201: "Vision First Or Tools First: The Hidden Step Before Any AI Implementation" ft. Justin Coats

Erik and Justin unpack Paul Rotzer’s AI maturity “eight pillars” and use it to frame what leaders should do after the hype: step back, explore what AI can do, choose a priority problem, then build vision, strategy, governance, literacy, and measurement in that order.

🧭 Conversation Highlights

• AI adoption is a forcing function: excitement about what AI can do often triggers the harder question of what the business should actually solve first.
• Justin argues for a mindset shift from “pick the perfect problem” to acknowledging an unsolved problem set, learning AI capability, then applying it deliberately.
• Governance quickly turns practical as teams hit token limits, spend tracking gaps, and model availability changes during real adoption.
• Early value often starts in communication and as an individual thought partner, but real ROI comes when leaders provide guardrails, education, and space to iterate.

💡 Key Takeaways

• Start with exploration, but don’t skip selection: the ability to do many things can paralyze you if you do not stack-rank what matters.
• Vision and literacy shape what happens next. Without a clear “why AI,” tool knowledge alone will not translate into durable adoption.
• Adoption is iterative: one department, one strategic goal, then replicate. “Go slow to go fast” beats trying to tackle everything at once.
• Token cost governance is becoming unavoidable. Plan for consumption monitoring, model selection, and policy before limits surprise you.

❓ Questions That Mattered

• When leaders see AI capabilities expand, how do they choose problems instead of chasing shiny possibilities?
• Do you treat AI literacy and vision as prerequisites, or as learning that happens after you start piloting?
• Where should a company look first for a beachhead of value across teams like revenue, ops, finance, and internal product?
• Will tokenomics and pricing changes push more companies toward hybrid models like hybrid seat plus usage, or on-prem and open source?

🗣️ Notable Quotes

• “If you can do everything, you can do nothing.”
• “Stop spinning, choose one problem set, learn about AI in general and what it's possible and capable of doing, then choose that problem.”
• “Tokenomics part is going to become part of your governance.”
• “You’re going to pay for the tokens that we consume.”

🔗 Links & Resources

• Listen To Other Episodes Co-Hosted With Justin
• Read the referenced Article