Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 697 The Reason You Are Still Not Using AI Has Nothing to Do with AI. Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 697

There is a pattern I keep seeing, and it is too consistent to ignore. A senior professional reads an article about AI transforming their industry. They nod. They agree. They may even forward it to a colleague with a note that says, “we should talk about this.” And then they go back to working exactly the way they worked last month. And the month before that. And the month before that. This is not a discipline problem. It is not...

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Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 696 AI Is Not Coming for Your Job. It Is Coming for Your Successor. Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 696

Everyone is asking the wrong question about AI and jobs. The fear is that AI will replace senior professionals. It will not. Not yet, and probably not in the way most people imagine. The real disruption is quieter, more structural, and far more dangerous: AI is eliminating the entry level and junior roles that train the next generation of senior professionals. The pipeline that creates your future replacement, your future partner, your future successor, is breaking. And almost nobody is...

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Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 695 AI Will Make You Dumber. Unless You Do This One Thing Differently Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 695

There is an uncomfortable truth hiding inside the AI productivity revolution, and almost nobody is talking about it. The same tool that is supposed to make you sharper may be quietly making you weaker. Not because AI is flawed. Because of how you are using it. Think about what happened with calculators. Once they became standard, we stopped doing mental math. Not gradually. Almost immediately. The skill did not fade because it became irrelevant. It faded because something else handled...

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Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 694 Your Expertise Has a Shelf Life. Here Is What Replaces It. Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 694

There is something nobody in the professional services world wants to say out loud, so I will say it. The expertise you have spent your entire career building is now a depreciating asset. Not because you are wrong. Not because your knowledge is flawed. But because AI is commoditizing knowledge itself at a speed that makes your years of accumulated insight less rare with every model release. This is not about being replaced by a chatbot. It is about the...

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Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 693 The Expertise You Cannot Articulate Is the Opportunity You Are Missing Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 693

Most professionals I work with are not struggling because they lack expertise. They are struggling because they cannot clearly express what they know in a way that makes the right people stop and say: “I never thought about it this way. I need more of this.” After nearly four decades working across software development, internet strategy, and now also artificial intelligence, I have watched this pattern repeat across every technology wave. The consultants, coaches, and advisors who fall behind are...

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Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 692 Stop Starting From Zero Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 692

Every week, I watch smart professionals use AI the same way. They open a new conversation, explain who they are, describe what they need, provide the context, ask their question, get an answer, close the window, and start the entire process over again next time. It is the equivalent of hiring a brilliant strategist and firing them at the end of every meeting. This is how most people use AI. And it is exactly why most people get mediocre results...

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Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 691 From Stagnant to Thriving: The 7 Reasons Your Business Stopped Growing Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 691

From Stagnant to Thriving: The 7 Reasons Your Business Stopped Growing Most business owners don’t fail dramatically. They stagnate quietly. Revenue plateaus, energy drains, and the business that once felt like momentum starts to feel like maintenance. The problem is rarely competence. It’s architecture. What makes stagnation more dangerous in 2026 than ever before is that AI is accelerating the advantages of businesses that are already well-positioned and strategically clear. The gap between thriving and stuck is no longer closing...

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Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 690 Before You Add Another Strategy, Read This Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 690

Most consultants, advisors, and entrepreneurs are not lacking access to new ideas. If anything, they are overwhelmed by them. New strategies, new platforms, new initiatives, especially with AI advancing at a relentless pace. So, the real issue is not whether growth requires something new. It often does. The problem is that most professionals cannot distinguish between what will actually create leverage and what will simply add complexity. That distinction is where momentum is either created or lost. Tonight begins Passover....

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Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 689 Most Business Owners Are About to Fall Behind… Here’s Why Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 689

I’m writing this from Florida… Not a bad place to spend a few days, especially when it means escaping the Cleveland snow. But this isn’t a vacation. I’m here attending an intensive 3-day AI conference, fully immersed in what’s next. And as always, I’m here for one reason: Raising the Barr® not just for myself, but for you and your business. Because the truth is simple: If I’m not growing, learning, and staying ahead… I can’t help you do the...

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Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 688 Most Are Playing With AI. A Few Will Change Everything Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 688

A few days ago, I came across a short video of Steve Jobs from 1985. Not 2015 or even a few years ago, but 1985. In just about a minute, he described exactly where we are today with AI. He said his dream was this: what if we could capture the thinking of someone like Aristotle so that a student could ask him questions and receive answers? If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth watching. It’s about a minute long...

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