AI readiness isn’t about how many models you’ve “integrated” or how many AI tools your teams have experimented with. It’s not about whether your CEO gave a generative AI shoutout on the last earnings call.

It’s about real leverage.

And the truth is, most companies talking about AI aren’t actually doing anything meaningful with it.

So, here’s the simple test I use when I want to know whether a company is AI-ready—or just pretending.

Give me 5 minutes and a whiteboard, and I’ll tell you where they really stand.

The 5-Minute AI Readiness Framework

1. Revenue-to-Headcount Trajectory

“Is revenue growing faster than headcount?”

If it’s not, they’re not using AI effectively.

That doesn’t mean layoffs. It means more leverage per person. It means freezing G&A or scaling content output or flattening the sales org without sacrificing performance.

If their sales org is growing at the same rate as revenue, they’re doing it the old way.

2. Ownership

“Who owns AI internally?”

The companies that are serious about AI have one of two things:

• A centralized AI transformation lead (Head of AI, AI PMO, or someone in Ops/CTO’s office)
  
  
• Or clearly distributed accountability where every team lead owns AI impact in their own domain
  
  

If it’s a loose working group or “something our vendors are helping us figure out,” that’s a problem.

No ownership = no outcomes.

3. Product Roadmap Mentality

“Is there an actual roadmap?”

Not an aspiration. A sequence.

What’s being automated or augmented now? What’s next? What are the priorities by business function?

Companies that are AI-ready treat internal workflows the same way they treat external products—versioned, owned, with metrics and feedback loops.

4. AI as Leverage, Not Theatre

“Can they show how AI has improved a specific process?”

It doesn’t have to be flashy. In fact, it shouldn’t be.

Show me:

• Time to hire reduced by 40% in HR
  
  
• Campaign volume up 3x in marketing with the same team
  
  
• Cost per support ticket down 20% via AI triage
  
  
• Close rate up with AI-assisted sales coaching
  
  

If they can’t show it in a KPI, it doesn’t matter.

5. The Antibody Test

“Have they fought through internal resistance?”

Real AI transformation creates friction. Someone in finance doesn’t like automation. A manager thinks their reports are being replaced. Ops teams want to “do it manually just to be sure.”

AI-ready companies don’t avoid that. They manage through it—with training, clear change management, and a culture that prioritizes performance over tradition.

What Pretending Looks Like

• Everyone’s playing with tools, but no one’s accountable for outcomes
  
  
• Strategy decks with ChatGPT logos and zero execution
  
  
• Hiring AI consultants for training, but no one actually building internally
  
  
• High headcount growth with no change in per-person output
  
  
• Metrics focused on usage (“how many people have AI accounts”) not performance
  
  

Sound familiar?

Real AI Readiness = Real Leverage

AI isn’t a department. It’s a set of capabilities. And readiness doesn’t mean you’ve arrived—it means you’re organized to move fast.

If you can’t answer the five questions above with confidence, you’re not AI-ready.

You’re playing around. And someone else—maybe smaller, maybe faster—is building real leverage while you wait.

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