Finding Stillness in the Set

You can’t control the waves. But you can control your stance, your system, and your stillness.

A founder who runs a corporate innovation consultancy told me recently, “I can’t keep up anymore.”

She lives in the thick of it, helping legacy enterprises and conglomerates adapt to the AI shift, and still feels like she’s falling behind.

Every week, new tools, new startups, new acronyms. Even the companies that sell innovation feel like they’re drowning in it.

I told her she isn’t alone. Nobody can sit this wave out. Not large corporates in legacy industries or established Hyperscalers in technology.

We’ve officially left the SaaS era.
Looking back, SaaS was predictable. To stay ahead, Hyperscalers built programs, hosted dinners, offered credits, and founders came to them. That was the “if you build it, they will come” playbook. It rewarded passive patience.

The AI era rewards pace. Categories now turn over every six weeks. Startups become enterprise customers in months (based on various versions of ARR, I have thoughts on this metric). High-tech vendors, once confident in their models, are suddenly scrambling to relearn the market they helped create.

So the question isn’t how do I catch every wave?
It’s how do I find stillness while I learn to ride the set?

As a kid, one of the Bible stories that always stuck with me was Jesus asleep during the storm. The boat is rocking, his close friends are panicking, and he’s at peace. Then, when he finally speaks, the waves obey.
The part that stuck with me wasn’t the miracle. It was his internal stillness before it.
That calm in the middle of chaos, that’s what leaders need right now.

Surfing the AI Set

Think about the ocean. All the surfers in my life (I have a few!) tell me that waves don’t arrive in sequence. You can’t call for wave number four.
You can only read the water, adjust your stance, and commit.
AI is breaking in unpredictable sets, and the leaders who win won’t be the ones standing on the sand, they’ll be the ones already paddling.

Here’s how I see an effective approach that I share with executives at large organizations that would appear from the outside in the know (Hyperscalers) and out of the loop (legacy corporates):

1. Systemize the signal

In this environment, instinct isn’t enough. Treat signal like a system.

• Unify inputs. Startup programs, Corp Dev, CVC, Sales, and support each hold a different piece. Roll them up. Surface anomalies, not just activity.

• Prioritize proprietary data. Public intel is table stakes. The edge lives in private conversations, pilot outcomes, and integration friction.

• Shorten the clock. Shorter than usual sprints with clear KPIs beat quarterly councils that talk instead of test.

• Instrument learnings. Every pilot or experiment pays tuition. Capture what you learned and feed it back into product, pricing, and procurement.

That’s an approach that is ambition mixed with thoughtfulness. It builds both resilience and deepens relationships.

2. Map your stack risk

For Legacy corporate executives, remember every technical vendor relationship is now a variable. Capacity shifts. Roadmaps tilt. Support the priorities move.
Plan accordingly.

Identify systems that could be deprioritized in 12–24 months. Line up credible alternates before you need them. Budget for migration experiments now, not emergencies later.

Market timing isn’t just for founders. Buyers win or lose on timing, too.

3. Protect your battery

Speed without recovery burns judgment.
Build small pockets of stillness into your (and your team’s) day, a walk, a call, a pause.
Clarity is a form of capital. Guard it.

Takeaways

1. No sidelines. The AI tide is moving. Get in the water.

2. Build your stance. You can’t control the waves, only your position.

3. System the signal. Learn faster than the pace of change.

4. Pre-solve churn. Map stack risk early.

5. Protect your stillness. Calm is a competitive advantage.

Everyone’s feeling the same storm.
The ones who thrive will be those who learn to paddle through the noise, keep their stance, and trust the rhythm between strain and recovery.

Select corporate executives from legacy industries all over the globe and partnership executives through at some of the world’s most influential Hyperscalers have reached out to me to assist them in solving this problem. If you are interested, please email me or DM me.

Question for you: Where do you need to create stillness so you can read the next set before it breaks?

with gratitude,

E