The first rule of AI use case discovery? Don’t talk about AI.

The first rule of AI use case discovery? Don’t talk about AI.

I just kicked off a new round of AI use case discovery sessions with our business unit leaders. In my first meeting, we had a full hour blocked on the calendar.

We spent the first 50 minutes talking about everything but artificial intelligence.

Instead of discussing models and capabilities, I asked questions about their operating model. What are your team’s primary objectives? How are they incentivized? Walk me through the steps of your most time-consuming workflow. Where does friction appear?

This approach is intentional.

The most valuable AI opportunities are rarely drop-in technology solutions. They are deeply intertwined with data, human expertise, and process redesign. You can’t uncover those opportunities if you start the conversation with a technical lens. You have to earn the right by first understanding their world, in their language.

The lesson is simple: to get to groundbreaking AI applications, you must first master the business context.

It requires you to be a business strategist first and a technologist second. By listening for operational pain, you can silently map where AI might bring unique value—like interpreting unstructured data or orchestrating complex steps.

Only then, at the very end, do you introduce AI, where relevant, as a potential solution to the problems they just defined.