Shopify CEO’s bold AI memo a lesson for other executives

Shopify's CEO just did what most leaders are too scared to do. He told his people to stop waiting for AI to make sense and start making sense of AI.

Tobi Lütke's memo was blunt. Learn AI. Use it. Embed it in everything. It was part war cry, part ultimatum and it went viral for a reason. Most companies are still treating AI like it's an optional upgrade. Shopify is treating it like oxygen.

That's the difference between surviving disruption and driving it.

We’ve already seen these warnings from companies with vested interests in AI’s success: Microsoft's Satya Nadella has been equally forceful, embedding AI across their entire product suite and declaring that "AI will fundamentally change every software category".

Nvidia's Jensen Huang has restructured his entire company around AI infrastructure. And OpenAI's Sam Altman has been transparent about businesses needing to adapt or risk obsolescence.

But vested interest or not, the market is rewarding these decisive leaders. Shopify's stock is up. Microsoft has added over a trillion dollars in market value. Companies that commit fully are pulling ahead, while the hesitant fall behind.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: 99% of execs will continue to applaud the Shopify memo, repost it on LinkedIn and… (insert cricket noises here) change nothing. Because talking about AI is easy. Operationalising it? That's war. It means tearing down workflows, sacrificing sacred cows and unlearning decades of "best practice".

It's surgery and most leaders don't have the stomach for it. Even as Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase warns shareholders that AI will radically transform financial services and Marc Benioff of Salesforce rebrands his entire company around AI, many executives remain paralysed by fear of disruption rather than empowered by its possibilities.

The companies making real progress aren't just experimenting with AI, they're rebuilding around it. And this is absolutely not limited to enterprise scale.

We’re having conversations daily with SMEs adopting the same change. They're not simply adding AI features to existing products but reimagining their entire value propositions. They're turning to partners and consultants who understand both the technology and the organisational change required. These forward-thinking businesses want more than incremental improvements: they want transformational outcomes.

Yes, Lütke's memo should be a wake-up call. But if your response is to send it to your team with a 🤔 emoji and no action, you're still very much on snooze.

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