You’re Either Netflixing Your Industry... Or You’re the Next Blockbuster
Let’s rewind to 2000. Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix, offered to sell his company to Blockbuster for $50 million. Blockbuster laughed them out of the room.
Fast forward a decade – Blockbuster was bankrupt. Netflix was reshaping not just how we rent movies, but how we consume content altogether.
We need to stop talking about AI like it’s a future opportunity.
AI is already woven into everyday workflows, from:
• Automating repetitive admin
• Summarising meetings and writing follow-ups
• Drafting content
• Analysing data
• Personalising customer experiences
• Powering smarter decisions faster
The real question isn’t: Should we adopt AI?
The real question is: How long can we afford to delay?
AI Isn’t the Future. It’s the Present.
Because the longer you wait, the bigger the gap gets between you and the companies that have already embedded AI into their workflows.
Traditional Businesses vs. AI-Driven Businesses: The Real Comparison
Think about it like this:
This isn’t theory – it’s happening right now. The organisations integrating AI into their day-to-day operations, not just their strategy decks, are pulling ahead.
The Risk of Waiting (Just Ask Blockbuster)
Blockbuster didn’t die because of Netflix’s technology. It died because it refused to change its business model, and underestimated the pace of disruption.
That’s what businesses are doing now with AI.
They’re:
• Waiting until it’s “mature”
• Delegating AI to innovation teams, instead of integrating it into core functions
• Thinking about tools, not transformation
By the time they’re ready, the businesses who acted early will be operating in an entirely different league.
What Leaders Need to Ask Themselves Today
Before you invest in another initiative, ask:
• Where could AI remove friction in our daily workflows?
• What repetitive, time-heavy tasks are ripe for automation?
• Are we training our teams on AI literacy – or just watching from the sidelines?
• Are we designing our business for today’s competition – or tomorrow’s disruption?
This Is the Moment
Every generation of business has a pivotal shift. For Blockbuster, it was streaming. For Kodak, it was digital photography.
For us, it’s AI.
The organisations that move now – not perfectly, but intentionally – will be the ones reshaping their industries. The ones that wait for certainty will be left wondering where it all went wrong.
You don’t need to become an AI company. But you do need to become an AI-enabled one.
This is your Netflix moment. What you do next determines whether you lead your industry – or watch it evolve without you.
Is your business ready for the shift? Or is it waiting for the market to pass it by?
Final Thought
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