sarmadkarim15 – My Blog

The $100 Billion Question: Why 70% of AI Initiatives Never Make It Past the Pilot Stage

sarmadkarim15 / June 3, 2025

The harsh reality: Your competitors are pouring millions into AI, but most will never see a return. While 91% of leading companies have ongoing investments in AI, less than 30% achieve measurable business impact. After guiding Fortune 500 companies through AI transformations across healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and hospitality, I’ve identified the six critical failure points that separate AI success stories from expensive pilot graveyards. These aren’t technical problems—they’re strategic execution challenges that require board-level attention and C-suite commitment.

Beyond AI’s Hype: Why Human Leadership Is Your True Advantage

sarmadkarim15 / May 9, 2025

AI isn’t thinking—it’s predicting, and its limits are clear. Discover why your human strengths, from contextual judgment to ethical insight, are your greatest advantage in the AI age. Learn to lead with what AI can’t replicate.

AI KILLED THE USER JOURNEY: WHY YOUR PRODUCT DESIGN STRATEGY IS ALREADY OBSOLETE

sarmadkarim15 / May 3, 2025

The linear user journey is dead. AI has fundamentally transformed how users interact with software, demanding a complete rethinking of product design principles. Discover why your carefully crafted user flows no longer matter and how to design for this new paradigm.

AI, Generative AI, Innovation, Market Disruption

The Biggest Tech Shift You Haven’t Heard Of (Yet)

sarmadkarim15 / April 15, 2025

You might not have noticed, but computing just fundamentally changed. We’re moving beyond juggling separate apps manually. New protocols are enabling AI agents to collaborate, understand context, and automate complex tasks seamlessly. Discover the profound shift from isolated digital tools to truly intelligent, collaborative assistants that are reshaping how we work and interact with technology.

AI, Board of DIrectors, Leadership, Market Disruption

Stop Playing Defense: Why Boards Must Lead on AI Now

sarmadkarim15 / April 14, 2025

Too many boards are stuck in defense—reacting to AI instead of leading through it. If your board isn’t pushing strategy, demanding accountability, and adapting fast, you’re not governing. You’re sleepwalking into disruption.

culture

The Great Hiding: When Fear Silences the Future

sarmadkarim15 / April 13, 2025

In workplaces haunted by layoffs, fear drives a retreat into invisibility, stifling the innovation desperately needed in an era of rapid AI disruption. This essay, channeling the spirit of James Baldwin, confronts the human cost of this paralysis, the critical demands on true leadership, and the profound risk of choosing silence and safety over courage and adaptation.

coaching, culture, Leadership

Clarity Requires Subtraction, Not Addition

sarmadkarim15 / March 24, 2025

In moments of crisis, our instinct is to add more—more meetings, more data, more voices. But true clarity comes from subtraction. By focusing on what we know for sure, identifying the biggest unknown, taking immediate action, limiting communication to essential stakeholders, and removing unnecessary complexity, leaders can navigate chaos effectively and extract meaningful clarity from it.

Generative AI’s Impact on Enterprise Software

sarmadkarim15 / March 10, 2025

Discover how generative AI is fundamentally reshaping enterprise software across inventory, procurement, CRM, and supply chain management. This from-to analysis illustrates the dramatic shift from siloed, human-operated systems to interconnected AI platforms that operate autonomously across traditional boundaries, delivering measurable improvements in efficiency, costs, and strategic decision-making.

AI, culture

Unexpected Ways AI is Reshaping Company Culture (And Why Leaders Need to Act Now)

sarmadkarim15 / March 7, 2025

AI’s crashing workplace hierarchies, splitting teams into allies and holdouts, and turning imposter syndrome into a full-blown epidemic. It’s not just about efficiency—company culture’s getting a wild makeover, and leaders who snooze on this quiet revolution risk losing everything. From flattened power trips to ethical hot seats, here’s how AI’s rewriting the rules—and what you can do before it’s too late.

culture

The Meritocracy Mirage

sarmadkarim15 / February 21, 2025

They say diversity is a thief, stealing the rightful place of the qualified, handing it over to those marked by race or sex who have not earned the crown. But I wonder, as I have wondered all my life, what is this thing called merit, and who dares to weigh it?