Why Speed Without Direction Is an Executive Risk
Practical guidance on why speed without direction is an executive risk and what to do about it.
The point
Why Speed Without Direction Is an Executive Risk is not a technology statement. It is a decision quality statement.
The decision lens for this topic
Ask: "What would a good decision look like without AI?" Then ask: "What does AI change - speed, coverage, consistency, or risk?" If you cannot answer, you are not ready to automate this decision.
Why this matters
Leaders are being asked to "adopt AI" as if it is a software upgrade. It is not. AI adoption changes decision flow: who proposes options, who validates them, and who owns the outcome.
What goes wrong in the real world
- Strategy becomes a collection of generated plans with no clear tradeoffs
- Teams confuse activity (outputs) with progress (outcomes)
- Responsibility drifts because the tool feels authoritative
If a decision can hurt customers, finances, or reputation, a named human must be able to explain: the goal, the assumptions, and the downside.
How to apply this this week
- Identify your top 5 recurring decisions (pricing, hiring, credit, procurement, roadmap)
- For each decision, define: owner, required evidence, and sign-off
- Use AI to generate options - but require humans to justify the final choice
AI can speed up decision preparation. It cannot replace leadership accountability.