ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
An AI-native strategy firmGlobal Advisors: a consulting leader in defining quantified strategy, decreasing uncertainty, improving decisions, achieving measureable results.
A Different Kind of Partner in an AI World
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Quantified Strategy
Decreased uncertainty, improved decisions
Global Advisors is a leader in defining quantified strategies, decreasing uncertainty, improving decisions and achieving measureable results.
We specialise in providing highly-analytical data-driven recommendations in the face of significant uncertainty.
We utilise advanced predictive analytics to build robust strategies and enable our clients to make calculated decisions.
We support implementation of adaptive capability and capacity.
Our latest
Thoughts
Podcast – The Real AI Signal from Davos 2026
While the headlines from Davos were dominated by geopolitical conflict and debates on AGI timelines and asset bubbles, a different signal emerged from the noise. It wasn’t about if AI works, but how it is being ruthlessly integrated into the real economy.
In our latest podcast, we break down the “Diffusion Strategy” defining 2026.
3 Key Takeaways:
- China and the “Global South” are trying to leapfrog: While the West debates regulation, emerging economies are treating AI as essential infrastructure.
- China has set a goal for 70% AI diffusion by 2027.
- The UAE has mandated AI literacy in public schools from K-12.
- Rwanda is using AI to quadruple its healthcare workforce.
- The Rise of the “Agentic Self”: We aren’t just using chatbots anymore; we are employing agents. Entrepreneur Steven Bartlett revealed he has established a “Head of Experimentation and Failure” to use AI to disrupt his own business before competitors do. Musician will.i.am argued that in an age of predictive machines, humans must cultivate their “agentic self” to handle the predictable, while remaining unpredictable themselves.
- Rewiring the Core: Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi noted the difference between an “AI veneer” and a fundamental rewire. It’s no longer about summarising meetings; it’s about autonomous agents resolving customer issues without scripts.
The Global Advisors Perspective: Don’t wait for AGI. The current generation of models is sufficient to drive massive value today. The winners will be those who control their “sovereign capabilities” – embedding their tacit knowledge into models they own.
Read our original perspective here – https://with.ga/w1bd5
Listen to the full breakdown here – https://with.ga/2vg0z
Strategy Tools
Strategy Tools: The 7S Framework – A Comprehensive Guide
By John Khova Global Advisors digital consultant Introduction The McKinsey 7S Framework is one of the most enduring and widely recognised management models in strategic consulting and organisational design. It posits that organisational effectiveness depends not on...
Fast Facts
Fast Fact: Great returns aren’t enough
Key insights
It’s not enough to just have great returns – top-line growth is just as critical.
In fact, S&P 500 investors rewarded high-growth companies more than high-ROIC companies over the past decade.
While the distinction was less clear on the JSE, what is clear is that getting a balance of growth and returns is critical.
Strong and consistent ROIC or RONA performers provide investors with a steady flow of discounted cash flows – without growth effectively a fixed-income instrument.
Improvements in ROIC through margin improvements, efficiencies and working-capital optimisation provide point-in-time uplifts to share price.
Top-line growth presents a compounding mechanism – ROIC (and improvements) are compounded each year leading to on-going increases in share price.
However, without acceptable levels of ROIC, the benefits of compounding will be subdued and share price appreciation will be depressed – and when ROIC is below WACC value will be destroyed.
Maintaining high levels of growth is not as sustainable as maintaining high levels of ROIC – while both typically decline as industries mature, growth is usually more affected.
Getting the right balance between ROIC and growth is critical to optimising shareholder value.
Selected News
Quote: Jamie Dimon – JP Morgan Chase CEO
“I see a couple people doing some dumb things. They’re just doing dumb things to create NII.” – Jamie Dimon – JP Morgan Chase CEO
In a candid assessment delivered at JPMorgan Chase’s 2026 company update on 23 February, CEO Jamie Dimon voiced profound concerns about the financial landscape, drawing direct parallels to the reckless lending practices that precipitated the 2008 global financial crisis. He observed competitors engaging in imprudent strategies purely to inflate net interest income (NII), a key profitability metric derived from lending spreads and investments1,3. This remark underscores Dimon’s longstanding vigilance amid buoyant markets, where high asset prices and surging volumes foster complacency1,2.
Jamie Dimon’s Background and Leadership
Jamie Dimon, born in 1956 in New York to Greek immigrant parents, embodies the archetype of a battle-hardened banker. Educated at Tufts University and Harvard Business School, he ascended through the ranks at American Express and Citigroup before co-founding Bank One in 1991, where he orchestrated a remarkable turnaround. In 2004, he assumed the helm of JPMorgan Chase following its acquisition of Bank One, steering the institution through the 2008 crisis as one of the few major banks to emerge unscathed. Under his stewardship, JPMorgan has ballooned into the world’s most valuable bank by market capitalisation, with Dimon earning renown for his prescient risk management and forthright annual shareholder letters1. His tenure has been marked by navigating geopolitical tensions, regulatory scrutiny, and technological disruptions, all while prioritising capital strength over opportunistic growth.
Context of the Quote: A Market on the Brink?
Dimon’s comments arrived against a backdrop of intensifying competition in lending and private credit markets, where firms scramble to capture market share amid elevated interest rates and economic optimism. He likened the current environment to 2005-2007, when ‘the rising tide was lifting all boats’ and excessive leverage permeated the system, culminating in subprime mortgage meltdowns1,2,3. Recent indicators, such as the collapse of subprime auto lender Tricolor Holdings and debt-burdened First Brands, evoked Dimon’s ‘cockroach theory’ – spotting one signals an infestation1. Broader anxieties include artificial intelligence’s disruptive potential across sectors like software, utilities, and telecommunications, mirroring unforeseen vulnerabilities exposed in 20082,3. Despite S&P 500 highs, Dimon cautioned that credit cycles invariably turn, with surprises lurking in unexpected quarters3. JPMorgan, he affirmed, adheres strictly to underwriting standards, forgoing business rather than compromising1.
Leading Theorists on Financial Crises and Risk-Taking
Dimon’s perspective resonates with seminal theories on financial instability. Hyman Minsky, the American economist whose ‘financial instability hypothesis’ (developed in the 1970s and 1980s) posits that stability breeds complacency, prompting speculative and Ponzi financing schemes that amplify booms into busts. Minsky argued that prolonged prosperity erodes risk aversion, much as Dimon describes today’s ‘dumb things’ to chase NII1.
Complementing this, Charles Kindleberger’s Manias, Panics, and Crashes (1978, updated editions) outlines the anatomy of bubbles: displacement, boom, euphoria, profit-taking, and panic. Kindleberger, building on Kindleberger’s historical analyses, highlighted herd behaviour and leverage as crisis harbingers, echoing Dimon’s pre-2008 parallels2.
Modern extensions include Raghuram Rajan, former IMF Chief Economist and Reserve Bank of India Governor, whose 2005 Jackson Hole speech presciently warned of incentives driving financial institutions towards systemic risks. Rajan’s ‘search for yield’ concept – akin to boosting NII through lax lending – anticipated 2008 excesses3.
Nouriel Roubini, dubbed ‘Dr Doom’, forecasted the 2008 subprime debacle in 2006, emphasising global imbalances, debt overhangs, and asset bubbles. His framework aligns with Dimon’s cycle warnings, stressing confluence events like AI disruptions or policy shifts2.
These theorists collectively illuminate Dimon’s caution: markets’ euphoria masks fragility, demanding disciplined risk assessment amid competitive pressures.
Implications for Investors and Markets
- Heightened Vigilance: Dimon’s stance signals potential volatility in private credit and lending, urging scrutiny of banks’ NII strategies.
- Sectoral Risks: AI-driven upheavals could mirror 2008’s utility surprises, impacting software and beyond.
- JPMorgan’s Edge: Conservative positioning may yield resilience, as proven in prior downturns.
Dimon’s words serve as a clarion call: prosperity’s siren song often precedes turbulence. Prudent navigation demands heeding history’s lessons.
References
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