[Editor's Note: With all the hype around AI, itis difficult for Lower middle market leaders to know how to proceed. Some are moving forward with Operational efficiency initiatives. Leading firms are utilizing AI to reimagine strategic planning. I hope you find this article useful. dpm]
1. Move from Annual to Rolling Strategy
Leading lower middle market firms are moving away from rigid, once-a-year strategic plans. Instead, they are embracing rolling 12- or 18-month roadmaps. These evolving plans are reviewed and updated periodically, typically with quarterly check-ins. By leveraging AI dashboards, leadership can now monitor key leading indicators such as sales velocity, customer churn, and working capital trends. These systems automatically highlight deviations from the plan, enabling real-time adjustments rather than waiting for an annual offsite review. As a result, strategy becomes a dynamic, ongoing process rather than a static event.
2. Use AI-Driven Scenario Modeling
Generative and predictive AI tools are now capable of simulating thousands of "what if" scenarios within seconds. For example, leaders can instantly evaluate outcomes such as, "What happens if we raise prices by 3%?" Rather than relying on static spreadsheets, CEOs receive a range of possibilities, each supported by data-driven probabilities. This approach transforms the planning process, taking it from speculative guessing to informed simulation.
3. Run AI-Augmented Strategy Workshops
The next generation of strategic planning sessions integrates AI as an active participant. Imagine uploading company data—such as profit and loss trends, customer segments, and regional performance—into an AI model designed to uncover new opportunities. The AI might identify which markets offer the highest profit velocity, suggest where pricing or discount structures can be optimized, or highlight internal inefficiencies that are quietly reducing margins. The leadership team then reviews and interprets these insights. Importantly, AI does not replace human judgment; it helps sharpen and focus it.
4. Establish Governance and Explainability
As AI becomes more embedded in decision-making, transparency is critical. Stakeholders such as boards, lenders, family owners, and private equity owners need to understand how AI is influencing choices and how its recommendations are validated. Establishing basic governance practices—like documenting data sources, validating models, and ensuring human review—builds trust in AI-driven decisions. This also ensures the company remains compliant and protects its reputation as AI's role expands.
5. Measure AI’s Impact Like Any Other Investment
AI should be treated as a strategic asset, not just an experiment. To do this, CEOs set clear metrics to evaluate AI’s effectiveness, such as improvement in forecast accuracy, reduction in planning cycle time, the return on investment of AI-informed initiatives, and efficiency gains in decision-making. Ultimately, it needs to lead to better execution. When these measurements show positive results, adoption of AI naturally accelerates across all business functions.
The Leadership Shift
AI doesn’t eliminate the need for leadership - it amplifies it.
For CEOs in the lower middle market, the most significant change is not technological, but cultural. This shift means moving from plans to learning systems, from certainty to experimentation, from forecasting to sensing, and from control to agility. AI can make an organization smarter, but only if its leaders become more adaptive—willing to adjust, test, and refine their approach continuously.
- From Plans to learning systems
- From Certainty to experimentation
- From Forecasting to sensing
- From Control to agility
The best-performing firms will be those where AI is not only part of the technology stack but also embedded in how the CEO and leadership team think about thinking.
The Bottom Line – It’s all about results!
The lower middle market is grounded in pragmatism, valuing execution over hype and results over rhetoric. This pragmatic approach makes it an ideal environment for AI adoption.
The focus is not on futuristic automation or replacing people, but on enhancing decision-making, improving foresight, and enabling agility in a fast-moving market where both risks and opportunities abound.
Companies that view AI as a strategic partner, rather than just a cost-saving tool, will be better equipped to plan effectively, pivot quickly, execute with better focus, and build a lasting competitive advantage.
We can help. Mead Consulting Group has worked with scores of organizations and leaders to help them move to develop a highly- functioning management team that plans and acts strategically and accomplishes its goals. If you would like to learn more about how we can help your organization, please contact me at meaddp@meadconsultinggroup.com or (303)660-8135.
For more information, see some of our success stories with organizations from $10M to $250M.
Best regards,
Dave Mead
