Watched the qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend.
Monaco is one of the most historic races on the Formula 1 calendar. It goes back to 1929 — they ran cars through the literal streets of Monte Carlo, past the Hôtel de Paris, around the harbor, up the hill to Casino Square, through the tunnel, down to Rascasse. The corners have names like a kind of poetry only race fans recognize: Mirabeau, the hairpin, Tabac, the swimming pool section. It’s the most prestigious Grand Prix on the calendar. Drivers wear a Monaco win like a medal. Sponsors fight for it. Even people who hate motorsport tune in for Monaco — the yachts, the sunlight, the history.
It’s beautiful.
It’s also just not great racing anymore.
Here’s the problem. The cars have gotten wider over the decades — way wider. The track hasn’t gotten any wider with them. So overtaking is almost impossible. There’s nowhere to go. Pole position basically wins the race. The car that qualifies first wins a huge percentage of modern Monacos, and even when it doesn’t, the result is usually decided by pit-stop strategy, not actual racing. The whole drama is on Saturday in qualifying. Sunday’s race is mostly a procession with great B-roll.
This Saturday, Kimi Antonelli put it on pole for Mercedes. I root for Mercedes. So I was thrilled. But I also watched qualifying with the dawning recognition that Sunday was essentially decided (and it was).
And as I was watching, I kept thinking about how much this looks like the rest of the world right now.
The cars got bigger. The track stayed the same.
That’s what most businesses are doing with AI. The tools have changed dramatically in the last 18 months. The capability of these systems is wildly different than what existed when most companies built their workflows. But almost nobody is rebuilding the workflows. They’re trying to fit the new cars onto the old track. Slot the AI into the meeting cadence, the approval process, the reporting structure, the org chart that was designed for humans typing one email at a time. Then they’re surprised when nothing meaningful changes.
So I’ll ask you the same question I keep asking myself:
Are you meaningfully using AI in your work? Not as a novelty. Not “I tried it once and asked it to write a poem.” Meaningfully — in the actual flow of your business. The way you make decisions. The way you do diligence. The way you write, sell, hire, screen, plan, follow up, run numbers, build outreach.
If the answer is no, or “kind of,” the track is too small for the car.
Here’s what makes this moment different. Everything is moving at once. The tools are getting more capable every day. Truly. Follow Hacker News — do it. That’s where the frontier moves, in plain English. The companies adopting these tools are pulling ahead in real, measurable ways. The companies that aren’t are getting passed in real time. There’s no neutral position on this. You either ride the AI wave or get crushed by it. There’s no third option.
And if you don’t have a paid AI subscription right now, you are already behind the eight ball. Not in five years. Today. The free tiers are great for kicking the tires — they’re not what the actual work runs on. The people getting real leverage out of this are paying for the better tools and using them every single day. That is the bar. As the price goes up, those who understand the value will pay it. Those who don’t, won’t. The split economy will emerge.
We need to get you moving forward.
Don’t try to force 2026 cars onto a 1929 street. The old infrastructure needs to adjust to the new reality in real time — or it has to evolve into something else entirely.
Here’s a thought: turn Monaco into a Pro Bowl. Keep it as the celebration of Formula 1 — the spectacle, the history, the prestige, the yachts. But stop pretending it’s where the real racing happens. Run qualifying in older F1 cars so the legends and the rookies are on equal footing. Run the actual race in cars from a smaller era — back when overtaking at Monaco was still possible. Let the racers race. That’s what we tune in for anyway.
Same in your business. There IS a real race happening right now. It’s not the one most people are watching. It’s a race to implementation. Which brokerage figures out AI first? Which investor? Which wholesaler? Which operator? Whoever moves fastest and most efficiently is going to operate in a completely different category than the people still trying to slot Claude into a 2019 workflow.
You can sing me a song about your woes and I’m pretty sure we can systemize most of them out with some Claude Cowork time. Things are changing fast. Life doesn’t have to suck. Systemize your business. Free up your people to do marketing, build relationships, and do good work in the community.
That is how you win.
Today’s song says it:
And it’s so hard to do
And so easy to say
But sometimes, sometimes you just have to walk away
Walk away
And head for the door.
The old workflow. The old approach. The old way you’ve always done it. Walking away from that is the hard part. But sometimes you just have to.
Head for the door.
Move to where the world is moving.
Warmly,
Rob Bergeron
Owner–Realtor at Award-Winning Winner Realty
PS: Make sure to check out Winner Realty’s incredible offerings. Bring us an offer, we will always try to make something happen!