The hard part of AI agents is the management, not the model.
Most agent initiatives fail before a single agent ships, in the use case you chose and the role you gave your people. A practical guide for the leaders deciding.
Written from inside enterprise AI: leading the AWS Nordics innovation program, working embedded on the AI teams of global companies, and training more than 25,000 leaders. By Amir Elion.
The five things only a human can give an AI agent
The framework at the heart of this site: Managing AI Agents Like Teammates.
- 1JobDefine what the agent is for, clearly enough to hold it to the result.
- 2ContextGive it what matters and why, not only the procedure.
- 3AutonomyTune how much it decides on its own to the task and the stakes.
- 4ToolsGrant the access and permissions it needs to do real work.
- 5MonitorKeep checking the outputs, the process, and the drift.
The papers
A practical body of work on AI agents for the leaders deciding.
- 01What AI agents actually areFor executives, not engineers. What an agent is, and how it differs from the AI you already use.
- 02Why / What / How: choosing your agent use casesA three-question filter for deciding which agent initiatives are worth pursuing, before you touch a tool.
- 03Managing AI Agents Like TeammatesThe five things only a human can give an AI agent: a job, context, autonomy, tools, and oversight.
- 04AI agents vs copilotsWhat changes when the tool stops assisting and starts acting, and why that changes how you lead it.
- 05Three real AI agents worth studyingThree documented agent case studies told honestly, from a Nature paper to an honest failure, and what each teaches.
- 06Governance and the EU AI Act for AI agents coming soonRisk, permissions, and oversight, without strangling the thing you are trying to build.
- 07What good looks like: worked examples coming soonReal leadership teams putting agents to work, and what actually made the difference.
- 08AI agents for financial-services executives coming soonThe regulated-industry view: where agents earn their place in banking and insurance, and where they do not.
- 09When agents work in teams coming soonMultiple agents handing work to each other across a process, and the coordination and oversight that takes.