The Missing Link in AI strategy

hint: It’s human-centered design

For decades, human-centered design has been the framework for aligning business goals with human needs. The phrase itself may feel dated now, as we negotiate a future where humans and machines are deeply intertwined. But the spirit behind it — curiosity, care, and clarity about the costs of technology — has never been more urgent.

AI forces us to ask bigger questions than efficiency alone can answer: What kind of world do we want to build with these tools? How do we balance speed with trust, or cost savings with human value? Methods developed over decades in design and strategy can help us surface those tensions honestly, and keep both workers and customers at the center of the conversation, even as machines play a larger role.

At the same time, many seasoned professionals who helped shape the digital age that gave rise to AI are being pushed out of organizations. This is a profound missed opportunity. The very people who know what it takes to introduce, scale, and govern new technologies are the ones best positioned to guide us now. They understand both the exhilaration of invention and the risks of losing sight of people in the process.

We don’t need to discard human-centered design; we need to adapt it. Its essence of asking not just “Can we?” but “Should we?” is the lens that will allow us to navigate AI adoption with both ambition and responsibility.