Limassol, Cyprus. Aleksandra Sulimko, COO of TheSoul Group, said organisations do not get stuck because they lack tools, strategies or technology, but because of how people react when uncertainty becomes uncomfortable. She spoke during a keynote titled ‘Mindset Is Not What You Think’ at the Doers Summit.
Mindset defined as behaviour under pressure
Sulimko said the real challenge in business transformation, particularly in the age of artificial intelligence, is not only whether companies can adopt new tools, but whether people can recognise their automatic reactions when they do not know what to do. She said mindset is not about attitude, beliefs or motivational slogans, but about behaviour under pressure.
Lessons from emergency care, psychotherapy and leadership
Drawing on what she described as three worlds—the emergency room, psychotherapy and corporate leadership—Sulimko said a consistent conclusion emerged across all of them. “We don’t get stuck because we lack tools. We get stuck because of how we react,” she said. She linked AI transformation not only to systems, strategy or technology, but to how people behave when pressure, ambiguity and fear arrive at the same time.
Transformation at scale
Sulimko referred to the scale of TheSoul Group, saying it has 5 billion subscribers across the group, 10 billion monthly views, 45 media awards, 15,000 influencers, 15,000 videos produced and published daily by in-house teams, and 60 platforms. She also cited the group’s YouTube awards, including 34 Diamond Buttons, 303 Golden Buttons and 646 Silver Buttons. She said leading transformation at that scale requires understanding how people respond when the pace of change becomes faster than their sense of safety.
AI productivity and organisational value
Sulimko said AI has made every individual 10 times more productive, but most organisations have not become 10 times more valuable. She said the question is where that productivity has gone, arguing that it disappears into a gap between individual speed and collective reaction.
A ‘reaction problem,’ not an AI problem
According to Sulimko, the gap between individual productivity and organisational value is driven by human behaviour rather than technology. “You don’t have an AI problem. You have a reaction problem,” her presentation said. She said technology itself is not what slows organisations down, but how people behave when they do not know the answer, including freezing, overanalysing, delaying decisions, protecting old habits, or appearing busy without making real progress.
How do you respond when uncertainty makes decision-making uncomfortable?
