Books & Audiobooks
There is much ado about AI and yet, much like trying to spell the sound of a sniff, many businesses and organizations are still trying to clarify and articulate what AI will do for them. David De Cremer takes up this query in The AI-Savvy Leader: 9 Ways to Take Back Control and Make AI Work with a combination of research, case studies and anecdotes from his consulting work.
De Cremer prioritizes understanding what AI is and is not, as well as what it can and cannot do. It feels fitting then, to summarize his book with equal clarity of purpose.
The book is not a one-size-fits-all playbook for integrating AI into your leadership or strategic visions. It also won’t outline how you should use it or what others have done with it. It also doesn’t offer best practices or use cases that would apply to your industry.
It does, however, provide an excellent communications guide for leaders who are in the process of implementing AI across their organizations at varied scales. It outlines some core competencies that are important to develop during a rollout phase of AI integration. It also helps to outline broadly what AI is and the limitations of what it can do.
Many organizations are already using AI but what most are facing is the question of what role Generative AI might play in their industries and organizations. De Cremer offers practical answers to these questions, rather than being swept up in the winds of technological advances.
Yes, AI can and will do a lot. What it cannot do is the realm where De Cremer’s book shines. It offers the empowering view that AI is a tool. It is a tool used and coded by people. Much of the fracas of AI is the still uncertain implementation of it in the long game that strategic visions and inspiring someone’s career requires. He emphasizes the importance of what makes (and keeps) a human workforce happy and engaged at work: staying informed, ensuring that any tech is deployed with employees as mind rather than data points or variables in the implementation process; Investing in training; Rewarding employees for the things that are human about them which AI cannot replicate, and more.
I read the reviews on the back of the book before opening it and one of them states that the book is actionable. I could not have worded it better, because its actionability is what makes it such a useful guide. As much as it stands to help leaders communicate about AI, it also highlights core competencies that would be unsurprising to see on 360 reviews for senior leaders, or even those in middle management in years to come.
You’ll thank yourself for reading, and if you have employees, they’ll probably thank you, too.