This might be the most counterintuitive thing I've learned. The people getting the best results from AI aren't the techies. They're the ones who deeply understand how their business works.
The Plumber and the Lawyer
A plumber I know uses AI to draft quotes and schedule follow-ups. He doesn't know what a large language model is. He knows that every job has sixteen steps and seven of them are paperwork. He pointed AI at the paperwork and got his afternoons back.
A boutique law firm partner uses it to summarize case files before Monday morning prep. She doesn't care about prompt engineering. She cares about walking into a client meeting prepared.
The Pattern
The pattern is always the same. Understand your process. Find the friction. Point the tool at the friction. The AI knowledge matters less than the self-knowledge.
The plumber doesn't need to understand neural networks. He needs to understand that seven of his sixteen steps are paperwork. That self-knowledge is worth more than any AI course.
Why Operations People Have an Advantage
If you've spent years in operations, you already have the most important AI skill: the ability to see a process clearly. You know where the bottlenecks are. You know which steps add value and which are just inertia. You know the edge cases, the exceptions, and the unwritten rules.
Tech people approach AI from the technology side — "what can this tool do?" Operations people approach it from the process side — "where are my biggest pain points?" The second question always leads to better outcomes.
You don't need to understand AI. You need to understand your own operations. And if you've been doing this work for any length of time, you already do.