People keep telling you AI is moving so fast you’ve got to keep up. If you don’t, you’ll be left behind for good. They’re wrong of course. The reality is that the faster something is evolving, the less keeping up makes sense. In fact, if something is changing fast enough, keeping up is possibly the worst option. This feels counterintuitive, so let me explain with an analogy.
Imagine the evolution of the car, compressed into a three year period. Now imagine you and your friend are professional tennis players. You both have to drive to your matches in horse drawn buggies, which means you arrive hot, tired and dusty. Not ideal for giving your all on the court.
Then along comes the first automobile. You, an early adopter by nature, realise the potential. This is the future. This is how you get ahead. Learn to drive and you’ll arrive at matches in a far better state than the competition. You’ll be miles ahead and they’ll never catch up.
You tell your friend, but he’s not interested.
“I’m a tennis player. No way cars will catch on. I’ll focus on my game”.
Meanwhile you’re learning to drive. Sure, the cars keep changing and getting faster and you have to keep buying new ones, but you keep learning the new skills. You’re still cutting edge. No way your friend will ever catch up.
Then, a few years later, you drive to a game in your latest car (a few months out of date now because of the speed of progress and the cost of updating – you’ve burned so much money already you’ll have to wait before you can afford the latest model).
And there’s your friend. He’s arrives in a luxury autonomous vehicle, rested and relaxed……and he whoops your behind in the first match.
Turns out he spent all his time on his tennis game and just waited until all the hard work had been done by the early adopters and fast followers. Now the product is easy to use, requires minimal manual effort and learning curve, and he’s saved all his money so he can afford the latest model.
So, ask yourself, what are you? A driver or a tennis player? Because that’s what really matters in business.
Be the best at what you do, not the best at what other people tell you to do.