Rethinking How Work Works: AI and the End of Linear Thinking
- Liza Engel
- Dec 15, 2025
- 4 min read
What if the most significant shift AI brings isn’t what we do, but how we think about what we do?
We’ve been trained to think in lines.
A task leads to a task.
An email leads to a reply.
A meeting leads to an action.
For decades, work has followed a straight path: input → process → output. We digitized that path, optimized it, and automated steps. But we didn’t really question the system's shape itself.
Now, AI is forcing that question.
Not because it’s faster. But because it’s nonlinear. It can work in loops, anticipate steps, generate possibilities, and change the sequence of things altogether. If we continue to think in straight lines, we’ll miss what AI actually makes possible.
This week, as many of us start to wind down and reflect on the year, it’s the perfect moment to zoom out and ask:
What if the way we think about work is the very thing that needs to change?
From Optimizing Tasks to Reimagining Systems
Imagine you’re packing for the holidays.
In a linear mindset, you make a list and check items off:
socks → shirts → charger → gifts.
You’re efficient, but you’re still working off a fixed model.
Now imagine stepping back and asking:
What’s the purpose of this trip?
What matters most while I’m away?
What’s unnecessary weight?
Could I travel lighter, or plan differently?
Suddenly, it’s not just about packing. It’s about designing for a different kind of experience.
That’s the leap from linear to systems thinking.
Most leaders today are still “packing faster.”
AI gives us the chance to travel differently.
Key Insight 1: Automation is Linear. Transformation is Systemic.
When AI enters the picture, most teams start by optimizing:
Generate a faster draft.
Summarize the meeting notes.
Build a deck in minutes.
It’s helpful. But it’s still task-focused.
Systems thinking goes further:
What is the purpose of this process?
Where does value really emerge?
What loops are adding drag - approvals, duplications, delays?
What would this system look like if we designed it for 2026?
Leaders who shift from optimizing parts to redesigning the whole will unlock new clarity, capacity, and speed in 2026.
Key Insight 2: Human + AI Teams Need New Choreography
Picture a well-rehearsed stage production.
In the old world, each actor steps in on cue, one after the other. Predictable, timed, sequential.
Now imagine adding a new performer - cue AI - who can jump in at any point, adjust the script, offer alternate lines, or run the entire scene solo if needed.
Without precise choreography, it’s chaos.
With it, it can be brilliant.
Ask:
Where does AI support the performance?
When does human judgment take the lead?
How do we design systems where both show up in rhythm?
Linear thinking writes a script.
Systems thinking designs a new stage.
Key Insight 3: System Redesign Creates Breathing Room
In conversations this past year, one theme keeps emerging:
Mental exhaustion.
It’s not just the holidays. It’s the cumulative effect of working in systems never designed for the complexity we now face. Too many tabs. Too many approvals. Too many steps that no longer serve the goal.
AI can offer relief, but only if we redesign the system, not just delegate the task.
Ask yourself and your team:
Where does friction live in our daily work?
What are we doing by default that no longer makes sense?
What if this process were 80% lighter?
Key Insight 4: Friction Reveals Misaligned Systems
Every workplace has invisible friction:
The doc that takes seven clicks to find.
The update that gets rewritten 3 times.
The meeting that’s “just how we’ve always done it.”
These aren’t annoyances. They’re symptoms of systems misalignment.
AI highlights them because it creates contrast:
Why is this fast to implement, but the other still slow?
Why did the AI finish its part, but the rest of the process stalled?
Leaders who think systemically treat friction as data.
They don’t just fix the part. They redesign for flow.
A Year-End Practice for Systems Thinkers
As your team wraps the year, resist the instinct to only zoom in on tasks. Instead, take a moment to zoom out.
Don’t just ask:
“What feels inefficient?”
Ask instead:
What system are we operating inside?
What beliefs shaped this design?
Where is there invisible complexity that no longer serves us?
What kind of system would unleash our best work, together with AI?
Map it. Make it visible. Name the interdependencies, the loops, the overload.
Systems thinking begins with seeing the system.
This kind of conversation doesn’t just spark improvements; it builds fluency.
And fluency is what next year’s work will demand.
From Linear Logic to Systemic Leadership
True workflow transformation isn’t about removing steps.
It’s about revealing and redesigning the structure beneath them.
It’s not “do this faster.”
It’s “why are we doing this this way at all?”
As you step into 2026, let that be the invitation:
To see beyond tasks.
To design for clarity, not control.
To build systems that are adaptive, fluid, and deeply human.
AI will not wait for us to catch up.
It will move, with or without our intentionality.
The leaders who think systemically are the ones who will shape not just what gets done, but how work itself evolves.
That is the shift.
And it starts now.
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