Rethinking the plow, or redesigning the farm?

In 1923, Henry Ford owned 75% the American tractor market. By 1928—5 years later—he walked away a failure. 

Problem was, Ford’s tractor was just a mechanized plow. He simply replaced the horse with an engine.

John Deere saw something Ford missed: the tractor didn't replace the horse. It made every implement on the farm obsolete overnight. Now, a single farmer could manage a much larger plot of land.

Deere had spent 80 years making implements that now had to be completely rebuilt for a tractor engine. So they rebuilt them. Before a single tractor bore the John Deere name, they trained their dealers to help farmers redesign their operations. Not what to buy. How to farm.

Ford redesigned the plow.

Deere redesigned the farm.

Most of the conversations I get into about AI strategy start with cost efficiencies. Where can we accelerate our functions? Where can we strip out costs? Good questions. But they’re plow questions.

The frontier AI labs all believe they’re headed toward a future—in the next 1-3 years—where AI models will improve themselves. Continuously. Autonomously. They call it recursive self improvement. 

What would that look like in your business?

What would you need to give up to be ready for it? 

Seems we’re all too busy redesigning the plow.

What will it take to redesign the farm?