The Track
A Section Blog

Leaking our own AI manifesto

How I use AI to help my boss prepare for board meetings
We’re not shy about sharing our favorite AI use case: Leveraging it as a thought partner. But not all LLMs are created equally – so Section’s Chief of Staff to the COO, Ana, is sharing how they rank as thought partners for one of her most strategic use cases: Preparing the quarterly board deck.

The hidden reasons you’re not using AI every day
We’ve been taught all our lives to value original ideas and hard work, but using AI challenges these principles. But you have to get over this thinking, because your CEO already has.

Meet your professor: Emerging tech and AI consultant, Elizabeth Shaw
Elizabeth Shaw has worked in emerging tech for nearly 25 years at companies including Gartner, Sephora, and Forrester. Now, she’s your new guest lecturer in Section’s AI Crash Course.

Why most organizations aren’t ready to deploy AI
In September, we re-ran our AI Proficiency Survey to over 5,000 knowledge workers across the US, UK, and Canada. Our biggest takeaway: The knowledge workforce is vastly unprepared for an AI-augmented future.

Self-assessment: Does your team trust you?
I’m sure you’ve had a manager you didn’t trust.
Maybe that manager said she valued your time – but then canceled your 1:1 at the last minute because she just had to run out and get a smoothie.
Maybe he called you out in front of the team for a mistake he made. (Truly an unforgivable offense).
Whatever it was, you know that once trust is lost, it’s hard to get back...

Free trial vs. freemium: Which product-led growth tactic is right for you?
Have you ever set up a free trial to test drive a product before you bought it? We bet you have (and you might have even forgotten to cancel it after the week was up – oops).
In our workshop Driving Product-Led Growth, industry guru Wes Bush teaches you to use “try before you buy” tactics – like free trials, freemium, and demo modes – to capture customers long before they swipe their credit card.
Here, with Wes’ help, we share an easy-to-use framework for picking the tactic that’s right for your business.

Is Deep Research worth $200 a month?
With new AI tools coming out all the time, it’s hard to know which ones are worth investing in. So here’s our lead AI consultant’s framework for whether you should shell out for Deep Research or not.

AI is good enough, the humans need help
Newsflash if you’re waiting for AI to get better before you invest: It’s already pretty good, it’s the people using it that need to get a lot better – and fast. Greg is taking over this week’s newsletter to show you why.