Why AI Matters for Business Strategy

We're at an inflection point. The companies that will define the next decade aren't just adding AI features to existing products — they're rethinking their entire value chain through the lens of intelligence.

The Three Waves

I think about AI adoption in business across three waves:

Automation — Replacing repetitive tasks with intelligent systems. This is where most companies are today. Think chatbots, data entry automation, and basic analytics.
Augmentation — Giving humans superhuman capabilities in their domain. Designers with generative tools, analysts with natural language queries, marketers with predictive targeting.
Transformation — Rebuilding business models around AI-native architectures. This is where the real value creation happens, and it's where I spend most of my time thinking.

What This Means for Strategy

Traditional strategy frameworks — Porter's Five Forces, Blue Ocean, Jobs to Be Done — remain useful. But they need to be augmented (see what I did there?) with a new question:

How does intelligence change the cost structure, competitive dynamics, and value proposition of this market?

When intelligence becomes cheap and abundant, the bottleneck shifts. It's no longer about who has the best data or the smartest analysts. It's about who can design the best systems for turning intelligence into action.

Looking Ahead

At BYU, I'm fortunate to be studying strategy at a time when the playbook is being rewritten. Through the AI in Business Society and my own ventures, I'm trying to bridge the gap between what's technically possible and what's strategically valuable.

More thoughts on this coming soon.