Generative as the Way Forward
The 'AI narrative' needs to change from automation to exploration
Yesterday, in a candid session with 70+ people leaders hosted by Andus Labs and HR Kickstart, a central theme emerged: how we work—and work design—is on the verge of a seismic shift. The rules we've followed don't match the reality we face.
The central question we addressed wasn’t about integrating AI tools to existing workflows; it was about improving how work gets done. That required a different perspective on AI: intelligence becoming the raw material to explore and solve with, rather than just a tool to automate tasks.
This perspective changes more than how we think about AI as tools—it challenges the frameworks we've relied on to innovate.
For example, design thinking—born from IDEO and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design—helped popularize an approach to building better products. It taught us to empathize, prototype, and iterate. But it was created for a time when problems and solutions followed predictable patterns.
That world is dissolving. The boundaries between human and machine intelligence are blurring, and problems shift faster than linear methods can address them.
This demands new ideas for thinking, building, and solving problems.
What's needed isn’t a checklist of steps but a new kind of thinking—recursive, relational, and real-time. It begins with questions, loops through experimentation, and reveals ideas that weren't visible from the original frame.
We call this Generative Thinking.
We founded Andus Labs to put it into practice.
A Generative Turn
The term "generative" is often associated with AI, but it's not really about machines. Generative is about thinking, working, and creating when the old rules no longer apply. It's a new way forward—one that's becoming essential.
The concept carries weight. Over the next few years, we won't just update our tools. With AI in hand, history suggests that society's scaffolding will undergo radical change.
Look around you. Jobs are moving from fixed roles to AI-augmented and fractional ones. Politics is moving from central authority to networked influence. Economics is moving from linear productivity to exponential gains. Education is shifting from a traditional canon to a model of continuous learning. Communication is moving from a broadcast orientation for people to machine-readability for LLMs.
These aren't surface shifts. They're structural rewrites. We're leaving behind a world organized by precedent and predictability, and stepping into one that requires new perspectives, experimentation, and ongoing redesign. In this context, generative thinking becomes essential.
From Fracture to Form
Rather than starting with a predetermined plan, we begin by recognizing the breaks—the dated or misguided assumptions that hold us back. The HR session revealed exactly this kind of fracture.
During our discussion, one participant mentioned being reprimanded by her CEO for using AI.
Imagine the bind this creates. With AI integrated into workflows, the hiring process that once delivered talent now produces confusion. Jobs are no longer static but are open to negotiation. The onboarding process designed for people will soon feel incomplete when a ‘colleague’ is an AI model.
The CEO's stance could be seen as a leadership mistake, but through a generative lens, it's actually a productive fracture—a signal that warrants attention.
The break clarifies that the CEO—and likely the executive team—need education on AI in the workplace and its broader implications, both within the firm and beyond.
Fractures aren't endings—they're signals of what's emerging. When they’re revealed, they suggest new questions to ask.
Generative Thinking isn’t linear. Once the right questions are surfaced, we explore across disciplines, uncover contradictions, and remix ideas—not to converge on a quick answer, but to gain a broader perspective.
We let the AIs in—not to decide but to multiply, not to replace thought but to expand it. Only then do we compose. Not for finality—but for form. Again, not for an answer, but for a what-if.
Then, we build and test real things. Because every artifact is feedback, every new idea can be a prototype of consequence. The ones proven to work pave the way forward.
See Generative Thinking Come Alive
With Generative Thinking, we design for new behaviors, learning, and solutions. The form is fluid, and the field is alive.
On July 23, Andus Labs is hosting After Now—a live gathering for leaders, builders, and curious minds ready to dive into the ‘field.’
This isn’t a typical AI conference. It’s a look into the minds of original thinkers—artists, strategists, and technologists like Brian Eno, Albert Wenger, and Marina Gorbis—showing what it means to build, lead, and design in a generative way. Expect to see working demos, honest how-tos, and unexpected insights.
If you’re tasked with “figuring out AI” for your team—or sense the rules of work are being rewritten—this is for you.
Let's not wait for the future to arrive. Let's generate it together. RSVP here.
To explore more perspectives on generative thinking, see my book Perspective Agents. It features frameworks and cases demonstrating this approach in action. Thanks for reading.