Business Acumen in the Age of AI: Finish the Cycle
Roberto Penco, PhD
I developed this article from my own ideas and experience with AI assistance in drafting and editing, and reviewed the final text myself.
My first videos are not as good as I want them to be. I can see what needs improving. Sometimes, I am quite dissatisfied with the result.
I publish them anyway.
Publishing completes a cycle. Someone can watch what I have made, and I can learn from a finished piece. If I keep polishing the same unfinished video, I never reach that point.
This is part of what business acumen means to me in the age of artificial intelligence (AI).
Business acumen is the ability to understand how a business creates value and make sound decisions by connecting customer needs, operations, finances, and strategy. Here, my focus is on complete end-to-end workflows, making the time to market as short as possible, and why people need to start applying AI themselves.
Find the whole workflow
A workflow is a repeatable sequence of activities that takes something from a starting point to a useful outcome. It can be large or small, and one workflow can contain several others.
For example, my work can begin with an idea. I discuss it with AI, clarify my thoughts, and create a specification. We produce an article, which I read, review, and edit before publishing it on Medium.
That is one complete workflow. But I can continue: turn the article into a video scenario, create and edit the video, review it, and publish it on YouTube.
The larger workflow goes from an idea to a published video, with a published article along the way. Once it is finished, I can repeat it with another idea.
I try to identify that larger journey first. Then I break it into smaller workflows with clear beginnings and outcomes. This helps me see where AI can contribute and where my judgment is needed.
The same thinking applies beyond creative work. I have defined my wife’s client workflow: booking an appointment, having a consultation, and issuing a receipt. Booking and receipt handling are smaller workflows within that service. Each can be examined and improved without losing sight of the whole experience.
Automate and improve the work
I have written before about AI’s potential for substantial productivity gains. My goal is to help people apply AI in everyday life and work beyond software development: to automate repeatable tasks, increase productivity, and improve the quality of what they deliver.
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In my own workflow, that means using AI to develop ideas, write, create animations, edit, and organize the work. I want to examine the whole cycle and find where automation can save effort or help me produce a better result.
In creative work, I remain closely involved. I read everything. I decide whether the argument says what I mean, whether an explanation is clear, and whether a video is ready for its audience.
Shorten the time to market
Time to market is the time from an idea to something useful reaching its audience or customer. I want to make that time as short as possible.
That means looking at the whole flow. Finishing a draft quickly achieves little if it then sits untouched for weeks. I need to identify where work waits, where effort is repeated, and where AI can help me reach publication sooner. The question is: how quickly can I complete the entire cycle and deliver value?
Learn from a finished result
After each cycle, I want to identify what to improve. Perhaps a step took too long, an explanation was confusing, or the video needed better sound. I can change the process before the next attempt.
I also want those lessons preserved in the instructions and records used by my AI tools, so we can avoid repeating the same mistakes.
This way of working is already familiar in business and industry. AI gives me more opportunities to apply it, with shorter distances between an idea, an attempt, and a result.
I know people who remain caught in perfectionism and never deliver. I understand the temptation. But completing a useful first cycle gives me something concrete to improve. Choosing work I care about helps me keep going through those improvements.
There is a sentence I keep coming back to:
AI will not replace you. People that use AI will replace you.
My suggestion is simple: identify an end-to-end workflow that creates value. Break it down, use AI, and make the time to market as short as possible. Complete the cycle and put the result into someone’s hands.
Then review it. Learn. Repeat.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
— Samuel Beckett, Worstward Ho (1983)
