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AI leaders are pushing governments to solve mass job loss, SoftBank added $61 billion to its market cap on AI confidence alone, and WSJ researchers warn a vibe slop quality crisis is coming. Buying the tools is the easy part. Boards are no longer asking what AI can do. They're asking what it delivered, and 80% of CEOs say their role is at risk if the answer isn't clear by year-end.
"Managers light fires under people; leaders light fires within them."
— John Maxwell, Author & Leadership Expert
In today's lineup:
Robots
80% of CEOs say their role is at risk if AI doesn't deliver this year
Real ROI from Gen AI
The AI layer your CFO and board have been waiting for
People
Matt McKinney turns logistics chaos into supply chain foresight
Love
You build what you measure
Prediction Machines by Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans & Avi Goldfarb
Reading time: 3 min.
ROBOTS 🤖
How are robotics and AI changing industries? We break down the latest news, tools, and innovations for you.
Top Insights
AI leaders push governments to address mass job loss, making workforce displacement a board-level governance issue, not an HR one.
SoftBank adds $61 billion to market cap on AI optimism, repricing what AI confidence is worth to enterprise investors overnight.
WSJ warns a 'vibe slop' quality crisis is coming to AI, as output that looks credible now fails on depth where it matters most.
Microsoft races to reclaim its AI lead with agentic Copilot, betting the enterprise on computer-using agents after Wall Street's SaaSpocalypse repricing.
Trump postpones the AI executive order after last-minute objections, leaving enterprise compliance teams without a federal framework heading into Q3.
80% of CEOs say their role is at risk if AI doesn't deliver this year
A new Dataiku/Harris Poll survey of 900 CEOs across seven regions finds 80% of global leaders say their role is at risk if their company fails to deliver measurable AI gains by year-end. Seventy-seven percent believe a fellow CEO will be ousted this year due to a failed AI strategy or AI-driven crisis. The pressure has shifted from adoption to accountability: boards are no longer asking what AI can do. They're asking what it delivered.
How leaders close the gap
Translate board FOMO into a 90-day roadmap with unit economics attached before the next capital cycle.
Require AI proficiency for new directors and brief existing ones on the distance between hype and the actual deployment stack.
Sequence workflow redesign ahead of every board-approved pilot so FOMO capital stops automating broken processes.
Which vulnerability exposes your organization most to the "AI accountability trap"?
Real ROI from Gen AI
How human-centric AI delivers business results
Waystar used Google Cloud's Gemini-powered AltitudeAI to prevent $15.5 billion in denied healthcare claims and cut denial appeal and recovery time by 90% in under a year of deployment.
Xylem sourced $200M across 12 procurement RFPs using Coupa's agentic AI, cutting preparation time by 60% and landing 15% in savings on each deal, without adding headcount to the sourcing team.
Bancolombia deployed GitHub Copilot across its engineering teams, generating 30% more code and 18,000 additional code changes per year, with developer productivity up 20–55% depending on task complexity.
Tool Spotlight
Your weekly briefing on tools that create competitive leverage
Build your voice stack or buy it whole
Recently raised $18M in a Series A to automate LBO models, DCF analyses, and financial scenario planning for deal-makers.
Best for: CFOs who need board-ready AI ROI models without adding FP&A headcount.
Choose if you...
Need to model AI investment scenarios for the board before the next planning cycle.
Want AI to ingest financial documents and generate models, cutting manual prep time.
Are consolidating spreadsheets into one AI-powered source of truth for finance and ops.
Best for: Enterprise planning teams that need one AI platform covering revenue, workforce, and capex.
Choose if you...
Run multi-department planning and need AI to flag forecast variances before board meetings.
Want finance, sales, and ops on the same live model instead of swapping files.
Need real-time scenario modelling when AI priorities shift mid-quarter.
PEOPLE 👥
Meet the innovators turning bold ideas into real-world impact.
Transformation Champion
Matt McKinney turns logistics chaos into supply chain foresight
Matt McKinney watched freight billing errors compound across Uber Freight and realized the root problem was data, not payment. Loop, the AI platform he co-founded, turns fragmented logistics and operational data into supply chain intelligence that predicts disruptions before they hit. The company recently closed a $95M Series C backed by Founders Fund, J.P. Morgan, and Index Ventures, serving enterprise shippers and manufacturers globally.
LOVE ❤️
Practical wisdom, growth tactics, and a must-read book that will challenge the way you think.
You build what you measure
This one is personal. Yesterday my wife Tanyella got her TechCrunch moment, and I couldn't be prouder. She co-founded Maka Kids, a streaming app for kids ages zero to six built on well-being, not watch time. No algorithms, no autoplay, no ads.
What I find fascinating: they mapped 650 developmental indicators before building the product. You build what you measure. If you have small kids at home, this one's for you.
Transformative Reads
One book, handpicked from my conversations with friends, industry leaders, and tech innovators:
Three economists reframe AI as a prediction technology, showing that what gets cheaper is the raw material of decisions, not decisions themselves. The framework forces leaders to identify where human judgment still carries the most value and where AI can absorb the cost of being wrong.
Perfect for: CEOs allocating AI budgets and defending every bet to their board.
In Culture
Championed the transformation. Skipped the proof points. Very immediately available.
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Much Love,
Matt and the Future Works team
