Growth Is No Longer Optional – It’s a Baseline Expectation

In a matter of weeks, I transformed from a complete novice in digital signal processing (DSP) to a savvy hi-fi audio hobbyist. I didn’t enroll in a university course or hire a private tutor. I simply engaged ChatGPT – an AI large language model – to teach me. Day by day, question by question, I climbed a steep learning curve in record time. This personal experiment proved a blunt truth: choosing to grow is no luxury – it’s the baseline expectation in today’s world.

One Year of Experience, Repeated Ten Times vs. Ten Years of Growth

It’s often said that some people have 10 years of experience, while others have one year of experience repeated 10 times. The true veterans aren’t those who simply clock years on the job – they’re the ones who grow year over year, continuously expanding their skills and insight.

Consider two executives with identical tenures. One has iterated on themselves each year: acquiring new skills, updating old assumptions, and tackling fresh challenges. The other has been coasting, essentially reliving the same work year on loop. The difference between these two people is night and day. The growth-minded leader brings compound interest to their organization – each year’s knowledge builds on the last – whereas the stagnating leader risks becoming obsolete. In an era of rapid change, coasting should be a red flag.

No More Excuses: AI Has Ended the Age of Stagnation

Not long ago, a busy executive might excuse a lack of learning: “Who has the time to pick up new skills?” or “Resources for that are hard to find.” Those excuses are now invalid. AI tools like ChatGPT have demolished the traditional barriers to self-education. We live in a time where an AI tutor sits in our pocket, ready to explain any concept or at least rubber-duck debug our way through any problem on demand.

AI tools have removed the friction of “not knowing how” to grow. The only differentiator left is your mindset: whether you choose to learn while doing, or just doing the same old way.

Failing to grow has never been more a matter of personal choice.

What might have taken months of slogging through textbooks is now accelerated into weeks of interactive Q\&A\&Do\&Iterate with an AI. If such capabilities exist for any domain, what excuse remains for any of us to stay stuck in yesterday’s expertise?

The Champion’s Mindset: Constant Improvement

Elite performers in sports and business share a common trait: an obsessive commitment to getting better every single day. As discuseed in Bill Belichick: Inside the Mind of the NFL’s Greatest Coach [The Knowledge Project Ep. #230] coach Bill Belichick demands that every player on his team improves daily – no complacency even for superstars. “You have to earn it every day.” That ethos is exactly the mindset required in executive suites now.

Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, famously paired raw talent with relentless work. He said, “Everybody has talent, but ability takes hard work.” Natural gifts alone didn’t make him a champion; it was the compound effect of constant practice and improvement over time.

The lesson from champions is that talent is just the starting point. What matters is what you do with it daily. Are you sharpening your fundamentals and adding to your repertoire each year?

Aspiration: The Deliberate Transformation of Values

Philosopher Agnes Callard calls this process aspiration, describing it as the “distinctive form of agency directed at the acquisition of values.” You can intentionally evolve your professional identity. A leader who has “never been a numbers person” can aspire to financial savvy. Aspiration is the antidote to the fixed mindset.

Lead by Learning – Setting the Example in Knowledge Work

In knowledge-work environments, executives must lead by example as the top “learners” in the company. If Belichick can demand daily growth from Brady, and Jordan could still evolve after multiple championships, then senior executives must do the same. Moreover, they must expect the same from their reports, and expect it faster than ever before.

Microsoft’s Transformation

When Satya Nadella became CEO of Microsoft, he said he wanted to shift the culture from a “know-it-all” to a “learn-it-all.” Even a tech giant can stagnate when its leaders believe they know everything. Under Nadella, Microsoft’s resurgence is partly attributed to this top-down embrace of continuous learning and curiosity.

A Call to Action for Leaders

Growth isn’t optional. It’s your duty, your role, your mandate. If you’re not actively learning, you’re falling behind. Here’s how to make growth a non-negotiable part of your leadership:

• Effectiveness, Not Just Effort or Efficiency: Your job as an executive isn’t about logging hours; it’s about impact. Prioritize effectiveness by learning the right skills—not just new skills. Identify what truly moves the needle and ruthlessly pursue mastery there first. AI removes your excuses; ignorance is a choice now, not a circumstance.
• “Be Kind, Not Nice” About Stagnation: It’s tempting to avoid uncomfortable truths to keep harmony, but that’s not kindness. If you’re tolerating stagnation in yourself or your teams, you’re not helping them meet their potential. Radical candor means confronting growth gaps honestly and constructively. Tell your team: “Stagnation isn’t acceptable. Improvement is expected daily.”
• Plan Constantly, But Ditch Your Plans: Plans are disposable. Planning, however, is essential and ongoing. Your growth can’t be mapped once per year at an offsite. Instead, integrate continuous planning into your routine. Seek feedback relentlessly and pivot often. Rigidity in a rapidly changing landscape is not just ineffective—it’s irresponsible.
• Embrace Antifragility: Seek Out Discomfort — You must not only withstand challenges; you must actively seek them out. Growth occurs in the arena of discomfort and uncertainty. Pursue experiences that push your limits. Learn aggressively from both successes and failures. Your antifragility is your greatest strategic advantage—use it.
• Think by Writing—And Write to Clarify: Make writing central to your growth strategy. Write to crystallize your insights, clarify your thinking, and document your evolution. Writing isn’t mere record-keeping; it’s the act of making your internal transformation explicit and actionable. In the age of LLMs, this is more valuable than ever. Every piece of writing is context for a future prompt.
• Learn Like a Champion: Every Day Matters: If your growth stalls, your organization’s growth stalls. No exceptions. Show your team that you’re not above the fray of learning new tricks. Be curious and hands-on. Ask questions. Reward growth in others.
• Lead or Fall Behind: We are past the era when executives could coast on past achievements. If you don’t adapt, you become obsolete. Your top talent expects continuous challenge and visible, aggressive growth from you. Stagnation is the loudest signal that your leadership has expired.

Set the example. Demand more from yourself. Use every tool available, AI especially, to accelerate your understanding and deepen your expertise.

Step up. Grow or step aside.

Turning Principle into Practice: What Growth Looks Like in Action

If you’re not improving your understanding, broadening your skill set, and deepening your insights each year, you’re effectively letting your company down (not to mention yourself). The good news is that the tools to grow have never been more powerful or accessible – but you have to use them. Here’s how to get started:

1. Leverage AI as your always-on coach: Make tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini part of your daily routine. Pose problems to them, have them explain concepts, or generate scenarios. Treat your AI not just as a gimmick or toy for the IT department, but as a personal learning assistant. The possibilities are endless – if you commit to asking, trying and iterating.
2. Show your work (and your growth): Be open about what you’re learning. Share with your team: “I’ve been exploring machine learning lately, here’s a cool thing I discovered…” or “I’m reading a book on supply chain optimization to help us with our new project.” This isn’t to brag; it’s to normalize the behavior of learning. When people see the boss actively expanding their horizons, it inspires a culture where continuous improvement is the norm. It also creates psychological safety for others to admit what they don’t know and pursue growth without fear. Send them the chat transcript to help them see how you think, what matters to you. Ask them to do the same and see how they think and suggest improvements.

   Last week Daman did some initial research for a complex decision using ChatGPT; he then shared a link to his chat, which meant I could go back to the beginning and trace his assumptions, the back-and-forth of his conversation, and then continue the conversation on my side. After diving deeper into various options — and correcting a few errant assumptions from the beginning — I came up with a promising course of action and, instead of having to explain it all to Daman to follow up on, I simply shared a link to my version of the chat back to him for reference (I asked Daman to read this section before posting, and he said he had already gone back and expanded on my instructions with much more confidence than he might have otherwise, because he knows I can look back at his conversation). – Claude 4, Anthropic Agents, Human-AI Agents, Ben Thomspon, Stratechery, 2025-05-27

3. Make growth a core value of the organization: Hire and promote for learnability and growth mindset. Incorporate continuous improvement into performance reviews – not as some vague ideal, but with concrete goals (e.g., learn X skill, obtain Y certification, mentor under Z expert to gain new perspective). When stagnation is spotted, address it head-on: have frank conversations, shuffle roles to spark growth, or part ways if necessary. Protect your culture from the rot of complacency.

With AI and ubiquitous information at our fingertips, the gap between those who can learn and will learn defines who thrives. Embrace the mindset of the champions and the aspirants: get a little better every day.

As Belichick might say, earn it every day. As Jordan reminds us, talent is nothing without work.

Use the tools. Invest the time. Set the tone. The future belongs to the learn-it-alls. Will you be one of us? Or will you be left behind?