James Kitney

Mark Zuckerberg has publicly admitted which parts of his CEO role he doesn't actually want to do anymore. He's building an AI clone to handle his internal comms so he can spend ten hours a week writing code instead. Most leaders won't be that honest, even with themselves. What I see across exec teams is the same pattern. We've spent two years pointing AI at the organisation. We've never pointed it at ourselves. The real cost isn't hours. It's the slow erosion of doing the work you love. A leader running on empty quietly caps engagement across the entire business. Zuckerberg's move isn't really about AI. It's about an exec willing to publicly name the parts of his role he no longer adds value to.

Most executive teams have the same routine. The monthly report arrives, the dashboard gets reviewed, the numbers get discussed. If someone wants to go deeper, a request goes to the data team, and the answer comes back days later — slightly out of date, and usually a compromise on the original question. So leaders stop asking. The curiosity doesn't disappear. It just goes unanswered. What AI makes possible now is something structurally different: the ability to ask a specific, pointed question of your business data in plain English and receive an answer in real time. No intermediary, no delay, no reformatting the question to fit what the system can already handle. The organisations building this habit are finding intelligence they didn't know they had — not because the data wasn't there, but because it was always too hard to get at. The next threshold for AI adoption isn't access. It's inquisitiveness. And the leaders who learn to ask better questions will surface insights that no quarterly report cycle ever could.

In 2026, leadership teams are facing a harder economic reality than expected, with stubborn cost pressures, uncertain demand, and growing limits to the traditional response of cutting costs harder. In that environment, the organisations that gain advantage will be those that use AI not as a standalone technology play, but as a strategic lever to redesign how work happens, offset external pressure, and deliver measurable commercial value.

Too many AI pilots in New Zealand are stuck in pilot more, and it’s time we addressed the uncomfortable truth, experimenting with tools is not a strategy. While the initial "buzz" of AI is exciting, the leap from a successful PoC to a truly transformative, scalable solution is where many of our organisations are stalling. This isn't just a technical hurdle, its a leadership and mindset gap that keeps us stuck in a cycle of experiments. In my latest article, I break down the five fundamental ideas required to move past the "shiny object" and build a culture of scalable AI… from planning for 100x adoption on day one to rethinking ROI beyond the pilot.

In this article, James Kitney explores how AI is eroding entry-level roles and reshaping traditional career pathways. He considers the rise of AI-enabled solo founders and new co-operative models as alternative responses. Ultimately, he challenges leaders to redesign strategy and organisational models for a radically different competitive future.

In today's competitive landscape, strategic innovation doesn't always require a ground-breaking invention or an amazing new product. Often, the key to success lies in reimagining the way your customers interact with your existing products. By focusing on experience, businesses can completely transform the value proposition they offer, leaving competitors who are solely focused on functionality behind.