The Growth Guide | November 2026: Is AI a Tech or People Decision?

Antonio’s Take

What stands out to me here isn't the technology. It's that Capital One built the habit of testing ideas before anyone called it AI. The tools changed. The willingness to try didn't. Most legacy businesses have the opposite problem. Somebody brings an idea, and the answer is "that won't work here." I've watched family businesses lose their best young people over that one sentence. You don't need a data science team to start. You need a place where an idea can grow wings before you decide on it. Ask your youngest employee what they'd automate first, then actually let them try it.

Antonio’s Take

The usual read is that AI spending is a technology decision that eventually affects people. I'd flip it. It's a people decision that happens to involve technology, and the sooner you treat it that way, the better your choices get. Here's what I've seen in legacy businesses: the software gets bought in one room and the staffing gets discussed in another. Nobody connects them until somebody's job changes. Put both conversations at the same table, and bring a younger employee into it. They'll tell you what the tool actually replaces, and what it doesn't.

Antonio’s Take

This is the quick fixes versus everlasting solutions tension, just with more zeros attached. The next generation moves faster and takes on more risk. The generation before them built for fifty years and slept fine doing it. Neither one is wrong by itself. What I've seen in family businesses is that the handoff gets framed as a vote. Whose approach wins. That's the wrong question. If you're holding the reins now, let the next generation run a real piece of the portfolio while you're still in the room. Let them fail small, where it's cheap. You can't flip that switch overnight.

Antonio’s Take

In my book I made the case that Millennials chase the quick fix while the pre-internet generation holds out for the fifty-year solution. AI governance is that same tension wearing a new suit. One side wants to ship it today. The other side wants to be sure nothing breaks. What struck me here is that judgment, not technology, is the real safeguard. And judgment lives in people who talk to each other. So build the conversation before you build the policy. Get your fastest adopter and your most cautious veteran in the same room, and let them mold the two answers into one.

Antonio’s Take

In my book I tell the story of a Millennial assistant manager at a packaging company who had good attendance and no spark. His manager asked him to write down his top three life goals. One was building a gaming app. That idea turned into software that raised the company's revenue and cut costs. A family with 18th century roots putting money behind a children's bike startup is the same instinct, just with more zeros. Old money backing a new idea is how legacy stays alive. Ask your young people what they are building on the side. Then ask how the business could help them build it.

Antonio’s Take

When was the last time you asked one of your people what they want their money to do for them in thirty years? Most of us never go there. We talk about pay, maybe a bonus, and that's where the conversation ends. What I like here is the assumption that an employee's wealth is worth building on purpose, not by accident. That's the same idea I've pushed for years: learn what your younger employee wants out of life, then use the business to help them get there. You don't need a family office to start. You need the question.