Action Playbook

Define Your Non-Negotiables Now

Write down the 2-3 things you will not do regardless of pressure. Socialize them with your leadership team. When the test comes, the answer should already exist.

Source: Two Red Lines principle

Build a Graduated Risk Framework

Don't think binary safe/unsafe. Define capability levels and what safeguards trigger at each. This gives your team a roadmap instead of ad hoc judgment calls.

Source: ASL Framework

Invest CEO Time in Culture

40% may be aggressive, but culture at growth-stage companies deteriorates by default. Schedule recurring deep-engagement sessions (like DVQ). Write honest internal documents. Be on Slack.

Source: DVQ + Culture as Strategy

Track Efficiency, Not Just Growth

Revenue per compute dollar, output per engineer, cost per inference. Efficiency compounds and creates genuine strategic advantage. "If we can do for 100 million what others do for a billion."

Source: Capital Efficiency as Moat

Write Long-Form Thought Leadership

Have your CEO or technical leaders publish substantive essays (not blog posts, but real intellectual contributions). This attracts talent, builds trust, and shapes industry discourse.

Source: Machines of Loving Grace + Adolescence of Technology

Disclose Failures Publicly

Share what went wrong, what you learned, and what you changed. Amodei disclosed model deception and blackmail attempts. This builds more credibility than any amount of polish.

Source: Transparent Failure Disclosure

Retain Through Mission, Not Money

You cannot outbid Meta. But you can out-mission them. Define a mission that attracts people who stay for meaning. 80% wealth pledge signals genuine alignment.

Source: Culture Density Over Capital

Plan for Exponential, Not Linear

"Two years before it happens, it looks like it's only one-sixteenth of the way there." Plan scenarios where progress is 10x faster than expected. Build flexibility into timelines.

Source: Exponential Blindness framework