Shopify’s CEO Just Made AI Fluency Mandatory—Is Your Team Ready?

Shopify’s CEO Just Set a Huge New Precedent on AI

A leaked memo from Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke recently sent shockwaves through leadership circles.

Here are 5 highlights from Tobi’s memo that made me pause:

1. “AI proficiency is now baseline at Shopify.”

Translation: Hiring and promotions will soon depend heavily on your fluency with AI tools.

2. “Before hiring anyone, you must first prove why AI can’t do the job.”

This dramatically shifts headcount planning—bots and agents become part of your org chart, not just human roles.

3. “Prompting is now a core skill. Top performers will be top prompters.”

Prompting and shaping AI output just became as important as coding or strategic thinking.

4. “We will add AI usage questions to our performance and peer review questionnaire.”

AI fluency just became part of how Shopify evaluates performance. Imagine your next review explicitly measuring how effectively you’ve leveraged AI—that’s the new reality.

5. “AI-first prototyping is the new standard.”

Shopify expects teams to prototype and ship faster, using AI to multiply their speed, creativity, and output.

These aren’t small guidelines—they’re a massive statement. Shopify is just the first domino. It’s safe to assume other forward-leaning companies will follow this blueprint sooner rather than later.

And if you’re leading a team, this might trigger mixed feelings:

• Could this finally mean fewer people headaches, more creativity, and less mundane work

• Am I personally ready to guide my team through this shift? Do I actually use AI enough in my own work or am I quietly behind?

• If a similar memo landed on my desk tomorrow, would my team thrive, stumble, or freeze?

Moments of rapid change—especially with something moving as fast as AI—often leave us feeling uncertain or unprepared.

But great leadership isn’t about having instant answers. It’s about sitting thoughtfully with ambiguity, asking better questions, and guiding your team forward with openness and curiosity.

I’m genuinely curious: How would you feel if this memo landed at your company tomorrow? Confident, anxious, energized, overwhelmed?

Let’s talk about it.