Birch Lake Insights: While AI Is Changing How We Work, Culture Determines Whether It Works

By Jen Ortega

These days, Artificial Intelligence is at the forefront of nearly every conversation. Whether you are in a boardroom, on a client call, or catching up with colleagues over coffee, it often feels like AI is the one topic everyone wants to discuss. However, most conversations about AI start with the wrong question. We often ask what work AI will replace. Rather a better question is, what will AI reveal about the way we already work?

AI does not create clarity, discipline, judgment, or trust. It magnifies whatever is already present inside an organization. In a healthy culture, that can be a powerful advantage. AI can reduce friction, accelerate research, streamline communication, and empower talented people to focus on the work that truly moves a business forward. In an unhealthy culture, however, the opposite occurs. It creates faster confusion, more content, more noise, and more polished output that may or may not reflect real thinking.

More Information Isn’t the Answer

This is why AI makes culture more important, not less. At Birch Lake, we work closely with founders, entrepreneurs, and businesses navigating meaningful moments of change. Whether they are pursuing growth, evaluating strategic options, raising capital, restructuring, or preparing for a transition, what is required in that environment extends beyond information. It requires judgement, perspective, and the ability to ask the right questions, identify what matters, and brings clarity when the stakes are high. This is where the AI conversation may fall short.

Most business leaders do not suffer from a lack of information. If anything, they are overwhelmed by it— more dashboards, more data, more summaries, more opinions. What they need is clearer thinking, not volume. They need a trusted partner to understand what is both urgent and important, separate what is exciting from what is sustainable, and distinguish what sounds good from what is true.

In its current state, AI can support that work, but it cannot substitute for the human qualities that make the work valuable in the first place. It cannot replace judgment built through experience. It cannot replicate trust built over time. And it certainly cannot assume responsibility for a decision. This becomes even more relevant in lean organizations.

Culture Is the Real Differentiator

Smaller firms often compete differently than large institutions. We do not win because we have more layers, more process, more meetings, or more complexity. We win because we can move quickly, stay close to the facts, think independently, and work closely alongside the companies we invest in and advise. AI can reinforce those strengths. It can help lean teams become even more responsive, more informed, and more effective. Deployed poorly, it can weaken the very strengths that make smaller firms valuable. It can tempt people to confuse speed with clarity and efficiency with insight. The real question is not whether an organization is using AI. The real question is whether it has the culture to use it proactively, efficiently, and productively.

In my role as Chief of Staff, I spend much of my time at the intersection of strategy and execution, between leadership intent and day-to-day behavior. That is where culture lives. It is reflected in how people communicate, how decisions are made, how accountability is handled, and whether a team values substance over appearance. AI is entering those same spaces. It will not fix a weak culture but it will expose it quickly.

The organizations that benefit most from AI will be those that do so most intentionally. In the years ahead, the real competitive advantage may not come from having access to the newest tool. It may come from building the kind of culture that knows exactly where technology adds value and where human judgment still must lead. Because in the end, AI does not diminish the importance of culture,  it raises the stakes.

Jen Ortega is the Chief of Staff at Birch Lake, where she supports the firm’s executive leadership team across strategic, operational, and value creation initiatives. She also serves as an ambassador of Birch Lake’s culture, brand, and core values, while maintaining key relationships with investors, service providers, and referral partners. Prior to joining Birch Lake, Jen spent 15 years as Chief of Staff at a boutique consulting firm specializing in public affairs and government relations, where she played a key leadership role, serving as a critical bridge between the firm’s CEO, clients, and broader teams.