AI Won't Wait for Your Strategy — Why Should Your Leadership? AI is moving faster than any technology shift in history. Here's why speed, agility and decisive execution are make-or-break moves for today's leaders.

AI is rewriting the playbook for businesses, and it's reshaping market winners and losers in real time. The next several years may well decide which companies survive and which get squeezed based on who can keep up with the pace of change.

When cloud computing transformed the tech world, it took a decade to reach mass adoption. Gen AI achieved the same scale in just a year, and Agentic AI, poised to become mainstream next year, is setting a new benchmark, already boasting a 50% adoption rate among tech execs. With AGI (superhuman AI) on the horizon, the rate of change will be almost incomprehensible, transforming life as we know it.

In North America, 66% of organizations using AI agents report measurable productivity gains, 73% view their strategy as a competitive edge, and nearly half worry they're already lagging behind their competitors.

Despite anxious headlines (and even some dire warnings), I'm energized by the possibilities — and I share that optimism with my team, focusing on the transformative opportunities AI unlocks.

Related: Artificial General Intelligence: The Next Frontier In Technology

But optimism alone doesn't cut it. The pace of change is so quick that the only way to build business resilience is to match it with speed and precision. I've always believed in short timelines and fast results, but now they're non‑negotiable.

The question for leaders is how to build organizations that can move as quickly and as intelligently as the world around them. Here's how to get there:

As a leader, you've likely got a plan in place for the next three to five years. But with the velocity of change, it's tough to see what's around the corner. That doesn't mean you can't set your business up for success, no matter how the landscape evolves. You just need to build the right foundation:

A strong and unwavering vision and mission

No matter how fast AI evolves, your company's mission should remain steady. A clear, simple and consistent purpose keeps teams rowing together. For us, it's about transforming access to the digital world. We do this by delivering content that is compliant and performing — both for humans and AI.

What will evolve is how we execute on that vision. Today, we're transforming our platform capabilities with agentic AI; tomorrow, emerging technologies may lead us to new strategies. But the mission itself? That provides focus and steadiness through change.

Collaboration that moves as fast as AI

I've seen organizations where leaders are incentivized to compete against one another, yet research has shown that internal competition can actually stifle innovation. A better approach? Empower cross-functional teams to collaborate on strategic thinking at all levels.

Problems don't care which department 'owns' them, and neither should your organization. I don't hesitate to bring everyone involved in a project into the same room, regardless of title or position. Flattening hierarchies and breaking down silos accelerates decision-making, fosters shared accountability and unlocks the kind of speed and creativity AI demands.

Related: Is AI Truly Driving Your Growth — or Wasting Your Time?

A relentless commitment to AI alignment

Keeping pace with today's market realities requires more than urgency; it demands alignment on why we must keep embracing AI's evolution. That understanding can't be assumed. During a recent company-wide meeting on agentic AI, someone asked if we had invented the technology. It was a powerful reminder that we aren't all starting from the same place.

While I've never been one to mince words, alignment only happens when people truly comprehend what's happening and what's at stake. In recent months, I've made it a priority to connect directly with our entire global team, along with sharing regular updates through a recurring internal newsletter.

The goal? Ensure everyone feels informed, empowered and included in the journey ahead.

Pulling your team toward AI versus pushing them

Resistance to change is often endemic, particularly in larger organizations. But forcing change is not the answer, either. While I actively encourage everyone to explore AI, I believe people need to pull themselves toward the opportunity.

This requires fostering a culture where continuous learning and experimentation are encouraged — and where failure is seen as a necessary part of growth. Ultimately, it's about helping people understand that the more you pull yourself toward change, the more successful you'll be. The more you push away, the more it's going to hurt.

AI-paced decision-making (quarterly business reviews won't cut it)

AI compresses timelines. To move quickly, you need to dramatically increase your cadence. It may sound excessive for a busy CEO, but I meet weekly with our product teams and monthly with leadership to fine-tune execution. That way, we can quickly test assumptions, learn from real-time feedback and adjust course.

Of course, evolving your culture to one of fast execution doesn't mean barrelling ahead recklessly – it's about establishing a steady rhythm of learning, iterating and improving at a pace that matches the world around you.

That shift has already started paying off. I've seen early results in productivity: our team is more agile than ever, moving from idea to execution in a fraction of the time.

Related: A Founder's Guide to Building a Real AI Strategy

But this isn't just about speed. In our case – and likely for many other organizations – agentic AI is expanding the kinds of problems we can solve and the customers we can serve. So much so that we're betting on a massive expansion of our total addressable market within the next three years.

The real lesson of leading at the speed of AI is not about simply surviving the next wave of disruption; it's about positioning your organization to shape it. At the end of the day, leaders must envision where the world is going, bring that future into their organizations and inspire their teams to take the leap alongside them.

This is no time to wait and watch.

Today it's agentic; tomorrow it will be AGI. Either way, if you don't adapt, you can be sure others will.