For decades, we were trained to row in still waters.
Strategy was predictable. Market forces were manageable. The fastest, most synchronized team won. Management was about efficiency, alignment, and optimization—refining processes to ensure steady, controlled growth.
But now?
The waters are choppy. Unpredictable. AI has introduced uncertainty in four dimensions—our customers, our competition, our employees, and our very existence as a company. The rules of rowing no longer apply. The teams that keep rowing in sync will drown.
The new skill? River rafting.
Rafting demands a different set of abilities: trust, intuition, non-verbal communication, shared purpose, and, most importantly, thinking outside the box. It’s no longer about speed alone—it’s about agility, adaptability, and decision-making in real time.
One of the biggest shifts AI brings to innovation is in how we access and use information. In the past, competitive advantage came from privileged access—exclusive market research, high-paid consultants, inside intelligence. Information was power.
Not anymore.
With AI, information will be available to everyone, instantly. The difference will no longer be who has the data but who sees what others can’t in the same data set. Strategy will no longer be about guarding knowledge—it will be about interpreting, adapting, and acting on it faster and more creatively than the competition.
What should you do?
Leaders must unlearn old management techniques built for stability and embrace new ones built for uncertainty. Organizations must stop obsessing over process-driven efficiency and instead cultivate experimental, risk-taking, and fast-iterating cultures.
The winners in this new era won’t be the ones who row harder. They’ll be the ones who master the rapids, anticipate the unexpected, and make the boldest calls in real time.
Welcome to the AI age. Time to put down the oars and pick up the paddles.
For decades, we were trained to row in still waters.
Strategy was predictable. Market forces were manageable. The fastest, most synchronized team won. Management was about efficiency, alignment, and optimization—refining processes to ensure steady, controlled growth.
But now?
The waters are choppy. Unpredictable. AI has introduced uncertainty in four dimensions—our customers, our competition, our employees, and our very existence as a company. The rules of rowing no longer apply. The teams that keep rowing in sync will drown.
The new skill? River rafting.
Rafting demands a different set of abilities: trust, intuition, non-verbal communication, shared purpose, and, most importantly, thinking outside the box. It’s no longer about speed alone—it’s about agility, adaptability, and decision-making in real time.
One of the biggest shifts AI brings to innovation is in how we access and use information. In the past, competitive advantage came from privileged access—exclusive market research, high-paid consultants, inside intelligence. Information was power.
Not anymore.
With AI, information will be available to everyone, instantly. The difference will no longer be who has the data but who sees what others can’t in the same data set. Strategy will no longer be about guarding knowledge—it will be about interpreting, adapting, and acting on it faster and more creatively than the competition.
What should you do?
Leaders must unlearn old management techniques built for stability and embrace new ones built for uncertainty. Organizations must stop obsessing over process-driven efficiency and instead cultivate experimental, risk-taking, and fast-iterating cultures.
The winners in this new era won’t be the ones who row harder. They’ll be the ones who master the rapids, anticipate the unexpected, and make the boldest calls in real time.
Welcome to the AI age. Time to put down the oars and pick up the paddles.