The popular story of “unicorns versus dinosaurs” is misleading. The vast majority of the world’s largest firms were not born in the internet era, yet they remain competitive by reinventing themselves. “Resurgent” incumbents succeed by choosing their battles and evolving their operating models.
Two paths through disruption
When digital challengers appear, leaders often assume the only response is to copy them. Sometimes that is right. But an equally powerful path is to double down on enduring strengths, content, relationships, engineering, distribution, and enter new channels only when timing and economics make sense. The principle is simple: don’t reflexively imitate; clarify what you do that’s hard to copy, strengthen it, and expand with intent.
Organising for speed: add “adhocracy”
Rules (bureaucracy) and expertise (meritocracy) are both necessary, yet neither guarantees momentum. Many organisations are deliberately adding “adhocracy” governing through action, to empower small, cross-functional teams with clear scope, fast cycles, and decision rights. This is how large enterprises maintain reliability while keeping pace with platform shifts.
Human + AI: capability, culture, and judgement
AI represents a genuine platform shift. It will rewire workflows and unlock new business models, not merely deliver efficiencies. Adoption, however, depends on psychological safety: leaders need to role-model responsible use, normalise experimentation, and share failures so that adoption becomes routine. As “agentic” systems, many small, task-specific agents, emerge, leadership architecture, incentives, and governance must evolve accordingly.
Crucially, AI does not replace the leader’s core responsibilities: setting direction, shaping culture, and making timely decisions with imperfect information. Machines can summarise, simulate, and support, but they cannot provide context, ethical judgement, or the intuition that comes from experience.
Customer centricity and the premium on touch
Mature consumer businesses are shifting from product-first to customer-centric models. Data, CRM, and analytics inform assortment, pricing, and experience design, while omnichannel strategies serve speed and convenience. Yet in considered purchases, the in-person moment, story, trust, and tactility, remains part of the value. Technology should enhance the connection, not attempt to replace it.
The public sector imperative
AI is transforming everything from documentation to data analysis to policy formation. Public institutions that delay adoption risk falling behind citizen expectations and losing legitimacy. Early, strategic investments in data capability and digital workflows are already paying off in parts of government. Foresight, not hesitation, is the pattern to emulate.
Talent, early careers, and the new apprenticeship of intuition
As automation absorbs groundwork, the nature of entry-level work is changing. Organisations are redeploying people towards higher-value activities and investing in upskilling and reskilling, particularly for managers who must align change and sustain culture. Hiring fundamentals remain: learning agility, comfort with ambiguity, communication, and collaboration.
Concerns about how young professionals will build intuition in a world of automation are valid. The answer is to separate tools from mindset. Tools evolve; mindset endures. Careers will increasingly reward the ability to frame problems, weigh trade-offs, and act with integrity when answers are not obvious. Intuition will still be earned, through reflection, exposure, and decision-making under real-world uncertainty.
Education implications
Education providers must double down on human outcomes, judgement under uncertainty, ethical reasoning, communication, live debate, teamwork, while letting machines handle what they do best. Case-based and experiential learning remain essential precisely because they cultivate context, persuasion, and decision-making in imperfect conditions.
What leaders should do next
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Name your edge. Clarify the few strengths that are hard to copy and invest there first.
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Pick the right playbook. Fight back directly where necessary; elsewhere, double down, then time your move.
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Rewire for action. Add adhocracy: small teams, tight scopes, fast decisions.
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Make AI safe and useful. Provide tools, norms, and coaching; measure value beyond cost savings.
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Protect human moments. Design experiences where trust and storytelling create enduring advantage.
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Upskill continuously. Especially for managers, learning agility is now a leadership core competency.
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Demand human outcomes in education. Teach what machines cannot: problem framing, ethics, collaboration, and sound judgement.
Bottom line: Disruption is not a death sentence. It is an invitation.
Established organisations that know what they stand for, move with intent, and invest in people and culture can turn technological shocks into lasting advantage.
