MAR 25, 202601
That Excel Mike Built in 2013
AI will replace everything — except the load-bearing spreadsheet nobody understands, nobody can touch, and the entire reporting cycle runs through.
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AI Systems AdvisorEditorial · 2026
Most organizations don't failbecause of bad people.They fail because of undesigned environments.
The signature
Discipline
Environment design
Domain
AI implementation
Practice
Performance intelligence
Audience
Senior decision-makers
The track record
$5M+
Bottom-line impact delivered
80%
Efficiency gains achieved
20+
Years operating experience
30M+
Customers analyzed
Environment Design
Performance Intelligence
AI Implementation
Coordinated Dysfunction
The Last Checkpoint
Process Redesign
Strategic Coherence
Organizational Architecture
Environment Design
Performance Intelligence
AI Implementation
Coordinated Dysfunction
The Last Checkpoint
Process Redesign
Strategic Coherence
Organizational Architecture
Recent Writing
Field notes from the practice.
FEB 24, 2026Latest
You Know AI – You Just Can't Prove It
The people with the deepest AI capability are often the worst at signaling it. The market rewards legible credentials — and AI literacy is being defined by the people handing out the certificates.
Read the piece
FEB 11, 2026
You Don't Need More AI Tools
"Which AI tool should I use?" is the right instinct, wrong question. The real problem is rebuilding structure — not picking better tools.
FEB 04, 2026
AI Projects Fail Because Dishwashers Don't Have Arms
95% of enterprise AI pilots fail. The cause isn't data quality or governance — it's asking how to use AI instead of how to redesign the work.
JAN 29, 2026
Your Survey Data Is Lying to You
Customer experience already exists in your operational data — for 100% of customers. Surveys only capture 5%. Most organizations are optimizing the wrong layer.
Read
A series
Running on Default
A six-piece arc on why coordinated dysfunction is rational behavior inside an undesigned environment — and what it takes to redesign one.
06pieces in this arc
MAR 25, 202602
The Last Checkpoint
Every transformation initiative has a Last Checkpoint. It's not the budget. It's not the technology. It's a person — and your org chart won't tell you who it is.
Read
MAR 31, 202603
Firing Them Won't Solve Anything
Before you fire the Last Checkpoint, defend them for a moment. The conditions that produced them are still running — and they'll produce another one the moment you do.
Read
APR 10, 202604
Coordinated Dysfunction
Your teams aren't misaligned. They're optimizing perfectly — just not for the same thing.
Read
APR 29, 202605
The Process Owns the Requirement
Every failed AI implementation has the same upstream error: the wrong question got asked before any tool was selected.
Read
MAY 05, 202606
Is Your HR Team Running Your People Strategy — Or Just Taking Notes?
HR owns performance, compensation, and org design — the levers that determine what behavior your environment selects for. Most HR teams are never asked to design that environment.
Read
Environment Design Assessment
Find out exactly where your organization was left to chance.
Five dimensions of organizational alignment. Eight minutes. A specific read on where the design happened — and where the dysfunction came in for free.
Take the Assessment8 min · 25 statements · senior decision-makers
The five dimensions
- 01Financial alignmentDiagnose
- 02Human architectureDiagnose
- 03Process designDiagnose
- 04Information flowDiagnose
- 05Strategic coherenceDiagnose