Old Pyramid, New Barbell The agency org chart is being redrawn, and not in the way most predictions expected. For decades, the agency model ran on a pyramid: senior leadership at the top, a wide layer of mid-level executors in the middle, and an even wider base of junior staff grinding through drafts, research, and […]
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Building AI-Native Teams
Why the Org Chart Matters More Than the Tech Stack Boards and CEOs at the largest technology companies are now being forced to ask, after the fact, who is accountable when an AI infrastructure bet does not deliver. Oracle found out the hard way when its credit rating dropped and a Wisconsin data center suddenly […]
Hiring at a Pivotal Moment: What a Nonprofit Can’t Afford to Get Wrong
Why nonprofit executive hiring during a crisis, funding shift, or political inflection point deserves a different kind of process, and a different kind of urgency Every mission-driven organization eventually reaches a moment when the ground shifts. A funding source disappears overnight. A regulatory or political environment turns hostile. A founder or long-tenured leader departs at […]
The AI Infrastructure Trap
Why the Companies That Bet Biggest on AI Infrastructure Strategy Are Struggling Most In 2025, Oracle signed a $300 billion computing contract with OpenAI, positioning itself as a primary infrastructure provider for the next phase of artificial intelligence. To fund the buildout, the company cut approximately 21,000 employees, roughly 13% of its workforce. The bet […]
The Board’s New Fundraising Mandate: What Governance Looks Like in the Age of AI
Passive nonprofit board membership is fading. In 2026, trustees are being asked to lead through technology, uncertainty, and a fundraising environment that rewards institutions that govern boldly. In Part 1 of this series, we examined how AI is reshaping the competencies nonprofits need in their senior philanthropy leaders. In Part 2, we turned to the […]
The Dual Trap
How AI Layoffs and Token Shock Are Defining the CFO’s AI Workforce Strategy in 2026 At an enterprise event in early June 2026, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged something that caught corporate America mid-sip: cost management has become the second most common complaint he hears from enterprise customers. A meme was circulating in boardrooms. It […]
Nonprofit Chief Development Officer Search: Five Questions Your Board Must Answer
In Part 1 of this series, we examined how AI is reshaping the competencies nonprofits need in their senior philanthropy leaders and why the organizations that adapt fastest will have a decisive fundraising advantage in an increasingly competitive environment. This piece is the harder conversation. Because attracting one of those leaders requires more than a compelling […]
The Leadership Transition Your C-Suite Isn’t Ready For
Most companies don’t fail at leadership transitions because they chose the wrong person. They fail because they defined the wrong job. The volume of transitions is not the problem. The executive succession planning process most scaling companies default to is. C-suite leadership transitions are happening right now at the highest rate in recent memory. CEO […]
How AI Is Reshaping the Demands on Senior Philanthropy Leaders
Nonprofit Philanthropy Leadership Insights The funding crisis facing nonprofits has done something unexpected to the market for nonprofit philanthropy leadership: it has made those leaders more valuable, not less. As federal dollars contract and organizations race to replace lost revenue through individual giving, the Chief Philanthropy Officer, Chief Development Officer, Major Gifts Officer and other […]
Understanding the Different Types of Executive Search
Updated May 2026 | Originally published March 2015 We’re often asked by new potential clients: “How does this work?” And honestly, after more than twenty years in the business, we’re still surprised by how many companies including well-funded, sophisticated ones make the same costly mistakes when it comes to choosing the right executive search model […]