different "chain of thought," sometimes finding issues even human experts miss and providing complementary perspectives.

Rather than fully replacing humans, the optimal AI model acts as a teammate. It handles data crunching and generates recommendations, freeing teams from analysis to focus on strategic decision-making and approving AI's proposed actions, like halting ad spend on out-of-stock items.

Don't view AI tools as just software; treat them like junior team members. Apply management principles: 'hire' the right model for the job (People), define how it should work through structured prompts (Process), and give it a clear, narrow goal (Purpose). This mental model maximizes their effectiveness.

Separating AI agents into distinct roles (e.g., a technical expert and a customer-facing communicator) mirrors real-world team specializations. This allows for tailored configurations, like different 'temperature' settings for creativity versus accuracy, improving overall performance and preventing role confusion.