Meir Amarin

The meeting ended at 7:45 PM. The leadership team had spent the last two hours discussing a strategic decision that could influence the company's next chapter. The analysis was thorough. The numbers were clear. The risks had been debated. Everyone around the table had contributed their perspective, and by the end of the discussion, there was broad alignment. The CEO stayed behind. There wasn't another urgent issue waiting. No other meeting was scheduled.

After decades of making decisions under pressure, I discovered something that challenged one of my strongest assets: my own experience. The situation was moving quickly. There was no perfect preparation, no time to analyze every option, and no guarantee that the approach that worked before would work again. My first instinct was immediate. Use experience. Recognize the pattern. Trust what I already know. And then I stopped.

The CEO looked around the room and asked a simple question: "We invested millions in AI. We trained our people. We launched pilots. We gave everyone access to the tools. So why does it feel like we are still operating the same way?" Nobody answered immediately because the answer was uncomfortable. Yes, the organization had adopted AI, but it had not transformed. This scene is becoming increasingly common in companies around the world. The excitement was real. The announcements were impressive.