24 months ago, I was proud of our quarterly planning process. We had stakeholder alignment workshops, comprehensive market analysis, and detailed implementation roadmaps. I thought this was strategic excellence.
It was actually organizational theater performed while the world reinvented itself.
The speed you're still denying
Right now, while you're reading this, an H100 GPU can process 4 million images per second. Not per hour. Per second. That's every photo your company has ever taken, every design iteration, every visual asset—analyzed before you finish this sentence.
That same chip transcribes and analyzes an hour of audio in 90 seconds. Your weekly team meetings? Processed faster than it takes to grab coffee.
This is more than just impressive tech specs. It shows a complete revision of time as a competitive moat.
The comfortable habits that are killing you
The research reflex 18 months ago: "Let me Google that and get back to you" Today: While you're searching, AI has already generated, tested, and refined 10 solutions
The certainty addiction 18 months ago: "We need more data before we can move forward" Today: Perfect information arrives after perfect timing has passed
The linear logic 18 months ago: "First we'll plan, then we'll build, then we'll test" Today: AI runs parallel experiments while you're still defining requirements
The expertise identity 18 months ago: "I'm valuable because of what I know" Today: Knowledge without AI fluency is just expensive nostalgia
The frightening, thrilling truth
Here's what keeps me up at night and gets me up in the morning: We're not in a transition period. We're in a replacement period. But not the replacement you think.
It's not human vs. AI. It's humans with AI vs. humans still preparing PowerPoints about AI.
Your expertise isn't worthless—it's raw material. But only if you stop treating it like a finished product. The deep knowledge you've built over decades? That's your unfair advantage, but only when you multiply it by AI's processing power, not when you protect it from AI's reach.
The choice that's already being made
Every day you spend in planning meetings about "AI strategy" is a day your competitors spend building with AI. Every deck you create about "preparing for change" is time someone else spends changing.
The terrifying part? The speed means you can't catch up gradually. The thrilling part? The speed means you can transform overnight.
Your Monday morning test
Cancel your next planning meeting. I'm serious.
Take those 2 hours and:
Open ChatGPT, Claude, or whatever AI tool you've been avoiding
Feed it your biggest current business problem—the real one, not the sanitized version
Ask for 10 solutions
Implement the simplest one. Not plan to implement. Actually implement.
Do this before lunch.
Not because the solution will be perfect. But because in those 2 hours, you'll learn more about the new reality than in 6 months of strategic planning.
The 18-month clock
18 months from now, there will be two types of professionals:
Those who adapted when adaptation was still an advantage. And those explaining why they were still preparing while the game ended.
The H100 processes 4 million images per second. Your comfort zone is processing change at quarterly intervals.
The math is simple. The choice is yours. The time is now.
But really, the time was 90 seconds ago.
What's your relationship with AI today? Are you still planning, or have you started building?