This year, ask different questions

Theo Dix challenges leaders to rethink 2025—not as another year for incremental goals but as a turning point for transformative change. With AI and shifting paradigms reshaping industries, this year isn't about doing more. It's about questioning assumptions, adapting to new realities, and redefining what business success looks like.

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January often starts the same way: with targets, forecasts, and strategies to promote growth. It's comforting to think about the future in familiar terms—more revenue, more customers, more progress. But as we step into 2025, it's becoming clear that this year calls for something different.

We've spent years focusing on incremental improvement—refining processes, improving efficiency, and optimising what already exists. But we're entering a moment when the familiar rules are shifting. This isn't just about doing things a little better. It's about recognising the changes that could upend how businesses operate altogether.

When the ground shifts

Think about what's changed over the past decade. Many of those changes - faster deliveries, smarter tools, more personalised customer experiences - felt big at the time but were, in essence, refinements of what we already knew. They made things easier, quicker, and more convenient, but the foundations remained intact.

Now, though, we're starting to see shifts that feel deeper. The emergence of intelligent systems—tools that can process information and make decisions—has moved from theoretical to tangible. It's the kind of change that doesn't just tweak how things are done but asks bigger questions about what businesses are for, what roles people play, and how value is created.

What does this mean for you?

As a leader, you're likely already aware that change is inevitable. But this isn't just a call to keep up with trends or adopt the latest tools. It's about taking a step back and asking different questions.

What assumptions are you holding onto?

Many businesses operate on inherited beliefs—about what customers want, how teams should function, or what makes a product successful. Are those beliefs still valid in a world where technology is rewriting possibilities?

What's changing beneath the surface?

Sometimes, the most significant changes are the hardest to see. It's not always about flashy innovations; it's about understanding what's quietly making your old ways of working obsolete and the value that can be realised through new ways of working.

Forget the constraints of your current systems and processes. What would it look like if you could design your business from scratch? What would you focus on? What would you leave behind? Answering these questions requires you to consider what's on the horizon and what's coming next.

Thinking ahead: The role of AI

As you reflect on these questions, it's impossible to ignore the role AI is beginning to play. Technology has enhanced what humans do for years - making tasks faster, easier, or more efficient. But AI changes the dynamic.

AI primarily focuses on productivity and knowledge, helping people work faster and instantly access and generate vast amounts of knowledge and content. These systems have been valuable tools, but we're now entering a new phase. AI agents, designed for specific, narrow tasks, are beginning to act autonomously, executing decisions and connecting seamlessly with other systems.

Take business development as an example. Sales development representatives (SDRs) traditionally handle outbound tasks: identifying prospects, researching their interests, reaching out, and qualifying leads. This is time-intensive work that requires persistence and attention to detail.

AI agents are already taking on these tasks at a scale that no human team could manage. They can mine vast data sets 24/7, scrap social media profiles, analyse posts, and review public speaking engagements to pinpoint prospects' key interests and challenges. From this, they generate highly specific outreach, referencing recent articles, posts, or events the prospect is connected to, making every interaction timely and relevant.

But the impact isn't just precision; it's scale. These agents can simultaneously engage with hundreds, if not thousands, of prospects. They qualify leads through dynamic, tailored conversations, schedule meetings directly into calendars, and continuously refine their approach based on what works.

And this isn't limited to business development. AI agents are being built for tasks across industries - handling customer service, automating operations, and assisting in legal and financial workflows. They are not just enhancing how work gets done; they're redefining it entirely.

Hence, it forces a different kind of reflection: not just on what can be improved but on what might no longer be necessary at all.

This isn't about replacing people with machines. It's about understanding how roles, processes, and even business models evolve when intelligence isn't a human monopoly.

How will customer relationships change? If AI can personalise, anticipate, and engage better than any team ever could, what does that mean for how you build loyalty or differentiate your brand?

What happens to competition? AI lowers barriers to entry. Competitors might not come from your traditional sector but from startups or adjacent industries enabled by the same tools.

Where do you provide unique value? If execution becomes ubiquitous - accessible to all at speed and scale - what makes your business distinct or better?

Mapping the shifts

One way to think about this is to look at your business and industry as a whole. Imagine three to five years from now. What aspects of your sector are most vulnerable to being replaced, streamlined, or disrupted by AI?

Start with the obvious. What processes today feel slow, manual, or prone to error? These are often the first to change. Then, go deeper: What products or services could become redundant as customer expectations evolve? Where might entirely new opportunities emerge?

It's not about predicting the future with certainty. It's about identifying the pressure points where change is likely to happen first and thinking about how to adapt before it arrives.

The implications of change

What's coming isn't just a technological shift. It's a reordering of how businesses create value, how industries are structured, and how leaders think. The companies that succeed won't necessarily be the fastest to adopt AI. They'll be the ones that think most clearly about its implications.

This isn't a time for panic or grand gestures. It's a time to reflect, to observe, and to imagine. Ask yourself:

Where do you see the cracks in your current model?

What opportunities might others see that you haven't?

How can you prepare your team and yourself to lead in a world that looks very different from the one you started in?

Building for the future

So, as this year begins, resist the pull to focus only on growth. Take a step back. Think about the bigger picture. What kind of business do you want to build, and how will it fit into the emerging world?

The most significant risk this year isn't being disrupted. It's holding onto what's already losing relevance. This isn't a moment for minor adjustments. It's a time to rethink what's possible and to build with the future in mind.

This year isn't about doing more. It's about seeing differently. And that starts with asking the right questions.

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