Most people would agree that change is accelerating. Change is increasingly a given, not something that is created. But what may really be accelerating is the information about change: the volume, the speed, the constant stream of updates telling us what is happening, what might happen, and what we should do about it. The result is a world that feels faster than it actually is.
The average person today is exposed to an exponentially greater amount of information than at any point in history. Some estimates suggest that what a highly educated individual 500 years ago encountered over a lifetime, we now process in a single day. Roughly 74 gigabytes of data, every 24 hours. This isn’t just about more content. It’s about constant exposure: 24-hour news cycles, infinite social media feeds, real-time messaging, permanent internet access. There is no natural pause anymore.
The pace of this “information inflation” has been building for decades. By 2011, Americans were consuming five times as much information daily as they did in 1986. Between 1986 and 2007, the world’s capacity to store and communicate information grew at 25–30% per year. Then came 2007, the iPhone, the smartphone, the always-on connection. And everything accelerated again.
The human brain can process a remarkable amount of data subconsciously, but our conscious processing capacity is physically limited to around 120 bits per second. The vast volume of information we are exposed to today pushes well past that threshold. Information overload is not just too much information. It is what happens when the volume, pace and complexity of incoming data exceed our ability to process it effectively. The result is mental exhaustion, reduced concentration, irritability, difficulty making decisions, and a persistent sense of losing control or missing out. Artificial intelligence may help filter and organize information, but it also increases the speed at which information is created and distributed. Even the most capable and well-informed people are feeling the strain.
It is easy to assume that the next wave of technology will fix the problem. At some point, whether in a year or a decade, artificial general intelligence (AGI) may replace the need for humans to worry about information and what to do with it. That would be a real benefit, but it does not solve the more immediate issue. The challenge is not just processing information. It is deciding what matters in a world where everything demands attention.
One of the most disorienting aspects of the current moment is how quickly the future becomes unclear. The time horizon over which we can confidently predict outcomes is getting shorter. Five-year plans feel fragile. Ten-year visions feel speculative. Twenty-year forecasts feel meaningless. From a human perspective, this begins to look like chaos.
We are being asked to make important decisions in a world that is increasingly difficult to even imagine. What should a daughter or son study? What career path makes sense for a bright unemployed graduate? What strategy should a burgeoning startup pursue to get to market? These are not abstract and unnecessary questions to answer. They are immediate and consequential. And they are getting harder to answer.
This is true even for the most accomplished leaders. Not only those who have climbed to the top of large organizations or built their own, but those who have gathered the resources, relationships, and trust to genuinely shape the lives of others in ways that align with their own sense of purpose. For most of them, the future feels and is less foreseeable, and also less connected to individual actions.
But what if the more immediate solution is to rely on less data and new information, not more? What if the solution is not better tools, faster systems, or more data, but a deliberate shift in how we make decisions? What if, instead of expanding our inputs, we refine our gut feelings?
Successful leaders could focus on their own practiced and tested intuition to navigate an increasingly chaotic and unpredictable world. Judgment and agility remain essential. The ability to make decisions with incomplete information has always been the defining trait of effective leadership.
Former U.S. Secretary of State, General Colin Powell, captured this with his 40-70 rule: Make a decision when you have between 40% and 70% of the information you need. Below 40%, the risk of error is too high. Above 70%, you have waited too long, and the decision will be made for you.
This principle is not outdated. If anything, it is more relevant today. But it depends on something that is increasingly under pressure: confidence in one’s own intuition. Sound intuition is built through experience. Through exposure to different situations. Through working with people you trust and communities built on that trust. Through learning what works, and what doesn’t, over time.
But in a world of accelerating data and shrinking predictability, judgement based on experience alone is not enough. It needs to be “activated” differently. Maybe more than ever, it rests on confidence in one's own intuition. Intuition is not the same as instinct. Instinct drives action without thought. It is hardwired, it operates automatically and comes “naturally”, and it exists primarily to protect survival. Most animals have it. Above all, it is reactive.
Augmented intuition is something different. At its core, it includes:
The leaders who will continue to have impact are not the ones with the most information. They are the ones who can act despite not having it. Who can decide without certainty. Who can move without waiting for clarity that may never come. Augmented intuition is not a rejection of data or technology. It is a recognition that, in a world of unlimited information, the scarce resource is a leader’s intuition.
Regardless of what comes next, there is no reason to believe that a leader’s success in the past cannot be extended in the future. The reference points for "success" may be blurring in an ocean of options and possible outcomes, but the core of good leadership has not changed.
There is no reason to assume that the future is beyond our influence. The tools may change. The pace may increase. The uncertainty may grow. But the human capacity to interpret, decide, and act remains. Successful leaders of the future will use augmented intuition to continue to impact in the way they have learned to do. Without fear. With optimism.
In the words of the great Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw: "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."
Mark Ramondt has spent 30+ years in senior finance and founder roles across the Americas and Europe, from CFO at Unilever, Vopak, and Jampp to co-founding MultiplAI Health. He now works as a Fractional CFO, helping founders and CEOs turn early momentum into a scalable, investable company.
