The Deceptive Calm of Inertia
AI is changing how work gets done. On the surface it still looks like Tuesday. That calm is the trap, and the opening.
Inertia is a rotten word. It sounds like standing still, when it is actually a false promise of stability. Your processes run. Your team delivers. The numbers are fine. Why touch a machine that works?
Think of a tanker at full speed. It keeps going even if the captain spins the wheel. That ship does not stop. That is where we are with AI. Underneath, the work is changing. On the surface, little happens. An AI button appears in your software. A colleague plays with ChatGPT. Otherwise, business as usual.
Appearances deceive.
The plates are already moving
Under the surface, how we work, create, and add value is shifting. It is an in-between phase, a kind of limbo, and limbo is dangerous because it feels comfortable.
The organizations that change their processes now already use the super powers of AI. They build in weeks what takes others months. They automate what was still manual yesterday. That lead grows every day.
Everyone else is in meetings. Committees get stood up to decide how AI fits the "2030 strategy". People wait for regulation, for certainty, for the crowd. For the moment it feels safe.
That moment does not come.
The choice is yours
You can wait for the tanker to change course on its own. Then you are a passenger, not the captain. Passengers do not pick the destination.
The gap between organizations that use AI and organizations that cling to the old way gets wider every day. The odd part is that both sides feel right. One sees the opening. The other feels the stability. Inertia is doing its job.
My advice: choose on purpose. Do not wait until it feels safe. That is exactly when the other side's lead becomes too wide to close. The old processes still work. The question is not whether they stop working. The question is when, and whether you will be ready.