Manufactured Engagement When Social Proof Becomes Social Fiction Issue 263, May 7, 2026 In the previous issue and the Artificial Understanding series, I described the comprehension gap and the circular system in which our behavioral data feeds AI systems that shape our behavior without our conscious understanding. I closed the series with a warning about what happens when fabricated behavioral data is injected back into the same algorithmic systems that govern what we see. This fabrication, which I explain later…

Artificial Understanding What Feeds the Machine and What It Means for All of Us Part Three of a Three-Part Series Issue 262, April 30, 2026 Over the past two weeks, this series has examined the comprehension gap that defines our relationship with artificial intelligence. In Part One, I explored how executives are making consequential decisions about AI systems they do not fully understand, creating organizational risk that grows in proportion to the gap between capability and comprehension. In Part Two,…

Artificial Understanding The Human Cost of the Comprehension Gap Part Two of a Three-Part Series Issue 261, April 23, 2026 Last week, in Part One of this series, I examined the comprehension gap that separates what artificial intelligence can do from what the people deploying it actually understand. That piece focused on the boardroom, on the executives making consequential decisions about technology they have not taken the time to genuinely comprehend. The responses I received confirmed what I suspected: the…

Artificial Understanding The Intelligence We Built and the Comprehension We Didn’t Part One of a Three-Part Series Issue 260, April 16, 2026 I attended a virtual event last week that was constructed around consideration and discussion of AI twins for CEOs and C-level executives. The technology discussion was impressive; there are so many options. I geeked out on the framework, policy and procedure points and where progress is happening as we continue to run instead of walk. It was a…

Spring Renewal 2026 Redefining Ourselves in a Season of Disruption Issue 259, April 9, 2026 Spring has always carried a particular kind of promise. The natural world begins again. Light returns. Something dormant wakes up. And for as long as I have been writing this newsletter, I have used this season to pause, look back across the body of work we have built together, and ask a simple question: what do we need to revisit? This year, that question carries…

Organizational Memory Loss Why Learning Doesn’t Stick Issue 258, April 2, 2026 A senior leader at a client I work with told me something recently that has stayed with me. Her organization had just completed a major strategic initiative, the third of its kind in four years, and by most measures it had gone reasonably well. On time. On budget. Acceptable progress to date. But when she pulled up the reports from the previous two initiatives, she found something that…

Policy as Proxy Leadership Rules Don’t Lead People. Leaders Do. Issue 257, March 26, 2026 A vice president of operations I worked with at a client recently described a moment that stayed with me. She had been trying to approve a temporary staffing adjustment for one of her regional offices related to a short-term initiative that would increase the load on the customer service team. A decision well within her scope of responsibility. It should have taken a phone call…

Structural Silence Why Organizations Train People Not to Speak Issue 256, March 19, 2026 A compliance director at a mid-size healthcare company told us recently that she had known about a data vulnerability for nearly four months before anyone formally raised it. She was not the only one who knew. At least three other department leads had flagged it informally in one-on-one conversations. None of them brought it up in the cross-functional meetings where it should have been discussed. When…

The Myth of Cross-Functional Collaboration Why Cross-Functional Structures Rarely Deliver the Collaboration They Promise Issue 255, March 12, 2026 There is a particular optimism that appears in organizations whenever someone proposes the creation of a cross-functional team. The assumption is almost immediate: if we can just bring the right functions together, many of the problems slowing progress will begin to disappear. Silos will break down. Collaboration will improve. Alignment will follow. It is an appealing idea. It is also one…

Decision Theater – When People and Organizations Mistake Motion for Commitment Issue 254, March 5, 2026 A COO at an association client recently described her week to me. She had spent Monday in a governance review, Tuesday in an alignment session, Wednesday in two separate stakeholder syncs, and Thursday preparing a decision brief for a steering committee that would meet the following Monday. By Friday, she realized something unsettling: not a single decision had actually been made all week. Every…