Selling AI Strategy To Employees: Shopify CEO's Manifesto
Tobias Lütke, CEO, Shopify (Photo By David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
A leaked internal memo from Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke has quietly gone viral in executive circles—and for good reason. It is arguably one of the clearest expressions to date of what CEO leadership should look like in the Age of AI.
In the memo, Lütke states plainly, 'Using AI effectively is now a fundamental expectation of everyone at Shopify.' Not just developers. Not just analysts. Everyone.
This is not some passing trend, or another bullet point on an IT roadmap. It is a cultural shift. It's a new way of working and thinking—one that Shopify is now weaving into its performance reviews, product development cycles, and company-wide expectations. In the memo, Lütke makes the following proclamations:
The tone of the memo is direct and urgent. Lütke asserts that failing to adopt AI now will lead to stagnation and decline, emphasizing that employees must keep climbing—or risk sliding backward.
'This exemplifies what CEO leadership looks like in the Age of AI, says Paul Baier, CEO of GAI Insights. 'CEOs must adapt to leading organizations of, say, 1,000 employees empowered with 5,000 AI assistants.'
What makes the Shopify memo so compelling is its bluntness. Lütke doesn't politely suggest employees try using AI. He doesn't offer training modules or optional tools. He says adapt or fall behind. 'Stagnation is slow-motion failure. If you're not climbing, you're sliding.'
Lütke's memo also reflects a broader reality: AI has already shifted from experiment to expectation. The companies that thrive in this new environment will be those whose CEOs stop treating AI as an initiative and start treating it as a core operating model.
This isn't bravado, attention-seeking, or trying to be the 'cool kid' in the industry. It's realism. For organizations in the crucible of generative AI disruption—media, retail, finance, logistics—awareness and experimentation are no longer enough. Adaptation is the new mandate and must start at the top.
Several other business leaders are issuing similar directives—less publicized, but equally transformative:
What these leaders understand is that AI is about much more than tools and apps. Nor is it a sidecar to business strategy. It is business strategy.
Executive leadership isn't about cheerleading AI or greenlighting another pilot project. CEOs must fundamentally shift how they lead. Here's what that looks like in practice:
We're fast approaching an era when leading companies will function more like self-driving enterprises—data-fueled, agentic AI orchestrated, highly automated, and continuously learning and strategically adapting in real time. That won't happen by happenstance. It will require CEOs to shift their organizations' very metabolism.
What Shopify has shown is that the path to this future isn't paved with expensive platforms or massive headcount changes—it's built by creating a workplace culture where AI is part of every project, every role, and every decision. Not because it's trendy, but because it's an imperative to be sufficiently efficient and adaptable.
Organizations that treat AI as a way of life will thrive. Those that relegate it to the IT department will lag, or lose altogether.
The memo from Lütke is more than an internal directive. It's a mirror for every senior executive to look into and ask: Are we organizationally adapting? Or are we merely treating AI as a science project?
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