How to Get Profitable AI: What the 6% Do Differently With Keith Jacobs and Grant Baldwin

In this episode, I talked with Keith Jacobs, CEO of geniant, and Grant Baldwin, Partner at geniant, about why most AI investments never show up on the P&L, and what the small group of companies making real money on AI actually does differently. Grant walks through a McKinsey study of 1,700 companies where only 6% are making real money on AI, and Keith and Grant make the case that what sets that 6% apart is redesigning how the work gets done instead of automating a broken process, what Keith calls paving the cow path. We get into why geniant puts anthropologists and psychologists to work before its designers start building with AI, the Olympic level of performance employees will need once the busy work disappears, and why leadership has to clear the path from the top or AI initiatives slow down considerably. We also run a thought experiment on the future of software, closing the context gap until every piece of software is custom to the person using it, and talk about who should own your data and why an opt-in model matters. Chapters: 00:00 The Olympian Worker 02:35 Performing at a Higher Level 06:46 Building the Right Thing 09:51 The 6% Making Real Money 11:53 Paving the Cow Path 15:52 Scared to Admit Using AI 17:54 Air Cover From the Top 20:49 A Behavior First Operating Model 22:46 Staying Optimistic About the Risk 24:45 100 Times More Capable 27:23 Closing the Context Gap 30:48 Who Should Own Your Data 33:19 Every Employee Owns Equity 36:38 Thinking Like a CEO Connect with Keith & Grant: geniant geniant on LinkedIn Keith Jacobs on LinkedIn Connect with Raul: Work with Raul Free Growth Resources Connect with Raul on LinkedIn (DMs open)