What explains the $100m to $1b salaries being paid to top AI researchers?
The way business value is created has changed forever – but our mental models haven’t caught up yet.
What is value anyway? In the 18th century, it was all about land. In the 19th, it became about labour. In the 20th, the narrative shifted to resources.
And now? It’s knowledge.
I was reading Grant (1996) and a quote stopped me in my tracks.
‘All learning takes place inside individual human heads; an organization learns in only two ways: (a) by the learning of its members, or (b) by ingesting new members who have knowledge the organization didn’t previously have’ (Simon, 1991: 125).
Some people think knowedge is safe in organisational rules and procedures. But we’ve all seen what happens when a key person leaves, and someone else picks up that rule book and finds it’s useless.
Will AI rescue us? That’s still up for debate – maybe if we can fix hallucinations and guarantee quality output. It’s still not clear if this is the answer.
But if these two are mirages – if knowledge can only be held and exercised by individuals, the foundations of shareholder value shift under our feet.
Value becomes about people, specifically ones that can create knowledge and apply knowledge. Finding ones that can do both is like hunting unicorns.
And that perhaps explains why some companies are willing to pay so much for them.
REFERENCES
Grant, R.M., 1996. Toward a Knowledge-Based Theory of the Firm. Strategic Management Journal 17, 109–122.
Simon, H. A. (1991). ‘Bounded rationality and organizational learning’, Organization Science, 2, pp. 125-134.
Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that white collar jobs are disappearing as companies are pushed by investors to do more with AI and fewer people. What does this mean for HR?
We know that treating everyone the same hides important elements of strategy when managing groups of employees.
Scott Adams once joked that the reward for good work is more work. Real employment relationships depend on what an employee contributes to the firm – which Lepak and Snell (2002) talked about as the strategic value an employee brings to a firm and the uniqueness of their skill set.
This model is easy to think of in a 2×2 matrix, with uniqueness (U) on the one axis and strategic value (S) on the other.
Low U – Low S: COMPLY
These are standard jobs – janitorial, maintenance, basic admin – where compliance based HR works best. AI isn’t taking over blue collar jobs anytime soon.
Low U, High S: CONTRACT
These are core operational roles with clear deliverables
These are the ones that investors want bosses to sort out – get the same number of people or fewer doing more work using AI.
This quadrant is at highest risk of being displaced by AI and automation
High U, Low S: COLLABORATE
When there are things you need to get done but are not part of the core strategy of the business, it’s time to look at outsourcing or collaborative models. This is where consultants come in. We can support the business to get things done while not being on the permanent hires list.
Although these services are not directly at risk from AI, consultants that don’t use AI will have a higher cost base and so should really be thinking about their own staffing. At our carbon reporting firm, for example, we have AI developed tools that are doing work that we’d have hired a team of 4-5 to do as recently as two years ago.
High U, High S: COMMITMENT
The core, vital tasks that only a few people can do are the ones that are safe in a company. These individuals need to work within a commitment based contract – where they are dedicated to furthering the growth of the firm and happy with the rewards they get in turn.
AI is coming, however, for these roles – and we may end up with smaller and smaller core teams that outperform because they use AI to help them.
HR is usually seen as protective.
In an AI age, companies need to remember that it’s also a core strategic function, and companies that work out how to manage a mix of employment modes are more likely to succeed.
REFERENCES
Lepak, D. P, Snell, S.A. (2002). Examining the human resource architecture: The relationships among human capital, employment and human resource configurations. Journal of Management 2002 28(4) 517-543.
A recent HBR article by Bansal and Birkinshaw (2025) suggests we should use systems thinking more, especially when it comes to complex, wicked problems.
They argue that we often reach first for two approaches that seem to promise quick results.
Breakthrough thinking cuts through the mess, dealing with a knotty problem by simply cutting the knot.
Design thinking focuses on users – how they interact with products and services and how that can be made better.
But some situations seem intractable. They’re so complex and wicked that something else is needed.
Systems thinking looks at the big picture, at the interconnections between elements, and what might happen if we intervene – including knock on effects elsewhere.
We try and engage with the complexity of a situation but some systems thinking approaches can feel quite muted, like they almost lack ambition.
They seek to incrementally improve situations, not radically transform them.
That’s partly because radical approaches cause pain. And demolishing existing institutions without a coherent plan for a replacement tends to cause more problems down the line. And it’s partly because you’re working with people and have to deal with politics and culture along with the situation itself.
There’s no clear cut answer, and there’s a place for all these approaches.
The trick is knowing when you to cut, when to fix, and when to improve – and choosing the approach that helps most.
REFERENCES
Bansal, T., Birkinshaw, J., 2025. Why You Need Systems Thinking Now. Harvard Business Review 103, 124–133.
When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him: ‘Whose?’
— Don Marquis
Your first few customers will come through founder-led sales.
This week I’ve been working on my sales process. The simple truth every founder needs to hear? It’s up to you. If you don’t put in the work, nothing happens. Clients don’t magically turn up.
I’ve been doing some things right and some things wrong.
I started posting regularly on LinkedIn. There isn’t a huge readership – we’re all competing with many other people on the platform – but being invisible isn’t a good strategy if you want customers.
You’ve got to get out and do something – anything – to get started.
A year ago I put some time into pushing out content. I found that the people that liked what I published and that I interacted with were similar to me – interested in the same topics and with similar jobs. I saw that as a problem. After all, I was networking to meet clients, not competitors.
What I hadn’t realised was that you have to reach out to clients first. Every potential buyer has been approached by ten competitors before you’re even thought of getting in touch with them. The chances of them seeing your content and getting in touch are vanishingly small. You’ve got to start by improving the odds.
And this takes work. Not hard work like digging ditches, but work nonetheless. It’s a few hours a day working on reaching out to people that work in the roles that have the power to decide whether to work with you or not. And then a few more hours the next day. And so on until you have your first 20 clients and can afford to hire someone to do this work for you.
People who can bring business into a firm are called rainmakers.
I’m working with a coach to improve my rainmaking skills. Having someone talk through a plan with you, and then keep you accountable and motivated, is a good way to build and keep momentum during what is going to be an emotionally draining period. It’s easy to get low when you have no responses. You get that dopamine hit when someone responds. You have to learn to keep working the plan despite what you feel from time to time.
It’s early days, but what I can tell you already is that if you put the work in then something will happen. I can also tell you that the opposite is true – the best way to stay exactly where you are is to do nothing at all.
I might spend the next few posts digging into rainmaking as a topic, working through some of the ideas as a new book project.
Your customers are the lifeblood of your business. Their needs and wants impact every aspect of your business, from product development to content marketing to sales to customer service.
— John Rampton
I’ve got sales on my mind. I run a business – well, actually a couple of businesses now.
I dropped out of a PhD to join a startup twenty years ago as their first employee. Three of us in a small room. We grew to thirty and were acquired eight years later. I spent a decade in a corporate environment, and now am back to the startup routine, which is where I’m most comfortable.
That journey taught me a lot about building a business. In a startup you’re responsible for everything. Back then I was building computers and putting in wiring for servers. Now, you just start a Microsoft or Google workspace subscription and everything you need is up and running immediately. Infrastructure is not a problem.
Sales, on the other hand – there’s the real challenge. Sales isn’t magic – it’s a craft. One that you have to learn just like you learned everything else, with repetition and focus. So I’ve spent a little time today going back to basics. Reading the classics. And here’s what I’ve found.
Paul makes a distinction between founders and managers. Titles like CEO or COO mean nothing in a startup. You don’t have the ability to give your team instructions and then go golfing. You’re a part of the team – not apart from it.
You feel different when you introduce yourself as a founder, rather than a CXO or a sales person. It’s life or death for you. And you should approach it with that attitude. Seriously and with purpose. This matters. And if you really believe that, your prospects will see it too.
Commit, connect and collaborate
But what should you do – how do you spend your time? Three words: commit, connect and collaborate.
PA Consulting carried out research that found that professional services firm partners fall into one of five profiles. Only one of them is a rainmaker – that rare breed of person that brings in business to the firm. They called this profile the Activator.
An activator commits to building his or her network, connecting with people at different levels of an organisation. They know that a single contact is a single point of failure. As a result, they learn more about the company’s strategies, issues and needs.
Armed with this knowledge, they can collaborate with others to create products and services their clients truly need.
Engage on their time, not yours
B2B sales have changed since COVID. Everything starts with reaching out – but it’s not about cold calling or emails and relentless follow ups. I remember reading a line from a cold caller that said once a person was on their list, they stopped getting calls when they bought, or when they died. It’s a good thing that kind of thinking is dead.
Instead, you have to be where prospects are – which these days means platforms like LinkedIn for B2B consultancy firms like us. And events. And conferences. Places where people come together to learn from people.
The big difference is that the journey is now messy and multifaceted rather than linear and predictable. Lots of touchpoints rather than a funnel. Your content becomes the new cold call. Material that’s there for prospects when they are ready for it – case studies, opinions, videos – on their schedule.
Standardise marketing, not sales
Now this type of reality crashes headfirst into a common thought pattern. Many people believe that things that work have to be standardised, repeatable and teachable. In B2B, however, things are often complex, complicated and confused.
One of the best explanations of what needs to change here is the need to end the war between sales and marketing. The traditional view is that marketing is fuzzy and hard to measure. Sales is predictable and numbers driven.
In reality, we need to reverse this. Marketing is about numbers – put in the work, make connections, share content – and you’ll start conversations with the right people. Marketing opens the door. Sales then figures out what to do in the room – listening, understanding and co-creating the products and services that add value.
And closing the deal.
Learn to surface demand
Now you’re in front of a prospect. How do you talk to them and understand what they need?
Rob Snyder has an answer. His PULL framework gives you one way to structure a conversation.
Start by talking about a Project that they have to work on – one that’s Unavoidable and has to be done. That means it’s important. List the options that the prospect is going to consider. Do they all have severe Limitations? If so, you’ve got a demand signal – they need something. Now you can work out what that is and build it for them.
In other words, if you figure out what a prospect needs – demand – you can provide what they need – supply. It’s basic economics, just the other way around.
Putting it all together
In the end, sales is like everything else in a startup – you learn by doing. Get that right and you’ll end up with delighted customers, and a business that was worth building.
You can’t run a marathon without running a marathon. – Chris Sale
I’ve been writing on this blog for 8 years. I have a process. Bash out a draft, spell check, and hit publish. It’s good enough so get it out there.
I think that’s been the right strategy so far. When you’re starting it’s important to focus on producing work – to build the habits that help you create. Quantity over quality.
Over the years I’ve tried different approaches. Short sentences. Long sentences. Academic paragraphs. Lightweight paragraphs. Experimenting with writing styles and structures. I’ve tried projects – book projects, book summary projects, social media projects.
In the process it’s helped me find my voice and develop a writing style that works for me.
But now it’s time to get better. To improve my writing – and that comes from editing and rewriting. This time I’m not writing for myself, but for a reader who is giving me their time. I have to deliver value in return.
So that’s the plan as I head into the final stretch of my million-word writing goal. There are less than 20,000 words to go. I’m going to try and make them good ones.
Handcrafted insight 