11 Feb Only The Paranoid Survive: Lesson from Sam Altman and Deep Seek
Sam Altman’s cocky response (it’s hopeless) to a question about whether Indians can create their own AI model from scratch without building on the existing OpenAI model went viral when DeepSeek AI, out of nowhere, emerged as an open-source competitor built on a fraction of OpenAI’s budget.
Most people shared the clip, I presume, to make a statement: “Sami, Karma got ya!”
Hopefully, Sam took a lesson and will refrain from showing such defiant arrogance in the future, at least publicly and in front of a camera.
Setting aside Sam’s unfaltering comment on the stage and whether he took a lesson not to brag like that openly, Sam and the Board that backed his decision to walk away from the open source model were rebuked by the advent of Deep Seek while Elon Musk, who protested the move, was vindicated.
That said, I want to use this opportunity to highlight one of the most deadly FLAWs that can derail leaders with the potential to bankrupt their giant companies: The LACK OF ENOUGH PARANOIA!
Leaders, especially in AI and other very competitive industries, need a higher dose of PARANOIA, which I didn’t see from Sam, at least from his appearance on that stage or OpenAI’s statements in response to Deep Seek!
If you study companies that lost market share and ultimately went out of business, their leaders weren’t paranoid enough!
A mistake in choosing a loser model, as OpenAI did, can be corrected with minimal inconvenience and loss. However, what is costly, devastating, and permanent is the feeling of superiority, undermining the competition, when you believe wrongly that you’re untouchable.
Look at those companies that stayed competitive and kept leading in highly competitive and cutthroat industries, such as Intel Corporation, Sony, Apple, Google, Tesla, NVIDIA, Amazon, etc. They had and still have leaders who understand the importance of humility and the reality that they can be toppled by an underdog that may not appear TODAY as a serious competitor and threat.
Let’s stay humble and possess a healthy dose of paranoia!
If you’ve not, read a classic book by Andrew Grove, former CEO of Intel, entitled “Only The Paranoid Survive.” Learn from the master who survived the onslaught the Japanese semiconductor companies unleashed to threaten the very survival of his company because he was PARANOID!
Note that Andrew wasn’t just a paranoid leader. He was also a master strategist and executioner. He is known among STRATEGY experts as one of the pioneers of the OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) goal-setting method that enabled his own company and other companies like Google to outcompete, scale, and dominate their industry for decades.