AI as an Operating System, Not a Tool: How Operators Drive ROI

The real barrier to AI ROI is not intelligence; it is decision latency. Most organizations already have the signals, the data, and smart people, but value leaks while information moves through handoffs, reports, and meetings. Drawing on operating experience at tarte cosmetics across launch inventory, customer feedback, finance signals, and capital allocation, this talk shows how operators can treat AI not merely as a standalone tool or software platform, but as a management system that compresses the path from signal to accountable action. It examines how to connect AI to revenue quality, margin, working capital, and risk; screen initiatives before capital is committed; and define bounded authority for AI without delegating human accountability. Attendees will leave with a practical decision-loop framework and six questions for determining whether an AI initiative will change how the business moves—or simply add another layer of output.