Field-tested by a practicing AI Champion

You got the AI mandate.
Nobody handed you a manual.

The strategy books talk to your CEO. The prompt books talk to your users. This is the operator's manual for the person in between, the one who actually has to make AI adoption happen.

123 pages, field-tested 11 fill-in templates EPUB, PDF, and editable Word
88%
of organizations now use AI in at least one function
~39%
report any enterprise EBIT impact from it
~95%
of enterprise gen-AI pilots show no measurable P&L impact
27 pts
leaders vs employees on basic AI-agent familiarity (67% vs 40%)

Sources: McKinsey State of AI (88% / ~39%); the MIT NANDA report, a lab working paper rather than a peer-reviewed study, on the ~95% with no measurable P&L impact. Adoption went wide. It did not go deep. The value leaks at the operator layer, which is the seat this book equips.

“Battle-tested in production environments.”

Jared Spataro, Microsoft’s CMO for AI at Work, citing the author’s public Copilot prompt library on LinkedIn, February 2026.

The seat nobody writes for

You have more competence than authority, and more impatience than time.

You sit between a slide that says "we are doing AI" and a team already pasting work into a chat window. You own the gap, and there was no manual for it. So here is the work, in the order you will actually face it.

The pilot that proves nothing

You ran a pilot, but it produced a demo, not a number. You cannot defend "people seem to like it" to a CFO at renewal.

The gate that stalls you

Legal and security can stop you with one email, and you do not know what a DPIA wants or where the lawyer takes over.

The number that holds up

Licenses assigned is not adoption. Logins is not adoption. You need a unit of value that survives the room. This book builds it.

What you get

A read that becomes a toolkit.

The book teaches the thinking. The template pack does the doing. You walk into your next sponsor meeting with the artifact already drafted.

The book

123 pages, 12 chapters across 5 parts

Roughly 35,600 words. Delivered as EPUB and PDF, so it reads on your e-reader, your phone, or your second monitor. Every chapter ends with a move you can make on Monday.

The work in order

Scope a use case, score it, charter the pilot, clear the gate, train the team, prove the number, scale what works.

4 appendices to keep

A glossary that keeps the room speaking one language, a tooling and vendor evaluation reference, a compliance and EU AI Act primer (as of June 2026), and a curated reading list.

Sourced and dated, honestly

Every stat carries a citation. Field experience is labeled "field." Where the data has no clean number, it says so instead of inventing one.

The 11-template pack

Working artifacts, not reading material

You do not retype the frameworks, you fill them in. Shipped two ways: editable Microsoft Word (.docx) with real tables and checkboxes you complete directly, and the markdown source to drop into Notion, Confluence, or any tool in your stack.

The three kinds of notes

The book flags the moves the way you will use them:

Field Note Trap Move
The template pack

Eleven templates, each tied to the chapter that teaches it.

Read the chapter, open the template, fill it in. Appendix A maps every one to its anchor chapter and what it produces.

1Executive Sponsor One-Pager
Chapter 2
2Use-Case Intake & Scoring Sheet
Chapter 3
3Pilot Charter
Chapter 4
4RACI
Chapter 4
5Training Curriculum Outline
Chapter 5
6Adoption KPI & Dashboard Spec
Chapter 8
7DPIA & Security Pre-Flight Checklist
Chapter 6
8Communications & Newsletter Cadence
Chapter 9
9AI Usage Policy Starter
Chapter 9
10Maturity Self-Assessment
Chapter 11
11Tool Selection Rubric (8 dimensions)
Chapter 7
+All editable. All yours to adapt.
Word + markdown, inside your org
Fit check

Built for the operator. Not for the deck.

This is for you if

  • You got the AI mandate and need a path through the work.
  • You lead AI enablement and are building a program from a blank page.
  • You are an IT or innovation lead who owns the pilot, the security review, and the rollout.
  • You are the accidental AI lead handed the title last quarter, who would like a manual now.

Not for you if

  • You are a C-suite exec who wants a vision deck. Your strategy book already exists.
  • You want a list of clever prompts. Buy a prompt book; this operates one level up.
  • You want theory without the work. Every chapter asks you to do something.
The credibility is not borrowed
Mathieu Kessler

Written by a practicing internal AI Champion, not a consultant. Mathieu ran a real enterprise pilot on Claude Enterprise, mentored leadership through their own GenAI adoption, personally cleared the DPIA and the security review, and publishes an internal program newsletter, failures included. He carries a FinOps background, so the cost and impact chapters read like someone who has defended a number, because he has. Field-tested, not theorized.

Questions

The honest answers

What format is it?
EPUB and PDF, both included in the download. The 11-template pack ships in two formats: editable Microsoft Word files (.docx) you fill in directly, and the plain-text markdown source you can drop into Notion, Confluence, or any tool in your stack.
The EU AI Act keeps moving. Will the book go stale?
The compliance primer covers the landscape as of June 2026, including the enacted Annex III high-risk date of 2 August 2026 and the Digital Omnibus deferral agreed in principle on 7 May 2026 (not yet law as of June 2026). Buyers get free updates to the digital files when the regulatory picture shifts materially, so the appendix stays current without a second purchase.
What license do I get?
A single-user license for personal and internal professional use. You may use and adapt the templates inside your own organization. You may not resell, redistribute, or republish the book or the pack.
Can I buy it for my whole team or site?
Yes. For team or site licensing across multiple seats, reach the author through linkedin.com/in/mathieukessler and we will sort a volume arrangement that fits your headcount.
Get the playbook

Open the sponsor one-pager template, and draft it before your next meeting.

  • The 123-page book, EPUB and PDF
  • All 11 templates in editable Word and markdown
  • Free updates as the rules change
  • Instant download, yours to keep
$59
One-time payment. Instant download of the book and all 11 templates.
Buy now and start Monday

Stay curious, stay clever.