The biggest mistakes I’ve seen didn’t come from junior people guessing. They came from experienced people who were sure they were right. In a world full of confident opinions—vendors, marketers, “experts”—the real skill is knowing who actually understands the problem. Confidence is easy to fake. Real expertise can show its work.

AI summaries and shortcuts aren’t the problem—how we use them is. When you skip the work of understanding, you trade depth for speed. But the leaders who stand out do the opposite. They go deeper. They question more. And over time, that compounds into something rare: clarity. In a world rushing for answers, real understanding becomes your superpower.