What Facing Down A Lion Can Teach You About The AI Age

InnovationAIWhat Facing Down A Lion Can Teach You About The AI AgeByMichael Ashley,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. The author of many tech books, Michael Ashley covers AI and Big Data.Follow AuthorApr 21, 2026, 09:30am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Many humans aren’t fully alive. Doing what's uncomfortable is a needed skill in uncertain times.Deposit PhotosYou’re in the middle of the African bush when a lion leaps out of nowhere. No buildup, no warning, the 250-pound beast charges at you at fifty miles per hour. Ears pinned flat, teeth bared, it’s terrifying. What do you do?Before giving you the correct answer, let’s acknowledge the other animal in the room: the proverbial elephant. Many humans aren’t fully alive in 2026. Thanks to our endless screens, we process the world through glass interfaces: glass laptops, glass phones, glass car displays. We even have glass-based smartwatches to alert us to health risks like not getting enough sleep. In fact, our reliance on computer-mediated reality is so profound that Nielsen reports Americans now spend 70 hours a week on screens spread across televisions, tablets, and computers. That’s roughly 10 hours a day. In other words, modern existence is losing an embodied aspect. Yes, we are stimulating our brains. Maybe too much. As for our bodies? Not really. That’s the problem author David Gerber sought to address in his new book, The Lion Is You: Lessons from the Wild on Coming Alive Again (Copper Books/ Simon & Schuster) charting his own journey from crisis to reinvention. An executive coach at Novus Global, Gerber works with top achievers, including NHL players, CEOs, and business founders. He sat down for an interview on what happens when we put the screen down and allow our bodies to do what they were meant to: partake in visceral experiences. “For me, lion tracking through...