Steve Urban

AI budgets are under the microscope. Caps are blunt. The fix is knowing what each dollar bought.

AI agents deserve the same discipline as any new hire: a job description, limited access, a person at the irreversible steps, and a named owner.

Tracking AI usage is fine. Rewarding it is a mistake. What to measure instead.

The calendar is the real strategy. Fix the weekly rhythm before you rewrite the plan.

AI is flattening org charts, and a lot of the coordination work being cut genuinely should go. But the middle was also the training ground. If you delete the rung, you do not delete the need for the skill.

AI is an amplifier, and amplifiers are honest. Most stalled AI programs fail on ownership, not technology. Why access is not adoption, why every workflow needs one name on it, and the sequence I use before automating anything.

After 400+ podcast interviews and more than a decade in executive search, here are the three tells that separate real leaders from people who just interview well.

AI is making knowledge cheaper by the day. Information is everywhere. But story is different. Story is where judgment, emotion, and lived experience still matter. That is about to become a lot more valuable.

Most people pick one AI tool and go all in. That feels efficient, but it creates risk and limits performance. The better approach is staying flexible, learning multiple platforms, and matching the tool to the task.

Most people evaluate AI based on what it can do today. The ones who come out ahead are thinking about where it's heading and making moves now.

After 35 years of interviewing people, I can tell you most candidates blow the easiest question in the interview. Here is exactly how to answer "tell me about yourself" and why it matters more than you think.

Most companies are using AI to cut headcount. The smart ones are using it to make every person on their team more effective. Here's why the force multiplier approach wins.