The Fire Horse Moment: Defining the Next Winners

Happy to report that last week’s newsletter also landed for me, and I managed my best round of golf at Royal Cape in a year last Wednesday – resetting from bad shots, playing smart, and not letting my ego rule me. Then, this Sunday, I had an even bigger setback to navigate.  

After preparing for what would have been my 22nd Cape Town Cycle Tour, I didn’t finish the race. Not because the legs weren’t ready, and not because the wind turned or the hills bit harder than expected. It was something far more mundane than that. A mechanical problem brought the ride to an early end. Cyclists know the peculiar frustration of that moment well. The training rides are done, the body is primed, the morning alarm has gone off painfully early, and the mind is ready for the rhythm of the road… but then the machine underneath you decides the day will go differently. 

For a few minutes, there’s always that familiar emotional fork in the road. One direction leads to irritation and disappointment, replaying the “what ifs” and wondering how the day might have unfolded if the bike had simply cooperated. The other direction is quieter and more useful: a reset. 

Instead of spending the afternoon stewing about a race that wasn’t going to happen, I took my son for simulator golf. We stood side by side, hitting digital targets on a giant screen, watching the ball arc through simulated air toward virtual greens. What made the afternoon memorable wasn’t the technology itself. It was watching his progress unfold in real time. Seeing each shot creep a little closer to the centre. The quiet excitement when the numbers improved. The small grin that appears when effort turns into improvement. 

It was one of those simple moments that remind you how rarely life unfolds in a straight line. Sometimes the race doesn’t finish the way you imagined. Sometimes the machine breaks. Sometimes the day you thought would be about one thing becomes something else entirely. And sometimes the better move is merely to realign with what matters most: family, renewal, and the long-term goals that sit quietly underneath the noise of everyday plans. This last Monday, I did something I haven’t done in a decade: I put on my running shoes the day after the race, and started training for the next big thing. Momentum. 

Strangely enough, that mindset turns out to be remarkably relevant for the moment many businesses are entering right now.

Over the past few newsletters, we’ve been unpacking the building blocks of leadership systems, those invisible structures that allow teams to perform consistently, even when conditions are less than perfect.

We’ve talked about alignment, the discipline of the reset, and how energy and culture shape momentum within organisations. 

Frameworks like EOS and Scaling Up exist precisely for this reason. They provide a structure that allows organisations to keep moving forward even when uncertainty appears. Scorecards create clarity. Meeting rhythms build accountability. Clear values guide decisions.

Over the past year, I’ve been layering another ingredient onto those frameworks while working with founders and leadership teams: Artificial intelligence.

Not as a clever gadget or novelty chatbot sitting in the corner of the office, but as something embedded directly into the way organisations actually operate: summarising meetings, analysing decisions, refining hiring conversations, capturing insights from transcripts, and helping leaders see patterns that would otherwise remain hidden in the noise. 

The result is something new emerging. 

Think of it as AI+EOS (I call it AIKPI). 

AI accelerates thinking, EOS accelerates execution. 

Together, they create momentum. 

A fascinating example of this principle, where systems beat improvisation, is unfolding right now in professional golf.

Luke Donald has just been appointed Ryder Cup captain for the third consecutive time, something that hasn’t happened since Tony Jacklin led Europe in the 1980s. Jacklin transformed European golf and laid the foundations of the modern Ryder Cup team, eventually winning 2.5 Cups during his tenure. But despite four attempts at the helm, he never secured that elusive third defining victory.

Donald now stands in a position Jacklin never quite reached. If he wins again, he could become the first captain in modern history to win three consecutive Ryder Cups. It’s a compelling opportunity. But it’s also a reputational risk.

The environment around him is complicated. European superstar Jon Rahm may not even be eligible to play because of the ongoing tensions between LIV Golf and the traditional tours. On the American side, things appear equally unsettled. The PGA of America has reportedly been canvassing Tiger Woods for the captaincy, despite Woods openly acknowledging that his attention is divided among multiple responsibilities. And beneath that uncertainty lies a deeper issue: the United States currently seems to lack a clear leadership pipeline for the role. 

Europe isn’t necessarily overflowing with obvious successors either. There’s a quiet sense that they may be waiting for Justin Rose to mature into the captaincy, or perhaps for the broader LIV Golf saga to resolve itself before the next generation of leadership emerges.

In other words, both teams are navigating a period of disruption, yet Europe has chosen continuity (at least for now… let’s watch this space).

Luke Donald is not a dramatic, headline-grabbing appointment. He represents something far more powerful: a system that already works. The European Ryder Cup model is defined by its culture, preparation routines, and, through the assistant captains, its analytical approach to pairings and strategy… IP and skills that have been refined carefully over decades. Donald understands the system intimately and will likely stick with the same formula and team for his third run.

Instead of chasing a Hail Mary solution or gambling on a celebrity captain, Europe has chosen to build on the system that has already delivered results. I recently read an interesting titbit from the last Ryder Cup – the Europeans, over the first two days, had a better grasp of how a wet course and low-cut rough would play out in terms of ball spin. Their players were aiming FOR the rough, and the Americans didn’t catch on until it was too late. It was a simple tweak based on what they already knew, and it helped them gain early momentum. 

The lesson for business leaders is obvious.

Across South Africa and around the world, founders are experimenting with AI tools. They are testing prompts, exploring chatbots, and discovering what the technology can do. But the companies beginning to pull ahead are not the ones chasing spectacular one-off ideas. 

They are the ones embedding AI into the organisation’s operating system and tweaking what already works. 

• AI summarises meetings. 

• AI assists with hiring analysis. 

• AI helps interpret scorecards and data. 

• AI supports coaching and decision-making. 

The technology becomes part of the rhythm of the organisation's thinking. 

Not a gimmick… rather, a system. 

There’s an old story about two hikers who encounter a bear in the woods. One calmly sits down and begins putting on running shoes. The other laughs and says, “You can’t outrun a bear.” The first hiker shrugs and replies, “I don’t have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you.” 

AI adoption will look remarkably similar. Most companies don’t need to become the world's most advanced AI organisation. They simply need to move a little faster than their competitors. Even the symbolism of the moment fits the story. In the Chinese zodiac, last year was the Year of the Snake, associated with quiet strategy and positioning. This year is the Year of the Fire Horse, a symbol of motion, momentum, and bold execution.

The terrain has been studied… and now, my friend, it’s time to run. 

Hit me up if you want to join my Mastermind group, launching in April. I’m curating a small group of founders who want to embrace the tech to take their operations to the next level. DM me if you want to join in. 

When you zoom out, the shift underway right now sits neatly atop several of the most influential leadership ideas of the past few decades.

James Clear’s Atomic Habits reminds us that consistent systems, repeated daily, compound into extraordinary outcomes over time. Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People  emphasises alignment between values and behaviour. Jim Collins, in Good to Great and Great by Choice, demonstrates that disciplined organisations consistently outperform those that rely on bursts of heroic effort.

EOS and Traction translate those principles into practical structures - scorecards, priorities, meeting rhythms—that help leadership teams execute with clarity. 

AI does not replace these frameworks; it amplifies them. 

Used properly, AI becomes a thinking partner within the company's operating system, capturing insights, surfacing patterns, and accelerating how leaders process information and make decisions. 

The organisations that combine structured execution frameworks with AI-enhanced thinking will move dramatically faster than those that don’t. 

That’s the real Fire Horse moment. 

PG’s Pro Tip:

This week, experiment with using AI as a strategic advisor rather than simply a tool for answering questions. 

Try giving it this prompt: 

ChatGPT Prompt 

“I run a business in the following industry: [describe your business]. 

Our biggest growth constraints right now are revenue growth, operational efficiency, talent and hiring, and customer acquisition. 

Act as a strategic advisor combining EOS, Scaling Up, and AI innovation. Identify three bold moves my company could make in the next 12 months that would dramatically accelerate growth using AI or automation. 

For each move, explain the strategic idea, why it could create an unfair advantage, and outline the first 90-day execution plan.” 

You may not implement everything it suggests. 

But it will almost certainly stretch your thinking and reveal opportunities you hadn’t considered. 

And perhaps that is the quiet lesson from the weekend. 

Sometimes the race doesn’t finish the way you expected. Sometimes the machine breaks. The important thing is staying aligned with what matters, learning from the moment, and building systems strong enough that when the next start line appears, you’re ready to ride again. 

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