Develop the "CEO touch" in the AI era

Introduction

We are standing at the starting point of a transformation in the way of existence that is more profound than "digitization." The wave of artificial intelligence (AI) has long passed the shallows of "efficiency tools" and is now surging to reshape the underlying paradigms of business, organizations, and individual survival.

The essence of this transformation is a "parity revolution" regarding power and ability. It unprecedentedly "devolves" and "internalizes" the "CEO's rights and responsibilities" (defining strategies, allocating resources, and assuming ultimate risks for results), which were once exclusive to the top of the corporate pyramid, to every knowledge worker.

The result is a "double - helix transformation" that organizations and individuals must undertake simultaneously:

At the organizational level, the rigid "pyramid" is melting and evolving into a market - based ecological network composed of countless autonomous decision - making and intelligently interconnected "scenario CEOs." An organization is no longer an execution machine but a "rainforest ecosystem" that encourages internal entrepreneurship and survival of the fittest.

At the individual level, the core of work shifts from "job execution" to "internal entrepreneurship." Everyone, regardless of their title, must evolve from an "expert" to a "hexagonal warrior" with a complete business mindset and system - mastering ability. Your title may not be CEO, but you must think, make decisions, and take responsibility like a CEO.

This article will systematically deconstruct the underlying logic of this transformation. First, we will examine the four major "qualitative changes" intertwined by technology, business, organization, and human nature and extract the four core evolutionary logics of leading organizations in response to the transformation. Then, the article will delve into the ultimate form of future organizations - the market - ecological organization, clarifying its "Why," "What," and "How." Through in - depth case analyses of three paradigms: Silicon Valley AI - native companies, the middle - and back - office technology department of a financial group, and ByteDance's AI combat units, we will bring the abstract theory into reality.

However, understanding organizational change is only the first step. In the AI era, the real competitive advantage stems from a comprehensive ability that is difficult to be coded and replaced - the "CEO touch." It is the intuition and sense of proportion for accurate judgment and decisive action in a complex and uncertain environment. Finally, the article will concretize the six cultivation dimensions of this "touch" and outline the complete portrait of the new leader - the "scenario CEO" who combines the roles of "technology expert + manager + business operator." This article is not only a trend prediction but also an action guide for the future. It aims to provide you with a systematic framework from cognitive renewal to ability cultivation, helping you find your direction and develop your winning power on the inevitable path from "control" to "emergence," from "hierarchy" to "ecosystem," and from "expert" to "CEO."

Part One: Reconstruction of the Underlying Logic - Four "Qualitative Changes" and "Four Logics"

The Four "Qualitative Changes" in the AI Era

Technological Qualitative Change: From "Departmental Tool" to "Super - enabling Platform"

AI has evolved from software serving specific functions to a 24/7 on - call, integrated "strategy - action - review" platform. It can instantly and losslessly "compile" a person's strategic thinking into product prototypes, program codes, and market actions, extremely shortening the path from idea to value.

Business and Strategic Qualitative Change: From "Resource Scale" to "Decision - making Quality"

When AI significantly lowers the threshold for resource allocation, the core of competition moves up to decision - making itself. The formula for success becomes: Sustained success = Speed of discovering key scenarios × Quality of key decisions × Multiplier effect of human - machine collaboration.

Organizational Qualitative Change: From "Single Pyramid" to "Rainforest Ecosystem"

The equalization of knowledge and the enabling of AI are tearing apart the traditional hierarchical system. On the one hand, numerous agile "one - person unicorns" or "miniature giants" have emerged externally; on the other hand, the phenomenon of "internal entrepreneurship" has also been spawned within large organizations. The future organization will be a platform - type "rainforest ecosystem," where the company provides the soil and sunlight (brand, capital, infrastructure), and countless "scenario - based teams" with a "CEO mindset" can quickly experiment, grow, and undergo survival of the fittest.

Human Qualitative Change: From "Job Executor" to "Scenario CEO"

This is the ultimate destination of all changes. Regardless of their titles, the core responsibility of each knowledge worker has shifted to taking full - scale business responsibility for the "business scenario" they are in charge of: defining the vision, allocating resources (especially AI), assuming risks, and being responsible for the final results. The essence of work has become "internal entrepreneurship."

The Four Core Logics of Organizational Evolution

Reconstruction of Decision - making Logic: From "Top - down Design" to "Front - line Driven"

Allocate all strategies and resources to the front - line where the gunfire can be heard, transfer the power center, and ensure absolute sensitivity to the market.

Upgrade of Execution Logic: From "Functional Silos" to "Elite Mode"

Require the "first - in - command" of each functional module to be a top - notch professional authority in the field and also serve as the campaign commander. Combine professional depth with leadership to ensure that professional capabilities can be transformed into decisive factors for victory or defeat.

Subversion of Organizational Logic: From "Pyramid Structure" to "Dynamic Task Network"

Break down departmental barriers and allow roles to flow dynamically around "campaigns." Everyone is the "first - in - command" of their own tasks, being given end - to - end responsibility and decision - making power, and stimulating network - based innovation vitality.

Closed - loop of Cognitive Logic: From "Internal Perspective" to "Balancing Internal and External Views"

Build a continuous evolution cycle of "looking outward for benchmarks and identifying gaps, looking inward to improve capabilities," driving the organization to rise in a spiral.

These four logics all point to one goal: to create a new organizational form that is both agile and in - depth, both open and practical, and to complete a genetic - level transformation from "management" to "enabling" and from "control" to "emergence."

Part Two: The Future "Market - ecological Organization" and "Distributed Scenario CEO Network"

Explanation of the Underlying Logic (Why, What, How)

I. Why: The "Achilles' Heel" of Traditional Organizations and the Inevitable Choice in the AI Era

Core driver: The rise of the market - ecological organization is a fundamental response to the systematic "failure" of traditional hierarchical systems exposed in the AI era.

1. Lag and ambiguity in value creation: Traditional organizations are "management - oriented" rather than "value - oriented." Resources are allocated based on budgets and power rather than market value. The technology department often becomes a passive "cost center," and its value is difficult to measure, leading to resource misallocation and waste.

2. Choking of the innovation engine: The strict departmental barriers, lengthy approval processes, and risk - averse "upward - responsible" culture stifle grassroots agile innovation. Good ideas may be distorted or aborted in the process of passing through the organizational maze.

3. Submergence of talent vitality: In the system of "fixed positions and staffing, upward reporting," employees are like "screws," and their potential is limited by job descriptions. "Lying flat" or "upward management" becomes a rational choice, and the real entrepreneurial spirit and creativity are suppressed.

4. Inability to adapt to complex challenges: In the AI era, business challenges are complex system problems that emerge dynamically across multiple fields. The traditional linear and functionally fragmented organizational structure cannot effectively mobilize cross - departmental resources to form a synergy, and its response speed lags far behind market changes.

Therefore, the core motivation of the market - ecological organization is to introduce the survival pressure and evolutionary drive of the external market into the organization without attenuation, forcing each unit and individual to face value creation directly, thus systematically solving the problems of vitality, innovation, and adaptability.

II. What: The Core Features of the Market - ecological Organization

The market - ecological organization is not a specific organizational chart but a set of operating rules and core features. Its essence is to simulate and establish a "market" within the organization.

1. Value exchange replaces administrative instructions: The relationship between internal units (such as product teams and technology platforms) changes from "management and being managed," "support and being supported" to a clear "service and procurement" value - exchange relationship. Back - office departments "sell" services to the front - office, and the front - office uses "virtual currency" or budgets to "purchase" support.

2. Emergence of autonomous business entities: The organization is decomposed into numerous "miniature business entities" (such as "entrepreneurial teams" and "scenario - based teams") with greater autonomy. These business entities are responsible for their own "profits and losses" (not necessarily financial profits and losses, but more value indicators) and have certain decision - making power over personnel, finances, and materials.

3. Internal price and selection mechanism: Establish an "pricing" mechanism (which can be virtual) for internal services. Front - office units have the right to choose service providers either internally or externally (such as purchasing public cloud services), thus forcing internal service departments to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and meet needs.

4. "Emergent" rather than "designed" strategy: The overall strategy is no longer completely designed from the top but "emerges" in the process of countless business entities competing and collaborating based on their own understanding of the market. The role of the headquarters is more to set ecological rules, provide public infrastructure, and keenly identify and amplify those successful "emergent" directions.

III. How: The Implementation Framework of the Market - ecological Organization

Building a market - ecological organization is a profound "system reinstallation" that needs to be promoted synergistically from three levels:

1. Architecture level: From "functional pyramid" to "dynamic network"

Front - office "battalion - based": Form cross - functional, end - to - end responsible "battle teams" around core business scenarios (such as "smart healthcare" and "digital finance"). They are the "profit centers" facing the market.

Middle - office "service - oriented": Consolidate general capabilities (technology, data, business) into a powerful "capability platform," but its positioning is an "internal service provider" that needs to win front - office "customers" with high - quality services.

Back - office "platform - based": Functions such as finance, human resources, and legal affairs are transformed into support platforms that formulate market rules and provide public products rather than control nodes.

2. Mechanism level: Design the rules of the "internal market" game

Market - based settlement mechanism: Establish an internal service pricing, settlement, and budget allocation system to make resource flow and value creation transparent.

Autonomous business and decision - making mechanism: Endow the heads of business entities (the "scenario CEOs") with a high degree of autonomy in business decision - making, resource allocation, team incentives, etc.

Market - based assessment and elimination mechanism: Tightly link performance assessment with the satisfaction of "internal customers" and market results. Strictly implement dynamic talent management mechanisms such as the "1/3 rule" to achieve "the capable rise, the mediocre give way, and the incompetent step down."

3. Cultural level: Reshape the mindset and trust system

From "leadership" to "enabling": The core responsibility of managers changes from control and approval to setting the context, providing resources, and removing obstacles.

From "risk - aversion" to "embracing trial - and - error": Establish a fault - tolerant culture, regard "valuable failures" as learning costs, and encourage rapid trial - and - error based on data.

From "positional power" to "value authority": An individual's influence is based on the value created for others and the results achieved, rather than the position level.

Case Insights - Practices of Three Paradigms

Case One: Silicon Valley AI - native Companies - The Ultimate Paradigm of "Decision - making Center × AI Leverage"

Paradigm characteristics: Native distributed, highly centralized decision - making, and externally market - driven.

A "miniature giant" of 3 - 5 people, whose founder (core decision - maker) uses the AI toolchain to highly compress functions such as strategy, product, development, and marketing. Decision - making quality is the only bottleneck, and AI is the core amplifying lever. Its organization itself is a minimized "market ecosystem" - completely driven by external market feedback, with almost no internal management costs. This provides an ultimate model for "decision - making quality first" and "tool - enabled individuals."

Case Two: The Technology Department of a Leading Financial Group - The Dual - drive Paradigm of "Internal Incubation"

Paradigm characteristics: From cost center to value engine, internal marketization, and dual - drive.

This department launched a "self - revolution" to get out of the dilemma of being a "passive second - party, fragmented resources, and invisible value."

Service engine (inward): Implement "internal market - based settlement." The technology platform needs to sign an SLA with business departments, and its performance is linked to business growth, forcing technical personnel to transform into "business operators" who understand business.

Entrepreneurial engine (outward): Around business scenarios, establish independently accounted "entrepreneurial teams." The group provides "semi - control" and full autonomy, and strictly assesses with market indicators, aiming to create new growth poles from scratch.

Support mechanism: Strongly break down departmental barriers, implement the "1/3" dynamic talent mechanism, and completely shift the origin of performance assessment to "market feedback."

Significance: It proves that large traditional organizations can activate existing technological resources through extreme internal marketization and entrepreneurial mechanism design, and achieve a transformation from "supporter" to "driver."

Case Three: ByteDance: The "APP Factory 2.0" with Saturated Strategy and Product - orientation

1. Strategic positioning: Pragmatic all - around approach with AGI as the long - term goal

ByteDance's AI strategy is characterized by distinct "pragmatism" and "product - orientation." The short - term goal is to create top - notch AI assistant applications (Doubao/Dola), and in the long term, it explores the upper limit of artificial general intelligence (AGI). CEO Liang Rubo defined the 2026 AI strategy as "climbing the peak," concentrating resources to tackle core tasks.

2. Organizational structure: Independent teams, horse - racing mechanism, and integration of R & D and production

Two core AI - native teams:

Seed team: Led by Dr. Wu Yonghui, the former vice - president of Google DeepMind, it focuses on basic model research and long - term exploration (such as world models and AI for Science), with a more flexible assessment cycle.

Flow team: Led by Zhu Wenjia, it adopts the "special forces team" model, focuses on AI product innovation and rapid implementation, and can directly use the model capabilities of Seed.

Integration and independent operation: In 2025, the company merged the original AI Lab into Seed as a whole to concentrate R & D power. The AI team operates through an independent structure established in Hong Kong and gets priority resource allocation.

Horse - racing mechanism: Encourage internal competition, with multiple teams conducting parallel R & D and rapid trial - and - error.

3. Technological foundation: Full - stack self - research and extreme cost control

Model system: Self - develop the Doubao large - model family, covering various sizes from the flagship version to the lightweight version, and focus on multimodality (especially video generation Seedance), which is in line with its video platform gene.

Infrastructure: Provide MaaS services through Volcengine and launch a "price war," reducing the inference price of large models to an extremely low level (such as 0.0008 yuan per thousand tokens), aiming to clean up the market, attract massive usage, and form a data flywheel.

Self - developed chips: To address supply - chain risks, accelerate the promotion of the self - developed AI chip "SeedChip."

4. Products and commercialization: Saturated coverage of product matrix and ecological drainage