The word agent is everywhere right now. That’s a problem. For a lot of small businesses and nonprofits, the word makes AI sound bigger, riskier, and more technical than it needs to be. When you’re running a small team in Calgary or managing a non-profit in St. Albert, you don’t have time for more technical debt. You need things that work. Leaders hear “agent” and picture some semi-autonomous digital worker roaming across systems, making decisions, taking actions, and creating

If you’re running an Alberta small business or nonprofit organization with 2 to 10 employees, the biggest mistake right now isn’t doing too little with AI. It’s using it randomly, between everything else you’re carrying. For the last year, the loud question has been: “Should we use AI?” That question’s basically over. Adoption is already happening, but it’s shallow, messy, and starting to create real risk. The harder question is: “How do we use it safely, without burning time

KPMG just released a report that should stop every Alberta business owner in their tracks: only 2% of Canadian businesses are seeing an actual ROI from AI. That’s the reality check. If you’re “using AI” but not seeing results, you’re in the majority. Now stack that beside governance. Imagine Canada found that 80% of Canadian non-profits are using AI right now, but only 10% have a formal policy to govern it. Different sector, same pattern: activity without control, effort with

If you walk into a coffee shop in downtown Calgary or an office in Edmonton today, someone is talking about artificial intelligence. They might be using ChatGPT to draft a newsletter or asking Microsoft Copilot to summarize a long meeting transcript. According to Statistics Canada, the number of Canadian businesses using AI to deliver services doubled to over 12 percent by early 2025. On the surface, this looks like a triumph of modernization. It's actually a warning sign. Wh

Let’s start with a truth that might make you a little uncomfortable: Your team is already using AI. Whether you’ve officially approved it or not, your programme coordinators are likely using ChatGPT to draft donor emails. Your marketing volunteer is probably using Midjourney or Canva's Magic Studio to generate social media assets. Your grant writers are almost certainly using Large Language Models to summarise long-winded research papers or even draft proposals. This is what

Note : This article is also published on the KEI Network at www.keinetwork.net . If you’re reading it elsewhere, the original version lives here. The Fork in the Road It’s only three years since the launch of ChatGPT sparked the AI revolution we’ve been living through. The utility of GenAI has been established, the uptake and investment have been unprecedented, and productivity gains across industries are materializing. But now, we’re entering a new phase: GenAI is augmenting

One trillion of anything is a lot. But we can’t wrap our brain around large numbers like this. So we have to find analogies to help us to grasp the scale. Relationships to time or money or space can help. An example that’s stuck with me expresses the scale of one trillion in terms of something we can all relate to – one second in time and one dollar. We each understand intuitively what spending one dollar feels like. We understand what 10 seconds feels like; what holding our

Solving the “Chief Everything Officer” Problem I talk to business owners across Alberta every week. Whether they are in construction, retail, or consulting, they all suffer from the same “structural paradox.” We (yes, we - I’m a small business too) are the bedrock of the economy. 87% of all businesses in Alberta have fewer than 5 employees , yet we are stretched thinner than ever. If you own a small business or run a nonprofit, you know the feeling. You are the “Chief Everyt

Two weeks ago, a new song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Country Digital Song Sales Chart. It’s called “ Walk My Walk ” by the artist Breaking Rust. The song is gritty and emotionally raw. Hitting No. 1 demonstrates a deep resonance with a passionate audience. Last week, the song “ Find Your Rest ” by Solomon Ray reached No. 1 on the Billboard Christian Music chart. What wasn’t initially revealed is that neither Breaking Rust nor Solomon Ray are people. They are AI personas.

The AI Hype Meets Main Street Reality As the founder of a consulting firm that helps small businesses and non-profits navigate this new world, I should be riding this wave of optimism. But for months, I've had a nagging doubt. I’ve written before about the constraints SMBs and non profits operate within. I get it - they lack time, money, and staff. But as I talk to Canadian small business owners and non-profit directors, I see a disconnect between the hype and the reality on

Is It Really Different This Time? For any small business or non-profit leader, the relentless barrage of new technology can be exhausting. You are constantly told that the latest app, platform, or gadget is a “game-changer” you must adopt or risk being left behind. Amid this noise, the arrival of generative AI has felt louder and more urgent than anything that has come before. But this raises a big question: Is AI just the next incremental tool to manage, or does it represent

From Execution to Curation - A Transformation in Human Value. [note: this article was first published in the KEI Network Newsletter on October 25th, 2025 - it is reposted here with permission] For most of our careers, value was created through execution. We built teams, optimized processes, and created products. But in the age of AI, this is changing. As artificial intelligence increasingly handles the technical labor of making things, the most vital human role is shifting

As a small business leader, you wear multiple hats out of necessity. You’re the strategist, the marketer, the salesperson, and often, the chief problem-solver. But this culture of multitasking, while agile, eventually creates a hard ceiling on growth. There comes a point where simply "doing more" is no longer enough to scale. This is where Artificial Intelligence enters the conversation—not just as another tool to add to your already crowded toolbox, but as a fundamental shif

The Solopreneur's Dilemma If you run a business with fewer than five employees, you are the C.E.O. as in the "Chief Everything Officer."...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere—or at least, that’s what the headlines suggest. From marketing automation to chatbots,...

If you're a small or medium-sized business owner, the constant drumbeat of news about Artificial Intelligence can feel overwhelming,...

Introduction: Beyond the Hype It’s impossible to run a business today without being bombarded by the buzz around Artificial Intelligence....

The news cycle surrounding generative AI is a relentless barrage of hype, breakthrough claims, and dire warnings. One day, AI is on the verge of solving humanity's greatest challenges; the next, it's a flawed tool producing absurd and dangerous results. For anyone trying to understand its true impact, this constant noise can be more confusing than enlightening. The purpose of this post is to cut through that noise. We will move beyond the headlines and marketing claims to rev

I own a Persian Kashan rug, and it hangs on my dining room wall. It’s an object that tells a story of place, patience, and commitment....