The Strategy
Vision aligned. Priorities set. Typo shipped.
The email from Debby arrived on a Tuesday.
*”We had a great Comex session yesterday. The team aligned on our AI vision and key priorities. I’ve attached the main elements. Can you formalize this into a proper strategy document? Would be great to share something with the full company by end of week.”*
She had sent it to Derek.
Derek had forwarded it to me.
“Can you handle this?”
Yes boss.
I opened the attachment.
Three bullet points.
*1. Leverage AI agents and automation to streamline operations and unlock new levels of productivity across the organization.*
*2. Companies like Apple are already deploying AI at scale — we need to move fast or risk being left behind.*
*3. Empower marketing and creative teams with AI tools to accelerate content production and stay ahead of trends.*
*Agents. Automation. Unlock new levels of productivity.*
Cliff. I could have written that sentence myself. I have, actually, in three different decks.
*Companies like Apple are already deploying AI at scale.*
Dick. He manages a sales region and had presented “the AI opportunity” to the entire company at the Town Hall two weeks ago. Forbes, probably October.
*Empower marketing and creative teams.*
Brittany. She had brought it up at her last marketing seminar. Three times, apparently.
Derek had probably said something about budget.
It wasn’t in the document.
Marcus wasn’t there to challenge the security.
I opened a blank deck and started writing.
For each use case, I knew what would happen.
*Cloud-based data processing.* Marcus would send a PDF.
*Third-party API integration.* Marcus would send a different PDF.
*Employee productivity monitoring.* Marcus would call.
Two use cases survived. I bolded them.
The first one was AI Exposure Pro. Derek had forwarded it two weeks ago. “Interesting tool! Might be useful?” I had archived it without opening it.
I opened it.
A Chrome extension. It tracks how many pages about AI you read, how long you spend on them, and converts that into a fluency score. Then it gives you a title.
A bullshitometer.
Derek sees this as an adoption metric.
I installed it on my laptop to check. Two minutes. No admin rights required.
One day streak. One hundred and eleven pages this week. One hundred and twelve hours reading about AI. I am an AI Strategist.
There is a button. It says “Share my AI Journey.”
I closed the tab.
I forwarded the tool to Cliff.
*Early Wins — Phase 2.*
The second one was Zoom AI. Already included in our license. Automatic meeting summaries. Action items. Key decisions.
The only tool in the strategy that would produce an honest account of what actually happens in our meetings.
The interns and the consultants have all the action items. Now it would be official.
I checked the requirements for activation. Two clicks. Just need the green light.
*Early Wins — Phase 2.*
I sent the strategy to Derek at 4pm.
“Thanks,” he said. “I’ll review and add my own thoughts before we send.”
The next morning, there was a company-wide email from Debby.
Subject: *Our AI Strategy — Exciting Times Ahead.*
It was my document. Word for word.
There was a typo in the third paragraph. I had noticed it the night before and decided to fix it in the morning.
Signed: Debby.
Not Derek.
Not me.
I activated Zoom AI.
Gary stopped by around ten. Gary works in support. He has a system. The system works. Nobody knows exactly what the system is, which is part of why it works.
“Hey, saw the email about our AI strategy. Looks exciting.” He paused. “You think it’s going to do anything about the tickets?”
I said not yet.
He nodded and went back to his desk.
Norm works in IT. He has opinions. They are allegedly his own.