This is the AI Mistake That’s Killing Otherwise Strong Companies

When executives talk about AI transformation, they typically frame it as a choice: efficiency or empathy, human expertise or technological advantage, cost reduction or service quality. This false binary is why so many companies remain paralyzed.

My own industry is a good example. In debt recovery, the industry went from around 7,000 agencies to barely 5,500 today. AI didn’t take out the companies that disappeared. They failed because they couldn’t make the core mental shift needed to survive technological disruption.

This perspective has enabled me to triple productivity while improving both employee retention and customer satisfaction. How you conceptualize AI determines everything about how well you implement it, and whether that implementation creates or destroys value.

Related: Don’t Stand in the Way of AI — How Artificial Intelligence Can Turn Us Into Better Leaders and Entrepreneurs

AI works best when treated as infrastructure

When the internet arrived, we didn’t argue about being “pro-internet” or “anti-internet.” We simply asked where the technology could help us do our work better.

Accountants didn’t disappear when spreadsheets arrived. Financial advisors remained essential even as robo-advisors entered the market, and pilots stayed in the cockpit long after autopilot became standard. In every case, technology expanded human capability rather than replacing it.

The question is, “How can we help our best people to spend more time on what they do best?”

Take compliance monitoring in regulated industries. For years, companies have reviewed a small slice of customer interactions and accepted the blind spots as “good enough.” AI removes that guesswork. We can now review every call and flag issues immediately, not months later.

Where AI implementations fail

Most AI implementations fail not because of the technology but because of where it sits within the organization. Companies that treat AI as an IT project bury it in engineering departments where technologists “fix things incrementally.” Companies that treat it as an infrastructure position AI leadership at executive levels, where they can see the big picture.

When AI leaders report to operations, HR or the C-suite, the organization understands this isn’t about optimizing code. It’s about reimagining how work gets done.

The message to employees shifts accordingly. Instead of “technology is coming for your job,” it becomes “we’re investing in tools that let you do your job better.” Instead of “adapt or die,” it’s “here’s infrastructure that removes the friction you’ve been dealing with for years.”

But you can only frame it this way if it’s genuinely true, which requires designing AI implementations as support systems, not replacement systems.

Related: 2 AI Mistakes That Could Get You Sued or Fired

Doing more with less requires strategic design

Here’s the part most executives don’t like verbalizing: AI does mean you need fewer people to produce the same amount of work. Pretending otherwise only damages credibility with employees who see what’s happening. However, it also creates the need for new roles because work moves faster, output is higher and the organization grows in ways that require more skilled people, not fewer.

My organization now operates with 800 people doing work that once required 3,000, yet we’re actively hiring toward 1,200 employees. The company is simultaneously more productive and larger. How?

It’s the experienced people who drive revenue and reduce compliance concerns. AI handles routine inquiries: balance checks, basic questions and simple routing. Experienced staff focus on complex situations requiring empathy, judgment and creative problem-solving.

Job satisfaction rises because they’re doing meaningful work, not grinding through repetitive tasks. The company captures margin through productivity gains while maintaining differentiation through expertise.

You end up producing more with fewer people while still growing your team and improving service. It only works if you’ve deployed AI as infrastructure supporting human expertise rather than as automation eliminating it.

Just like when spreadsheets arrived, accounting departments didn’t shrink in proportion to the efficiency gains. They grew because the technology enabled them to handle more complex analysis, serve more clients and provide deeper insights. The nature of the work changed. The value increased.

Why your implementation approach matters

Your implementation philosophy will amplify or undermine your values, and the right one lets AI support them by removing distractions, focusing your team on what matters and creating a better experience for every customer.

In debt recovery, people often assume aggressive tactics and zero empathy. But when we work with deceased accounts, compassion is essential to ensure regulatory compliance.

That’s why empathy is central to what we do, and why we can’t implement AI carelessly. Every time we consider new technology, we ask, “Does this help us be more empathetic, or does it get in the way?”

That raises an obvious question. Does AI help or hurt that mission?

Crisis-tested companies adapt to AI faster

Preparing requires something many companies lack: experience navigating major change. We’ve been through financial crises, a pandemic and a major expansion. That history built the muscle memory we rely on to manage disruption without losing focus on the core business. We learned how to run small experiments, challenge assumptions and adjust quickly.

Companies without that experience often approach AI from a place of fear. They either demand perfect implementation or rush ahead recklessly. Organizations accustomed to navigating big shifts see AI as the next challenge requiring thoughtful execution. That mindset leads to very different outcomes.

The most important question for leaders

The companies that thrive over the next decade won’t win on AI sophistication alone. They’ll win by treating AI as infrastructure that amplifies human judgment rather than replacing it.

That’s how we look at it. We use AI to amplify the expertise that differentiates us, and it’s benefited us, our clients and their customers.

What does that look like in practice? Incremental implementation. Clear metrics for each phase. AI leadership is positioned to see the whole business. And an unwavering commitment to using technology in service of our values rather than instead of them.

The idea is simple, but the execution isn’t. It means slowing down when everyone else is speeding up, avoiding shortcuts and staying out of the extremes – whether that’s refusing to use AI or trying to automate everything overnight.

This middle path demands a more sophisticated question: not whether to adopt AI, but where it amplifies human expertise and where it undermines it.

When executives talk about AI transformation, they typically frame it as a choice: efficiency or empathy, human expertise or technological advantage, cost reduction or service quality. This false binary is why so many companies remain paralyzed.

My own industry is a good example. In debt recovery, the industry went from around 7,000 agencies to barely 5,500 today. AI didn’t take out the companies that disappeared. They failed because they couldn’t make the core mental shift needed to survive technological disruption.