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The Age of the Speedboat: How Middle Market Leaders Can Win the AI Era
Paperback
Publisher: Dunberry Press
Published: May 18 2026
Pages: 260
Weight: 1.04
Height: 0.71 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
The AI revolution won't be won by the biggest organizations. It will be won by nimble companies willing to move quickly.
For decades, middle market companies lived at a disadvantage. Enterprise technology was built for Fortune 500 giants. New innovations were tailored for the largest users. Scale won. But artificial intelligence has changed the rules.
In The Age of the Speedboat, veteran CEO, advisor, and transformation leader John Rudd makes the bold case that mid-market organizations now possess the single greatest competitive advantage in business today: the ability to move quicker and respond faster than the giants they once feared.
Drawing on more than three decades leading companies through disruption, transformation, and technological change, Rudd reveals why the AI era belongs to agile leaders willing to act decisively while larger competitors struggle under the weight of bureaucracy and legacy systems.
Inside, you'll discover:
- Why AI is a great equalizer-and why mid-market companies are structurally positioned to better take advantage of this moment
- A practical, phased framework for implementing AI iteratively, affordably, and chaos free
- How developing organizational flow and responsiveness will create a core competency of continuous innovation
- The hidden advantages your company already has over larger competitors
- How to avoid the organizational traps that kill AI initiatives before they deliver a dollar of value
- Why the leaders who win this era won't be the most tech-savvy-they'll be the most decisive and responsive
Part rallying cry. Part strategic roadmap. Part leadership playbook.
The Age of the Speedboat is for leaders who know the business landscape is changing fast, and who refuse to be left behind.
Because in the age of AI, the legacy giants moving like aircraft carriers won't dominate.
The speedboats will.
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