Productivity gains are a good first step, but I think the more telling signal is
By Alliekmiller · November 8, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Productivity gains are a good first step, but I think the more telling signal is what a company decides to stop doing.
Cannibalization of products, processes, or business lines is going to happen. You can’t rethink your business without doing that.
IKEA is one of my favorite examples. They rolled out an AI assistant to handle a share of customer support questions, then moved roughly 8,500 support team members into a brand-new interior design business. That new line reportedly brought in over $1 billion in its first year.
None of that happens if the freed-up time just disappears into more emails and more meetings. Be willing to scrap things that ARE WORKING TODAY but should be replaced to stay relevant in 2026.
If you lead a team or business, try asking this in your next planning meeting: what’s one thing we do today that we’d stop doing if we were starting from scratch?