Unrecognized but indispensable, people with an entrepreneurial gig mindset are needed for successful AI-based projects.
AI is a race between mindsets, and the advantage will go to those who can challenge, take risks, and improvise.
What’s missing in our hectic drive to AI success?
We have the technology, but not the people and culture. MIT Technology Review Insights says people need to:
“Feel free to express opinions and take calculated risks without worrying about career repercussions.”
Wharton University, based on 3 years of data, says:
“The human side remains the bottleneck and a key potential accelerant.”
Playing the double-edged sword
Humans are an accelerant because most organizations have at least a few entrepreneurial gig mindsetters. But humans are also a bottleneck because these people are in the shadows, deliberately out of sight of management.
How did this come about? It’s a clash between two mentalities.
The traditional management decades-old ways of working include hierarchies, proven methods, and following the rules. During the digital revolution in the 2000s, things moved relatively slowly. Companies valued best practices, centralized decision-making, and maintained walls around almost everything.
I saw the entrepreneurial or gig mindset emerge slowly in my ten years of research about organizations in the digital age. People were advancing projects with no official approval and taking initiatives that challenged the status quo. I named them “gig mindsetters” and saw in my data that they were badly perceived by many within their companies. They still are in many cases. They make management nervous. Essential yet threatening.
I talked at conferences about my research and a few people saw the future coming:
A manager in a UN agency in Geneva predicted:
“Gig-mindset people are like early adopters. There are not many today, but their numbers will grow gradually.
A manager in a Scandinavian transport company said:
“The gig mindset will be the real competitive advantage during the digital transformation era.”
Today, that competitive edge has come! The entrepreneurial gig mindset is the cornerstone of a successful AI future.
My research brought out seven traits of the new mindset compared to the traditional way of working.
Creativity: out-of-the-box thinking and test-and-learn approaches (vs. established procedures)
Working with others based on their skills (vs. based on their official roles)
Working out loud: looking for ongoing input from others (vs. finish first then share)
Proactiveness: initiating a project, assuming responsibility for decisions (vs. hierarchical flows for decision-making)
Challenging: Questioning the status quo (vs. maintaining stability and consistency)
Networking: High degree of external networking (vs. networking mainly focused on current projects)
Self-confidence: responsibility for learning (vs. career path defined with manager and HR)
The new AI era does not have Best Practices. We need to discover “Next Practices”.
MIT Technology reminds us that the new world of AI lacks established best practices. My response is that we are now in the era of C.K. Prahalad’s “next practices”. (Link below)
Three real examples illustrate the gig mindset perspective and next practices.
NoHarm, Brazil. From local improvisation to large scale practice
Mayo Clinic, Hypothesis-driven AI experiment
Colgate-Palmolive, Innovation via Virtual Twin experiments
(See the links at the bottom for details.)
Today it’s a race between mindsets. The advantage will go to those who can challenge, take risks, and improvise.
Four entrepreneurial actions people can take immediately to begin to make a difference.
Network externally and internally. Be an “insider-outsider”.
Work out loud. Take feedback as your project advances.
Share data. Be clear about sources – human or AI-generated.
Cross boundaries. Change workflows to connect people across the company.
Keep a cool head and think for yourself!
The digital revolution unfolded over two decades. By contrast, the fever of the AI revolution will give you whiplash. Every third Super Bowl ad in 2026 openly touted AI’s job-replacement capacity. But remember: a lot of this is hype. Don’t fall for AI narratives. Predictions on AI range from world-ending Skynet to utopian fantasies. Keep a cool head and think for yourself.
We’re in a race between mindsets
This speed rewards a different kind of worker. This isn’t just a competitive race between companies. AI is a race between mindsets, and the advantage will go to those who can challenge, take risks, and improvise.
The entrepreneurial gig mindsetters need to come out of the shadows and mobilize their management and colleagues to join them.
Please share your thoughts in the comments. Let’s have a conversation about this!
Reference material
Global research: MIT Technology Review Insights and Wharton
https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/12/16/1125899/creating-psychological-safety-in-the-ai-era/?
https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/special-report/2025-ai-adoption-report/?
Next Practices
https://hbr.org/2010/04/column-best-practices-get-you-only-so-far
AI Examples
https://imaginize.world/noharm-innovative-ai-with-henrique-dias/
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/mayo-clinics-healthy-model-for-ai-success/
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-genai-focus-shifts-to-innovation-at-colgate-palmolive/
My research
https://imaginize.world/research-over-14-years-from-organization-to-individual/