Audio only
What NOT to Automate
The AI Strategy Playbook for Business Owners Who Want to Get It RightBy Brian Gibbs
Length6h 41m
About this audiobook
I sat with a business owner whose team was moving faster than ever after rolling out AI. I asked him one thing: "Who is actually making the decisions now?" That question stopped him cold.
Most companies won't run into trouble because they ignored AI. They'll run into trouble because they automated the wrong calls.
A service company let a bot handle intake. It was polite and fast, but it had no judgment. It started committing to work they couldn't deliver. They traded decades of hard-earned trust for six months of speed.
This is not a reason to avoid AI. Control is not the opposite of acceleration. It is what makes acceleration safe. The brakes are what allow you to drive fast without dying.
In this audiobook, I'm giving you the operational playbook built from years of seeing what works and what fails expensively. Delegating execution is a strategy for growth. Delegating judgment is a strategy for obsolescence.
This technology is the most powerful tool we've ever seen. Stop fumbling it.
Audiobook details
GenreBusiness and Economics
Length6 hrs 41 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateMar 15, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Introduction
79The Architect Track: Elena.
2Dedication
80The Editor Track: Marcus.
3Introduction
81The Failure Case
4Who This Book Is For
82The Editor Status Problem
5How This Book Works
83The Calibration Meeting
Show all chaptersShow less
6Act I: Think Like a Strategist.
84The Five-Person Version
7Act II: Build the Machine.
85The Retention Trap
8Act III: Play Offense.
86Staffing Ratios
9What to Expect
87The Owner’s Playbook
10Act I
88Chapter 8: Decision Compression
11Chapter 1: AI Is an Operating Decision
89The Physics of Compression
12The Operating Decision
90The Cheap Contractor
13The Interface Trap
91The SaaS Flood
14Shadow AI: The Decision You Didn't Make
92Review Is a Senior Task
15The New Threat: Adversarial Risk
93The Mediation Loop
16The Friction Fallacy
94The Escalation Filter
17The 4-Gate Pilot Protocol
95Building Your Own Filter
18Gate 1: The Liability Audit.
96The Owner’s Playbook
19Gate 2: The Red Line.
97Act III
20Gate 3: The Kill Date.
98Chapter 9: Keep Your Team Sharp
21Gate 4: The Adversarial Stress Test.
99How Sarah Lost Her Edge
22The SaaS Blind Spot
100The Question Quota
23The Owner’s Playbook
101The Manual Week
24Chapter 2: Where the Money Is
102Strategic Friction Zones
25The Opportunity Most Owners Miss
103The first 30% of any new problem.
26The Senior Salary Trap
104Hiring and culture decisions.
27The Market You Can't Afford to Serve
105The quarterly strategic audit.
28The Five-Thousand-Dollar Mistake
106The Broke the Bot Report
29The AI Opportunity Audit
107The Cost of Not Investing
30The Cost of Standing Still
108The Owner’s Playbook
31The Owner’s Playbook
109Chapter 10: When Your Customer Gets AI
32Chapter 3: Hands vs. Head
110The Physics of Value
33The Apprentice
111The Trust Moat
34What Good Sorting Looks Like
112The Context Moat
35What Bad Sorting Looks Like
113The Experience Moat
36The Context Blind Spot
114When the Customer’s AI Lies
37The Task Audit Matrix
115When AI Negotiates Against You
38Quadrant 1: The Factory Floor (Low Context, Low Risk).
116Arming Your Own Side
39Quadrant 3: The Danger Zone (Low Context, High Risk).
117The Five-Person Version
40Quadrant 4: The Boardroom (High Context, High Risk).
118When Both Sides Have AI
41The No-Mix Zone
119The Unit Economics of New Loyalty
42The Owner’s Playbook
120The Owner’s Playbook
43Chapter 4: The Real Cost of AI
121Chapter 11: Build to Adapt
44What Happens When You Don’t Budget
122The Rebuild Treadmill
45The Water Balloon Effect
123David’s Engine
46Line Item 1: Supervision
124The Rules of the Engine
47Line Item 2: Correction
125Learning Loops
48Line Item 3: Coordination
126Rebuild vs. Evolve
49Line Item 4: Attention
127Building Adaptive Habits
50The Liability Dimension
128The Abstraction Layer
51The Net-Automation Budget
129The Owner’s Playbook
52The Owner’s Playbook
130Chapter 12: Measuring What Matters
53Act II
131The Factory Trap
54Chapter 5: Control the Wheel
132Dimension 1: Operational Gains
55The Blame Circle
133Dimension 2: Strategic Leverage
56The Psychology of the Kill Switch
134Dimension 3: Organizational Health
57The Red Line
135Surviving the J-Curve
58Show Your Work
136The Diagnostic Framework
59The Emergency Brake
137Building Your Scorecard
60The Owner’s Playbook
138The Owner’s Playbook
61Chapter 6: Standards are Your Edge
139Conclusion: The Company You're Building
62The Blanding Trap
140What You Built
63The Economics of Average
141What Happens Next
64Anatomy of the Drift
142The Window
65Your Team Watches What You Automate
143Your First Monday
66The Signature Audit
144Appendix: Case Studies
67Throughput vs. Pride
145The Ford Assembly Line (1913)
68Using AI to Raise the Bar
146The Knight Capital Trading Error (2012)
69Time Is Money
147The Gap’s Brand Erosion (1990s–2020s)
70The Owner’s Playbook
148Zillow Offers and Algorithmic Home Pricing (2021)
71Chapter 7: The Diamond
149The Air Canada Chatbot Case (2022)
72The Pyramid Collapse
150AI-Led Supplier Negotiations at Walmart (2022)
73The Diamond
151CNET’s AI-Generated Finance Articles (2023)
74The Two Roles
152AI-Fabricated Case Law in Federal Court (2023)
75Why These People Are Hard to Find
153The Sports Illustrated AI Incident (2023)
76Build vs. Buy
154Framework Index: (Untitled)
77Finding Your People
155About The Author
78The Training Reality
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