A few days ago I was thinking about how to explain why building a decent-sized business takes the time it takes — and something nagged at me. I'd written about this before. Long before Human Heartbeat AI. Long before OSCAR, before AI Workers, before any of it. I checked. It was thirteen years ago. On 24 February 2013, I posted this on Facebook:
The Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world, and the magnificent centerpiece of Downtown Dubai:
In March 2005 the Structure of Burj Khalifa starts rising... By June 2006 Level 50 is reached - that's 16 months to erect the first 50 levels, out a total of 163.
However Much was was needed to be done BEFORE this building peeked above the surface in March 2005.
In fact work started back in January 2004.... Some 15 months prior.
It took almost as long to dig, reach bedrock and then construct the foundations as it did to achieve the first 50 floors, all unseen by others..
Why am I sharing this..?
I was thinking this morning how best to explain why it takes some time to build a decent sized business.... It's because you have to prepare the ground, do some digging, find the right people to strengthen and support your organisation.
The deeper you dig the bigger your business/team will grow..
Spend time to train mentor and properly equip your people. Then train them to help you train others and behave as a Team.
Build your foundations deep and strong at the beginning and you too could develop something as amazing as the Burj Khalifa in years to come.
Remember winners never quit and quitters never win.
I didn't know it at the time, but I'd already written the founding principle of Human Heartbeat AI. I just hadn't built anything to apply it to yet.
Everything the business does now — the Human Decision Gate, the governance playbooks, the insistence on getting the foundation right before anything visible gets built — is the same instinct from that 2013 post, thirteen years further on. Dig first. Build the part nobody photographs. Then, and only then, build up.
If you want the fuller version of this idea — applied specifically to AI adoption — I wrote about it properly in The Tower You Can See Was Never the Hard Part →.
Pass the argument to someone who should be part of it.
Continue through the Founder Notes series.
