How to Optimize AI for the Entire Enterprise, Not Just the Individual
SAP, Wednesday, September 2nd, 2026
SAP uses a rowing analogy to argue enterprise AI value comes from coordination, not maximizing individual productivity.
SAP opens with a Harvard case study in which a rowing coach's team of the eight strongest rowers consistently lost to the junior team.
The top crew maximized individual power and rowed harder in isolation whenever the boat slowed, breaking the oars' synchronized rhythm and creating drag, while the weaker junior crew rowed in harmony.
SAP argues enterprises repeat this pattern when they optimize AI for individual productivity rather than for the organization as a whole. The post lays out how to capture business-wide AI value instead of accumulating disconnected personal gains.