---
id: "quote-efficiency-reflex"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["¶1"]
tags: ["executive-mindset", "cost-cutting"]
related: ["concept-growth-blindspot", "contrarian-efficiency-is-a-trap"]
speaker: "Authors"
speakers: ["Shlomo Benartzi", "Randall Long", "Stefano Puntoni"]
quote: "Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency—it’s an almost universal reflex. It’s also a badly misguided one."
sources: ["spine"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-spine"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-tier1-04-ai-for-growth"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/companies-are-using-ai-for-efficiency-they-should-use-it-to-grow"
sourceTitle: "Companies Are Using AI for Efficiency. They Should Use It to Grow."
---
# The Misguided Efficiency Reflex

> Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency—it's an almost universal reflex. It's also a badly misguided one.

**Context.** The article's opening move: ask a roomful of senior executives what AI can do and the answers cluster on lower costs, smaller headcount, faster processes, leaner operations. The authors name that reflex and immediately reject it — setting up the [[concept-growth-blindspot]] and the contrarian thesis [[contrarian-efficiency-is-a-trap]].

Attributed collectively to the authors — [[entity-shlomo-benartzi]], [[entity-randall-long]], [[entity-stefano-puntoni]].