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There are lots of reasons why employees end up with too much work. But regardless of the cause, heres how to push back if your workload is too great.
Category:
E-Commerce
Zombies have always fascinated me: one favorite is Brad Pitts World War Z, a fun movie of the genre with its brain-dead bodies wandering aimlessly through the world looking to feed off the living. But recent highly publicized research from MIT has left me wondering whether we are entering the land of the living dead as we head into the AI-powered workplace. The study, carried out by MIT Media Lab, focused on how the use of chatbots impacts our thinking. Using EEG brain scans, researchers found that when people relied on AI to write essays, their brain activity plummetedwith as much as 55% less activity in areas related to memory, creativity, and attention. But that’s not all: after pivoting away from the AI, users still underperformed in critical thinking and recall tasks. The research suggests, too, that this underperformance may heighten our risk for clinical depression and anxiety, Alzheimers disease, and dementia. The costs of AI to our critical thinking The adoption of AI chatbots has been a rapid revolution; ChatGPT, for example, set a record for the fastest-growing user base of any modern consumer application when it reached over 100 million users two months after launching in 2022. Since then, many doomsdayers have been predicting the demise of millions of jobs and the downgrading of humanity to no longer being the smartest in our universe. I believe in humanitys ability to change and adaptbut this research does raise some serious questions about the long-term impact for AI in organizations. If we encourage our people to adopt AI-first strategies into our business activities, we may be setting ourselves up for failure. In the short term, things may be getting done more efficiently and revenue may be up. But what about the cost to your corporate resilience and problem-solving? The collective cognitive cost is that we risk creating a workforce that appears busy, but is functionally brain-dead, unable to think for themselves, problem-solve, or be creative. In other words? Zombies. But there is still time to push back against the impending threat of corporate zombie-ism. Here are four things you can do to arm yourself against the invasion. Hone a reinvention mindset. Reinvention isnt easy, but its critical to be able to adapt to a fast-changing environment. This starts by reviewing your strengths and weaknesses. From there, you can make a conscious decision about what will serve you in the new world and what wont. Just like moving houses, you dont want to take all the junk with you. A reinvention mindset sees disruption as an opportunity, failure as a learning curve, and adaptability as a superpower. Empower your team. As AI becomes the new normal, your team will need to evolve their skills to identify and adapt to new opportunities. Training them to be AI-competent, while still encouraging the need for individuality and human-centric creativity and logic, will help maintain a healthy balance. Tough it out. Its through failing, learning, growing, and continuing on that we build deep knowledge, resilience, and pride in our efforts. Create guidelines for your workplaces use of AI, and reinforce that AI is merely a tool, rather than a complete solution. Have fun. During challenging times, increased stress and cortisol often restrict our ability to think logically and strategically. We are in survival mode. One of the best ways to address this is to release the pressure valve by having fun. Encourage the team to laugh, play, enjoy, and live in the moment. A shot of dopamine will reinforce the culture of reinvention that will always win over zombies. If a culture where zombies are accepted creates teams with a high AI-dependency and lowered critical thinking skills, then creating a reinvention mindset is the best path to long-term success. By focusing on our human qualities that make a culture unique and high performing, such as curiosity, resilience, and creative problem-solving, you will build a culture of reinvention that wont just survive in this changing world orderit will lead it.
Category:
E-Commerce
The role of the CFO is evolvingand fast. In todays volatile business environment, finance leaders are navigating everything from unpredictable tariffs to tightening regulations and rising geopolitical tensions. The latest shuffle in global trade policy is just another reminder that agility is no longer optionalit’s a necessity. According to Pigments latest CFO survey, most companies missed their financial targets last year. This isnt just a sobering statisticits a clear wake-up call. In todays volatile environment, businesses can no longer afford to wait and react; they must anticipate and move faster than the market to stay ahead. Finance leaders need tools that not only keep pace with a rapidly shifting global economy but also enable proactive scenario planning. Artificial Intelligence has emerged as the most powerful tool to meet this challengehelping businesses pivot with the same speed and agility that today’s business landscape demands. AI is ushering in a new era of smarter, faster, and more strategic decision-making in the office of the CFO. Finance leaders must now embrace AI not just to boost insights and productivity, but to drive more transformative, strategic outcomes. Teams are leveraging AI to access data faster, forecast more accurately, and collaborate seamlessly across the organizationoften through simple natural language prompts. But the next evolution is underway: autonomous AI agents. These systems dont wait for prompts; they operate continuously in the background, proactively handling complex tasks with minimal human intervention. From real-time forecasting and dynamic scenario planning to risk management and anomaly detection, AI agents will become essential tools in the finance function. The right investments today wont just streamline operationsthey will fundamentally redefine how finance teams drive value, resilience, and competitive advantage for the business. The Rise of Finance AI Agents The latest tariff developments and world trade saga are causing financial leaders and their institutions a lot of headaches. Trade policy is notoriously complex for businesses to navigate. CFOs must assess not only the downstream impact of specific regulations on functions like their supply chain but also how their business may be affected by the wider impact on regional and global economies. But fortunately for CFOs, there is a silver lining. The introduction of AI agents for finance teams has opened new doors to autonomous planning, real-time insights, and more proactive risk mitigation. AI agents can do more than just streamline processes like reconciliation and financial reportingthey can work independently and proactively as an extension of the team to help CFOs stay one step ahead of todays fast-moving business environment. Imagine a world where a forecasting model not only reacts to past trends but also continuously learns from new data, anticipates market shifts, and updates projections in real time. AI agents can simulate the financial impact of global eventsfrom supply chain disruptions to new regulatory policiesand run thousands of scenarios to understand how these could impact the business well before the numbers show up on the balance sheet. This enables CFOs to help their businesses better decide the best course of action to take. AI agents are poised to be a game-changing technology for CFOs and finance teamsbut only if they are ready to embrace the change. Making Smart Bets When new technology emerges, there is huge upside but also equal risk for first movers and early adopters. For CFOs, the key to navigating through the AI hype cycle to make smart and grounded investments lies less in being an expert in emerging technologies and more in understanding your business and what you aim to achieve. First, its critical to understand the problem youre trying to solve with AI and the end goal: Are you trying to cut costs? Improve productivity? Looking for internal or external use cases? Most CFOs today are looking for ways that AI can help reduce spending and time spent on repetitive tasks, so their team can focus time elsewhere. But productivity is just one area that AI can drive value for businesses. CFOs should also think about how AI can democratize data for teams to be more strategic and even help make better business decisions and manage risk. No matter the primary goal for AI adoptionin order to maximize the ROI on AI investmentsits essential to have the right foundations in place. AI can only be as good as the data you feed it. If data sources are poor quality, disparate, or inaccurate then you will get lackluster results no matter how powerful the AI capabilities might be. Related, adding AI to an already complex platform can frustrate teams rather than help them. Platforms that integrate easily with data sourcesand clean up data during implementationmake AI reliable and accessible for nontechnical users to maximize its value. AI agents operate best when supported by the right architecture. It is critical that they are embedded in a platform that is AI-first, flexible, and intuitive, while also having access to accurate, real-time data in order to deliver transformational value, fast. Finally, for AI to be truly effective and seamless, it requires an organization-wide strategy. CFOs should work alongside their CTOs and CIOs to ensure their data foundations are sound so that when new tools or platforms are added, teams can trust the data and outputs from AI are accurate. It also helps to start small. Get clear on exactly the use case for AI and test this out before building it out further. The Next Move is Yours The opportunity to become an AI-empowered finance organization is there for the taking. CFOs who want to give their teams the best chance to succeed and exceed expectations should not wait to make their move. According to McKinsey, 78% of business leaders say AI has already improved operational efficiency and decision-making in their organizations. And forward-thinking CFOs are already piloting AI in planning and analysis workflows, fraud detection, and even ESG reporting. The results? Greater accuracy, faster turnaround, and a better handle on risk. Those who delay risk being outpaced by competitors who are already harnessing AI to steer their companies with precision through these uncertain times. AI isnt just about unlocking new levels of eficiencyits about giving finance teams better access to the insights they need to make faster and more informed decisions in a more challenging and unpredictable world. Agents in particular have the power to change a businesss trajectory and resultsfinding new pathways to accelerate growth, drive higher margins, and identify the right opportunities to make trade-offs. CFOs who embrace this shift and harness the power of AI wont just have a significant edge over their competitiontheyll lead and redefine their industries.
Category:
E-Commerce
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