I recently sat down with Sangeet Paul Choudary to talk about his new book, Reshuffle. I’ve long admired Sangeet’s work on platforms and ecosystems, which has shaped how many of us understand the digital economy. With Reshuffle, he takes the conversation into new territory. The focus of his new book is artificial intelligence, but more importantly, it’s about how AI is forcing leaders to rethink the very architecture of their organizations.
Sangeet reminded me that we are living through a shift as profound as the one that gave rise to industrial corporations more than a century ago. Leaders can’t treat AI as another wave of technology adoption or as something that they can bolt on to their existing organizational structures. They need to reshuffle their organizational deck entirely.
For the past few years, AI has largely been applied as a series of point solutions. Companies implemented smarter chatbots, better recommendation engines, or predictive maintenance systems. These produced incremental gains but have left organizational structures intact. Reshuffle argues that this era is over. As AI is advancing rapidly and embedding itself deeply, it no longer makes sense to think in terms of tools. Leaders must now ask how AI changes the way work is organized, how feedback loops are designed between humans and machines, and what new forms of coordination become possible when intelligence itself is distributed across networks.
Sangeet laid out four paths organizations can take. The first is to bolt on AI, simply layering tools on top of old processes. This feels safe, but it produces surface-level results. The second is to reconfigure workflows, flipping the logic so that machines lead in pattern recognition while humans step in where judgment or empathy is needed. The third is to re-architect organizations, questioning silos, building fluid teams, and using AI as connective tissue for coordination and decision-making. The fourth, and boldest, is to reinvent the business model altogether, using AI-driven systems to create entirely new value chains. These are not mutually exclusive choices. They represent stages of maturity, and the leaders who thrive will be those willing to move beyond bolt-on solutions toward re-architecture and reinvention.
Too many executives are caught in cycles of short-term hype and narrative spinning. Reshuffling requires the courage to step back, make sense of the larger shifts, and chart a new course. It also requires the willingness to embrace uncertainty and accept the fact that the future economy will be very different from today’s economy.
Sangeet is clear that the future is not humans versus machines, but an economy that combines the complementary strengths of humans and machines. That economy isn’t, however, explained by simplistic binary frameworks of automation vs augmentation. Instead, Sangeet calls out that to understand what role humans and machines play in tomorrow’s economy, we first need to understand how firms will fundamentally reimagine value creation and differentiation. New jobs will emerge in response to new forms of differentiation, not just in response to tasks that machines can and cannot do.
This is the key message of Sangeet’s Reshuffle – the impact of AI on work is deeply intertwined with the impact of AI on a firm’s competitiveness. Leaders must first reimagine their business to remain competitive in the age of AI. The new organizational forms that emerge in response to such efforts at differentiation will create new job opportunities. Reshuffle reminds us that if we remain stuck looking at what AI can and can’t do, we miss out on the new systems that will emerge as companies innovate to leverage the capabilities of AI.
As I reflect on Reshuffle, I realize that AI is not just another wave of technology adoption. It is a reshuffling of the entire way businesses are built. Leaders who cling to the old playbook will be left behind. Those who re-architect their organizations, rethink workflows, and reinvent their business models will shape the next era of enterprise. The future belongs to those who have the courage to play a new game.