CEO Day 1 Playbook: AI/Data (Survive or Die)

Read time: 3 minutes

1. Your Gut Instinct Is Now Your Biggest Liability.

The old way of decision-making is officially obsolete. Top performers are utilizing AI-powered decision logs that learn from every decision made. Your "experience"? It's becoming worthless by the minute.

2. Data Chaos Is Quietly Killing Your Business.

Those messy spreadsheets and lost Slack messages aren't just annoying - they're a ticking time bomb. The moment a competitor cleans up their data, you're finished.

3. You're Using AI Wrong (And It's Costing You Millions).

If you think AI is just for writing emails, you might as well start drafting your bankruptcy papers. The real players are automating entire departments with it.

4. Accuracy Doesn't Matter Anymore.

The new gold standard? Autonomy yield. Measure how many decisions AI can make without human intervention. Anything less than 80%, and you're already behind.

5. Your Data Team Is Built Backwards.

Your problem isn’t AI… it’s messy data, and the wrong people touching it. What you really need is a data janitor - someone who treats dirty data like an existential threat.

Your 72-Hour Survival Challenge:

1. Pick ONE critical business function.

2. Fully automate it with AI by Friday.

3. Measure the autonomy yield.

4. Double down or ditch it.

Warning: If you don't complete this challenge within 72 hours, consider this your final wake-up call.

The Agentic AI Mandate (Do This Immediately)!

Your Non-Negotiable Task This Week:

Identify one core business process that currently requires human judgment (like customer service escalations, inventory ordering, or hiring screenings). By Friday, implement an Agentic AI system that can:

1. Receive raw inputs autonomously.

2. Make judgment calls without human approval.

3. Document its decisions and reasoning.

4. Learn from its mistakes in real-time.

This isn't about automation - it's about creating your first truly autonomous employee. The clock starts now.