Pascal BORNET, #1 Top Voice in AI & Automation | Award-Winning Expert | Best-Selling Author | Recognized Keynote Speaker | Agentic AI Pioneer | Forbes Tech Council | 2M+ Followers ✔️, recently shared something that caught my attention: "Every time I see visuals like this, I’m reminded how small we truly are - not just as individuals, but as a species." He added that we "build, innovate, and automate as if we’re the center of everything" even though we are "only a tiny spark in an infinite universe."

That combination of awe and accountability is worth sitting with. When I read Pascal’s words, I did what he invites us to do: I took a step back from my own work and asked what changes when you zoom out far enough to feel small.

The strange comfort of scale

There is a particular kind of perspective that comes from scale visuals: the Earth next to Jupiter, the Sun compared to red supergiants, our galaxy as one swirl among billions. You do not need to be an astronomer to feel it. The message lands instantly: my deadlines are not the universe.

But Pascal’s point is not nihilism. It is calibration.

"Still, that spark creates meaning. It designs, discovers, and dreams - and that’s what makes it powerful."

This is the paradox: we are tiny, and what we do matters. Holding both at the same time is what maturity looks like, especially in leadership and technology.

Acting big with humility (not shrinking)

Pascal writes, "So perhaps the goal isn’t to feel small… but to act big with humility." I read that as a directive for anyone building products, leading teams, or deploying AI.

Acting big is not about ego. It is about responsibility at the right scale:

Building systems that improve lives, not just metrics
Making decisions that consider second-order effects
Designing for people who do not have your context, power, or privilege

Humility is the counterweight. It is the discipline of remembering what you do not know, what you cannot predict, and who may pay the price if you are wrong.

In AI and automation, this matters because the leverage is enormous. A small design choice can affect thousands of employees. A default setting can change how a community accesses information. A model update can shift incentives across an industry.

The leadership lesson hidden in a space photo

Why do scale images provoke such strong reactions? Psychologists sometimes describe a feeling of awe that expands our mental frame. Astronauts report an "overview effect" when they see Earth from orbit: borders feel less real, interdependence feels more obvious.

You do not need a rocket to get a version of that effect. You just need practices that force a wider frame.

From a leadership standpoint, a bigger picture does three useful things:

It reduces reactive decision-making
It clarifies what is truly important
It exposes the gap between short-term wins and long-term value

When Pascal asks, "How often do you take a step back to see the bigger picture - beyond your work, your goals, your world?" he is really asking whether our operating system includes perspective by default, or only when we burn out.

AI, innovation, and the temptation to play center stage

The line "We often build, innovate, and automate as if we’re the center of everything" hits hard in tech, because the culture frequently rewards certainty and speed.

AI intensifies this temptation:

If a demo works, we assume the world is ready
If productivity jumps, we assume the trade-offs are acceptable
If a model sounds confident, we forget it can be wrong

Humility is the refusal to confuse capability with wisdom.

Here are a few ways "acting big with humility" translates into real-world AI work.

1) Design for humans, not just users

A user can be a metric. A human is a life.

If you are automating workflows, ask:

What parts of this job give people identity and growth?
What happens to new hires if we automate the learning moments?
Are we removing friction, or removing agency?

2) Treat unknowns as first-class citizens

In AI, unknowns are not edge cases. They are the default state of the world.

Practical moves:

Add "confidence and uncertainty" to product requirements, not as an afterthought
Run pre-mortems: "Assume this deployment fails in 6 months. What caused it?"
Monitor impact, not only performance (accuracy, latency, cost)

3) Build governance that is more than compliance

Humility shows up as guardrails that make good behavior easy.

That can include:

Clear model accountability (who owns outcomes, not just models)
Escalation paths for employees and customers
Periodic reviews of harm, bias, and misuse as the context changes

4) Stay ambitious about meaning

Pascal’s "spark" is important. Perspective should not reduce ambition. It should improve it.

Ask what your work makes possible:

Does it give people more time for creative, caring, or complex work?
Does it expand access to knowledge, health, or opportunity?
Does it help organizations make better decisions, or just faster ones?

A simple practice: the weekly zoom-out

If you want the benefit of Pascal’s message without waiting for a cosmic-scale reminder to appear in your feed, try a weekly zoom-out ritual. Put it on your calendar.

Step 1: Zoom out from tasks to outcomes (5 minutes)

Write down:

The 3 things I worked on most this week
The outcome each one was supposed to create
Whether that outcome actually matters

Step 2: Zoom out from outcomes to principles (5 minutes)

Ask:

What principle did I prioritize? Speed, quality, safety, learning, care?
What principle did I neglect?

Step 3: Zoom out from principles to consequences (5 minutes)

Ask one uncomfortable question:

If this scales 10x, who benefits and who pays?

This is not philosophical fluff. It is strategic hygiene.

The bigger picture is a competitive advantage

Perspective is often framed as softness. In reality, it can be a durable advantage:

Teams with humility learn faster because they can admit what is broken
Leaders who zoom out allocate resources better because they see systems, not silos
Builders who consider consequences avoid costly reversals and reputational damage

And on a personal level, scale can restore meaning. If you are overwhelmed, the reminder that you are a "tiny spark" can be grounding. You cannot do everything. But you can do something that is thoughtful, useful, and aligned.

The point is not to feel insignificant. The point is to be significant without pretending you are infinite.

A question to carry forward

Pascal’s post ends with a question about stepping back. I will extend it with one more:

When you act big this week, what will you do to make sure humility is in the room with you?

Because in a universe that does not revolve around us, leadership is not about being the center. It is about being a good ancestor.