The Three Commandments of AI Transformation

In this article I share some notes on what I learned at Oktoberfest satellite events.

Now that I am a Munich local, Oktoberfest has lost a bit of its appeal. This year however I was invited to a series of events all around AI hosted by Vercel, Miro, LinkedIn, and Intercom/Fin.ai . Networking in Lederhosen is a new concept to me. I was particularly impressed by the Lederhosen rental service some of the companies offered. The non-Bavarian mind cannot comprehend.

Perhaps it was the beer, perhaps it was the sheer energy and excitement around how AI is already reshaping companies’ internal processes - but during the last session I attended at Mindspace Stachus, something cut through the noise. I’ll try to keep this concise: I believe we’re witnessing a serious shift underway in every marketing organization.

But, in order to master AI, AI Agents, and prepare for the next epoch of change, every marketing org must follow these three commandments:

1. Your organization needs its own AI Manhattan Project. Immediately. This requires everyone.

2. You must build your first digital employee. If you don’t know what this means, find out.

3. You need to run regular internal hackathons. Not as theatre, but building agent infrastructure - non-coders need to build,
non-designers need to design, and the entire org needs to learn together.

AI is not a feature. It is not “just another tool.” It is the operating system for the next era of business.

In 2023 the economist Richard E Baldwin said that “your job won’t be taken by AI, but by someone who knows how to use it.” Again it might be the beer talking but I’d take it further: your enterprise won’t get eaten by AI, but by the enterprise that knows how to use it.

Finally, watching presentations about the future of work while wearing Bavarian Tracht felt incongruous - but it was a reminder that many things change, some things stay the same, and epochs never end cleanly; they overlap.