AI is making everyone faster. But if everyone has access to the same capability, where does competitive advantage come from?
That was one of the questions at the heart of Julie Holmes’ keynote, Beyond Faster: From Speed to Advantage, at the Sales Compensation Summit 2026.
AI represents one of the most significant technological shifts our generation has experienced, and this period will undoubtedly be studied for years to come. But Julie challenged the room to consider why this particular change can feel so daunting. Change itself isn’t new. What is different is the speed at which it is happening.
Capabilities that once required specialist knowledge, significant resources or hours of work are becoming accessible almost instantly. The challenge for leaders isn’t to slow that change down, but to learn how to move with it and to understand how human capability needs to evolve alongside the technology.
When everyone can be good, good is no longer enough
One of the most memorable ideas from Julie’s keynote was the analogy of a house.
Throughout our careers, we spend years building a floor of that house. Education, experience and expertise help us reach a level where we are good at what we do.
AI is now raising that floor.
People entering organisations today can access knowledge, analysis and capabilities that previous generations spent years developing. They can research unfamiliar subjects, analyse huge amounts of information, explore scenarios and access expertise almost instantly.
If AI makes it easier for everyone to produce “good” work, then being good alone is no longer enough to differentiate us.
The opportunity is to build the next floor of the house.
AI can give us a higher starting point, but it doesn’t automatically make us great. Reaching that next level still requires experience, curiosity, critical thinking, judgement and, importantly, hard work.
Moving beyond faster
For many organisations, the first stage of AI adoption has focused on productivity. If something that previously took three hours can now take thirty minutes, the benefit is obvious.
But if everyone can work faster, speed alone isn’t a sustainable competitive advantage.
The bigger opportunity is to ask what AI allows us to do differently. Could we evaluate hundreds of possible solutions rather than the handful we already know? Could we access analytical approaches or specialist expertise that would previously have required an entire team? Could we use the time AI gives back to us to make better decisions rather than simply produce more?
That is the shift from speed to advantage.
The 20 | 60 | 20 approach
Julie offered a practical framework for getting there: 20 | 60 | 20.
The first 20% is human preparation. Understand the problem, provide the context, define the objective and know what a good outcome should look like.
The 60% is AI. Let the technology do what it does well: research, analyse, compare, generate, model possibilities and process information at a scale humans simply can’t.
The final 20% returns to the human. Apply context, experience and judgement. Challenge the output, consider the consequences and ultimately decide what action to take.
It’s not human versus AI. It’s human → AI → human.
That final 20% becomes particularly important in areas such as Sales Compensation. AI can analyse data, identify patterns and model scenarios at extraordinary speed, but decisions around incentives, targets, territories and rewards affect behaviour, motivation, trust and people’s livelihoods.
Technology can expand the possibilities. Human judgement still determines what we do with them.
Building the next floor
We may not fully appreciate the significance of this period while we’re living through it. The pace can make it uncomfortable, but it also creates an extraordinary opportunity.
The organisations and leaders who succeed won’t necessarily be those who simply adopt AI fastest. They will be those who learn how to use it to raise the level of what they are capable of doing.
AI is raising the floor of what “good” looks like.
The challenge now is to build the next floor.
The question isn’t simply, “How can AI help us do what we already do faster?”
It’s “What could we become capable of doing now?”
