What if we think of books as AI models trained by brilliant minds?

In 1440, Gutenberg invented the printing press. And with it, it not only made it possible to print books. Installed thought replication infrastructure at scale.

For the first time, a framework of ideas could be widely disseminated, read by people from different places, and become a common basis for coordinating actions without direct contact.

But that network was not born there. For centuries, human societies had already woven networks of shared thought through structured orality. Poets, storytellers, jesters, oral tribal sages, spiritual leaders... They were all living transmission systems.

Humanity has always been coordinated through intersubjective realities—as Yuval Noah Harari explains—: shared ideas that do not exist in nature, but that unite millions of people.

The religion. The money. The laws. The company.

The printing press did not invent that information network. He amplified it. He sped it up.

It allowed knowledge to stop depending on living memory and begin to circulate on paper, in libraries... and centuries later, in algorithms.

From work organization to strategic thinking

For centuries, human societies were coordinated with language, rituals, and social structures. But it was only at the end of the 19th century that we began to explicitly structure organizational thinking.

With the work of Frederick Winslow Taylor in the steel industry—and the publication of The Principles of Scientific Management in 1911—Taylorism was born: a way of applying logic, measurement, and rational design to human work.

That was the starting point of what we today call business frameworks: conceptual frameworks that, in some cases, function as practical tools and, in others, as structured methodologies.

From there, and during the 20th century, formal models emerged to analyze, plan, operate, lead, and decide. And with them, the need for a new figure: a professional who does not execute, but rather thinks, decides, and organizes.

In 1908, Harvard launched the world's first MBA program. For the first time, people are beginning to be trained not to work on the line, but to direct, analyze, coordinate. The Manager is born as a professional role. And business books as their structural source of learning.

From human direction… to hybrid collaboration

Today, more than a century later, that logic is amplified. With generative AI, not only Managers, but most workers, must learn to design, coordinate, analyze, prioritize.

Because? Because operational work begins to be automated. And in many cases, AI/Robotics is already taking that place. But also, individual and group augmented intelligence will be the norm, and we must all engage with generative AI.

From this logic of increased intelligence, structures will be more horizontal, flexible and hybrid, emerging new forms of decision-making.

That's why, today more than ever, frames matter. Because they define how we think, what we decide, how we coordinate and what we expect.

Frameworks as Cognitive APIs (Books Inside)

Mental frameworks and business frameworks, which were born as common languages ??between humans to analyze, decide and coordinate, today are transformed into operational languages ??shared with intelligent systems.

They are, literally, cognitive APIs (in systems, an API is an interface that allows different systems to understand and work together).

And it's not just an analogy.

Tools like n8n or Make already allow agents to be built from prompts. Today, we no longer program with code: No-Code is imposed as a way to design and train augmented intelligence flows.

And if that prompt is based on a good framework, the result changes radically.

Large Language Models (LLMs) are fed by these prompts. And from that well-structured thinking framework, they can coordinate tasks and decisions integrated with other systems (CRMs, spreadsheets, email, calendar, SaaS tools)… and with humans.

The model precedes the prompt. And the framework structures the interaction with AI… enhancing the result.

When frameworks become distorted memes

Frameworks have power. For better and for worse. Many end up becoming cognitive memes: they are repeated, trivialized, taken out of context, used as slogans.

The original idea, rich in nuances and logic, becomes an empty shell. It travels through social networks, whiteboards, manuals, presentations... And instead of guiding the action clearly, it generates an illusion of professionalism and order.

We apply an agile methodology. Or did they just populate a board with no retrospective or self-managed team? (answering to the Committee of the Committee of the Committee).

We use a visual model. Or did they paste post-its without discussing why the value proposition responds to a certain segment, with what cost structure, and why that makes sense now?

Many times, this phenomenon is enhanced by "corporate trainers" and large consulting firms.

Not always out of malice, but out of system and/or lack of knowledge: they need to scale, sell, deploy complex frameworks quickly, standardized, replicable (through juniors).

And in that process, context is lost. The frame becomes a template. The template in check-list. And what should be a living structure of strategic thinking becomes a simulation of a job well done.

We see it in organizations that fill out 100 slides with a Canvas, without having done a single interview. Or they declare a radical feedback culture without having created relationships of psychological safety.

Like viral memes, these frames are replicated without judgment or adaptation. And thus they lose the most important thing: their ability to generate critical thinking, invite dialogue, identify assumptions and provoke an informed decision.

The danger is not the frame. It's using it as a mask. It is applying without having understood.

What are frameworks for?

First, to organize our thinking. To think with greater clarity, consistency and judgment.

Next, to understand the new: when you incorporate ideas, you can integrate them or contrast them against your base.

Then, to coordinate with others: frameworks provide common language and order to talk, decide, and advance as a team.

And finally, to interact with AI. When you and an AI share a structured framework, collaboration becomes much more powerful.

The Books: Frameworks Untampered Source

Where are these undistorted frameworks? In the books.

Each book provides power: concepts, frameworks, tools, methodology, new skills.

But reading is not enough. We need to be able to interpret it, analyze it, put it into practice. Because the only way to incorporate what you have read and achieve its benefits is to apply it.

Conceptual frameworks are like LEGO bricks. Different combinations allow new constructions to be achieved. They are all related. They complement each other, enrich each other, fit together.

And in the age of AI they are even more fundamental.

The frameworks allow the conversation with generative AI to be framed, reaching surpassing scenarios.

Many times, it is the conversation with AI that awakens the need for structure and leads us to search for the right framework in a book.

Frameworks are not formulas. They are languages ??that allow us to think together, decide together, build together. And in this new hybrid era—where the boundaries between the human and the artificial are blurred—having a common language becomes more valuable than ever.

Thanks for reading, I hope it was valuable.