Autonomous

A compelling roadmap to building an autonomous business, best positioned to win, using digital labor powered by Agentic and physical AI

An autonomous business is designed to be AI-first in its strategies and operations to maximize value and minimize time to value, and when it is done right it will unlock unprecedented speed, scale and shared success. But getting from one-off AI implementations - where most companies are at today - to autonomy will be neither easy nor obvious. Business leaders will need to challenge all the conventions, standard operating procedures and orthodoxies underpinning businesses designed by humans for humans – which is to say just about all of them! They will need to build digital labor to non-linearly scale the health, conditioning and talent of their teams, business and ecosystem, enabling 24x7x365 continuity and responsiveness, removing blockages and waste that trap or reduce value. They will need to manage the relationships between the two types of intelligent resources, digital and human. They will need to design for AI control and teach human leaders to “let go of the steering wheel”.

The goal of Autonomous is to further expand the Boundless design principles that have guided the fastest growing companies in the world, and to ready business leaders, strategists and designers for success in the AI economy.

Introduction ix

Chapter 1 What Is a Fit Company? 1
In an AI- powered economy, the companies that are the fittest (best positioned to win) are Autonomous using digital labor.

Chapter 2 Blockages Kill Companies 19
Blockages are the number one cause of death in living organisms and businesses alike. Autonomous companies are living organisms that are immune to blockages.

Chapter 3 A New Autonomous Operating Model 43
Autonomous companies have operating models for decision dominance and action at machine speed and scale (mSUDA).

Chapter 4 Relational Intelligence for Digital Labor 73
Autonomous companies are hyper- talented, integrating human and digital resources and building deep relational intelligence. Copyrighted Material

Chapter 5 AI-First Design and Nonlinearity 103
Adopting An Ai- First Strategy Is the Only Path From Assistive to Autonomous Capabilities, Producing Nonlinear, Exponential Outcomes. ix

Chapter 6 Autonomy and Boundless Principles 127
Becoming an Autonomous business requires the seven Boundless principles shaping the mindset and business operating model.

Chapter 7 AI Is the New UI 141
Taking our hands off the steering wheel: the road to Autonomous maturity for AI, the company, and its humans requires bold leadership and a new playbook.

Chapter 8 Summary of Key Insights 175
This is what defines the world’s most successful companies: Autonomy.

Chapter 9 Ten Tenets of Autonomous Businesses 185
These are the 10 key takeaways from this book.

Notes 187

Glossary of AI Terms 191

Acknowledgments 197

About the Authors 199

Index 201

VALA AFSHAR and HENRY KING are the acclaimed co-authors of the bestselling book Boundless. With a combined 60+ years of experience, both are award-winning executives and technology practitioners specializing in business strategy, digital transformation, cloud computing, CRM, data, and AI technologies.

VALA AFSHAR is currently Chief Digital Evangelist at Salesforce, where he advises customers on the rise of Agentic AI and the future of advanced technologies. Previously, he has served as Vice President of Engineering, Chief Customer Officer, and Chief Marketing Officer. Recognized as a leading industry thought leader, Vala boasts over a million followers on X and LinkedIn, holds multiple U.S. patents, writes a weekly column for ZDNET, and has hosted the popular enterprise podcast DisrupTV for over a decade.

HENRY KING is an Innovation Strategist and Chief Information Officer with a distinguished career at Salesforce, Accenture, Deloitte Consulting, and other top technology firms. He is also a regular blog columnist and trusted advisor to organizations navigating digital transformation and AI adoption.

Together, as proven authors, technology practitioners, and advisors, Afshar and King are uniquely positioned to offer leaders, strategists, and designers actionable insights for positioning their companies for success in the age of AI.

AI-first in their strategies and operations, autonomous businesses focus on maximizing value, minimizing time-to-value, and exploiting the inherent advantages of artificial intelligence to deliver extraordinary results to their customers. But getting from limited, one-off AI implementations to a holistic future-oriented approach that emphasizes autonomy is neither easy nor obvious.

In Autonomous: Why the Fittest Businesses Embrace AI-First Strategies and Digital Labor, experienced AI executives Vala Afshar and Henry King build on the timeless design principles they introduced in the widely read Boundless to offer business leaders, strategists, and designers a path to success in the AI economy. The book explains how to overcome dated myths, ineffective conventions, and standard operating procedures that don’t fit with new realities to build a digital labor force that scales nonlinearly.

Afshar and King show you how to enable 24x7x365 continuity and responsiveness, remove blockages and waste, and manage the critical relationships between digital and human intelligent resources. You’ll learn how to design for AI control and show your human employees how to feel comfortable “letting go of the steering wheel.”

Autonomous demonstrates the importance of rethinking old orthodoxies and explains how to train, condition, and reward your teams in new ways that acknowledge the impact of digital technologies, including agentic AI.

Perfect for managers, executives, strategists, designers, and technology leaders, Autonomous will also equip a new generation of entrepreneurs and founders to capture unheard of amounts of value in new and exciting ways. It’s an AI-native guide to steering through uncharted waters in a transformed market that puts digital innovation at the forefront of every strategy and every company.

In the age of agentic AI you are either building an autonomous business or you are part of a dying one.

In Autonomous: Why the Fittest Businesses Embrace AI-First Strategies and Digital Labor, experienced AI executives Vala Afshar and Henry King build on the timeless design principles they introduced in their bestselling Boundless to offer business leaders, strategists, and designers a path to success in the AI economy. The book explains how to overcome dated myths, ineffective conventions, and standard operating procedures that don’t fit with new realities to build a digital labor force that scales nonlinearly.

Afshar and King show you how to enable 24x7x365 continuity and responsiveness, remove blockages and waste, and manage the critical relationships between digital and human intelligent resources. You’ll learn how to design for AI control and show your human employees how to feel comfortable “letting go of the steering wheel.”

Autonomous demonstrates the importance of rethinking old orthodoxies and explains how to train, condition, and reward your teams in new ways that acknowledge the impact of digital technologies, including agentic AI.

Perfect for managers, executives, strategists, designers, and technology leaders, Autonomous will also equip a new generation of entrepreneurs and founders to capture unheard of amounts of value in new and exciting ways. It’s an AI-native guide to steering through uncharted waters in a transformed market that puts digital innovation at the forefront of every strategy and every company.