Over the past couple of years, I’ve lost count of the number of conversations I’ve had about AI. It seems to find its way into almost every discussion now, regardless of industry. Clients talk about it. Founders talk about it. Investors talk about it. Teams talk about it. In many ways, it reminds me of some of the major technology shifts I’ve witnessed throughout my career.
There is excitement, curiosity, optimism and, underneath it all, a quiet fear that everyone else might be moving faster than you are. Whenever a technology reaches that point, people start asking very similar questions. How do we use it? How quickly do we need to adopt it? Are we falling behind? What often interests me more, however, is what those questions reveal about the way people think about business in the first place.
I’ve noticed that many founders approach AI with the same mindset they once applied to social media, websites, apps or digital transformation. The technology becomes the starting point. The conversation begins with the tool itself rather than the problem it’s supposed to solve. I understand why that happens.
New technology is tangible. You can see it. You can test it. You can watch demonstrations and imagine possibilities.
Strategy is different. Strategy requires choices. It requires priorities. It forces you to decide what matters and what doesn’t. That’s much harder work than experimenting with a new piece of technology.
The businesses I’ve admired most over the years have rarely been defined by the tools they used. What made them successful was a deep understanding of who they served, what they stood for and where they were heading. The tools changed constantly. The strategy remained surprisingly consistent. Looking back, nobody talks about the software those businesses used fifteen years ago. Nobody remembers which platform gave them an advantage for six months. What people remember is the position they occupied in the market, the reputation they built and the value they consistently delivered.
I think that’s one of the reasons I’ve struggled with the way some people talk about AI. There’s an assumption that adopting the technology somehow creates clarity. In reality, I think it does the opposite.
AI has a remarkable ability to amplify whatever already exists inside an organisation. If a business is clear on its priorities, AI can accelerate progress. If a business understands its customers, AI can help serve them more efficiently. If a team has strong systems and processes, AI can improve productivity. But when those foundations don’t exist, the technology tends to expose the gaps rather than solve them.
Some of the most impressive uses of AI I’ve seen haven’t actually been very visible. They weren’t flashy product launches or public announcements. They were businesses quietly removing repetitive work, improving decision-making and creating more time for people to focus on higher-value activities. What struck me was how little those leaders talked about AI itself. Their attention remained fixed on outcomes. The technology was simply a tool helping them get there faster. In many ways, that felt like the healthiest relationship with AI I’ve encountered.
I’ve also noticed how differently people respond to the same technology. Some see opportunity. Others see risk. Some are fascinated by what becomes possible. Others worry about what might disappear. I suspect both reactions are natural.
Every major shift creates winners, losers and uncertainty. What I’ve found most interesting, though, is that the founders who seem least distracted by AI are often the ones with the clearest sense of direction. They aren’t ignoring the technology. They’re simply viewing it through a different lens. Instead of asking what AI can do, they’re asking what their business needs. The answers tend to be far more useful.
The longer I’ve spent in business, the more I believe that clarity is one of the most valuable assets any founder can possess. Markets change. Technology changes. Customer behaviour changes. The ability to think clearly through those changes becomes increasingly important. AI doesn’t remove the need for judgement. It doesn’t remove the need for leadership. It doesn’t remove the need to make difficult decisions. If anything, I think those qualities become more important as technology becomes more powerful.
Sometimes I wonder whether the most significant impact of AI won’t be what it automates but what it reveals. When information becomes easier to access and execution becomes easier to scale, the differentiators start shifting elsewhere. Decision-making matters more. Trust matters more. Relationships matter more. Taste matters more. Judgement matters more. The things that are uniquely human don’t become less valuable. In many cases, they become more valuable because they’re harder to replicate.
When I think about the future, I don’t find myself asking whether AI will change business. That already feels obvious. Every major technological shift changes business in some way. The more interesting question is how founders respond to that change. Some will chase every new development and constantly reinvent themselves. Others will ignore it until they can no longer avoid it. Most will probably sit somewhere in the middle, trying to balance curiosity with practicality.
What I keep coming back to, however, is a much simpler observation. The businesses that succeed over long periods of time usually know who they are. They know who they serve. They know what they’re trying to achieve. Those things were important before AI arrived, and I suspect they’ll remain important long after the current excitement settles. Technology may change how businesses operate, but it doesn’t replace the need for direction. It doesn’t replace the need for judgement. And it certainly doesn’t replace the need for strategy. If anything, it makes those things even more important than they were before.