Five steps to Upgrade Your Human OS for AI Transformation
While companies spend billions on AI tools and transformation, they neglect to invest in the Human OS that runs and scales it. Just like you wouldn't deploy cutting-edge AI on an outdated operating system, you can't scale transformation without upgrading the human infrastructure that runs it. Your mid-level leaders need a new innovation mindset and approach for the AI era. Just as you budget ongoing OPEX for technical infrastructure maintenance, your Human OS needs continuous investment to handle (and drive) ongoing transformation and AI implementations.
Beyond Budgeting for AI: Building the Human OS into OPEX
Everyone’s talking about how to budget for AI. What rarely gets airtime is how AI can’t scale unless the Human OS scales with it. While companies across industries plow full-steam-ahead into AI adoption, leaders need to be re-thinking how they budget for AI transformation, integrating IT and HR into a strategic partnership that budgets for a strong Human Infrastructure.
What We’ve Learned About Digital Wisdom, Seven Cohorts In
After running seven cohorts of the Digital Wisdom Collective, the patterns are clear: 69% of alumni were promoted within 12 months. But the real transformation goes deeper than individual advancement. Digital Wisdom isn't just another skill—it's about building collective intelligence into technology, creating the human operating system for the digital age. Learn more about our journey and find your own starting point for building Digital Wisdom into the core of your organization.
From Tech Debt to AI Debt
As teams race to adopt AI without governance, they're accumulating "AI debt" that compounds existing technical debt. These debt liabilities aren’t just technical—they’re layered across data systems, processes, and organizational culture. Rather than simply adding more technology (raising the ceiling), transformational leaders should strengthen foundations by addressing cultural debt, deeply rooted in individual mindsets and behaviors.
Human Infrastructure in the Age of AI
We're walking through a new kind of forest—one made of algorithms, bots, and AI agents. While many treat AI as something to dominate or fear, the future lies in coexistence. Just as Indigenous Ute people shaped trees into living waymarkers to guide others toward water, shelter, and sacred places, we need to build Human Infrastructure and wayfinding systems that help us navigate complexity with wisdom. The organizations that thrive won't just have the best AI—they'll create the conditions where human meaning-making and artificial intelligence can flourish together.
From Firefighting to Firestarting
True leadership isn't about fighting fires—it's about starting the right ones. We often get trapped in firefighting mode, constantly reacting to urgent issues while systemic problems remain untouched. The shift to intentional leadership begins when we stop asking "What needs to be done right now?" and start asking "What are the underlying patterns?" This transformation happens when changemakers build community across silos and understand that real change grows not from grand gestures, but from small, consistent actions taken with care.
Dancing with Paradox to Navigate Digital Transformation
We live in a world of mounting tension and accelerating change. What happens on the world stage—wars and alliances, breakthroughs and breakdowns—is mirrored in boardrooms, in teams, and in every digital transformation journey. In the face of such complexity, it’s tempting to search for simple answers. But transformation isn’t linear—and neither is leadership. It requires holding paradoxes: speed and reflection, structure and fluidity, ambition and humility.
The Power of Openness: Navigating Complexity Through the Lens of Possibility
Openness is the threshold capacity that allows leaders to stand in the creative tension between polarities, transforming what could be either/or conflicts into both/and insights that drive innovation.
How Changing the Way You Listen Changes Everything
Between speaking and listening lies the true potential for transformation. By building an intentional mindset around active listening, you build mental agility and transform the way you think, collaborate and lead.
From a Knowledge Economy to a Wisdom Economy
A Reflection on Hosting, Leadership, and Digital Wisdom
Explores the parallels between being a good host and being an great leader, inspired by a transformative experience that highlighted the importance of invitation and creating meaningful spaces for connection.
Transforming Leadership Through Inquiry
Wisdom begins with acknowledging how much we don't know. Leaders who embrace curiosity, question assumptions, and seek diverse perspectives are better equipped to navigate complexity and drive innovation.