Helping execs in new roles accelerate impact, build credibility fast and avoid costly transition mistakes | xIBM Consulting | xPwC | Certified Executive Coach

You’ve just landed your next big executive role - congratulations!

Now comes the part no one prepares you for: making it successful.

The hard truth is, 40% of executive transitions fail within 18 months.

And the cost is staggering:

2.5x to 30x the executive’s salary in lost productivity, turnover, and disruption.

Career damage for the executive that can take years to recover from.

Maybe it's your first time at the senior leadership table. 
Maybe you've done this before, but this time, the stakes feel higher. 
Different company, industry, department or role.

Either way, you know this first year will define your reputation and your results.

Tell me if this sounds familiar:

You've inherited a team that doesn't fully trust you yet. 
You're navigating company politics, shifting priorities, and sky-high expectations. 
Everyone's watching, but no one's guiding. 
You're smart, experienced, and capable. 
But the pressure to prove yourself is relentless.

This is exactly where I come in.

I help new executives thrive where 40% fail by guiding them through the high-stakes first year.

My coaching is confidential, personalized, and focused on helping you:

✔ Earn trust quickly and secure early credibility
✔ Navigate politics and hidden organizational dynamics
✔ Build and align your leadership team for quick wins
✔ Make high-impact decisions without costly missteps
✔ Lay the foundation for long-term success and legacy

 Why Trust Me?
• 25+ years in Fortune 500 consulting, partnering with senior executives 
• Led $30M+ transformation portfolios and 250+ person practices at IBM 
• Led risk strategy for $100M+ proposals and complex transformations 
• Built and delivered IBM's top global executive coaching programs 
• Certified executive coach with 300+ leaders coached

If you’re ready to accelerate your impact and avoid costly missteps,

let’s make your first year your strongest. 

📩 DM me “Executive Transition” and let’s talk.

Dora Vanourek

That Monday you're dreading
is someone's answered prayer.
We're exhausted by everything we "have to" do.

- Wake up early
- Answer endless emails
- Deal with difficult people
- Attend another meeting

I caught myself overwhelmed by my packed calendar this morning.

Then remembered my friend who's been job hunting for 6 months.

The shift was instant:

What feels like just another day:

→ Monday morning alarm
→ Back-to-back meetings 
→ Endless client calls
→ Inbox overflowing
→ Weekend work sessions

What it really is:

→ Income that supports your life
→ People who value your expertise
→ Clients who trust your guidance 
→ Work that has real impact
→ Freedom to build something

This isn't about toxic positivity.

Or pretending everything's perfect.

Or ignoring real challenges.

It's about perspective.

Every "I have to" is actually an "I get to" in disguise.

What's one thing you're dreading today that someone else would be grateful for?

♻️ Repost for someone who forgot they're fortunate
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If you're not growing in your job, you're shrinking.

But shrinking feels like stability.

Like patience.
Commitment.
Paying your dues.

So you start telling yourself:

'The market's tough right now.' 
'I'm lucky to have a job.' 
'Maybe next quarter will be different.'

And while you're being 'patient':

Someone with half your experience gets promoted.

Someone who started after you becomes your boss.

The job-hopper is making 40% more.

If your company isn't investing in your growth, 
you're not building a career -
you're maintaining theirs.

They get your best years. 
You get a review that says 'meets expectations.'

Growth isn't just about moving up.

It's about expanding your skills.
Taking on challenges that scare you.
Working with people who believe in you.

Ask yourself:

- When did you last learn something that changed how you work?

- Who's invested in your development this quarter?

- What skills are you building for your next role?

If it's tough to answer these, you're not stable.

You're stuck.

And stuck is just shrinking in slow motion.

The riskiest career move isn't leaving too soon.

It's staying too long.

How will you feel next year if nothing changes?

Your growth doesn't need permission.

♻️ Repost to remind someone that loyalty without growth is a trap
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7 phrases that are quietly damaging your credibility:

(and what to say instead)

1. I'll try:
↳ Sounds like you're already half-expecting to fail.
↳ Say: "I'll complete it by Friday and will keep you updated on my progress."

2. No offence, but…:
↳ Nothing good ever follows this phrase. 
↳ Say: "Here's my perspective." or "I see it differently."

3. This might be a stupid question, but…:
↳ Undermines your question before you even ask it.
↳ Say: "I'd like to clarify something."

4. That's not my problem:
↳ Makes you sound dismissive and unhelpful.
↳ Say: "Let me help you find the right person."

5. We've always done it this way:
↳ Makes you appear resistant to change.
↳ Say: "Let's consider other options."

6. I guess…:
↳ Shows lack of confidence.
↳ Say: "Here's what I think." or "This is what I know so far."

7. Does that make sense?
↳ Sounds like you're doubting yourself or the other person's intelligence.
↳ Say: "What questions do you have?"

Your words shape how others perceive you. 

Own your words, own your impact.

♻️ Repost to help someone.
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7 seemingly innocent phrases that hurt your credibility

"I found a better opportunity."

Translation: I found a leader who values me.

I've coached hundreds through resignations.

The real reason they leave: 
it's rarely what they say at first.

Behind "better opportunity" or "career growth" is something deeper:

They don't feel valued.

Nobody says thank you.

Their ideas get ignored. 
Their skills go unused. 
They've stopped learning.

If you want to keep your best people:

- Truly listen
- Say thank you
- Seek their ideas
- Appreciate them
- Provide flexibility
- Make time for them
- Ask for their opinions
- Share timely feedback
- Ask how they really are
- Involve them in decisions
- Provide growth opportunities
- Communicate with transparency
- Trust them to make the right decisions

You don't need a budget for any of these.

Just intention, and genuinely caring for your people.

Be the leader you wish you had.

♻️ Repost to remind someone they matter
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Self-doubt kills more careers than 
bad bosses ever could.

It paralyzes talented people into inaction.

And pushes many of us into traps like:

❌ Waiting to feel confident before starting
❌ Seeking perfection before launching
❌ Taking "one more certification" before applying

But perfect circumstances never come.

A year ago, I left my 25+ year corporate career.

It was the scariest step I ever took.

Nothing was guaranteed.

Yet, my family depended on me.

And honestly? I am still figuring it out every day.

But I realized that waiting for "safe" was the biggest risk of all.

Small steps will change your life:

1. Stop collecting certifications like armour
→ You already know enough to take the first step
→ True learning happens in the doing

2. Shift your mindset
→ Replace "I'm not qualified" with "I'll figure it out"
→ Turn "I'm not ready" into "I'll learn as I go"

3. Build momentum
→ Take one small step. Then another.
→ Progress creates confidence, not the other way around

Remember, someone with half your talent is out there doing it.

You are more than ready.

Take that first step today.

♻️ Repost to remind someone to bet on themselves
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We've built hiring systems that strip away humanity.

Then we wonder why trust is broken from day one.

It’s because we have normalized 
the unacceptable:

❌ Posting ghost jobs to signal growth
→ while real people wait for an email that never comes

❌ Automated rejections
→ after someone spent hours filling out a complicated application form

❌ Six rounds of interviews
→ because no one trusts anyone else's judgement

❌ Ghosting people after the final rounds
→ because giving feedback is not a priority

❌ "Not enough experience"
→ when they could learn the job in a month

The hiring managers feel this too.

They're drowning in reqs.
Pressured by systems they didn't design.
Told to move fast while also de-risking every hire.

People are not numbers.

Every resume represents someone's hopes.
Their rent. Their kids' futures.
Their career turning point.

To the hiring managers doing their best within broken systems:

Thank you. It matters more than you know.

♻️ Repost if you believe hiring should be more human
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People won't remember your job title.

They'll remember how you made them feel.

Because true happiness at work isn't about being employed.

It's about feeling valued.

The best leaders live by this.

They don't just manage tasks.
They empower people to grow.
They appreciate them genuinely.

Be that leader:

- Listen without judgement
- Provide stretch assignments
- Genuinely ask, "How are you?"
- Be kind, even on the tough days
- Open doors to new opportunities
- Acknowledge their unique strengths
- Empower others to explore and learn
- Share feedback that helps others thrive
- Invite input in decisions that impact others
- Show appreciation - it means more than you know
- Believe in someone before they believe in themselves

Leadership isn't just about budgets or targets.

It's about kindness, respect, and leaving people better than when you met them.

Have you had a great leader?
Tag them to thank them ⬇️ 

♻️ Repost to inspire your network
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Early in my career, I made the same mistake 
with every piece of feedback.

It's not that I disagreed with what they said.

I just wanted to explain myself.
Provide context.
Share the circumstances.

I didn't want them to think I was incapable.

But here's what they heard:

Excuses.

And over time, people stopped telling me the truth.

Here's what I wish I understood sooner:

When you stop listening, people stop sharing.

And that's when growth stops too.

5 ways to receive feedback without getting defensive:

1. Pause before responding
→ Your first instinct is to explain. Resist it
→ Take a breath. Let the words settle.

2. Say "thank you" first
→ Even if it stings. Especially then
→ Gratitude keeps the door open for next time

3. Reflect on it later
→ You don't have to process it in the moment
→ Come back with questions tomorrow

4. Find the truth in it
→ Even if you don't agree 100%, there's usually something real
→ Find the 10% of truth, even if the other 90% is wrong

5. Separate the message from the delivery
→ Feedback can be poorly delivered and still be true
→ Don't let imperfect delivery block valuable insight

The most coachable people grow the fastest.

Not because they're the smartest.

But because they stay open when it's uncomfortable.

♻️ Repost to help someone stay coachable
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Most leaders obsess over the wrong things.

They chase better processes.

Refine strategies.

Restructure teams.

And when results don't improve:

They apply pressure.
Tighten timelines.
Use fear as a tactic.

Meanwhile, the people who care the most, stop caring.

The best leaders do the opposite:

✅ Know their names and their stories
↳ "How's your daughter's soccer season?"

✅ Treat everyone with equal respect
↳ The intern's time matters as much as the VP's. Act like it

✅ Follow through on their feedback
↳ Actually listen and act. Or explain why not. Silence kills trust faster than "no"

✅ Share your own mistakes first
↳ "Here's where I messed up" opens doors to honesty

✅ Replace "Who did this?" with "What can we learn?"
↳ One question assigns blame. The other builds resilience

✅ Address toxic behaviour quickly
↳ Every day you wait, good people update their resumes

You don't need another framework.

You need to look up from your spreadsheet and see the humans in front of you.

Before the best ones stop caring completely.

♻️ Repost to inspire people-first leadership
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High performers don't always get promoted.

Sometimes they get silenced.

You're excelling at everything 
- except getting recognized for it.

The problem isn't your performance.

It's how your success makes someone else feel.

7 signs your boss sees you as a threat:

1. The Control Trap 🔍
↳ They micromanage you while trusting others
↳ Build relationships beyond your manager

2. The Information Freeze ❄️
↳ You're always the last to hear what's happening
↳ Create multiple information channels

3. Credit Confusion 🎭
↳ Your wins become nameless "team efforts"
↳ Document your contributions consistently

4. The Expertise Challenge 🧠
↳ They undermine your expertise in front of others
↳ Back your ideas with clear data

5. The Strategic Isolation 🔒
↳ "Accidentally" excluding you from key meetings
↳ Join high-visibility projects independently

6. The Performance Paradox 📊
↳ Lukewarm reviews despite strong results
↳ Collect written feedback from peers and clients

7. The Growth Block ⛔
↳ Your opportunities mysteriously keep getting delayed
↳ Create your own path outside formal systems

Remember: Their insecurity is not your ceiling.

You don't need to shrink to keep others comfortable.

Keep showing up.

📌 Navigating your first year in a new role?

Get weekly insights in The First Year newsletter: 
dora.coach 

♻️ Repost to help someone
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7 Signs Your Boss Sees You as a Threat

Toxic managers don’t just crush your confidence.

They rewire how you see yourself.

They use guilt, fear, and shame to maintain control.

Their tactics leave you questioning:

❌ your judgement
❌ your worth
❌ and even your sanity

But it's not you – it's them.

7 phrases toxic managers use:
(and how to protect yourself)

1. You should be grateful you even have a job
↳ Uses fear to silence your legitimate concerns
↳ "I want to contribute effectively. Can we find a solution?"

2. Everyone else is managing just fine
↳ Unfair comparison shames you into silence
↳ "Let's review my workload and priorities"

3. I have a lot of pressure from above, so you need to...
↳ Shifts poor planning onto your shoulders
↳ "I understand. Let's align on priorities"

4. You're being too sensitive
↳ Minimizes feelings to avoid personal accountability
↳ "This is affecting my work performance"

5. I'm doing this for your own good
↳ Masks controlling behaviour as genuine care
↳ "Can you explain how this helps me?"

6. If you were really loyal, you'd stay late...
↳ Emotional guilt-trips to ignore healthy boundaries
↳ "Can we align earlier on priorities?"

7. You're lucky I'm protecting you
↳ Creates dependence through imagined threats
↳ "What am I being protected from?"

You can't change who they are.

 But you can control what you tolerate.

You deserve to thrive, not just survive.

♻ Repost to help your network
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📌 Navigating your first year in a new role?
Get weekly insights in The First Year newsletter: 
https://lnkd.in/gkbJnUVb

7 phrases toxic managers say to manipulate you

Nobody deserves to be insulted or belittled.

Too often, we stay silent and wish we'd spoken up.

Or we react emotionally and regret it later.

There's a better way to respond with calm, clarity, and strength.

7 ways to handle insults at work:

1. Seek Clarification
↳ Make them reflect on what they said
↳ Did you mean to embarrass me just now?

2. Set Boundaries
↳ Clearly state what behaviour isn't acceptable
↳ That tone is not ok with me.

3. Use the Pause Technique
↳ Strategic silence followed by a calm response
↳ [Pause] Let's take a step back and approach this differently.

4. Mirror With Professionalism
↳ Reflect their behaviour so they confront it
↳ I'm hearing frustration. Is there a bigger issue?

5. Redirect to Solutions
↳ Shift from personal attack to problem-solving
↳ Let's focus on next steps, not assigning blame.

6. Use Humour (if it fits your style)
↳ A light touch can defuse tension
↳ That's one way to start a Wednesday meeting!

7. The Direct Approach
↳ The clearest response is often most powerful
↳ That was inappropriate. Let's restart or pause here.

You don't have to shrink to keep the peace.

Stand your ground with calm power.

📌 Navigating your first year in a new role?
Get weekly insights in The First Year newsletter:
https://lnkd.in/gkbJnUVb

7 Smart ways to handle insults at work

The fastest way to fail in a new role?

Do exactly what got you hired.

It's called the competence trap - 
where your biggest strength becomes your blind spot.

7 mistakes leaders make in the first 100 days:

1. Misreading the Culture 🏢
↳ Seeing surface behaviours but missing deeper values
↳ Schedule listening tours with employees at all levels

2. Bringing the Old Playbook 📚
↳ Forcing familiar fixes onto problems creates resistance
↳ Ask "Why is it done this way?" to understand

3. Neglecting Key Stakeholders 🤝
↳ Focusing only on direct reports misses critical support
↳ Map all stakeholders and build an engagement plan

4. Moving Too Fast on Team Changes 👥
↳ Misreading team dynamics creates unnecessary instability
↳ Assess systematically before making changes

5. Underestimating Organizational Politics 🎭
↳ Overlooking hidden alliances leads to blindsided resistance
↳ Map informal networks before launching initiatives

6. Failing to Renegotiate Unclear Mandates ⚖️
↳ Not clarifying conflicting expectations from stakeholders
↳ Renegotiate KPIs and budgets

7. Energy Depletion 🔋
↳ Proving yourself while well-being slips
↳ Remember: your energy, not just time, is your scarcest resource

Success isn't about your track record.

It's about decoding the rules where you are now.

📌 Navigating your first year in a new role?
Get weekly insights in The First Year newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gkbJnUVb

♻ Repost to help your network
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7 Mistakes Leaders Make in the First 100 Days

I Help Corporate Professionals Gain Career Clarity & Fulfillment | Founder @Amplify Your Home | Global AI Tax Copilot Strategist @EY

Don't be fooled by my appearance. Quiet, Asian, tiny girl.

In the last decade, I've...

Successfully navigated the corporate giants: Goldman Sachs, PwC, Deloitte and EY.

Built communities, tax and financial models, and automations. (Excel wizard here)

Empowered employees to own their damn careers,

Challenge their norms to do something special.

That's when Problems become Opportunities,

Strategies into Actions.

You are not Alone.

Ready to redefine your career? Let's make it happen.

Mary Fung

Accenture and Snowflake just formed a joint business group. 5,000+ certified consultants dedicated to AI and data transformation.

That's not a partnership announcement. That's a statement about where enterprise AI is heading.

Reading between the lines:

- The big consultancies are betting hard on data infrastructure as the AI bottleneck
- 'AI transformation' is becoming 'data transformation with AI capabilities'
- If you don't have your data house in order, no amount of AI magic will save you

What this means for enterprise buyers:

The consulting giants are building massive practices around making AI actually work. They're not selling AI hype anymore - they're selling the boring stuff. Data quality. Governance. Integration. Infrastructure.

They learned something from the last 2 years: Executives buy AI demos. But they pay for data cleanup.

If Accenture is deploying 5,000 people to this, ask yourself: Is your organization investing anywhere close to proportionally?

Own Your Damn Career | Founder @Amplify Your Home | Head of Synthetic Data & Simulations @EY

10 AI Predictions for 2026:

1. Gemini will quietly become the default AI model — not because it's best, but because it's baked into Google Workspace and enterprises buy whatever comes with the contract.

2. AI agents will be the buzzword of 2026, but 90% of enterprise "agents" will just be fancy if-then workflows with a chatbot wrapper.

3. Middle management will shrink faster than anyone expected. If your job is routing information between people, start upskilling now.

4. LinkedIn will be flooded with AI slop, which will make authentic human writing easier to spot and more valuable.

5. The companies that win with AI won't have the best models — they'll have the cleanest data and fastest approval pathways.

6. Most "AI transformations" announced in 2025 will be quietly walked back, rebranded, or buried in footnotes.

7. Copilot will be on every enterprise desktop, but 80% of employees will use it the same way they use Excel — poorly and rarely.

8. The Chief AI Officer title will peak and then quietly disappear because nobody figured out what it was supposed to do.

9. Prompt engineering will stop being a job title and become a baseline skill, like knowing how to Google.

10. The people who actually ship AI in 2026 will be the same ones who shipped software in 2016 — builders who know that technology is 20% of the problem.

Everyone keeps saying, “AI needs better foundations.”

That’s true.
But it’s not the part people think.

KPMG isn’t warning about missing tech.
They’re warning about missing discipline.

Most enterprises want AI to move fast
on top of systems that were never designed to be trusted.

Bad data.
Unclear ownership.
Processes built for humans to patch gaps with judgment.

So when AI breaks, leaders don’t ask:
“Why was this workflow fragile to begin with?”

They say:
“AI isn’t ready.”

AI doesn’t fail in enterprises because it’s too powerful.
It fails because it refuses to hide the mess underneath.

Foundations aren’t glamorous.
They don’t demo well.
They don’t win internal applause.

But without them, AI just scales dysfunction faster.

The companies that actually win with AI won’t be the loudest adopters.
They’ll be the ones willing to do the unsexy work first:
clarify ownership, clean data, redesign workflows, define accountability.

Everyone else will keep running pilots —
and blaming the tech when reality shows up.

Most companies don’t hire talent.
They hire job descriptions.

And then they’re shocked when they end up with average people doing average work.

Cursor does the opposite.
They don’t ask “What role do we need?”
They ask “Is this person undeniable?”

If the answer is yes, they bend the org around them.
They don’t wait for headcount approvals.
They don’t debate leveling.
They don’t hide behind process.

They move.

Because:
> Elite talent is rarer than clean org charts.
> Process is cheap. People aren’t.

Most companies optimize for order.
The best ones tolerate chaos to secure leverage.

If you hire roles first, you get replaceable people.
If you hire people first, they create roles you didn’t know you needed.

That’s how you build an org of superstars.
Not by perfect hiring processes but by having the courage to recognize greatness
and act before it’s gone.

Goldman’s CEO said AI can now do 95% of an S-1 in minutes.

Everyone keeps asking what happens to the jobs.

That’s the wrong question.

The real question is:
What is the 5% that still matters?

It’s not formatting.
It’s not drafting.
It’s not models, footnotes, or precedent decks.

The 5% is:
• deciding what risk actually matters
• knowing what to leave out
• framing the story regulators and investors will believe
• understanding where this deal breaks under pressure
• making judgment calls no template can defend

The 95% was always execution theater.
The 5% was always the job - it was just hidden behind process and headcount.

AI didn’t remove human value.
It stripped it down to the part you can’t fake.

If your role was built on producing the 95%,
you weren’t senior...you were insulated.

Now the insulation is gone.

What’s left is judgment, taste, and accountability.
And that’s the part most people were never trained for.

That’s the real disruption.

Most “agentic AI” projects fail for the same reason most corporate transformations fail:
people mistake motion for progress.

McKinsey looked at 50 real agentic AI builds.

The failure wasn’t the models.
It wasn’t the prompts.
It wasn’t the talent.

It was ego.

Teams built impressive agents instead of fixing broken workflows.
They layered AI on top of chaos and called it innovation.

Users don’t need Copilot to be visionary.
They need it to be boringly correct.

Once it earns trust, then it can become transformative.

But this is exactly why Copilot keeps disappointing:
the people building it aren’t the people living in Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint all day.

They don’t feel the cost of a small error.
They don’t feel the “I now have to double-check everything” tax.
So the product ships features… before it ships trust.

And Satya stepping in as PM won’t magically fix that.

This isn’t a leadership-attention problem.
It’s a proximity problem.

Until the builders are forced to live in the workflow and be judged on accuracy, not demos
Copilot will keep being impressive… and optional.

Trust first.
Then transformation.

How to Position Yourself for AI-First Roles:

> Stop learning tools. Start solving problems. Anyone can take a ChatGPT course. Few people can articulate how AI solved a specific business problem with measurable results.

> Document everything you build. That workflow you automated? That analysis you accelerated? Screenshot it. Write it up. Your future employer can't see what you don't show them.

> Get uncomfortable with ambiguity. AI roles live in the gray zone between 'definitely possible' and 'completely impossible.' If you need clear requirements to function, this isn't your path.

> Learn to speak two languages. Technical enough to evaluate AI capabilities. Business enough to translate them into ROI. The people who bridge this gap are absurdly valuable.

> Find the AI skeptics. The person in your company who thinks AI is overhyped? Befriend them. They'll show you every gap in your thinking and make your pitches bulletproof.

> Build a public track record. LinkedIn posts about AI projects. GitHub repos with experiments. A portfolio site showing what you've built. Hiring managers are tired of 'AI enthusiasts' with nothing to show.

> Apply before you're ready. The AI field moves so fast that job requirements are wishlists, not checklists. If you meet 60% of the requirements, you're qualified. They'll teach you the rest.

AI isn’t limited by capability.
It’s limited by imagination.

We already have models powerful enough to solve problems most companies haven’t even defined yet.

The gap isn’t technical - it’s structural.
It’s the lack of domain context, product packaging, and change management that turns potential into adoption.

Most enterprises don’t need “better AI.”
They need AI that speaks their language - built around real workflows, real UX, and real ownership of change.

That’s why the next wave won’t come from another foundation model.
It’ll come from domain-specific agents - vertical copilots that combine deep expertise with flawless execution.

The real unlock isn’t general intelligence.
It’s the ability to pour capital into problems that were never scalable before.

And the only thing left standing in the way isn’t the tech -
it’s the willingness to use it.

In 5 years, 'AI-powered' will be as meaningless as 'cloud-based' is today.

Remember when 'cloud-based' was a selling point? When companies bragged about being 'in the cloud' like it made them special?

Now nobody cares. Of course it's cloud-based. Everything is. It's not a feature anymore - it's just how software works.

AI is on the same trajectory. Right now, 'AI-powered' is marketing gold. Slap it on anything and watch the valuations rise.

But by 2030? 'AI-powered' will be as remarkable as 'uses electricity.' Every piece of software will have AI embedded. It won't be noteworthy.

The companies winning in 2030 won't be the ones shouting about AI. They'll be the ones who quietly solved problems while everyone else was busy with the buzzwords.

5 Things I Learned Implementing AI at Enterprise Scale:

1. Your data problem is bigger than you think. Every executive says 'our data is pretty clean.' It never is. Plan for 60% of your timeline to be data work.

2. The pilot trap is real. Successful POCs die in production because nobody planned for security reviews, compliance checks, and the 47 stakeholders who need to approve everything.

3. Change management eats AI for breakfast. The technology works. The humans resist. Budget 3x more time for training, communication, and handling the 'but we've always done it this way' crowd.

4. Start with the boring use cases. Everyone wants the sexy AI chatbot. The real ROI is in automating the mind-numbing document processing that costs you 200 hours/week.

5. Your AI strategy needs an AI exit strategy. Models change. Vendors pivot. Build for portability or you'll be rewriting everything in 18 months.

i won't be surprised if this number 10x by now

Salesforce is doing what most large enterprises will end up doing with AI.

Putting it behind guardrails.
Making it defensible.
Slowing it down on purpose.

And that’s ok.

But it also means the fastest breakthroughs won’t happen there.

They’ll happen in startups that can tolerate failure.
Ship messy.
Learn fast.
Break things without a committee.

The best middle ground for enterprises is simple:

Build a startup-style lab.
Give it air cover.
Let it experiment like a startup.

If it works — scale it.
If it doesn’t — kill it quickly.

Big companies don’t need to move fastest everywhere.
They need to know where they’re allowed to.

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Dora Vanourek's LinkedIn Performance

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