The one essential business skill for 2025

The year 2024 will likely be remembered as the year when promises around artificial intelligence (AI) overshadowed genuine technological breakthroughs. Innovation, as we know it, has shifted. Business founder Joe Procopio, writing for Inc., offers his observation:

The business landscape is undergoing a drastic transformation, and whether you’re an entrepreneur, technologist, or simply someone innovating within a company, the rules of the game have fundamentally changed. It seems that innovation has taken a backseat to the AI hype.

AI’s rise is undeniable, with generative AI, machine learning, and AGI capturing billions in venture capital. This intense focus has drawn resources away from other crucial, though less glamorous, areas of innovation. As VC funds concentrate on AI, many investors from the post-pandemic boom have shifted to safer options, reducing support for diverse tech solutions. The takeaway? Competing directly with AI may not be wise. Instead, innovators can find opportunities by moving beyond the AI trend and focusing on unique, valuable niches.

Procopio suggests that today’s innovators need intellectual honesty – a rigorous, evidence-based approach to business. This means evaluating ideas objectively, relying on data, and making fact-based decisions. In a world where AI handles many tasks, intellectual honesty becomes a competitive edge. Therefore, embracing intellectual honesty is going to be a core skill.

Intellectual honesty is honesty in acquiring, analyzing, and transmitting ideas. It’s about seeking the truth in problem-solving, regardless of personal biases. By committing to intellectual honesty, you ensure that your innovations are grounded in reality, distinguishing your work from what might be easily replicable by AI.

As I often reiterate in my Level Up Leadership seminars, “Ideas are the currencies for the future.” Interrupted only by all this AI hype, we now have to settle down and realize why ideas matter again.

When people give business advice, one of their go-to moves is to talk about how ideas are cheap and plentiful and how everyone has loads of them, so they’re worth nothing. While it may have an element of truth in it, the fact is that it is not entirely practical or realistic. That advice is usually given in the context of the best business idea in the universe being useless if you don’t execute it properly. But the reverse is true, too. The best minds with the most experience doing everything right cannot save a terrible idea from being terrible. The proper “acquisition, analysis, and transmission of ideas” is the critical business skill to keep oneself, one’s product, and one’s company on the cutting edge, AI or not.

That means talk is cheap, not the idea itself.

The quality of ideas is crucial. If AI can copy or improve upon an idea quickly, your ideas must be unique, defensible, and aligned with genuine customer needs. That’s where intellectual honesty in idea assessment comes in.

On the idea acquisition front, the first-mover advantage is also a thing of the past. You must be selective, pursuing only ideas that show a clear path from concept to measurable outcomes. It’s no longer enough to list plans; you need proof of concept.

Three key phases of intellectual honesty

Idea acquisition: Copycat ideas won’t work as AI easily replicates simple concepts. Instead, focus on ideas with strong intellectual property or unique barriers that AI can’t easily duplicate.

Idea validation: Honest innovators quickly identify which ideas need refinement, saving time and resources. AI can test ideas rapidly, but only you can assess which ones align with your strengths and add real value.

Communicating value: Traditional pitches are less effective now; instead, demonstrate value through measurable results. Focus on metrics that show real impact, cutting non-growth activities to prioritize revenue and retention.

Building a competitive advantage in innovation requires more than keeping up with AI. It requires a return to foundational business principles of idea originality, careful validation, and effective communication. This reminds me of what marketing guru Seth Godin said over a year ago. He says AI will produce ideas or work that belongs to an “Ocean of Blandness.” AI might encourage laziness and timidity and fail to stimulate the creative mind to think.

While the competition is shifting to AI, you can differentiate yourself by cultivating intellectual honesty and focusing on ideas with proven actionable value. Those who can approach their work with honesty, clarity, and a commitment to reality will not only survive but also thrive in this new era of innovation.

Francis Kong’s “Inspiring Excellence” podcast is now available on Spotify, Apple, Google, or other podcast streaming platforms.