Innovation
GenAI: the future belongs to those who pause and reflect
Published 3 May 2024 in Innovation • 7 min read • 
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As GenAI captures the world’s imagination, executives should remember that it takes time to create a future-proof company.
The importance of slowing down cannot be understated. To avoid the folly of forecasts (although this is why I write this column), we sometimes need to look back at how we got things wrong. The mania surrounding ChatGPT seems to spin executives into such a high octave that we forget that there was the same enthusiasm for blockchain and Bitcoin, Web3, and the Internet of Things. As George Santayana warned: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
It’s true that one cannot wait until all the information is in and the data points are all clear. A choice needs to be made while time is on our side. But spinning faster doesn’t necessarily mean progress. It could mean chaos. And the last thing a company needs is to follow the advice of media pundits. A company must do its own hard thinking. This holds true for any function, be it HR, finance, or manufacturing. The capabilities needed for tomorrow depend as much on where the industry is heading as the company’s unique history. Indeed, everyone must perform and transform, excelling at both so that organizations can buy time until the unpredictable moment arrives.
Timing the exact arrival of an innovation is impossible, no matter what trend reports you are reading. Consider the following list of winners at an “ideas jam” that involved around 700 science and engineering students across eight laboratories.
- 1. Wearable computing technology: for example, earrings and…
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