Protecting Your Thinking: Jessie Van Breugel on Navigating AI’s Impact on Strategy

In a recent LinkedIn post, jessie van breugel 🟣 discusses a critical pitfall many business leaders may be falling into with the rise of artificial intelligence: outsourcing too much of their core thinking. Rather than a tool for augmentation, van Breugel suggests that over-reliance on AI for foundational strategic work can lead to a feeling of emptiness, even when output metrics appear strong.

The post begins by setting a personal and relatable tone, admitting to a mistake made this year. “I outsourced something I shouldn’t have. Not writing, design or client work. Something more important: I outsourced too much of my thinking,” van Breugel writes.

“I let GPT handle early ideas, positioning drafts, even the first pass on offers. It felt great at first: I was moving faster and shipping more. On paper, it worked – millions of views this year. But at the end of the day, I felt more s**t actually. Not necessarily tired, but just drained.”

This personal reflection serves as the entry point into a broader observation about the impact of AI. Van Breugel argues that AI, while not inherently making work worse, can make the underlying weaknesses in thinking harder to detect. This realization led to a significant conclusion about the future of business strategy.

The Rising Bar for Human Thought

Van Breugel posits that the founders who will thrive in the coming years will not be those who simply automate the most, but those who actively protect and cultivate their own critical thinking processes. The advent of powerful AI tools, according to van Breugel, has not diminished the need for human ideation and judgment; instead, it has elevated the standard required.

“The founders who do well in 2026 won’t be the ones who automate the most. They’ll be the ones who protect their thinking the hardest,” van Breugel states, emphasizing that AI’s role is to challenge and refine, not to replace, fundamental strategic thought.

Essential Skills in the Age of AI

The post highlights five key skills that van Breugel believes are becoming increasingly vital as AI capabilities expand. These are not the flashy, easily automated skills, but rather the nuanced abilities that define true strategic acumen:

• Discernment: The capacity to identify and disregard irrelevant information.
• Critical thinking: The ability to detect flawed ideas early in the development process.
• Problem framing: Clearly articulating the core issue at hand.
• Original angles: Developing unique perspectives that stand out from generic, AI-generated content.
• Taste: Possessing an intuitive sense of quality and effectiveness, even if an idea has limited practical application.

Van Breugel observes that many are currently using AI to bypass the development of these essential skills, resulting in content that feels technically competent but lacks depth or originality.

“That’s why so much output feels competent and empty at the same time.”

The personal shift for van Breugel involved a recalibration of how AI is utilized. The key, they explain, is to engage AI as a sparring partner rather than a sole creator.

AI as a Decision Augmenter, Not a Replacement

The core of van Breugel’s revised approach to AI is its application in challenging and refining existing decisions, rather than generating them from scratch. This philosophy is reflected in the internal systems they have developed.

“AI works best when it argues with my decisions, not when it replaces it. That’s also why we built our internal systems the way we did — not to simply execute, but to ask the hard questions before anything goes live.”

This approach ensures that human judgment remains central to the strategic process. Van Breugel concludes by offering this insight as a potential explanation for anyone feeling that their AI-assisted work lacks a certain essential quality.