Business Owners, AI Is Your Co-Pilot. You’re Still Maverick.

How to Use AI Without Giving Up the Pilot’s Seat

Remember Top Gun: Maverick?

Of course you do. Tom Cruise. Fighter jets. Impossible missions. Lots of people staring intensely at one another while Kenny Loggins apparently remains employed for eternity.

For me, though, Top Gun: Maverick has a little extra significance. It was the first movie I saw in a theater after COVID. I went with some of my dearest friends, and it did not disappoint. The action. The thrills. Those flight sequences. Some movies are simply meant to be experienced on the big screen.

We were awed. And, yes, we were fangirling over Tom Cruise all over again. Now I can hardly wait for the next Top Gun movie. But somewhere between the fighter jets, explosions, and aviator sunglasses, Maverick also delivered a surprisingly relevant business lesson.

---

Technology was getting better. And Maverick was getting older.

Sound familiar? Welcome to AI.

In the movie, Maverick represents something increasingly unfashionable: experience. He knows the aircraft. He knows the environment. He knows what can go wrong. More importantly, after decades of flying, he recognizes things that aren't necessarily sitting neatly on an instrument panel.

Meanwhile, technology keeps getting smarter. That is pretty much where business leaders find themselves today. AI can research faster than you. Analyze more data than you. Compare hundreds of competitors. Spot correlations. Model scenarios. Generate alternatives.

And do it all before you've figured out where you left your coffee. So apparently, we're obsolete.

Except we're not.

---

The Machine Has Data. Maverick Has Context:

Here's where the analogy gets interesting.

A machine can calculate what's theoretically possible. An experienced pilot understands what's possible.

Business works the same way. AI can tell you that the market is growing 14%. Wonderful. But should you enter it? That's an entirely different question.

AI doesn't automatically know:

• That your organization tried something similar seven years ago and it didn't work.

• That your best customer hates the proposed change.

• Why your sales team won’t sell it.

It doesn't necessarily recognize that the attractive opportunity is sitting directly in front of you. That's not data. That's context. And context changes decisions.

---

AI Doesn't Replace Maverick. It Gives Maverick Better Instruments:

This is where I think we're having the wrong conversation about AI.

We're asking: Will AI replace experienced executives, consultants, and strategists? I think the more useful question is: What happens when an executive has access to intelligence that used to require an entire team and several weeks to assemble?

Now things are getting interesting.

Because Maverick just got a much better airplane. AI can help us:

• SEE more — markets, competitors, customers, trends, threats and opportunities.

• NAVIGATE better — test assumptions, evaluate alternatives and connect the dots.

• ACCELERATE faster — move from research to insight to execution much more quickly.

But there's an important distinction. Acceleration is not direction. Going 1,000 miles an hour doesn't help much if you're headed toward the wrong mountain.

---

Experience + AI Is the Real Story:

There is something else about Maverick that makes the analogy work.

He's not fighting technology simply because he's old-school. He uses technology. He understands its capabilities. But he also understands its limitations.

That's where I think experienced business leaders need to land with AI. Don't reject it. Don't worship it. Fly with it.

Let AI gather the information and find patterns. Then bring something AI doesn't have: Your history and experience. Your knowledge of the organization & ability to recognize patterns. And willingness to make the call.

---

Because Somebody Still Has to Choose the Mission: That's the point behind AI as your strategic co-pilot. AI isn't sitting at the back of the plane. It belongs right beside you.

But you're still Maverick. You determine where you're going. You decide which signals matter. You connect the dots. You evaluate the risks. You choose the route.

And perhaps that's the real lesson of Top Gun: Maverick for the AI era: AI as your strategic co-pilot helps accelerate the journey. But don't surrender the wheel. Or, as Maverick might put it: The machine can make you faster. Experience tells you where to fly.

---

Ready to Put AI in the Right Seat? AI can help you research faster, see more, uncover patterns and test possibilities.

But it still can't decide where your business should go next. That's where Biz Made EZ comes in. We bring together AI and decades of business experience to help leaders achieve:

Better Insights. Better Decisions. Better Results.

---

Ready for a little more clarity? Let’s talk. Email me at debbieg@bizmadeez.com