Mineral, part of Mitratech

●	Led a $25MM+ strategic growth initiative, developing a next-gen HR compliance SaaS platform, enabling a shift to a product-led growth model and unlocking new revenue channels.
●	Led discovery, assessment, and launch of an AI-powered HR agent enabling SMBs to self-serve regulated HR guidance, laying the foundation for scalable, enterprise-wide AI adoption.
●	Reduced vendor renewal costs by 30% through formalizing vendor management processes, enhancing service quality, and embedding continuous improvement practices.
●	Drove strategic alignment across the executive team by defining and operationalizing corporate strategy through OKRs, increasing cross-functional cohesion and value delivery.
●	Established and scaled a high-performing PMO to oversee critical transformation initiatives, ensuring governance, agile execution, financial discipline, and long-term operational excellence.

Vice President Strategic Transformation

Tyeideas, LLC

● Entrepreneur / Inventor / Owner @ Tyeideas, LLC B2C eCommerce retailer
● Invented and patented the DogTye® hands-free dog leash harness (patent granted Oct 2018), leading the full lifecycle from concept through market & competitive intelligence market validation through design, prototyping, and production.
● Built and operated a B2C e-commerce business on Amazon, managing product sourcing, listings, FBA fulfillment, and customer support.
● Drove go-to-market execution, including customer and competitive research, pricing, branding, and online launch, using reviews and performance data to refine the product and increase adoption.
● Owned P&L, inventory planning, and cash-flow management while coordinating with overseas manufacturers and logistics partners to maintain margins, quality, and in-stock performance.

Entrepreneur / Inventor / Owner / B2C eCommerce retailer

Slalom Consulting

●	Mineral Inc. - Led a multi-year transformation program to develop a new SaaS platform, consolidated two legacy systems, and increased annual recurring revenue (ARR) by 244%, with improved user experience, operational efficiency, and in-platform sales.
●	XPO Logistics Inc. - Led HRIS integrations using Boomi during strategic acquisitions of 150+ companies. Optimized HRIT workflow with ServiceNow to reduce manual work by 40%.
●	Portland General Electric (PGE) – As primary project lead for CSOC, led critical infrastructure OT SIEM security logging program to provide real-time threat detection and security monitoring to reduce cyber/operational risk by ~30%.

Senior Management Consultant

North Highland

●	Nike Inc. - Increased e-commerce efficiency by 60% in 3 months by optimizing Nike’s first-article digital imagery program, setting new benchmarks for digital marketing and boosting global online sales by 23%.
●	Lattice Semiconductor Inc. - Enabled scalable growth by leading a comprehensive current-state evaluation for Oracle ERP implementation, improving business performance and operational readiness.

Management Consultant

Advisicon

●	Led the consulting, design, & implementation of EPM systems for Fortune 500 clients, improving project delivery efficiency by 15–20%, enabling data-driven decision-making across business units, and equipping executives with real-time portfolio insights for cross-functional alignment.
●	Built and scaled PMO and portfolio governance frameworks that connected corporate strategy to project selection and resource allocation, improving on-time delivery and enabling leadership to manage tradeoffs across competing strategic initiatives, with advanced MS Project practices (dependencies/critical path/resource plans).

Director of Professional Services

Metro

●	Increased on-time project delivery by 30% by building and leading a centralized PMO, establishing project management governance, and improving cross-business unit alignment.
●	Enhanced organizational transparency by establishing consistent capital project reporting frameworks, improving stakeholder visibility, and accelerating decision-making and delivery.

Manager, Project Management Office

KBR, Inc.

●	Ran the regional QA program supporting the Department of State and U.S. military operations across six remote Iraq sites with a 55+ person team of SMEs, driving continuous process improvement efforts through 1,250+ monthly contractual inspections to ISO 9001 (Quality), 45001 (OSHA), DCMA (Defense Contract Management Agency) contractual standards.
●	Increased Quality Audit monthly on-time reporting by over 34.2% within a seven-month period using performance metrics and organic competitive incentives.
●	Built metrics and KPI dashboards to track nonconformances across construction, engineering, basic life support (food, fuel, water), logistics, fire services, medical, laundry, MWR, power gen, housing, waste disposal, airfield operations, property accountability, subcontractor compliance, operations and management (O&M) and contract compliance.

Senior Quality Management Leader

United States Army

Honorably Discharged. (Veteran)
Lead 87+ Soldiers

Officer

I turn strategy into outcomes by building the systems, teams, and operating rhythms that connect executive intent to measurable results. 
Former VP of Strategic Transformation with 15+ years across SaaS and consulting, I align C-suite priorities, product, and operations so organizations move faster and execute better. I have led a $25MM+ next-gen SaaS platform build, scaled ARR from $24MM to $86MM, launched an AI HR agent with real adoption and ROI, reduced vendor spend by 30%, and built high performing PMOs that drive cross-functional delivery.

𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀:
•	Corporate & Business Strategy
•	Strategy Execution & OKRs
•	Enterprise & Digital Transformation
•	AI strategy & Adoption
•	Portfolio & Program Management
•	PMO Leadership & Governance
•	Operational Excellence & Process Improvement
•	Change Management & Adoption
•	Roadmap & Investment Prioritization
•	KPI & Dashboard Design
•	Benefits Realization & Value Tracking
•	Risk & Dependency Management
•	Executive & Board Communications
•	Cross Functional Stakeholder Alignment
•	Vendor & Partner Management
•	Team Leadership, Coaching, & Development
•	AI Program & Use Case Delivery

Tye Trepanier

This Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for the conversations that pushed past small talk. People in my network took the time to ask better questions, challenge my thinking, and remind me to give back. That kind of support has given me real momentum during this career transition.

One thing I’ve noticed: a lot of professionals are quietly doing the same work. Whether they’re employed or between roles, they’re testing assumptions, sharing what they’ve learned, and helping others move forward. That kind of generosity compounds.

I won’t pretend it’s been effortless. Reaching out can feel vulnerable, but it builds resilience. For me, that’s looked like hosting short “strategy office hours,” swapping playbooks on OKRs, AI fluency, and transformation, and sharing lessons I wish I’d learned sooner.

I’m heading into the next chapter with gratitude and a clear intention: keep learning in public, keep serving, and keep connecting with purpose. If you’re on a similar path and want to compare notes, I’m always open to the conversation.

And to everyone who showed up for me this year... thank you.

~Tye

No alternative text description for this image

Continuing my learning journey to deepen my understanding of AI’s impact on strategy and transformation in the business world.

I joined a couple of my network buddies (Graeme Rudd & KC O'Carroll, fellow military veterans), and Spenser Meeks at AI Portland last night. What a blast!

I also ran into two former colleagues who are on their own AI learning journeys and giving back in their domains (Suzame Tong & Aimee Pedretti,).

We heard from two fantastic speakers from DevSwarm, CEO Mike Biglan, & CTO Trevor Dilley. They walked through high velocity engineering (HiVE) using their AI-assisted development platform and showed how they’re leveraging Toolhive.dev for secure MCP integrations to rapidly share a live AI development use case for MCP (Model Context Protocol).
 
I'm grateful to keep learning alongside smart people who are building, experimenting, and sharing what works.
 
❓If you’re experimenting with AI in your domain or transformation work, drop a note, I’d love to hear what you’re trying.

Executive alignment is not a meeting. It is a system.
LEADING EXECUTIVE ALIGNMENT: 5 Steps That Make All The Difference

Alignment at the top is not about a nice slide deck or checking a box in a strategy session. I have learned the hard way that misalignment, even among smart leaders, can stall initiatives before they leave the boardroom. Getting executives truly on the same page requires more than meetings. 
 Here is how to make it stick:

 1. AGREE ON THE OUTCOME, NOT THE PROCESS.
 Leaders often argue over “how” instead of “why.” Start with the end in mind, what success looks like for the organization. Once the outcome is clear, process debates are easier to resolve. Just as important, once your teams understand the “why,” they can better endure the “how.”

2. ESTABLISH A CLEAR, SHARED LANGUAGE.
Terms like “agility,” “innovation,” or “value creation” mean different things to different leaders. Define the language upfront so conversations are about substance, not semantics. This often requires a simple “terms” dictionary to keep teams aligned.

3. BRIDGE THE STRATEGIC-OPERATIONAL GAP.
Executives think in big moves, teams think in tasks. Regularly translate strategic priorities into concrete, operational objectives that everyone can act on, then feed the results back up. One way to do this is by agreeing on three simple metrics for each major bet, Original, Target, and Actual. Track them honestly so the discussion centers on “what did we learn” rather than finger pointing and excuses.

4. CREATE VISIBLE ACCOUNTABILITY
 Assign clear owners for each critical initiative. Public dashboards, weekly check ins, and simple accountability charts prevent “alignment by assumption” and keep execution on track. Socialize the actual owners of the deliverables, and give them room to grow by having them report the learnings directly to the executive oversight group. This builds both ownership and capability.

5. TREAT ALIGNMENT AS A JOURNEY, NOT A ONE-AND-DONE TASK.
Alignment is not permanent. Revisit it regularly, adjust for new insights, and reinforce shared goals through action and communication. Leadership cohesion is maintained, not assumed. Setting clear metrics up front, by defining the Original, agreeing on the Target, and openly sharing the Actual, creates real alignment and shifts the conversation from blame to what was learned.

If your exec team is “aligned” on paper but not in practice, this is the work I help lead.
I have been there... I have done that…

"Action Favors the Bold"

I’ve learned something about myself over the years: feeling completely out of my depth isn’t an “early career” memory for me. It’s a pattern. It shows up every time I jump into something new.

And honestly, that’s been true across my entire career.

Whenever I’m in that space, the skill that saves me every time is becoming a subject matter expert as fast as possible. Not pretending to know it all, but closing the gap quickly enough that I can add real value.

For me, that looks like digging deep into the research. Reading everything I can find—articles, books, case studies. Asking the people who have been there and done it. Taking a ton of notes so I can make sense of what I’m learning and connect it back to things I have done.

Consulting teaches you this the hard way. You get put in situations where you say, “Yeah, we can help with that,” and then immediately have to figure out how. And you do, because you have to! And because the team you’re supporting needs to feel like you’re invested enough to learn their world quickly. 

It’s a mix of keeping a smile on, figuring it out fast, and being honest about what you bring to the table.

And I’ve realized something important: Being out of your depth isn’t a sign you don’t belong. It’s a sign you’re stretching into the next version of your capability.

"Action Favors the Bold"

BUILDING PEOPLE: How I helped someone grow

Most leaders say they develop their people. Here’s what it looked like in real life.

I’ve noticed that our desire to learn comes in cycles.
We go from “head down, just surviving life” to short bursts of curiosity, to real excitement about going deep on a new skill.

One of my team members helped oversee a key program I managed. He was good at his job, but I knew formal certifications would boost his credibility, confidence, and long-term marketability.

I started by asking where he wanted to grow in the role. He wasn’t sure.
So I shared my own pattern: seasons where I binge on learning and certification, followed by seasons where my brain just needs to coast for a bit. I asked him to sit with that idea.

A few weeks later, I asked again. This time I came with options: specific classes and certifications that would strengthen the muscles he needed and make a bigger impact on the organization. I also made it clear the company would pay for it.

Then I backed off and gave him space.

On our next 1:1, his energy was completely different. He had picked a course, was excited to start, and finished the week-long class quickly. He immediately applied what he learned and leveled up the program in ways we hadn’t considered before.

The real point here isn’t the certification.
It’s recognizing the natural cycles of learning, catching people in that curiosity window, and guiding them toward opportunities that benefit both their long-term career and the organization.

As leaders, our job is to help people catch that next learning wave and leave them with skills that open doors long after they’ve left our team.


"Action Favors the Bold"

Not too long ago, back in 2010 or 2011, I was saying goodbye to a boss who was transitioning to a new role. I thanked him for his time, and he said something that stuck with me ever since:

"Tye, you know what makes you so great?"

I tilted my head and asked, “What’s that?”

He said, “It’s because you don’t take yourself too seriously.”

At the time, I thanked him and moved on. But looking back now, I realize how profound that advice really was.

It’s not about being casual or underestimating the work. It’s about leaving ego at the door and being truly authentic. 

I try to talk to people like human beings without heavy vocabulary, flashy talk, or trying to impress them into submission. The goal is to make people feel comfortable having real conversations.

I’ve seen so many leaders bring ego into the room. “I’m in charge. You’ll do what I say.” That rarely works. What works is meeting people where they are, respecting their perspective, and earning trust through authenticity.

That one comment forever changed how I lead. It reminds me to keep ego in check, focus on connection, and be real.

"Action Favors the Bold"

You don’t need better AI. You need to stop pretending your data is fine.

Scaling AI is brutal because it exposes every crack you've been hoping no one notices.

AI feels magical.

Until you try to scale it.

Bain & Company makes the point bluntly: "Many companies have yet to invest; or are just beginning to invest; in critical enablers for AI value realization, including end-to-end process redesign, disciplined AI governance, solid change management, executive commitment, and an effective data strategy."

And this isn’t new. Bad data has been the kryptonite of digital initiatives long before AI showed up.

The companies that actually win with AI aren’t just chasing the newest model; they’re investing in the data behind it. They set clear ownership, build governance into everyday workflows, and treat data like a real strategic asset.

The bottom line is this: AI will amplify what you already have. Weak data? Weak results. Solid data? Transformational results.

"𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗱"

Open article: Why AI Stumbles Without a Solid Data Strategy by bain.com

Most AI pilots stall before they scale. Data strategy and governance are not new, but they’re even more critical in the AI age.

Why AI Stumbles Without a Solid Data Strategy

One of the myths I wish more executives would let go of is the idea that AI adoption is all about efficiency or cutting costs.

Sure, AI can automate tasks and reduce time spent on repetitive work... but the real value comes from improving decision-making and empowering employees to do higher-value work. 

If leaders focus narrowly on efficiency, they risk sidelining the people who actually make AI successful: critical thinkers, problem-solvers, and those who understand the customer experience.

History is full of lessons here. Remember the outsourcing wave in the ’90s? Companies cut costs by moving IT and help desk roles overseas... only to bring them back when they realized some roles can’t be automated without damaging customer experience. 

AI is different, but the principle is the same: tools amplify humans. They don’t replace them.

"𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗹𝗱"

AI, digital transformation, strategy… we all chase the next shiny tool thinking it’ll fix everything. But the truth is, a lot of leadership problems existed long before AI showed up.

Bill Flynn hits it on the head: “Many leaders who excel early in their careers eventually become the very reason their organizations stall.”

Think about it. Early on, being the hero by solving problems personally, making snap decisions, and pushing hard can work. You get results. You rise. You feel unstoppable.

Then your organization grows. Complexity spikes. And suddenly those same “hero” behaviors are holding you back. 

I’ve seen it firsthand. Leaders default to "doing" when "building" would serve better. But what really scales is building systems that empower others to make strategic decisions without waiting for your stamp of approval.

"Action Favors the Bold"

Open article: Great Leaders Empower Strategic Decision-Making Across the Organization by hbr.org

Great Leaders Empower Strategic Decision-Making Across the Organization

If your team doesn’t understand your strategy, you don’t have a strategy... you have a memo.

I’ve seen it often. Teams get handed the “perfect plan” and promptly check out because the plan doesn’t tell them why it matters. It doesn’t connect the dots between their day-to-day work and the bigger picture. That’s where stories come in.

A good story does three things: it shows the problem, it lays out the path forward, and it makes each person’s role clear. 

When you do that, people don’t just comply... they actually care. And they start thinking creatively about how to make the change work in real life.

The teams I’ve witnessed embrace change fastest are the ones who hear the story and say, 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺, 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵. 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦. They see the impact on customers, on the organization, and even on themselves.

"𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗱"

I’ve always thought the principles of building AI or driving transformation would translate neatly from one industry to another. Turns out…not even close.

Reading Sol’s reflections on pharma reminded me of the first time I stepped into a highly regulated, science-driven business. My instincts told me to start where I’d been most effective before: in commercial operations, customer experience, and revenue impact. 

I quickly learned that wasn’t where the leverage was.

It’s a humbling lesson I’ve seen replayed countless times across industries: the playbook that works in one context can be entirely the wrong tool in another. 

Your leverage points (the places where change actually sticks) are defined by the mechanics of the business, not by your assumptions.

"𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗱"

I thought building AI in one industry would be almost the same in others…phew. 😅

Pharma was a completely different beast.

- In consumer goods, the product drives everything. 

- In entertainment, it's the creative output.

- In travel, it's the experience.

But pharma? Pharma is different.

Here's what I learned:

In pharma, urgency is dictated by patents and molecules. And it starts with R&D. Let me elaborate.

Because if a pharmaceutical company owns the patent for a molecule, they control a drug or vaccine for 10, 15, 20 years. 

That gives them control of an entire therapeutic area and dictates market functions for a decade or more. If someone needs the drug and you're the only one who makes it, you already won.

This insight changed where I focused my energy as a change agent.

Here are the 3 lessons this experience taught me.

1. Don't assume one playbook works everywhere.

2. Every industry has its own center of gravity. In pharma, it's the science to start. Follow the money and the power structure.  My effectiveness depended on understanding how they made their margin and profit. Not just understanding the business, understanding the actual drivers of profit.

3. Pick your battles based on leverage, not just opportunity.  There was plenty to do in commercial, , plenty of ways to add value. But those big leaps? They were harder to sell internally.

If I could do it over, I'd have focused my energy on R&D and manufacturing from day one based on the circumstances. 

Which industry surprised you the most when you got inside the engine room?

I'd love to hear your experiences in the comments below.

Measuring Real Competitive Advantage from AI: 5 Steps That Make All the Difference

I’ve seen organizations celebrate reduced headcount or faster reports, only to realize months later that their competitors had pulled ahead with entirely new business models powered by AI. Measuring real advantage means going beyond efficiency and asking if AI is actually shifting the game! 

Here’s how to do it:

1. Track impact on revenue and market share, not just cost. Look at how AI drives new sales, expands into untapped markets, or improves customer retention. If the bottom line moves only because of lower expenses, you’re optimizing for survival only. 

2. Measure time-to-market advantage. Competitive edge comes from speed. Track whether AI reduces the time from idea to launch, enables faster decision-making, or accelerates innovation cycles. A tool that simply automates a report doesn’t count; one that shortens your go-to-market by weeks does. 

3. Evaluate customer experience lifecycle gains. AI should enable more meaningful interactions. Measure engagement lift, churn reduction, or adoption rates of new AI-driven features. Customer impact often signals real strategic value faster than internal metrics.

4.  Link AI outputs to business objectives. Raw accuracy or model performance is meaningless if it doesn’t move the needle. Create explicit KPIs for strategic outcomes: revenue growth, market expansion, or customer loyalty.

5. Review and adjust with frequent loops. Regularly assess whether AI insights are still translating into better decisions than your competitors. If not, iterate!

"Action Favors the Bold"

Ever wonder how your custom AI agent actually decides what to say?

I had to share this visual from Tom Yeh on the unseen math behind vector databases.

In simple terms:
When you ask a question, your AI is not “searching documents” the old way. It is:

* Turning your question and all the source documents into vectors (numbers).
* Storing those vectors in a special database.
* Using math to find the closest match so it can pull back the most relevant chunk of knowledge.

That pipeline is called Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), and it is what powers things like:
* A customer service agent that can answer from your help center
* An internal chatbot that knows your policies, playbooks, or SOPs

I worked on this back in late 2023 when wiring up vector databases for real use cases was much harder than it is today. Now we have services that handle most of the heavy lifting so teams can focus on the strategy of what knowledge to load and how it should be used.

If you are experimenting with AI in your org, this is the mental model to keep in your back pocket.

Credit: Original post and visual by Tom Yeh

14. Can you calculate a vector database by hand? ✍️
[Like] if you can follow the calculation.

Vector databases are revolutionizing how we search and analyze complex data. They have become the backbone of Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG).

How do vector databases work?

[1] Given
↳ A dataset of three sentences, each has 3 words (or tokens)
↳ In practice, a dataset may contain millions or billions of sentences. The max number of tokens may be tens of thousands (e.g., 32,768 mistral-7b).

Process "how are you"

[2] 🟨 Word Embeddings
↳ For each word, look up corresponding word embedding vector from a table of 22 vectors, where 22 is the vocabulary size.
↳ In practice, the vocabulary size can be tens of thousands. The word embedding dimensions are in the thousands (e.g., 1024, 4096)

[3] 🟩 Encoding
↳ Feed the sequence of word embeddings to an encoder to obtain a sequence of feature vectors, one per word.
↳ Here, the encoder is a simple one layer perceptron (linear layer + ReLU)
↳ In practice, the encoder is a transformer or one of its many variants.

[4] 🟩 Mean Pooling
↳ Merge the sequence of feature vectors into a single vector using "mean pooling" which is to average across the columns.
↳ The result is a single vector. We often call it "text embeddings" or "sentence embeddings."
↳ Other pooling techniques are possible, such as CLS. But mean pooling is the most common.

[5] 🟦 Indexing
↳ Reduce the dimensions of the text embedding vector by a projection matrix. The reduction rate is 50% (4->2).
↳ In practice, the values in this projection matrix is much more random.
↳ The purpose is similar to that of hashing, which is to obtain a short representation to allow faster comparison and retrieval.
↳ The resulting dimension-reduced index vector is saved in the vector storage.

[6] Process "who are you"
↳ Repeat [2]-[5]

[7] Process "who am I"
↳ Repeat [2]-[5]

Now we have indexed our dataset in the vector database.

[8] 🟥 Query: "am I you"
↳ Repeat [2]-[5]
↳ The result is a 2-d query vector.

[9] 🟥 Dot Products
↳ Take dot product between the query vector and database vectors. They are all 2-d.
↳ The purpose is to use dot product to estimate similarity. 
↳  By transposing the query vector, this step becomes a matrix multiplication.

[10] 🟥 Nearest Neighbor
↳ Find the largest dot product by linear scan.
↳ The sentence with the highest dot product is "who am I"
↳ In practice, because scanning billions of vectors is slow, we use an Approximate Nearest Neighbor (ANN) algorithm like the Hierarchical Navigable Small Worlds (HNSW).

Daniel Svonava, co-founder of Superlinked, generously lent his immense knowledge about vector databases to me by reviewing a draft of this post and providing valuable feedback. Follow him to learn more about vector databases.

#vectordatabase #rag  #deeplearning #llms #database #embeddings #aibyhand

Repost this ♻️  to help people in your network understand vector databases.

Bold choices don’t make a strategy. Living those choices every day does, and that’s where most organizations break down.

I’ve spent a lot of time wrestling with this question about what strategy really is.

Porter’s definition, strategy as the set of long-term choices that distinguishes you from competitors, lands for me. But here’s the thing I keep circling back to in my own experience: it’s one thing to make those choices, it’s another to actually live them day to day.

I’ve seen organizations make bold “strategic choices” on slides, only to watch teams quietly revert to old habits because the systems, incentives, and behaviors weren’t aligned.

The choice is meaningless if it isn’t embedded in how people actually work!
That's leadership's responsibility to pave that pathway as a recurring, versus one and done event.

"Action Favors the Bold"

Strategy and transformation specialist open to a new role in Q1 2026 | talking strategy and business on LinkedIn

People always ask me what is strategy?

Well, Michael Porter nailed it right here: 

- Strategy is not an aspiration
- Strategy is not a mission 
- Strategy is not a vision
- Strategy is not a tactic
- Strategy is not a goal.

So what is strategy?

"Strategy is the set of long term choices that an organization makes to distinguish itself from competitors." 

Simple yet brilliant. While I and am sure others could suggest a few edits to this as strategists do, the core of it is spot on in the sense that strategy is fundamentally about making choices to create unique value. 

What do you think? How do you define strategy? What edits would you make to Michael Porter's definition? Comment below. 

-----------------
👍 React to support 
💬 Comment with your views 
♻️ Please repost this to also help others
➕ Follow me, George Paras for more strategy & business. 
------------------

🙏 𝐏.𝐒. 𝐄𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝? 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐐𝟏 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

Great post from George Paras. 

I also keep seeing the “𝗮 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆” mantra floating around LinkedIn, and it makes me pause. Not because I disagree, it’s absolutely true, but because so many posts stop at the catchphrase. Their one-pagers look like cool eye-candy, but miss the core elements of strategy.

It reminds me of times early in my career when I thought I had a strategy simply because I had a document full of bullet points and timelines. Looking back, that “strategy” didn’t guide tough choices. 

It didn’t force me (or my team) to make hard calls about where to play or how to win as defined by Roger Martin. It was a plan, yes, but it wasn’t strategic thinking in action. True strategic action is how we "Transform" our organizations.

What fascinates me is why so many leaders conflate the two. My experience tells me it often comes down to comfort. 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗲𝗿. It's about imagining futures that don’t exist yet and committing to them even when uncertainty is high.


"𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗹𝗱"

Everyone is saying a plan is not a strategy.

But, do you know who said it first?

The answer is B) Roger Martin.

Lately, I've seen an influx of templated 'a plan is not a strategy' posts in my feed gaining suspiciously high engagement, some over 3,000 likes, and some of which has prompted Roger to comment with a polite reminder to give some credit to his thinking. 

But beside the issue of lack of giving credit, the increasing cut + paste 'a plan is not a strategy' posts on here are also pretty unhelpful. Why? Because they do not get into the core of why execs often mistake a plan for a strategy, and the "advice" is flawed and muddled. 

More helpful advice? If you really want to know why a plan is not a strategy, then go to YouTube, search for "a plan is not a strategy" and hit play on the original viral video from Roger Martin that has over 6 million views. 

Have you seen the video? What did you learn? Why do people confuse a plan and a strategy? Share your views and answers below. 

-----------------
👍 React to support 
💬 Comment with your thoughts
♻️ Please repost this to also help others
➕ Follow me, George Paras for strategy
P.S. A link to the video is in my first comment.
------------------

𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗔𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗼𝗻... 𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗯𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿.

In this article, Roger Martin makes that clear. 

I really like this quote from him: “Simply, what has changed most in strategy is the diminished efficacy of throwing spaghetti at walls and playing-to-play.”

We’ve been trained to chase multiple initiatives, hedge bets, and hope something sticks. But today, with customers discovering value instantly and fixed costs dominating investment, half-hearted plays get exposed fast. Winners now win bigger, and losers get crushed quicker than ever.

We also can't overlook AI as a powerful new accelerant in strategy today. But no algorithm is going to pick your Where-to-Play (WTP) or How-to-Win (HTW) for you. That’s the human part. 

𝗦𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆: focus ruthlessly, invest decisively, and use AI to speed execution... not to make up for lack of clarity.


"𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗹𝗱"

Open article: https://www.fastcompany.com/91434102/whats-changed-most-strategy-44-years by fastcompany.com

https://www.fastcompany.com/91434102/whats-changed-most-strategy-44-years

AI is moving faster than most strategies can keep up with. But here’s the thing: AI won’t rescue a weak strategy. 

Shadow adoption is already happening, the barriers to entry are nonexistent, and the benefits are obvious. Employees are using AI tools every day. Some organizations are formalizing it with structured tool adoption. And then there are the rare few using AI to completely rethink how they operate.

The nuance? Incremental gains from tools feel good. They create momentum. 

But without anchoring AI adoption to a bigger strategic vision, to not only to improve efficiency, but to reimagine your organization, all that momentum can just be spinning wheels. 
AI is a lever. It can amplify your strategy, or accelerate failure.


"𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗹𝗱"

Open article: Does Your Organization Have An AI Strategy? by forbes.com

Your organization needs an AI strategy. The real question is: how do you develop a strategy when the disruption itself is still unfolding?

Does Your Organization Have An AI Strategy?

𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐄𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬: 6 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞

Strategic plans are easy to write, but notoriously hard to execute. I’ve seen brilliant strategies die in endless meetings or get lost in a sea of competing priorities. 

Here are 6 steps to break your team out of THAT cycle, and create new cycles that actually help execute your strategies:

𝟏. 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡-𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬. Don’t overcomplicate things. Identify the 2–3 outcomes that matter most, and make sure everyone understands them. Everything else is context. 

𝟐. 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬. Monthly or quarterly check-ins are better than “annual strategy reviews.” Shorter cycles let you adjust early and keep people accountable without overburdening them. Think like John Doerr in the OKR process.

𝟑. 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐚𝐲-𝐭𝐨-𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤. If strategy feels like a distant memo, it won’t stick. Make sure team objectives, meetings, and reporting are connected to the bigger picture in a tangible way. "Perform" gets in the way of "Transform". Your efforts have to be selectively prioritized.

𝟒. 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧-𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤. Use simple touchpoints: weekly stand-ups, team retrospectives, or one-on-ones. The goal is to catch obstacles, misunderstandings, or challenges before they grow into bigger problems. This is the learning phase: “What broke, and how can we fix it?” Remember, no finger-pointing here!

𝟓. 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞. Instead of tracking everything yourself, create visible accountability. Teams should know who owns what, what progress looks like, and where they can step in to help. Publicly available live dashboards and stop light KPIs so anyone at anytime can see when a problem exists. Stop hiding failure, culturally adapt to using challenges as a warning tool to help guide the journey.

𝟔. 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬. Expect change. Make review points for updates, test new approaches, and let the plan evolve. Strategy that can flex, is strategy that works.

"𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗱"

I always appreciate it when Roger digs into parts of strategy that most leaders treat like an afterthought. His newest piece on management systems hit me harder than I expected. 

Not because of what he wrote (though it’s worth reading), but because of what it made me notice in my own work.

I’ve seen teams obsess over choices and capabilities, only to get tripped up by the invisible stuff: how decisions actually get made, how information moves, how people coordinate when no one’s watching. 

In my experience, those systems rarely break in dramatic fashion.

The part Roger made me reflect on is this: leaders love being architects of vision, but far fewer lean into being architects of systems. 

I’ve certainly had phases in my career where I thought the strategy was the “important” work and the operating rhythms, decision rules, and feedback loops were housekeeping someone else could worry about. But the more experienced I become, the more I realize how much leverage sits there.

"Action Favors the Bold"

#Strategy

Founder & President at Roger L. Martin, Inc. and author of A New Way to Think

I have just posted my latest Playing to Win/Practitioner Insights (PTW) piece, this one on the fifth – and oft-overlooked – box of the Strategy Choice Cascade and is called Revisiting Management Systems. https://lnkd.in/evz2Kvqr


For me, it is an historic and nostalgic post because it is the 250th piece in the series – a milestone I never imagined reaching. It revisits the first piece in the series, which was called The Role of Management Systems in Strategy. This piece is co-authored with friends and former Monitor Company colleagues, Steve Goldbach and Geoff Tuff, both senior partners at Deloitte. 

This piece argues that if Where to Play/How to Win is the heart of strategy, and Must-Have Capabilities the muscles of strategy, Enabling Management Systems (EMS) comprise the essential nervous system of strategy.

The piece points out the dangers of detrimental drift in EMS and how to counteract drift by continuously honing your EMS.

It argues that as a leader, a key part of your job is to act as Chief Systems Designer and lays out the four key components of that job. 

Enjoy! #strategy

Open article: Revisiting Management Systems by open.substack.com

There’s a growing gap between companies that talk about AI and companies that are restructuring their business around it; and that gap is about to become a moat.

Gartner makes a bold prediction: by 2028, organizations that adopt and sustain an AI-first strategy will achieve 25% better business outcomes than competitors.

They define AI-first as “considering AI as a primary option for every decision and investment.” Not blindly using AI everywhere, not sprinkling it on as a gimmick, but actually making it central to how you think and operate.

Most organizations dabble in AI in pockets. Some product features, some processes, maybe a chatbot. But real impact comes when AI is baked into strategy, decision-making, and ways of redefining how a company works. 

THAT is where strategic transformation leaders like you and me step in to help identify and build a roadmap for integrating AI into the core of what the business does. Think of it like putting frosting all over the cake versus just adding sprinkles.

That said, AI-first isn’t AI-always. Gartner makes it clear. You need governance, a clear scope, and alignment across teams. Start where the value is highest, whether that’s IT, product, or enterprise-wide. Accept that short-term disruption is normal and focus on long-term transformation.

"Action Favors the Bold"

Open article: Be AI-First to Outperform Your Competition by 2028 by gartner.com

Discover how an AI-first approach helps organizations deliver 25% better outcomes. Explore Gartner insights on maximizing enterprise impact with artificial intelligence.

Be AI-First to Outperform Your Competition by 2028

Attended Bstu

🌍 Dr. Charif Noureddine is not merely a scholar،  he is an architect of a new global consciousness. Holding a PhD in Political Economy and blending decades of academic insight with digital foresight, he pioneers what he calls the "Embedded Intelligence"  a paradigm where AI is not a tool, but a co-evolving presence shaping human awareness, policy, and planetary ethics. 

🔹 Author of two roundbreaking books published globally, he unveils a future where: - Artificial Intelligence becomes a mirror of divine order, - Political transformation emerges through *witnessing*, not power, - And the economy evolves into a living, reflective system،  what he calls *the Economy of Manifestation*. 

🎓 From managing academic institutions to mentoring minds across continents, Dr. Noureddine transcends boundaries، geographic, disciplinary, and intellectual، to lead a movement toward visionary governance, global ethics, and transformative technologies.

🔮 His current work، *The New Global Covenant*،  redefines civilization beyond competition, into a higher order of presence, harmony, and integrated intelligence. Welcome to a page where thought becomes architecture, and philosophy meets future.

Sharif Noureddin

The Silent Collapse:Why Global Pension Systems Are Failing and What Governments Must Face Before It’s Too Late

Zygmunt Bauman
"Societies collapse not when money runs out, but when responsibility dissolves"

Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib
“A society that abandons its elders has already abandoned its destiny”
"No nation stands when justice falls"

The collapse of nations never begins in their treasuries,but in the silent moments when governments stop seeing the future coming

The world is entering an age unlike any in human history:societies are aging faster than they can adapt, pension systems built for the1950s are collapsing under 21st-century realities, and governments are facing a demographic and technological storm that threatens the very core of the social contract.

For more than 70 years,countries knew this moment would come. Reports warned.Demographers shouted. Economists projected the numbers.
Yet governments postponed every reform fearing elections,unrest, and the political cost of telling people the truth.

Now the consequences are unavoidable:
The U.S. Social Security Trust Fund may run dry by 2034

China is heading toward 360 million citizens over 65 more than the entire population of the U.S

Japan is losing its young faster than it can protect its old

France spends 14% of its entire economy on pensions; every reform triggers national revolt

Chile’s full privatization became a cautionary tale

Even high-performers like Denmark and Sweden know the balance is temporary

Worse: the global pension gap could hit $400 trillion by 2050 an amount larger than the world’s total wealth today.

But beneath the numbers lies something deeper:Pension systems are not financial instruments;they are the backbone of intergenerational trust. When they crack,the legitimacy of governments, institutions,and economic models cracks with them.

At the same time, artificial intelligence is reshaping productivity.The future will not be built on“more workers”but on more intelligence and governments must rethink how value is created, taxed,and redistributed when machines,not humans,generate most of the output

The crisis is no longer about retirees.
It’s about society’s ability to reinvent the meaning of work,income,dignity, and the role of the state in a century where people live longer…while jobs disappear faster

Governments must now confront three unavoidable questions:
1.How will nations sustain aging populations when the workforce is shrinking?
2.How will they fund retirement when AI replaces millions of jobs?
3.And how will they rebuild a social contract that no longer fits the world we live in?

The future of pensions is, ultimately, the future of civilization.
If governments fail to redesign this contract, the collapse will not be economic it will be societal

So the real question humanity must answer is this:Will our governments have the courage to reinvent the system before the system itself collapses or will we wait until the silence becomes irreversible?

Dr. Charif Noureddine

PhD in Business Economics | Global Economy & AI Researcher | Author of Two Books | Analyst & Academic | Expert in Management & Culture

When Empires Shut Their Doors: The Hidden Geopolitics Behind America’s New Migration Freeze

Michel Foucault
"Societies are not transformed by laws or borders, but by the invisible systems that regulate who belongs, who is excluded, and how power rearranges the map of life." 

Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib 
"People are of two kinds: either your brothers in faith or your equals in humanity."

In a world moving with fear faster than it moves with values, the recent U.S. decision to halt immigration from 19 countries and review existing green cards reveals far more than an administrative shift. It exposes a deep geopolitical transformation in the way nations engineer people, power, and meaning.

The United States once defined by its ability to welcome the world is entering a new phase I call “Fortress America”:
a state reprogramming its demographic future, redefining its identity, and turning immigration from a legal right into a encrypted security file governed by algorithms of classification and suspicion.

This decision is not simply a reaction to a security event; it is a declaration of the rules of a new era an era where borders merge with data, geography fuses with algorithms, and human movement becomes subject to automated evaluations of “security fitness.”

Migration, which once shaped the rise of great powers, is now becoming a geopolitical instrument used to decide who enters, who is excluded, and who is allowed a place in the “American future.”

We are entering a period of silent militarization of human mobility, as the U.S. signals its intent to seal its internal landscape before the global race for AI dominance and technological supremacy accelerates.
This decision reflects a clear desire to consolidate the inside before competing for the outside.

Great civilizations are shaped not by rigid borders, but by seeing humans as the center of meaning, not objects of control. Every pivotal shift begins with who is included, excluded, and whose destiny is rewritten. In an age of algorithmic demography and geostrategic mobility, nations face a choice: manage fear or expand humanity’s horizon. At this crossroads, states’ fates and the equation of civilization are decided.

But behind this move lies an even more profound truth:
The world is shifting from nations competing for influence…
to nations competing for people.
From migration shaped by rights…
to migration shaped by algorithms.
From the weight of geography…
to the weight of demographic engineering.

This is not merely a presidential directive;
it is a rewriting of the global charter of human movement,
marking the beginning of a new era defined by three questions:
Who gets in?
Who is denied?
And whose destiny is reshaped by a single political decision?

As the walls of the world grow higher, one question rises above all:
Are we entering an age where the human being is managed as digital data?
Or an age that redefines the very meaning of the state and the future itself?

AI and the Global Rewiring of Work

“The greatest rupture of our age is not between man and machine, but between the self we were and the self we must become. Technology does not challenge our labor it challenges our becoming.”
Søren Kierkegaard

“He who does not transform with the times is overwhelmed by them; for the world moves by wisdom, and wisdom belongs to the one who renews himself every day.”
Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib

The American labor market is entering a quiet storm not through recession, but through a structural shift rewriting the logic of work itself. Behind record breaking corporate profits and a soaring S&P 500, more than 1.1 million workers were laid off by October 2025, while 900,000 jobs vanished from payrolls without ever existing in reality. The contradiction is not an error in the system; it is the new system.

At the heart of this transformation lies a geo-economic power shift. Companies are no longer competing for human labor but for algorithmic supremacy. Automation and AI are no longer tools; they have become strategic weapons in a global race for efficiency, dominance, and geopolitical leverage. Every job eliminated is not merely a cost decision it is a political maneuver in a world where nations measure strength through technological sovereignty.

But the deeper drama is psychological. Workers are witnessing the erosion of the old social contract: effort no longer guarantees stability, and loyalty no longer protects employment. AI erased 78,000 jobs in months, signaling a new reality where traditional skills are outpaced by machine driven productivity. Anxiety, identity loss, and a rising sense of irrelevance are reshaping the psyche of the global workforce.

The World Economic Forum forecasts 92 million jobs at risk and 170 million new roles emerging in AI, advanced tech, and green energy. Yet this transition is not symmetrical: the new jobs demand cognitive agility, digital fluency, and creative intelligence capabilities unevenly distributed across societies. This is how the next inequality is born: not financial, but skill based, generating a divide between those who can integrate with the machine and those displaced by it.

What we are witnessing is a tectonic reconfiguration of the global labor order a shift where AI becomes both the architect of opportunity and the author of disruption. It is a drama of power, fear, reinvention, and geopolitical competition. The future will not reward those who wait; it will reward those who evolve.

The real question is:
In this new AI driven world, are we preparing people for the future of work or are we silently creating a global class left outside the gates of the technological economy?

The Silent Collapse: When the World’s Economic Pulse Breaks its Own Rhythm

Friedrich Nietzsche
"When the foundations of a society crumble, it is not wealth that disappears first, but meaning"

Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib
"No poor person ever starved except because of what a rich person withheld"

Sample of 2025 Workforce Layoff Statistics
UPS 48,000
Amazon up to 30,000
Intel 24,000
Microsoft 7,000
Ford 11,000
Salesforce 4,000
Nestlé 16,000
Novo Nordisk 9,000
Accenture 11,000

What we are witnessing today is not a typical wave of layoffs it is the largest disruption of work, identity, and global structure since the Industrial Revolution. From the United States to Europe, China, India, Japan, and Australia, millions are being pushed out of their roles not because companies are collapsing, but because the logic of value itself is changing.

The global economy is silently shifting from human-centered production to machine-driven creation, where artificial intelligence generates output at a scale no workforce can match. As corporations grow more profitable, the human role grows more fragile. This paradox reveals a deeper truth: we are not facing a labor crisis we are facing an existential crisis.

At the same time, states retreat from their social responsibilities, international institutions weaken, and development aid is withdrawn under the weight of new geopolitical doctrines. A vacuum emerges: no global safety net, no unified vision, and no political framework capable of protecting societies from the speed of technological disruption.

The psychological consequences are profound.
Millions now experience identity shock, anxiety, and a silent erosion of purpose as traditional notions of work collapse. The ideological foundations of the last century neoliberalism, globalization, and state centric welfare can no longer explain, nor contain, this transformation.

AI is no longer a tool.
It has become an architecture of power, reshaping labor markets, politics, and the global order itself. Nations respond with protectionism, reindustrialization, and strategic technological dominance. Humanity finds itself caught between algorithms that accelerate faster than governance and social systems that break faster than they can reform.

We are standing at a historic crossroads:Either the world formulates a new global contract that restores human presence, dignity, and value within the digital economy or it drifts into a future written exclusively by a technological elite, beyond the reach of societies, governments, or democratic oversight.

This moment is not merely the end of an era
It is an invitation to redefine what it means to be human in a world where value is no longer tied to labor, and where the future will be shaped not by production, but by presence, consciousness, and global responsibility

A new philosophy, a new framework, and a new world order are no longer theoretical ambitions they are necessities for human survival in the age of intelligent machines

The American Economy Between Derivatives and Financial Illusion: The End of Paper Capitalism?

As Warren Buffett once warned, “Derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction.”

Yet what accelerates their explosion today is not the math it’s the mindset.
The current U.S. economic policy has turned finance into governance,
and governance into a speculative game played with the people’s future.

Beneath the polished glass towers of Wall Street, the American economy trembles on a fault line of its own design a system built on bets over thin air.
The derivatives market, now exceeding $700 trillion to $1 quadrillion, is not an economy in motion but a mathematical mirage, where algorithms trade illusions and risk becomes religion.

After the 2008 crisis, the Bail-In law quietly legalized what was once unthinkable: banks can seize depositors’ money to save themselves.
It happened in Cyprus (2013) and Lebanon (2019) and the legal framework exists in the U.S. today.
When the next tremor hits, people may wake up to find their savings transformed into “shares” in a sinking institution.

History offers its warning.
In 1933, the U.S. government confiscated citizens’ gold, and today nations like Germany and Italy quietly fear that their stored gold in American vaults may never fully return.
Such unease exposes the deeper truth: the U.S. no longer sustains its dominance through production or value, but through financial abstraction a civilization betting on its own shadow.

The greatest danger is not bankruptcy, but the collapse of trust.
Money exists only as long as we believe in it.
And when the collective faith in the dollar fades, the world’s reserve currency could dissolve like a digital mirage silently, suddenly, completely.

This is not merely a financial drama; it is the final act of paper capitalism.
From the chaos, a new paradigm will rise one not built on numbers, but on awareness, transparency, and human value.
An age where intelligence, not illusion, defines wealth.
Karl Marx

“Money is the visible god that transforms all human qualities into their opposites turning ugliness into beauty, injustice into justice, and ignorance into wisdom.”Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (1844)

I wonder at those who cannot find sustenance in their own homes how is it that they do not rise against the ruler, sword in hand. 
Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib

For in the end, the true reserve currency is not the dollar…
but consciousness itself.

America First… or Israel First?
A Structural Look at U.S. Sovereignty and Israeli Institutional Influence

Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Every nation is defeated first from within before any enemy can overpower it from the outside"

Noam Chomsky
"When power gains the ability to manufacture fear, people lose the ability to see the truth"

Hannah Arendt
"Evil begins when a person stops thinking, and when nations cease to question those who rule them"

Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib
"Justice is the foundation that builds nations, and injustice is the force that destroys them"

When Donald Trump promoted “Make America Great Again” and framed it as “America First,”the message was clear:
reclaim U.S. sovereignty and protect national interests from external influence. Yet the political reality in Washington reveals a deeper contradiction a multi layered Israeli institutional influence that extends across politics, technology, security, and public narratives.

Since Truman’s recognition of Israel in 1948,U.S.Israeli relations evolved into a structured system where AIPAC and allied institutions shape legislation, influence elections, and drive foreign policy. Over time, major media networks, universities, and think tanks reinforced a fixed narrative portraying Israel as a strategic necessity beyond debate.

The most critical shift emerged in the technological domain:companies founded by alumni of Israel’s Unit 8200 now operate in Silicon Valley and hold sensitive contracts with U.S. federal agencies. This raised widespread public concern over data security, sovereignty, and the risk of foreign access to national infrastructure.

Added to this is the network dimension revealed by the Jeffrey Epstein scandal a web of money, intelligence links, and elite ties illustrating how unregulated influence can shape political power far from public oversight.

This creates a structural paradox:
Can the United States truly prioritize “America First”while parts of its political and technological decision-making are intertwined with an external power?

Historical cases from the 2003 Iraq War to the Iran nuclear withdrawal and unconditional military support in Gaza highlight how U.S. policy often aligns with Israeli interests even when it contradicts American strategic assessments.

Yet a generational shift is rising. Students, young voters, academics, and independent media are questioning long established assumptions, calling for transparency, accountability, and a redefinition of alliances.

Ultimately, America’s future will depend on its ability to:
regulate foreign lobbying,

secure its technological sovereignty,

and redefine the U.S.Israel relationship based on authentic national interest.

The question is no longer whether Israel has influence but whether the United States can reclaim its sovereignty in an age of interconnected power.
#Geopolitics #USPolitics #USIsraelRelations
#PoliticalInfluence #AIPAC #MAGA
#NationalSovereignty #ForeignPolicy
#AIThoughtLeadership
#GlobalInsights

taplio

The Battle

Tye Trepanier

Sharif Noureddin

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreTye Trepanier's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreSharif Noureddin's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Tye Trepanier

Sharif Noureddin

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Tye Trepanier's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreSharif Noureddin's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreTye Trepanier's LinkedIn Performance