How Leaders Can Use AI to Solve Real Business Problems
~29 min listenPublished 7 July 2026Recent· Harvard Business Review IdeaCast
Estimated time: ~29 min listen — typical episode length for this show.
What this is
HBR IdeaCast (7 July 2026) with Josh Tyrangiel: treat AI as a way to solve a named business problem — not as a tool to install and hope for ROI.
AI pays off when a leader names a real problem — not when a tool is rolled out for its own sake.
- IdeaCast 1086 (7 July 2026): Josh Tyrangiel with HBR’s Adi Ignatius and Alison Beard.
- Too many organizations invest without asking what problem they are solving.
- Advantage is strategic use, not access to the same public models.
- About 29 minutes — one commute.
Next action: Write the one business problem you want AI to change this quarter, then listen with that in mind.
Deep dive
The useful question is which business problem AI should change this quarter — not which model to buy first.
Ownership stays with the line: technology partners, they do not replace the decision-maker.
Culture and honesty about disruption matter as much as the pilot list.
Bring one named problem back to your next steering conversation.
Episode note: HBR IdeaCast · Episode 1086 · Josh Tyrangiel · 7 July 2026 · 29 min
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