The AI Owner's Manual

Why I wrote this book

Over the past few years I've worked with hundreds of business leaders, CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and department heads, at companies from twenty employees to five hundred. No matter the industry or company size, I kept hearing the same three concerns:

"I know AI is important, but I don't know where to start."
"Every vendor promises the world, but how do I know what's real?"
"I don't want to fall behind, but I also can't afford expensive mistakes."

These aren't technical questions. They're business questions, and they deserve practical, honest answers, not the breathless hype that dominates most AI conversations.

Most books about AI fall into one of two camps. The first is written for technologists, full of jargon and implementation details that assume you want to become a machine learning engineer. The second is written by futurists, painting grand visions while offering little guidance on what to do Monday morning. Neither serves the executive who has to make real decisions with real budgets and real teams.

You won't find cheerleading here. Just practical guidance from someone leading a team that implements this technology every day.

What's inside

The book is organized around the questions that keep executives up at night, moving from a reality check through to durable competitive advantage. The ten core chapters:

• 1. The Executive's AI Reality CheckSeparate what AI can really do from the marketing, with a 3-question framework for cutting through vendor claims.
• 2. AI Triage: Finding Your Starting PointThe AI Opportunity Framework and the five processes every SMB should evaluate first.
• 3. The First 90 DaysA week-by-week plan to go from decision to first win without stalling.
• 4. AI for Your Leadership TeamRole-by-role playbooks for the CEO, CFO, COO, CMO, CHRO, and CTO.
• 5. Communicating with AIThe prompting principles that matter and how to build a reusable prompt library.
• 6. AI GovernancePolicy, data governance, shadow AI, and what to do when something goes wrong.
• 7. AI Economics for SMBsWhat AI really costs, build vs. buy vs. subscribe, and ROI math that holds up.
• 8. The People Side of AIChange management and the honest conversation about jobs and skills.
• 9. Building Your AI AdvantageTurning pilots into a real, defensible competitive edge.
• 10. Staying Current Without Losing Your MindA sane information diet and a 30-minute monthly review habit.

Who it's for

Business owners and executives, CEOs, CFOs, COOs, CHROs, and CTOs, at companies from roughly 20 to 500 people who need to make real AI decisions with real budgets and real teams. If you want results rather than theory, and honesty rather than hype, this book was written for you.

The companion toolkit

The frameworks, calculators, checklists, and templates referenced throughout the book live in the companion resource library, and they're kept updated as the market changes. You can browse them any time.

Explore the resource library →

About the author

Jess Coburn has spent 30 years building and implementing technology across five major tech cycles. He founded Applied Innovations in 1999, serves as CTO at QIT Solutions, co-authored the #1 Amazon bestseller Hack Proof Your Business, and hosts the Cyberside Chats podcast. He still leads a team that implements AI for real businesses every day, which is exactly where the guidance in this book comes from.