In this powerful solo episode, Nassia Skoulikariti dives headfirst into one of the most pivotal shifts in the modern workplace: moving from expensive, slow execution to rapid creation and the psychological and cultural friction that comes with it.
Using real-world examples like Anthropic’s blistering 10-day product build and Cursor’s meteoric rise, Nassia explores why sticking to old management rituals is no longer just inefficient, but actually holding us back. She challenges leaders and teams to let go of outdated planning and consensus habits, replacing them with a new mindset centered on rapid prototyping, clarity of vision, and the courage to create.
Along the way, Nassia examines the deeper impact of AI on human identity, why true value now comes from clarity and ambition, and practical steps you can take to break old habits, redesign your role, and seize new opportunities.
Timeline & Key Topics
00:00 – 00:57 | A Tale of Two Realities
Contrasting legacy tech’s slow execution with Anthropic’s 10-day, AI-driven feature launch.
The speed of creation with AI is science-fiction fast.
00:57 – 02:33 | The New Economics of Execution
Most code was written by AI; humans now steer, not build.
Old model: execution was expensive, required layers of planning.
Now: execution is abundant, cheap, and the real friction is our outdated mental models.
02:34 – 04:04 | Habits and Rituals from a Scarce Era
Why we built layers of meetings, product documents, and approval gates.
Protecting precious engineering time made sense, once.
04:04 – 05:40 | The Cost Ratio Is Flipped
Meetings can cost more (in time/money) than building a prototype.
SaaS company Cursor’s rapid growth by relentless building, not endless planning.
So, why are we still so slow? Because old habits die hard.
05:41 – 07:12 | Risk Management Rituals Are Now the Bottleneck
The cost of consensus is higher than cost of creation.
Email threads for approval last longer than building the product itself.
Prototyping should replace slide decks and presentations.
07:13 – 09:10 | Ditch Perfection – Ship and Iterate
Perfection is less important than speed and feedback.
Example: Google’s rapid, imperfect launch of NotebookLM.
Value of meetings vs. value of building and demoing prototypes.
09:10 – 10:21 | Where the New Bottlenecks Lie
Clarity of vision, ambition, distribution, and relationships are now scarce and valuable.
Knowing what to build is harder than building it.
Human connection is more important in a sea of AI-generated content.
10:21 – 11:14 | The Human Shift: From Managing to Creating
We must develop awareness, capability, and creativity.
Value is no longer in execution, it’s in decision-making and unleashing potential.
11:15 – 12:43 | Embracing Opportunity Over Fear
Redesigning jobs and workflows for AI-era abundance.
Old risk management habits are now business bottlenecks.
Challenge: Stop protecting the past, start building the future.
12:44 – End | Closing Thoughts
Recap and encouragement to break one old habit today.
Stay connected for the next episode.
Key Takeaways
Execution is no longer scarce or expensive, clarity and ambition are.
Old rituals (meetings, planning decks) slow us down more than the work itself.
Progress depends on building, prototyping, and embracing iteration over perfection.
Our biggest challenge is psychological: moving from managing risk to creating value.
The most successful leaders and teams will be those who redesign roles for a world where creation is easy and fast.
Subscribe to Tech Stage and join Nassia Skoulikariti next time as we continue to rethink the future of work, technology, and human potential.
