Enterprises are introducing AI, bosses should not just sit on the sidelines
This article was originally published in “Economic Daily (opens in a new tab)”.
When many small and medium-sized enterprises introduce AI, they think that by spending money to buy a few sets of software or arranging in-house training, they will get a ticket to the future. However, today, when generative AI has completely subverted business logic, the real transformation is definitely not the popularization of tools, but a mental revolution that must be initiated by the company’s top decision-makers.
The boss is often the person who best understands the business model and pain points in the entire company, and is also the person with the most resources. This is why in the AI era, leaders of small and medium-sized enterprises not only need to learn to use AI, but also need to master a new skill called “Vibe Coding” (vibe programming).
Vibe Coding: Commanding AI with business language
This does not require bosses to memorize program syntax or understand data structures, but to learn to use human natural language and combine their own business intuition to summon and command AI to create solutions tailored for the enterprise.
In the past, software development was a discipline that required highly professional translation. The boss has an idea to optimize the sales process. He must first hold countless meetings and translate the business logic to the project manager. The project manager then writes a specification and gives it to the engineer. Finally, the engineer implements it with cold programming code. The communication cost and cognitive gap often make the final output very different from the boss’s original intention.
However, Vibe Coding has completely eliminated this high wall. Users do not write any line of code at all, but directly describe the results and functions you want to the AI. After AI receives these prompt words full of business intent, it will automatically generate program code and immediately present a specific application or visual interface.
This is undoubtedly good news for the boss. Because its core driving force is no longer boring engineering logic, but the business taste and judgment accumulated by leaders over the years.
You only need to tell the AI accurately: “I need to develop a business tracking dashboard. The left side should display the conversion rate of potential customers this month, and the right side should use a bar chart to compare the performance of the three districts of North, Central and South. When the performance of a certain district is lower than expected, a warning will be automatically marked in red font.”
When the boss can directly visualize the strategies in his mind in this way, the company’s iteration speed will explode exponentially.
Don’t say you are too busy, AI is already an extension of operational logic
Faced with such changes, the most common excuse used by many bosses is still: “I’m too busy, just leave this kind of thing to young people to explore.” This is an extremely fatal misjudgment.
In the past industrial era or the early Internet era, technology could indeed be outsourced because it was a standardized tool; but in the AI era, AI is no longer just a tool, it is an extension of corporate operating logic.
Starting from the smallest pain point, a micro-destructive innovation
For bosses who have never been exposed to procedural design, they should not think about subverting the entire company’s ERP system from the beginning. This ambitious mentality often brings huge frustration. The correct way to start is to start from the smallest and most annoying pain points in daily operations and carry out a micro-destructive innovation.
Suppose you’ve been having a headache with your weekly business reports. Those dense spreadsheets make it difficult for you to see the problem at a glance. At this time, you can directly say to the AI: “I am the owner of a retail company. I now have a CSV file containing sales data for the past six months. I need you to help me write a web version of the interactive dashboard.”
Through such continuous dialogue and fine-tuning, you are actually writing a set of software that is unique to your company, and the language you use is the business logic you are best at. When this dashboard is completed, you will not only get a useful tool, but also a deep understanding of the huge shock of AI empowerment.
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Vista Cheng speaks and runs workshops on AI workflows, writing and content systems for companies, schools and public agencies.
