Most CEOs are still asking the wrong question about AI.
They are asking, What can AI do for my business? That question made sense not long ago, but it is quickly becoming outdated. Nearly every company now has access to the same tools, the same models, and the same capabilities.
That changes everything.
Ganesh Padmanabhan captured this shift in a way that is hard to ignore. “The world is going to become one giant average of everybody doing and saying the same exact thing.”
If that is true, then the real risk is not that AI replaces you. The real risk is that it erases your differentiation.
When Capability Becomes a Commodity
We have entered a phase where access to intelligence is no longer a constraint. Anyone on your team can generate content, analyze data, or build workflows using AI. At first glance, that feels like a massive advantage.
But your competitors have the exact same access.
Over time, that shared capability starts to flatten everything. You can already see it in marketing, messaging, and even strategic thinking. Outputs begin to look similar. Ideas converge. Language becomes uniform.
When everything starts to sound the same, it becomes very difficult to stand out.
This is where many organizations get stuck. They assume that adopting AI will create advantage, when in reality it simply keeps them competitive.
The Real Differentiator
So if tools are not the answer, what is?
Ganesh reframed the issue clearly. “What really will stand out in the age of AI is human agency.”
That is the shift.
AI can generate answers, but it does not decide which problems matter. It can produce outputs, but it does not set direction. It can accelerate execution, but it does not replace judgment.
That responsibility still belongs to you and your team.
If you do not actively develop that capability, your organization will slowly drift toward becoming part of that “giant average.”
Lessons From Scaling Inside a Giant
This idea shows up in Ganesh’s earlier experience as well.
At Dell EMC, he built a billion dollar business unit inside a much larger organization. That forced him to confront two realities that every scaling CEO eventually faces.
First, success always comes back to people. “I probably was too naive to realize that until I fell down a few times.”
Second, large systems do not change easily. You cannot simply nudge them in a new direction and expect meaningful results.
Ganesh described the need for what he called “speedboat shocks.” Small, fast-moving initiatives that shift momentum before the broader organization has time to resist.
This applies directly to AI adoption. You will not transform your company by rolling out tools slowly across every team. You need focused efforts that demonstrate real impact and force the organization to rethink how work gets done.
Why Incentives Drive Behavior
Even with the right strategy, execution depends on alignment.
Ganesh emphasized incentives, not just compensation but motivation. What actually drives people to change behavior?
When something new is introduced, people default to what they already know. They focus on what is familiar, what is measured, and what feels safe.
So the real question is how do you get them to lean into the future?
Part of the answer is simplicity. Ganesh’s team reduced complexity for sellers by giving them three simple questions to ask customers. If those questions created interest, the team would step in and take over.
Another part of the answer is storytelling.
When people can tell a story about being part of something new, they engage differently. They move from compliance to ownership.
Ownership is what drives scale.
Product Market Fit Is No Longer Static
CEOs also need to rethink how they view product market fit.
In the past, product market fit was treated as a milestone. You found it, then you scaled.
That model is breaking.
Ganesh made an important point. “Pay close attention to whether you truly have product market fit or just problem market fit.”
In other words, are you actually solving the problem, or are you simply describing it well enough to gain attention?
This matters more now because customer expectations are evolving quickly. What was valuable a few months ago may no longer be relevant today.
Product market fit is no longer something you achieve once. It is something you must continuously validate.
From Automation to Autonomy
This shift is also changing how companies think about systems.
Ganesh draws a distinction between automation and what he calls autonomizing. Automation focuses on replicating human actions through predefined rules. That works in simple environments.
Most real-world problems are not simple.
In healthcare, for example, a single decision might require reviewing thousands of pages of data, identifying missing information, contacting stakeholders, and making judgment calls.
Static rules cannot handle that complexity.
Autonomy allows systems to reason, adapt, and take action. Instead of following a rigid sequence, they move toward an outcome.
Once you start thinking this way, you are not just improving workflows. You are redesigning them.
How AI Shows Up Inside the Organization
Inside Ganesh’s company, AI is not limited to one team. Everyone has access, and everyone is encouraged to experiment.
But the goal is not just efficiency.
The goal is learning.
Insights often come from unexpected places. A product team experiment may spark a new idea in marketing. A sales use case may influence how engineering thinks about workflows.
The CEO’s role is to create an environment where those insights are shared.
Where experimentation is visible.
Where the organization becomes smarter over time.
A Different Way to Think About AI
One idea stands out.
AI is no longer the differentiator. It is the baseline.
Every company will use it. Every team will benefit from it. That part is inevitable.
What is not inevitable is how you use it.
Do you use it to produce more of the same? Or do you use it to challenge assumptions and think differently?
Ganesh said it best. “This is not about what the tools can do. It is about what you can do.”
That is the shift.
The CEOs who understand this will build companies that do not just keep up, but stand out.I am Glenn Gow. I coach CEOs. If you want to scale in the age of AI, focus less on the tools and more on how your team thinks. Listen to the full episode of The Scaling CEO here.
