AI adoption fails because of people, not technology. I help CEOs and leadership teams get it right.
Research consistently shows that roughly 70% of AI initiative challenges trace back to people and process issues, not technical ones. Most organizations spend the vast majority of their AI investment on the technology and almost nothing on the human system around it. That's where most initiatives succeed or fail. And it's the work I do.
Most organizations don't struggle with AI strategy. They struggle turning it into how work actually gets done.
A tool gets introduced. A pilot runs. There's early energy. Then quietly, people fall back to old habits, not because they're resistant, but because the leadership clarity, cultural alignment, and behavioral reinforcement that drive real adoption never showed up.
That's the work I do. The human side: the leadership alignment, team dynamics, and behavioral change that determine whether any AI initiative actually delivers.
Deeply Human: A Leadership Guide for the AI Era
Most books about AI are about the technology. This one is about the people. Deeply Human is a guide for leaders navigating one of the most disorienting transitions in modern business — one that is failing in most organizations not because the tools do not work, but because the human system around them was never addressed.
Part philosophy. Part psychology. Part practical playbook. Written for leaders who want to get this right.
Also available: Still Human: How Great Leaders Win with People in the Age of AI. Learn more →
Speaking
It's Not the AI: What Leaders Get Wrong About Adoption
Doug speaks to CEO peer groups, executive leadership teams, and leadership conferences on the human side of AI adoption — the terrain most organizations miss entirely. His signature talk draws on his book Deeply Human, his work with leadership teams, and his background in social psychology to give leaders a clear framework for what their people are actually experiencing and what to do about it.
How I Help
My work with CEOs and leadership teams typically takes one of five forms:
- AI Adoption Intervention Called in when an AI initiative has stalled, or when a CEO wants to make sure it doesn't. I diagnose what's actually happening at the human and leadership level and build a clear path forward.
- Leadership Alignment Sessions Facilitated working sessions with the leadership team to reach genuine agreement on where AI will and won't be used, who owns what, and what success looks like. Most leadership teams are avoiding this conversation. I create the conditions to have it productively.
- AI Training Hands-on, applied training for organizations and their people, designed around real workflows, real roles, and real behavior change. Not checkbox training. Training that actually sticks.
- CEO Advisory An ongoing advisory relationship for CEOs who want a trusted thought partner on the human side of AI transformation. The person they call when resistance shows up in unexpected places or when they need to think through the next move.
- Speaking Keynote talks and executive workshops for CEO peer groups, leadership teams, and conferences. Signature talk: It's Not the AI: What Leaders Get Wrong About Adoption. Learn more about speaking→
Perspective
My perspective is shaped by three things: psychology, lived leadership experience, and time spent inside real organizations getting AI adoption to actually work.
I hold a PhD in Psychology with a focus on group dynamics and leadership. I've also spent decades as a founder and CEO, building and exiting companies, leading teams through uncertainty, and watching what actually holds up under pressure.
At Automated Consulting Group (ACG), where I am an Executive Director, I lead the human side of AI adoption work: the training, enablement, and organizational change that makes technical implementations deliver real value.
I approach AI the same way I approach leadership: technology creates value only when people trust it, understand it, and use it consistently. That requires clarity, sound judgment, and leaders who model the behavior they want to see.
Results From the Field
- A B2B SaaS company improved win rate from 24% to 37% in 90 days by fixing the workflow gap between top and bottom performers and getting the team to actually change how they worked.
- A 30-person sales team at a media company completed a 2-day AI training program designed around their actual workflows and sales motion.
When People Work With Me
People tend to work with me when:
- They are pushing an AI agenda and hitting unexpected human resistance
- An initiative has stalled and they need to understand why, and fix it
- They are about to launch something significant and want to get the people side right from the start
- Getting it right matters more than moving fast