Charlene Li's Recent LinkedIn Posts

AI can analyze sentiment. It can't feel empathy. It can model scenarios. It can't exercise judgment. It has data about experiences. It hasn't lived through them. In this week's #LeadingDisruption, I share the five dimensions that will define the most successful leaders in the AI era—and why the real promise of human-in-the-loop isn't quality control. It's becoming more fully human. Read it here:

Everyone's obsessed with AI readiness. Are we ready? Is our data ready? Is our culture ready? Here's what I've learned after working with hundreds of organizations: waiting until you're "ready" is the strategy that's holding you back. The companies winning with AI aren't the ones who prepared the longest. They're the ones who started moving — and learned along the way. Tomorrow I'm going live to challenge one of the biggest myths in AI transformation: that readiness is the prerequisite to progress. Join me tomorrow at 9am PT / 12pm ET and bring your questions. I want to hear where you're stuck. #LeadingDisruption #AI #Leadership #AIStrategy #WinningWithAI 🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://lnkd.in/emmNUDJc

97% of organizations now use AI. Yet 40% have paused or canceled at least one AI initiative. What's going on? I've partnered with RingCentral to dig into their Agentic AI Trends 2026 report, and the findings validate what Katia Walsh and I found researching our book Winning with AI (coming in March): organizations have the ingredients for AI success, but they're missing the head chef. The data shows that integration remains a major friction point. About 57% of organizations are already beyond the exploration stage with AI agents, but scaling introduces new coordination demands. This isn't a technology problem—it's an architecture problem. In our book, we describe every AI system as having four layers: data (ingredients), AI models (equipment), orchestration (the head chef), and consumption (the interface). This maps closely to what RingCentral’s report surfaces: organizations invest heavily in models and tools, but struggle most with coordination and integration. Most invest heavily in the first two and underinvest in the third. Orchestration is the coordination layer that enables AI agents, people, and systems to work together. It routes queries, manages handoffs, ensures quality, and critically, passes context so work doesn't reset at every step. Without orchestration, you have isolated tools. With it, you have a system. The next phase of AI won't be defined by how many tools you deploy. It will be determined by how effectively they work together. Read the full report: https://lnkd.in/emK9YndR #Sponsored #RingCentralPartner #AgenticAI #AILeadership #AIAgents #EnterpriseAI

If I were launching a company with AI today, I'd do three things differently than most startups. Not because I'm smarter than most founders, but because I've watched hundreds of organizations struggle with AI transformation, and the patterns are clear. The biggest mistake is treating AI as a technology project instead of a business transformation. Companies that win with AI start with strategic clarity, not technical capability. In our book "Winning with AI," Dr. Katia Walsh and I lay out the 90-day blueprint that takes you from "we should probably do something with AI" to "we're creating measurable value." The book drops in March, but you can start applying the top three foundational principles today. Which of these three feels hardest for your organization right now? #AITransformation #AIRoadmap #WinningWithAI

Mark your calendars for April 1st. I'm going LIVE  with Lisa Nirell to celebrate the launch of "Winning with AI: The 90-Day Blueprint for Success," discuss how leaders can stay ahead of the AI curve, and give away a few copies. During our the livestream, we'll touch on: → The inside story of writing a book about AI while AI kept changing (spoiler: we rewrote A LOT) → The biggest mistakes I see leaders making with AI right now → How to go from "we should do something with AI" to actually creating measurable value We'll also have a live Q&A (so bring your toughest questions) and discuss an upcoming in-person session on April 16th: tinyurl.com/winningai This isn't a sales pitch. It's a real conversation about what it takes to win with AI in 2026. Dr. Katia Walsh and I spent two years researching, interviewing, and testing these frameworks with real organizations. Now I want to share what we learned. Directly with you. April 1st 9 am PT / 12 pm ET Right here on LinkedIn Live: https://lnkd.in/g5aZkneS Click "Attend" on the event link below so you don't miss it. See you there!

Next week, something I've been working on for over two years finally comes out into the world. "Winning with AI" drops on March 24, and I'll be honest: I'm feeling all the feels. Writing a book is always a journey. But this one was different. My co-author, Dr. Katia Walsh, and I didn't just write about AI, we used it throughout the process. We tested our own frameworks. We challenged our assumptions. And sometimes, we had to throw out entire chapters when the technology moved faster than our writing. The question I kept coming back to: How do leaders actually WIN with AI, not just tinker with it? Not productivity hacks. Not prompt engineering tips. Real strategic advantage. That's what this book is about. Think big, start small, scale fast. I want to celebrate this moment with YOU. Join Lisa Nirell and me for a special livestream on April 1st, titled "From AI Experiments to Impact: A Growth Leader’s Playbook" where I'll share the inside story of what it took to get this book done, detail the surprises I encountered along the way, and answer your burning questions about winning with AI. Spoiler alert: there will also be a book giveaway! https://lnkd.in/g5aZkneS

I still see companies that ban AI. No ChatGPT. No AI tools. Period. It’s 2026. This is ridiculous. 🔎 Here's what's actually happening: your employees are using AI anyway. They're just hiding it from you. AI amnesty isn't about stopping that. It's about understanding it. If someone's using AI outside of company systems and it's creating value for them, there's a reason. Don't just shut it down. Instead, productize it. Insert it into your workflow. Make it even better. Scale it across the organization. Most importantly, regulate it so that your teams are accountable. The goal isn't to ban AI. It's to move it from shadow IT into the center of your operations where you can: 🔹 Ensure security 🔹 Maintain quality 🔹 Scale what works 🔹 Learn from what doesn't AI implementation is so much more than just throwing ChatGPT at your team. It's about deploying AI that works with your knowledge base, fits your workflows, and solves your specific problems. If employees are finding ways to use AI to do their jobs better, that's a sign. Listen to it. Is your organization ready for AI amnesty? #AI #leadership #innovation

Everyone's talking about the AI bubble. But most people are looking at the wrong thing. We saw a bubble in the dot-com era, but despite that, the rise of the internet was still incredibly impactful. The same is true today. Yes, there's a disconnect between massive VC investments and how quickly companies will actually adopt AI. But that doesn't mean AI isn't real. The bubble isn't about whether AI creates value—it absolutely does. ▶️ It's about the timing between investment and implementation. Companies are moving slowly and deliberately because they're still figuring out how to drive real strategic value, not just efficiency gains. So, unless you're actively investing in AI stocks, stop worrying about the bubble. Focus on what matters: how AI helps you achieve your strategic goals faster and better. What's your take on the AI bubble conversation? #AI #leadership #strategy

I recently spent some time reviewing all the things that *didn’t* make it into our forthcoming book, "Winning with AI." It was fascinating to revisit all the ideas we explored but ultimately cut. Some were too nuanced for a 90-day blueprint. Others were evolving too quickly. A few were simply outside our scope. But here's what struck me during that process: The cutting room floor is sometimes more interesting than the final product. It reveals your thinking process, the trade-offs you made, and the priorities you chose. 💡 Writing a book is about deciding what to leave out as much as what to include. I'll be sharing some of those "deleted scenes" over the coming weeks: concepts about organizational culture, leadership credibility, and AI adoption that shaped our thinking but didn't fit the final manuscript. Co-authoring with Dr. Katia Walsh meant we had twice the insights to wrangle. The challenge wasn't finding enough to say…it was narrowing down to what leaders need most urgently. What topic related to AI leadership would you most want to hear about that might not be in a typical "AI strategy" book? Learn more about our book at the link in the comments!

We're at a turning point with AI that most leaders aren't seeing yet. The implications are massive. In today's #LeadingDisruption, I'm laying out why 2026 isn't just another year of "AI transformation." 👉 It's the year that determines who wins and who gets left behind. This isn't speculation. It's what Katia Walsh and I are watching happen across every industry we work with. The pattern is undeniable. Some companies are building compounding advantages. Others are still perfecting their pilots. And that gap is about to become permanent. I'm sharing: 🔹 What you need to ship by end of Q1 2026 if you want to stay competitive  🔹The four building blocks that separate AI winners from everyone else  🔹 Why being a "fast follower" won't work this time  🔹 The specific gaps that are widening right now This is the most direct I've been about the urgency of this moment. Because I'm watching leaders who get it pull so far ahead that catching up will soon be impossible. If you've been waiting for the "right time" to move on AI, this newsletter is your wake-up call. Read it. Then ask yourself: Which side of the dividing line is your organization on? #LeadingDisruption #AIStrategy #AITransformation #Leadership

I just spent 18 months writing a book about AI with my co-author Dr. Katia Walsh, Ph.D. We threw out half of what we wrote.  We completely pivoted our approach.  We cut some of my favorite content. 💡 And every painful detour taught me something about leading transformation. In this week's #LeadingDisruption, I'm sharing the messy truth about what it was like to write Winning with AI—and the leadership lessons that emerged from the struggle. If you've ever led a transformation that didn't go according to plan (which is … every transformation), this one's for you. Read it below. #AI #leadership #transformation #disruption #winningwithAI

Here’s something I often find myself discussing with leaders: There's a disconnect in the AI market right now. And it's not what most people think. Massive VC money is flowing into large AI organizations. These organizations are betting companies will buy their products. But companies are moving slowly. Really slowly. Why? Because they don't know what to do with this technology yet.  They're asking: "Am I just going to be more efficient? Is this really going to drive strategic value? Or am I just automating processes?" That's not big enough to justify massive investment. Meanwhile, AI companies are moving from pure software into the people business. They're saying: "Replace your workers or transform your workflows. Hire us instead. We'll help you run your business." That's a fundamental shift. And it takes time for organizations to wrap their heads around it. So we have this gap. 🏎️ The urgency for ROI from big investments.  🐌 And the reality that organizations just don't change very quickly. This may result in some sort of correction in 2026. But here's what I know for certain: the question isn't whether AI creates value. It absolutely does. The question is whether companies will show up and start spending. Because if they do, the bubble conversation ends. What's holding your organization back from moving faster on AI? #AI #business #investment #strategy

AI won't become indispensable in your organization through mandate. ➡️ It becomes indispensable when leaders personally experience it. Think about email. About Slack. About the internet. You can't imagine working without these tools because you've personally experienced their value. AI is heading the same direction. It has to be personal. Not a demo. Not a presentation from your IT team. Not reading articles about what other companies are doing. You need to use it. Daily. In ways that matter to your actual work. When I talk to boards, I ask: How many people on this executive team are using AI every day? And if you're not, why aren't you? Because if leadership isn't using AI, they can't: ▶️ Understand its real limitations ▶️ See its genuine potential ▶️ Ask the right questions ▶️ Lead transformation authentically It's not a universal guide. It's a hands-on, individual experience where you have that aha moment and think: "I get it now. I really get it." Are you personally experiencing AI, or just talking about it? #leadership #AI #transformation

My inbox has been flooded with leaders asking: Should we be worried about "The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis"? 👉 Spoiler: It's not a prediction. It's a stress test. The report compresses 10–20 years of potential AI disruption into a few years to make the risks vivid. That's what makes it useful, if you know how to read it. In today's #LeadingDisruption, I'm sharing: ➡️  The two ideas from the report that leaders should take seriously—even if the scenario never happens ➡️  Why reality will be messier and slower than the doom spiral predicts ➡️  Three questions to bring back to your leadership team this week The leaders I respect most can hold two ideas at once: that the doom scenario probably won't unfold exactly as written, and that ignoring its core insights would be foolish. Don't panic. But don't dismiss it either. Read it. Then stress-test your own strategy. #LeadingDisruption #AIStrategy #AITransformation #Leadership

It's launch day. 🎉 Katia Walsh, Ph.D. and I are going live in just a few days to celebrate the launch of Winning with AI: The 90-Day Blueprint for Success — and to give you something you can actually use. If you've ever felt like your organization knows AI matters but isn't sure where to start, this conversation is for you. Join us Tuesday, March 24 at 9 am PT. Click "Attend" to get your reminder.

The book "Winning with AI: The 90-Day Blueprint for Success” is out. My co-author Katia Walsh, Ph.D. and I could not be happier. And I have some things I need to say. 🙏 Two years ago, I ran an experiment with ChatGPT that gave me serious imposter syndrome. The AI scored higher than me on some questions. I felt like my time was running out. That feeling is what led to Winning with AI—not confidence. A question I couldn't shake. In this week's #LeadingDisruption, I'm not sharing frameworks or research. I'm just being honest about: 💙 What it actually felt like to start this journey in 2023  🤝 What it means to write a book with someone who is both your intellectual partner and your friend  ✂️ What ended up on the cutting room floor (and why)  🙏 How much your engagement—every comment, every share, every question on the livestream—has shaped this work This community is the reason this work feels purposeful. I don't say that enough. The book is here. You can purchase the eBook for just $.99 this week! Link is below in the comments. And tomorrow, March 24th at 9am PT, Katia and I are going live to celebrate. Come join us. https://lnkd.in/gwRHK4fJ Link to the full newsletter in comments 👇 #LeadingDisruption #WinningWithAI #BookLaunch #Leadership #Gratitude

I have a confession: My co-author, Dr. Katia Walsh, Ph.D. and I built an entire AI readiness assessment for our book. Weeks of work. A beautiful scoring system. Then we deleted the whole thing. 🗑️ Here's the uncomfortable reality we discovered: Readiness assessments don't mitigate risk. They stall momentum and dress up uncertainty in professional clothing. In this week's #LeadingDisruption, I'm breaking down why the "assess before you act" approach is backward, and what to do instead. I also cover: ✅ Why readiness reports almost always tell you you're not ready (and why that's by design) ✅ The three-step sequence that actually works ✅ How to handle the "our data is a mess" objection While you're assessing, your competitors are shipping. The organizations winning with AI aren't the ones who prepared the longest. They're the ones who started moving and figured it out along the way. Link to the full newsletter below! 👇 #LeadingDisruption #AI #LeadershipStrategy #Disruption #WinningWithAI

Most leaders are waiting for the right AI strategy before they move. Here's what we discovered after two years of research and 50+ executive interviews: that's the wrong starting point. You don't need an AI strategy. You need AI working in service of the strategy you already have. Join Charlene Li and Dr. Katia Walsh, co-authors of Winning with AI: The 90-Day Blueprint for Success, for a live conversation on launch day. We'll be sharing what we learned, what surprised us, and how leaders can start creating real value with AI — in 90 days. What we'll cover: → The one mindset shift that separates leaders who are winning with AI from those who are stuck → How to move from scattered experiments to a systematic, week-by-week plan → Live Q&A: bring your biggest AI challenge This is a conversation, not a keynote. Come ready to engage. 📖 Order the book: winningwithaibook.com 🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://lnkd.in/emmNUDJc

Here's the uncomfortable truth about AI automation: most organizations are putting a turbocharger on a broken engine. 🏎️💨 They're automating the same broken processes, just faster. The leaders actually winning with AI are doing something different. In this week's #LeadingDisruption, I break down why the "automate what exists" approach is backward, and what to do instead: 🔍 How AI exposes the chaos hiding in your workflows (like people doing the same task 6 different ways) 📊 The Double S Matrix: Why you should chase Momentum Makers, not just Quick Wins 🏭 How one manufacturing firm turned 90 minutes of shift handoff into minutes by rethinking, not just automating The real opportunity with AI isn't efficiency. It's reinvention. Stop settling for faster. Start building for fundamentally better. Link to the full newsletter in comments 👇 #LeadingDisruption #AI #LeadershipStrategy #Disruption #WinningWithAI

This post is part of my ongoing partnership with RingCentral. Agentic AI has been a buzzword for months. Today I'm seeing what it actually looks like when it's ready to deploy — and it's more accessible than most leaders expect. RingCentral just launched AIR Pro (AI Representative): a voice-first, omnichannel AI agent platform built for business users, not just developers. AIR Pro comes with pre-built industry accelerators, with healthcare as their first industry focus. It's a smart starting point because healthcare is operationally complex, high-stakes, and full of repetitive work that eats up your best people's time. In our upcoming book, Winning with AI (co-authored with Dr. Katia Walsh, Ph.D. — out March 24),  we describe the four layers every AI system needs to deliver real value: data, AI models, orchestration, and consumption. AIR Pro is a live demonstration of how the last two work together. Orchestration is what turns an AI model into an AI agent — routing intent, sequencing multi-step workflows, coordinating across connected systems, and handing off to humans with full context. In healthcare, that might mean verifying a caller’s identity, checking insurance eligibility, scheduling an appointment, and updating the patient record, all inside the same interaction. AIR Pro Studio does this without requiring a developer or a six-month build. Consumption determines whether AI is actually used. The interface is where most enterprise AI falls flat — too complex, too much friction, too dependent on IT. Look at the interface below. As a business leader, you describe what the agent should handle in plain language. Define your guardrails. Add your knowledge base. Deploy. A business user, not IT, owns this end-to-end. That's the shift I think that matters most here. The question is no longer "Can we build this?" It's "What should AI handle — and what should stay with our people?" That's exactly the right question for leaders to be asking right now. See AIR Pro in action and request early access. Link in comments.

The best questions I get often come from unexpected places. Those are my favorite questions: questions that make me see things differently. That helps me understand someone else’s perspective, or makes me reconsider how I do things. The best ones are the questions that most people are afraid to ask, like “How much of your presentation did AI write?” “Do you really use an AI health advisor?” “What do I do when everyone on my team uses AI and I don’t even know where to start?” The only bad question is the one that's never asked. 💬 So I'm asking you: What questions do you have about AI, leadership, or disruption that you've been hesitant to ask? Drop them in the comments, and I'll address them in an upcoming livestream. And if you prefer, reach out to me directly at hello@charleneli.com. I genuinely want to hear from you! What's on your mind?

Speed is the new moat. I've been saying this for months, and 2026 is when it becomes undeniable. There's a fundamental difference between companies that say "we're being thoughtful about AI" and companies that say "we need to move fast on our biggest opportunities." Both sound reasonable. But only one drives transformation. The companies that will win are the ones that: 🔸 Pick their biggest strategic problems 🔸 Figure out how AI solves them 🔸 Invest heavily in those solutions 🔸 Move with urgency The companies that will fall behind are the ones that: 🔹 Try to do everything at once 🔹 Wait for perfect clarity 🔹 Prioritize caution over speed 🔹 Focus on incremental efficiency It’s time to be decisive. Which side of the gap will your organization be on? #AI #leadership #strategy #transformation

You can't go fast without good brakes. Formula 1 drivers push to the limit because they trust their safety systems. The same principle applies to AI. The AI Trust Pyramid is your safety system: five layers that let you move quickly while protecting what matters most. Each layer builds on the one below it. If the foundation cracks, the whole structure risks collapse. In our book "Winning with AI" (coming in March!), Dr. Katia Walsh and I break down exactly how to build each layer and how it forms the foundation for your responsible and ethical AI use policies.  Here’s the most important takeaway: Companies that master all five elements don't just avoid risk. They also differentiate themselves, build stronger relationships, and create resilience. Think about it like Maslow's hierarchy of needs. You can't worry about self-actualization if your basic safety needs aren't met. Where does your organization stand on the pyramid? #WinningWithAI #AIStrategy #AITrustPyramid

“AI-first.” “AI-ready.” It seems like I hear a CEO say they’re going “AI-first” every day. But the truth is that unless you’re building AI products, AI-first is the wrong approach. In today's #LeadingDisruption, I break down the critical differences between AI-first and AI-ready, and share the cautionary tale of Klarna, who loudly replaced 700 employees with AI chatbots … then quietly started rehiring people when customer satisfaction tanked. What you'll learn: ✅ Why "AI-first" works for Google but fails for most enterprises ✅ The right sequence: People first → AI-ready → AI applied ✅ How to build organizational capacity to adapt at AI speed, based on research from our upcoming book, “Winning with AI”. Read the full newsletter. #AI #leadership #generativeAI #strategy #disruption

Everyone's obsessed with AI readiness. Are we ready? Is our data ready? Is our culture ready? Here's what I've learned after working with hundreds of organizations: waiting until you're "ready" is the strategy that's holding you back. The companies winning with AI aren't the ones who prepared the longest. They're the ones who started moving and learned along the way. Tomorrow I'm going live to challenge one of the biggest myths in AI transformation: that readiness is the prerequisite to progress. Join me tomorrow at 9am PT / 12pm ET and bring your questions. I want to hear where you're stuck. #LeadingDisruption #AI #Leadership #AIStrategy #WinningWithAI