AI and Your Small Business
A practical talk about where AI fits in your business — and where it doesn't.
Download the slide deck below, then keep reading for the ideas that don't fit on a slide.
What This Adds Up To
Most conversations about AI and small business start with the technology. This one starts with the friction — the places in your business where you're losing time, energy, or money doing something a machine could handle. The technology is just how you fix it.
Every business — restaurant, contractor, property manager — runs on the same six things: getting attention, turning it into revenue, delivering what you promised, keeping the lights on, taking care of the people who already trust you, and making sure the math works. AI can show up in any of those. The question isn't “should I use AI?” It's “where do I feel the most friction?”
That's the starting point. Not the tool. The problem.
Once you find the friction, you choose your depth. Some things you augment — AI works alongside you, you're still driving. Some things you automate — hand it off completely, rules-based, no judgment required. And some things are ready for autonomy — AI operates within boundaries you set and handles execution on its own. Not everything needs the same approach. The businesses getting this right are the ones being honest about which is which.
Then there's governance. You already have rules for handling money and securing your network. AI needs the same thing — not a binder, but a set of questions you keep asking as the tools change underneath you. The GUIDE framework — Governance, Understanding, Implementation, Developing capability, Evolving — gives you those questions. It moves with you. Rigid policies are outdated the moment you write them. What you need is structure flexible enough to evolve with the technology and sturdy enough to keep you from flying blind.
And underneath all of this is the part that doesn't get enough attention: the human capabilities AI can't touch. Judgment. Taste. The instinct to know something is off before you can explain why. AI can produce the output. It can't decide whether the output is right. That's you. As AI handles more execution, those capabilities become more valuable, not less.
The businesses that win this next chapter won't be the most technical. They'll be the most intentional about where they apply AI. And the owners who thrive will be the ones who know their business clearly enough to point AI in the right direction — and have the judgment to know when to override it.
Download the Deck
The full deck from the session. Take it, share it with your team, use whatever's useful.
Download the Slide DeckGo Deeper
These pick up where the conversation left off.
The Friction Is Gone: Who Are You Without Your Tools?
Before the tools, before the shortcuts — what AI is actually exposing about how we work and who we’ve become.
The Three A’s of AI: How to Decide What to Automate, Augment, or Keep Human
A framework for deciding when AI should run the show, when it should assist, and when you need to stay in the driver’s seat.
Metaskills: The Capabilities That Matter Most
The skills AI can’t replicate — and why they get more valuable as AI handles more.
Working Memory Is a Budget
Why flooding yourself (or your team) with information actually makes everyone perform worse — and what to do instead.
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Kenzie Notes is where I write about AI, leadership, and the human skills that matter most right now. New issues go out regularly.