Own the timeline.
Last week, I sat with CEOs who wanted to talk disruption.
AI was the theme. Existential threats were on their mind.
What follows is an idea that helped them and it might help you too.
Each CEO is running a successful company. Their balance sheets and industries aren’t important. But the conversation kept circling back to the same thing: AI. Not as an opportunity. As an existential threat.
Their boards are asking hard questions.
Their teams are looking for hope and direction.
Each week there’s a new innovation.
These leaders weren't looking for vision. They were looking for something practical. Something they could actually do to help their teams focus and align.
That's when I brought up something I've been thinking about for a while: the COVID overhang.
COVID didn't just disrupt business for two years. It added dog years to our leadership lives.
Think about it. The decisions we made in 2020 and 2021, the pace, the uncertainty, the weight of keeping people employed and safe while the world fell apart. That aged us.
And it aged our teams too.
The implication? People are by default more tired and overwhelmed than they were five years ago. Their capacity to navigate complexity is lower. Their need for short-term answers is higher. Their ability to hold paradox (to say "yes, this is scary AND we can handle it”) has been significantly impacted.
I watched the room as I said this. One CEO leaned back in his chair. Others nodded. They knew it was true because they were feeling it themselves.
At that point the conversation shifted.
After we reflected on what their teams were seeing and feeling, I told them what I've been telling every CEO I work with lately: Stop stalling. Start creating more control.
Here's what I've noticed.
Most leadership teams are stuck in an endless loop of watching, learning, and waiting.
They're reading the same articles. Attending the same conferences. Listening to the same experts tell them that AI will change everything.
But they're not moving meaningfully.
And that passivity is what's killing morale. Because when leaders are uncertain, teams feel it. When there's no plan, people start writing their own narratives. And those narratives are rarely optimistic.
Back in 2020, I faced a similar situation.
When COVID hit, I was one year into building a healthcare diagnostics business. I watched healthcare companies join the COVID-testing craze. The temptation to join in was huge but our product wasn’t ready.
We read analyst reports about the rapid market growth but we couldn’t be sure if COVID was here to stay or a flash in the pan.
One day, we realised something: We couldn’t solve the COVID testing volume issues.
What we could do is solve a bigger problem. In the midst of isolation and lockdowns, we could offer people connection and belonging.
We built a virtual webinar series with healthcare experts to answer questions and offer support. In doing so, we built a community that we transformed into customers.
Was it perfect? No.
Did it work? Yes.
Within six months our product was ready to launch and we had an audience ready to buy.
The lesson wasn't about being right. It was about moving.
Because movement creates data. And data creates confidence.
I shared this with the CEOs and made a suggestion.
Create two schools of thought that can progress in parallel.
First: Park the existential AI threat. Society will solve AI regulation and ethics one way or another. You can stay informed, but don't let it paralyze you. Being obsessed with what might happen in five years means you're not solving for what's happening today.
Second: Focus on your own disruption. Create a small, dedicated team charged with building an AI-first digital twin of your business. Their only job for the next 12 months? Figure out how to disrupt today's business model using AI.
Not improve it. Disrupt it.
Give them permission to ask dangerous questions:
What if we didn't need sales teams?
What if our product delivered itself?
What if our entire operations ran with 15% of our current headcount?
Share what they're learning with the broader organisation. Not to scare people, but to educate them.
Show that you're not hiding from this. You're running toward it with intentionality.
And here's the key: Solve the organisational discomfort by framing it correctly.
This isn't about replacing anyone. It's about being ready. Being more resilient to being disrupted or displaced by someone else.
Having an economic trigger in your hand to pull if you need to.
You can even make existing team members shareholders of the alternative business model. If the current model needs to be deconstructed, they get rewarded. That changes the conversation from "am I going to lose my job?" to "how do we win either way?"
One of the CEOs sat forward.
"So you're saying stop waiting for someone else to disrupt us, and just do it ourselves?"
Exactly.
Because if you do it, you control the timeline. You control the narrative. You control the economics. And most importantly, you give your team something to do besides worry.
What actually changes.
When you shift from reactive to proactive, everything changes. Your team stops looking to you for reassurance and starts looking to you for direction.
And you stop waking up at 3am wondering if you're missing something, because you know you're actively building the future instead of just hoping it works out.
The bottom line.
The real advantage isn't having all the answers. It's being willing to create your own disruption before someone else does it for you.
So here's my question for you: What's your self-disruption strategy?
If you're putting it in a vendor's hands, you're creating more risk for the future of today's business.
If you're waiting for clarity, you're already behind.
What if instead, you spent the next 12 months building the business that could put you out of business?
Send me your thoughts. I read every email.
I’ll see you next Wednesday.
The Partnership Playbook Podcast
Here are this week’s podcast episodes.
PARTNERSHIPS MOMENT
EP 136 - 9 min: Why treating suppliers as vendors is slowing your growth (and how to fix it). If you're treating vendors like fixed-line costs instead of future-shaping partners, you're holding back growth, agility, and margin. In this episode, you’ll learn how to assess your current supplier relationships across 12 critical partnership elements, the 3 maturity levels and what shifts each one unlocks, and practical moves to transform a vendor into a co-invested growth partner. Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify
LEADERSHIP MOMENT
EP 135 - 6 min: How to re-build trust when a partnership breaks down. In this episode you’ll learn the 4-step framework to repair any partnership issue without blame or confusion, how to prevent small missteps from derailing big opportunities and why system fixes (not apologies) are your fastest path to growth. Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify
CEO INTERVIEW
EP 134 - 1 hr 5 min: Ryan Hawk. Whether you're leading a team, selling under pressure, or building a movement, this episode with Ryan will flip your assumptions. From his journey through sports, sales, podcasting, and publishing, Ryan unpacks how commitment, standards, and relationships drive real results. Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify
When you're ready, there are four ways I can help you:
1. CEO Coaching: For CEO’s who want to lead with clarity and grow their business without sacrificing what matters most. A tailored 12-week experience with three interconnected elements: scaling you as a leader, elevating how you lead others, and creating conditions for sustainable business growth.
2. The Partnership Lab: A 6-week experience for founders, CEOs, and GTM leaders who are done with slow growth and stalled conversations. Learn to rapidly qualify and prioritise high-value partners, Install a system that turns conversations into contracts and capture outsized returns from partnerships that scale. Apply to join the first 2026 cohort today!
3. Join a free masterclass: Each week I pull back the curtain on frameworks, tactics, and real-world partnership strategies you can put into play immediate. Invite your team and bring your questions. This is your time.
4. Leadership Events: From Cochlear and Lifeblood to military leaders, I have shared inspiring stories and practical frameworks and insights that shift how leaders leverage partnerships for growth. Book me to speak at your next conference, offsite, or leadership event.
Looking for something different? Send me an email.
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