Successful companies often miss the disruption coming for them. Board directors tend to wait for quarterly earnings misses before seriously confronting threats like AI and quantum computing. That's a dangerous lag.
Strategic adviser Itay Sagie argues boards should act while profits still flow. The cost of inaction compounds quickly. A thriving business model feels durable until a tech-enabled competitor proves it obsolete.
The pattern repeats across industries. Kodak owned digital photography but protected film revenue. Blockbuster ignored streaming. Established players in retail, finance, logistics, and healthcare now face the same choice: adapt while profitable or defend until forced to catch up.
Sagie's core argument centers on preemptive board governance. Effective directors should challenge their own success. They should map how a technology-driven entrant could replicate their customer base but cheaper, faster, or with better AI-driven insights. They should calculate the true cost of being two or three years behind a disruptor in adoption.
This requires boards to separate near-term financial performance from long-term competitive survival. A company posting 15% annual growth can simultaneously be in danger if a new technology renders its core value proposition obsolete within five years. Most boards don't weight these horizons equally.
The stakes grow as AI and quantum computing mature. These aren't marginal efficiency tools anymore. They reshape unit economics, labor models, and customer expectations. Companies that treat them as optional investments risk sudden irrelevance.
Sagie's prescription moves beyond awareness. Boards should actively stress-test their business models against emerging tech threats. They should fund internal innovation teams tasked with building the competitor's product. They should hire directors with deep tech fluency, not just governance experience.
The uncomfortable truth: every dominant company feels permanent from inside. The boardroom blind spot isn't lack of information. It's the psychological comfort of current