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"We're not just winning {{FIRST_NAME}}, we're lapping the field. Twice the points of Ferrari."

This is what McLaren engineers would be telling you about the current 2025 F1 racing season.

Same engine as everyone else. Same $135M budget cap. Same basic rulebook.

But blowing everyone out of the water…

Why am I telling you this in a digital procurement newsletter?

McLaren is winning because of everything they built around the engine….

The custom aerodynamics. The cooling systems. The obsessive attention to hundreds of variables that most teams get wrong.

Here's the thing: your procurement team is facing the exact same dynamic with Artificial Intelligence right now.

Everyone has access to the same "engines": ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc. But most teams are approaching AI like they're trying to win Formula 1 races with a Honda Civic…

What if I told you the teams actually winning with AI aren't winning because of their technology choices...

What if it's all about becoming the kind of organization that can make any AI solution work?

That's a completely different game… And I’ll show you the rules. Tonight.

Onwards!

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👀 In Case You Missed It…
My Best Linkedin post this week:

Weren't catalogs supposed to make procurement simpler?

In Formula 1, all teams start with the same basic raw material:

However, even with the budget cap, there are still some very big discrepancies between team performance year over year...

Why?

Well, the edge comes from everything else you build around that engine. The car body? The aerodynamics? Completely custom. How air flows under the car, the wing designs, the cooling systems, that's where the real performance difference occurs.

But why is high-level performance so crazy hard to get right?

Well, that $135M? It's spread across:

That's a lot of variables to control!

But once you get them right? Wow. Magic happens. McLaren is proving it this year. They are currently leading the team standings by more than twice the points over 2nd place Ferrari.

What's more? Out of the millions of cars on the road, there are only 10 high-performing F1 teams (or 20 cars). This is the “crème de la crème” of automobiles…

And McLaren is still blowing everyone out of the water!

Of course, you wouldn't expect to win F1 races with your Honda Civic (especially if you're not doing the regular maintenance!). But you are driving with innovations that have trickled down from F1 over the years: ABS brakes, airbags, GPS navigation, backup cameras.

What can F1 teach us about what's happening with Generative AI and AI agents?

In business, everyone starts with access to Large Language Models (LLM).

You know the popular ones like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc. But LLMs are plentiful. There are also plenty of tools available to leverage other AI subdomains and create your very own AI Agents: Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning, computer vision, etc.

These are the "engines" available on the market. Everyone has access to them.

But none of these tools guarantee a high return on investment... Everything hinges on a high number of variables:

But once you get the mix right? Magic happens. You start feeling like McLaren on the F1 track….

Don't take it from me... Just watch what Walmart, Siemens and JP Morgan are saying and doing.

What's more? Out of the hundreds of thousands of companies in the world, I believe there will only be a handful that understand this dynamic enough to dedicate enough time, money and energy to get things right...

But man... Will they blow everyone else out of the water.

Sure, every company will benefit from the "trickle down" benefits of AI... If they’re not already doing so, your generic “office productivity tools” will soon be able to:

But those who win this “race” are not waiting for “trickle down benefits”…

They are charging ahead, rethinking their business models with the “AI subdomain toolbelt” strapped to their hips… And they’re in for a heck of a payday when they step atop the podium… Expect them to “spray the champagne” very publicly...

Has your company realized this yet? The "gold rush" has begun.

Just like F1, the winners won't be determined by who has access to the best engine… Everyone does. The winners will be the organizations that can orchestrate all the variables around that engine into a cohesive, high-performance operating model.

And guess what… There’s no $135M budget cap in business…

But thankfully, money isn’t the only ammo you have here… (although it sure helps 😅)

Being thoughtful and strategic is half the battle.

However, most procurement teams are approaching AI like they're trying to win F1 races with a Honda Civic.

They're buying off-the-shelf solutions, hoping for plug-and-play transformation, expecting the "engine" to do all the work.

It won't.

The teams that win will be the ones that treat AI implementation like building a championship F1 car: obsessive attention to every component, massive investment in the right talent, relentless testing and optimization, and the understanding that excellence requires getting hundreds of variables right simultaneously.

Everyone else will get the trickle-down benefits: better search functions, smarter workflows, incremental improvements.

But the champions? They'll be lapping the field.

What is your procurement function strategy to get all the variables right?