Why “Impact per Hour” Matters

We have measured productivity in hours and outputs for too long.

For leaders and organizations, this is a flawed metric. Optimizing for “outputs” risks losing sight of what those outputs are meant to achieve.

In March 2023, I therefore argued for a shift toward “​meaningful productivity​,” focusing on work that drives real and meaningful outcomes.

AI accelerates the urgency of this shift.

When AI teammates can draft reports in seconds or summarize meetings in real time, what defines us is not the busywork but the impact we create.

That’s why I propose a new metric: impact per hour.

How much of your time actually moves the mission forward?

For leaders, this is the right lens for AI. Not to replace people, but to free them from the 30 to 40 percent of their time lost to low-value tasks, so they can concentrate on what creates real value.

It’s why our first lesson in the ​Lead with AI Executive Boot Camp​ isn’t about LLMs or Agents; it’s about defining your ‘why.’

And if AI can one day do nearly everything, impact per hour becomes not just a management tool but a life question: how do we spend our hours on what brings meaning and fulfillment?

(article continues right after this break)

As I tell leaders in our boot camp: it doesn’t matter what percentage of work AI can replace. We’re hardwired to fill freed-up time with more busywork.

The real benefit comes from deciding (and acting on!) what you will do with the time saved.

Whether AI stalls at the LLMs of 2025 or eventually takes over, optimizing for impact is the move every leader and organization can make today.

1. Define Impact Clearly

Purpose is one of the strongest drivers of ​happiness at work​, which in turn boosts engagement and reduces attrition. Start by naming the outcomes that truly matter: customer satisfaction, product innovation, or cultural resilience. Or beyond work: contributing to a cause, growing a side project, spending more time with family. Write down one to three outcomes that define your impact.

2. Audit Low-Meaning Work

Use our ​GED-RT model​ to mark the tasks in a typical week that drain energy but add little value, like status reporting, shallow meetings, routine analysis. These are prime candidates for AI.

3. Deploy AI Agents Where It Hurts Most

• Pick your top three low-meaning tasks and set up AI agents to handle them, with human-in-the-loop review where needed.
• Too many leaders say they “use AI” but treat it as a better Google rather than redesigning workflows.
• Don’t get distracted by shiny AI experiments. Start where the pain is—and transform your work methodically. (Join us on ​October 3​ or ​November 14​, and we’ll do this together.)

It sounds simple, but in practice, I see that most still spend more time chasing shiny AI objects than methodically reshaping their work. The discipline is in focus, not novelty

Studies often find that companies with an integrated purpose strategy outperform their peers across several key business drivers, what ​Deloitte calls​ the ‘purpose premium.’

So when one leader applies the ‘impact per hour’ principle, it’s powerful. When a thousand people do it together, it’s transformative.

A mission-driven organization where every person optimizes for impact per hour and embraces AI as their co-pilot becomes a 10x organization. Not only in productivity, revenue, and the bottom line, but in the actual mission of the company.

Each person knows their outcomes, automates low-meaning work, and reinvests freed-up time into mission-driven impact.

The result is not only higher productivity, but a culture where people feel proud of their contribution. This is how AI helps us build companies that are both high-performing and deeply human

The Bottom Line: Impact Per Hour

It’s easy to think we already “know AI.”

But most leaders still dabble in prompts or use it to search faster.

But what matters is purposeful discipline. The real work is dissecting your role, applying AI where it frees time, and then spending that time meaningfully.

In the short term, leaders who optimize for impact per hour unlock capacity, engagement, and results, especially in the context of a 10x organization.

In the long term, they prepare themselves and their organizations for a future where busywork vanishes, and only meaningful contribution remains.

We need to stop thinking about AI as a productivity tool. The leaders and organizations that shift to impact will define what comes next.

Until next week,

– Daan

In this Lead with AI PRO LIVE session, we’re excited to welcome ​Dr. Tracy Brower​, global best-selling author and Vice President of Workplace Insights at ​Steelcase​, to lead our next Masterclass on Identity in the World of AI on October 9th at 4PM London / 5PM Amsterdam / 8AM Pacific Time / 11AM Eastern Time.

As AI changes the way we live and work, what does this mean for who we are and who we want or need to become?

If you’ve been wondering:

• How is AI reshaping our sense of identity at work and beyond?
• What aspects of identity do we need to protect in a digital-first world?
• How can leaders foster creativity, curiosity, and connection even as routine tasks shift to machines?
• What role do proximity, trust, and human presence play in shaping who we are in hybrid and AI-powered environments?
• How can we create clarity and confidence while navigating this transformation?

This Masterclass is for you.

With a deep focus on the future of work, identity, and how we thrive amid change, Tracy will share practical, research-backed perspectives on what it means to be human as AI transforms the way we live and work.

Members, the invite is on your calendar.

Not a member yet and want to join this exclusive Masterclass?

Then it's time to upgrade - now two weeks for free:

Go PRO. 2-Week Free Trial