Uhlík vs Křemík · Czech podcast about artificial intelligence

Ivana Šedivá: Before a Company Reaches for AI, It Must Know Why It Exists

Episode 11 · 10 June 2026 · 1:12:13 · Guest: Ivana Šedivá

Listen on: YouTube · Spotify · Apple Podcasts

Ivana Šedivá, a mentor to leaders and startups who ran marketing at McDonald's for many years, came to the Uhlík vs Křemík podcast to talk about change. With David Salomon and Adam Hanka she discussed what companies can learn from a hamburger, why the right question matters more than a quick answer, and why there is no time to wait with artificial intelligence.

The hamburger stays, everything around it changes

According to Ivana Šedivá, McDonald's has stayed on top for so long because it managed to keep what people love about it while bringing innovations that let it serve more people. Adam Hanka followed up with the observation that the hamburger itself is still the same, but everything around it has changed: the drive-thru, the playground, the seating and digital ordering.

For companies introducing artificial intelligence today, he says this is an important lesson. They often think about how to change their main product, even though that product is usually good. The real room for change lies in logistics, paperwork, statements or attendance records, the processes that cost a lot of money.

Ivana Šedivá adds that many companies have never properly worked out what makes up their brand and why their customers are loyal. When they then touch something essential, customers reject it and the companies have to go back.

Wanting to be the biggest is not a vision

The guest mentors startups from Google for Startups and Plug and Play. She points out that startups, and many mid-sized companies as well, have no written vision, mission or values. She does not consider the goal of being the biggest company in the field a vision: "If we are good, we will achieve something like that, but it is a side effect of something bigger."

Naming the purpose is crucial right now, she says, when there is an opportunity to scale many things with artificial intelligence tools. Without it, a company cannot tell people why it does what it does. The same applies to hiring: the best people are won either by the most money or by a strong vision.

Asked whether AI should be among a company's values, she answers that she herself looks for a company that learns, tries new things and is allowed to make mistakes. Investment in AI is a good indication for her. On the other hand, when IT people tell her they do not use AI because it is not safe, she takes it as a red flag.

The question first, then the answer

A large part of the conversation was devoted to questions. According to Ivana Šedivá, people are trained to look for answers, for example in brainstorming, but few examine whether they asked the right question. That is why she uses the Question Burst technique developed at MIT with her mentees. "It is an analogy of brainstorming, but we do it not on solutions, we do it on questions." Valuable questions, she says, can often be recognised by a person's unexpected reaction.

Questions matter in mentoring startups too. Founders first have to pitch what they do in 90 seconds or describe their vision, because she needs to know whether they know why they exist. Then she tells them not to describe their problem but to say what question they have for her. They may then find out that they have no data, or have not drawn the essentials out of it.

She also warns that artificial intelligence brings weaker performance closer to the average, while experts can use it to reach a much higher level. In her view, the gap will start to widen. For children she would therefore make room for play without these tools and give more space to mathematics, music, art, reading and working with their hands. Her daughter went to a Waldorf school, where they had handicrafts in every year and the teacher read to the children until ninth grade.

Now is the time

After the first panic about artificial intelligence, many people have been lulled a little, the guest says, because the big layoffs did not come right away. "Those who see into it know that if they do not come to their senses now, next year will be too late." In her view this is a task for leaders, who should give their teams energy and show them the opportunity and the fun.

Leaders, she says, need to be raised from childhood, not just juniors prepared. She sees hope in the young people she meets on the jury of the student competition Prezentiáda, and believes a new appreciation of caring professions and crafts may come.

The full conversation with Ivana Šedivá is in episode 11 of the Uhlík vs Křemík podcast.

The episode is in Czech. Czech page with chapters, quotes and the full transcript