#014 - A Letter to My Pre-AI Self.
You are sitting in that glass-walled office in Warsaw, probably on your third coffee, checking your phone under the table during a board meeting. You are feeling the weight of a failed project—that crater that is still smoking behind you. You are tired. You are defensive. You are trying to outrun the failure by working harder, faster, and with more "efficiency."
You think you are being productive because you replied to 60 emails before 9 AM. You think you are safe because you are climbing the corporate ladder.
I am writing to tell you that you are wrong.
In ten years, the "efficiency" you worship will be a commodity sold by the token. The "speed" you pride yourself on will be considered sluggish compared to the slowest AI agent. You are currently training yourself to be a bad robot, maximizing throughput in a world that is about to automate throughput entirely.
Stop running. Read this. Here is the roadmap I wish I had when I was staring into the abyss.
1. Growth is Messy
Right now, you are obsessed with job security. You measure your worth by the number of people reporting to you—managing 200 people feels like a badge of honor. You think the path forward is linear: Manager, Director, VP, CEO. A straight line up and to the right, just like the revenue charts you present.
Here is the truth: Linear growth is a trap.
In the future, the corporate officer who stayed in one company for twenty years isn't "loyal"—they are obsolete. They are fragile. The world is becoming too volatile for straight lines.
You need to travel. You need to see that the world is more colorful and chaotic than a spreadsheet can capture. You are smart enough to be an expert in anything—not just the "AI expert" you are trying to be, but a freediver, a coach, a writer.
Don't be afraid of the messy resume. In 2025, we don't hire people for their ability to follow a track. We hire them for their ability to jump tracks. You will eventually manage those huge teams, yes. But you will also be an individual contributor again, and you will find more happiness there than in the boardroom. You will find that your "job security" doesn't come from a contract, but from your unique stack of contradictions.
2. Burn the Certificates
I know you. You love learning. You collect certificates like boys collect baseball cards. You are so obsessed with "proving" your competence that you are currently hiding your other lives. You have papers certifying you as a professional freediver, but you are afraid to put them on LinkedIn because you think it looks "unprofessional." You believe it dilutes your brand as a serious tech executive.
Delete the certificates. Keep the passion.
In my time, knowledge is free. I can ask an AI to explain quantum computing or write a Python script, and it does so in seconds. Certificates of "knowledge" are becoming worthless currency. What is valuable is wisdom—the synthesis of things that don't belong together.
Relax. You do not need a paper to justify your curiosity. Find joy in uncovering things that have no immediate ROI. Read poetry. Study psychology. The fact that you are a freediver is not a distraction from your leadership. It is the source of it. It teaches you to manage oxygen, to manage panic, to manage the void. That is more relevant to the C-suite than any PMP certification you are hoarding.
3. Curiosity Over Judgment
You are currently operating with a "Judge and Execute" mindset. You meet people, you assess their utility, you categorize them, and you move on. You set the bar impossibly high—for your team, for your partners, and mostly for yourself.
You are doing this to be "efficient." But efficiency is the enemy of connection.
In the age of AI, Curiosity is your moat. The machine can process data about a person, but it cannot be curious about them. It cannot feel the subtle shift in energy when someone is holding back the truth.
Lower your bar for judgment and raise your bar for curiosity. Ask questions not to get an answer, but to understand the human mechanism sitting across from you. Feel them. When you stop trying to "manage" people and start trying to witness them, you will uncover that they can enrich your life in ways a KPI never could.
You will see that your technical skills—the ones you are killing yourself to acquire—will become obsolete. You might spend 20 years in AI, and that experience has value, yes. But your superpowers in 2025 will be your "Natural Intelligence": your emotional clarity, your courage to speak the truth when the algorithm says otherwise, and your ability to remain calm when everyone else is hallucinating urgency.
4. Speak Your Truth
You are wearing a mask. You think that being a leader means showing no weakness. You think "professionalism" means suppressing your inner life. You are afraid that if you show them what you really feel, you will lose your authority.
The opposite is true.
In a world of synthetic media and AI avatars, authenticity is the ultimate luxury good. People are starving for something real. They are interested in your opinions, your fears, and your "unprofessional" inner life.
Be more open to your own expression. Speak up. When you feel that a project is a "Bullshit Job", say it. When you think that a strategy is built on hope rather than reality, say it. And equally, respect your own boundaries. You are enough, just as you are, without the title and without the armor.
And this applies to the heart, too. I know you are hurting. I know the cost of the last few years. But don't stop believing in true love. Even if important relationships fail—and they will—do not let that calcify you. Even if you lose money and love in the same year, do not treat it as a signal to shut down. Treat it as data. Learn from it. The machine cannot have a broken heart, which means the machine cannot learn the lessons of repair. You can.
5. Ditch Perfectionism
You are trying to be "Mr. Perfect." You want the perfect launch, the perfect team, the perfect quarterly review.
Stop. Perfectionism is just a fancy word for fear. It refrains you from acting. It keeps you stuck in the planning phase because you are terrified of the error term.
In 2025, we know that Antifragility comes from the mess. It comes from launching the imperfect thing and fixing it. It comes from the €50 million failure that teaches you more than the €50 million success ever could.
Don't be afraid to try new paths. Uncover them with a smile. Be gentle with yourself. Be good to people. Love them as much as you can—rationally, yes, but also irrationally.
The Future is Human
Piotr, you are building a career designed to impress people in 2015. But you need to make a life that can sustain you in 2025.
The technology is coming. It will be faster than you. It will be more intelligent than you. It will be tireless. If you try to compete with it on those terms, you will lose.
Your victory lies in the things you are currently neglecting: your breath, your messy curiosity, your capacity for love, and your ability to sit in silence without reaching for a device.
Stop optimizing. Start living.
See you in the future.
PS. If you want to work with me as an executive coach or AI strategist, visit my page here.
