AI-Native Organizations: The Next Evolution of New Work
(In reaction to this article)
There's something nobody wants to admit: Any values we fail to encode into our AI systems will die. If your AI optimizes for efficiency while your culture preaches empathy, efficiency wins. Every time.
In the book "Corporate Rebels: Make Work More Fun" Pim and Joost showed us how to transform organizations from profit-obsessed hierarchies to purpose-driven networks. Yet, we need to account for a third evolution: encoding human values directly into the AI systems that will run tomorrow's organizations. Otherwise, what happens when AI agents are making 80% of all organizational decisions?
Below, I extendeded the 2-step shift with a 3rd step that respects the next wave of change in how we work together:
- Profit → Purpose & Values → AI agents optimized for stakeholder wellbeing
- Yesterday: Maximize shareholder returns
- Today: Balance all stakeholder interests
- Tomorrow: AI systems that measure success by metrics based on human flourishing
- Hierarchical Pyramids → Network of Teams → Self-organizing AI collectives with human oversight
- Yesterday: Rigid command structures
- Today: Fluid, collaborative networks
- Tomorrow: AI teams that form, perform, and reform based on real-time needs
- Directive Leadership → Supportive Leadership → AI-augmented leadership that amplifies human judgment
- Yesterday: Leaders command
- Today: Leaders coach
- Tomorrow: AI identifies each person's potential and creates personalized growth paths
- Predict & Plan → Experiment & Adapt → AI systems that evolve their own objectives through continuous learning
- Yesterday: Five-year strategic plans
- Today: Rapid experimentation cycles
- Tomorrow: AI that rewrites its own goals based on emerging patterns
- Rules & Control → Freedom & Trust → Transparent AI governance protocols
- Yesterday: Thick policy manuals
- Today: Trust-based autonomy
- Tomorrow: Every AI decision logged, explained, and challengeable
- Centralized Authority → Distributed Authority → Ledger-based AI decision logs
- Yesterday: C-suite bottlenecks
- Today: Empowered teams
- Tomorrow: Immutable blockchain records of who (or what) decided what and why
- Secrecy → Radical Transparency → Explainable AI that documents its reasoning
- Yesterday: Information hoarding
- Today: Open-book management
- Tomorrow: AI that shows its work, always
- Job Descriptions → Talents & Mastery → Human-AI skill fusion frameworks
- Yesterday: Fixed roles
- Today: Strength-based contributions
- Tomorrow: Dynamic partnerships where AI handles logic, humans handle wisdom
Curious what an AI-native organization might actually look like? I've been experimenting with this at https://peerdom.org/start?template=ai-native-company. Try it yourself.