“Only the fastest survive”

“In the AI era, only the fastest survive”
– recent banner ad headline on the Wall Street Journal front page

How many times have you seen ads similar to “In the ____ era, only the fastest survive”?

Speed can indeed be important.

Ironically, most organizations behave in opposite ways.

And most are rarely willing to make the commitment and investment to speed things up in a sustainable way.

Rather, the search is often for a “silver bullet” that will change things, yet also allow people not to meaningfully change (especially leaders).

AI can definitely help, but only if expectations are appropriate.

Fundamentally, the most important first question is “do we need to be the fastest?” The implied answer in the statement “only the fastest survive” is “yes” … but is that really the case? (If so, don’t tell lions 😉

If truly yes, then figure out how AI can help.