Path for Growth · Operating in Overflow · Colorado Springs
The Time
To Lead.
leading faithfully in the AI era
There have been 3 times where I thought…
This changes everything
about everything.
The one sentence to carry out of this room
Change never asks permission.
It only asks one question
Will you be shaped by it, or will you shape it?
the tide is coming either way
That's the whole ballot
And if you lead people, you're not voting just for yourself.
everyone you lead inherits whichever box you check
27 years of walking into dark rooms
I've seen this feeling before.
1999Y2K
Canned goods stockpiled because the calendar might end the world.
2001Dot-com bust
Unstoppable companies vanished overnight.
2008The collapse
Clients disappeared. We wondered if we'd make it.
2020Covid
A real team, real overhead, five kids at home, no answers.
NowAI
And it feels exactly like a dark room again.
What those seasons taught me
People aren't afraid of the dark. They're afraid of what's in the dark.
courage is moving forward in spite of fear
But notice one massive difference
AI isn't starting as a crisis.
Y2K, 2008, and Covid began as emergencies we reacted to. AI is a tool, and we still have time to decide how to use it.
Four waves in one career
The first three changed how we reach people. This one changes how we work.
Wave 1 · 1990sThe Web
You could be found.
Wave 2 · 2000sSocial
You could talk to a crowd.
Wave 3 · 2010sMobile
You were in their pocket.
Wave 4 · NowAI
This one gets into the work itself.
Positioned, not safe
"Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
Esther 4:14
Nobody says these out loud
Four questions I get in the hallway.
Question 01
Who gets cut if this works?
Question 02
How fast is too fast?
Question 03
What if my team can't keep up?
Question 04
What if my income isn't safe?
Sit with that last one
Change like this shows you what you were really counting on.
that one stung for me.
Three ways leaders are responding
Camp 01Ignore
"It's a fad." Tried it once, wrote it off, waiting for someone else to figure it out.
Camp 02Panic
Fear drives the bus. Reactive cuts, chasing tools they don't understand.
Camp 03Integrate
They try things, keep what works, and stay honest about the risk.
the first two are running on fear.
The future worth building is both
The machines take the tasks
Highly
autonomous.
The writing, the research, the busywork. More of it than we thought.
&
The people take the people
Deeply
human.
The part only a person can do. Sit with someone. Make the call.
Those sound like opposites. They're not.
Getting both at once is the whole job of leadership in this era.
01
Principle 01 · Presence over panic
Stay curious.
what does this make possible?
Fifteen minutes a day, on real work you actually have to do. That is how you learn when to tell it no.
The machine knows where it's going
02
Principle 02 · Convictions before capabilities
Decide what it will never do.
automate tasks, not relationships
You will not figure out your rules in the middle of a deadline. Write them down now, while nothing is on fire.
03
Principle 03 · Human first, AI multiplied
Multiply people, don't subtract them.
it's easy to get this wrong, I have
Your people are watching to see whether AI in your hands means they matter less or more. I've not been the best at this.
My son is dyslexic, and so am I
The ideas were never the problem.
getting them out of his head was
So run every task on your list through four doors
D.A.D.S.
D
Delete
A
Automate
D
Delegate
S
Schedule
automate used to be the smallest door. now it's the biggest.
Principle 04 · Overflow is the point
Steward the dividend.
"you're not the owner. you're the manager. and managers give an account."
When a job drops from ten hours to two, say out loud where the eight hours go. If you do not name it, they disappear.
05
Principle 05 · The provision question, answered
Anchor identity above output.
AI handles the what. leaders own the so what.
If your worth is your output, AI is an existential threat. If your worth is settled in Christ, AI is just a tool in your hand.
The channel is changing. The source is not.
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Hebrews 11:1
The five principles, one card
01Stay curiousFifteen minutes a day with real work. Build the judgment to know when the answer is no.
02Write the never listAutomate tasks, not relationships.
03Multiply peopleRedeployment before reduction. Human first, AI multiplied.
04Steward the dividendName where the freed hours go, out loud, on purpose.
05Anchor identitySettle the provision question before the next board meeting.
For the year ahead: breathe
You're not behind.
six people in a thousand
In the US, 2.2% of households pay for an AI subscription (source: PNC and Bank of America card data, 2026). About one in four businesses does (source: US Census Bureau, 2026).
1,000 dots, 1,000 people on earth. The red ones pay for an AI tool. Source: OpenAI's 50 million paid consumer subscribers, February 2026, against a world population near 8.2 billion.
One year from now: two leaders, same tools
The difference was never the technology.
Waited it out, and never told the team what he was thinking.
Told her team where this was going, and that they still mattered.
both of them voted
For such a time as this
It's time
to lead.
unafraid of the future, because you know who holds it
Where we started this week
Faith is leaning in when it's easier to hold back.
holding back is still a vote. it's a vote to be shaped.
Keep going
AIwithJay.com
the tools, the playbooks, and the next step
