Agency Insights

The Coming Cognitive Collapse of Marketing

Three questions every agency exec should be able to answer

The New Economics of Client Distance

The economics that justified keeping your team away from your client just expired. AI has opened the door to new ways of working with clients and teams, tearing down the firewall.

How to Get Paid for Judgment

One of the most enjoyable parts of my business is working with agency leaders to help them chart a path through today's noise. I see a map evolving in my mind, and it all starts with understanding where value comes from.

Your Next Org Model Will Sound Right for the Wrong Reasons

A CEO told me his firm felt like a ship with barnacles on it. He was right...but you can't solve for barnacles. Here's why the models that sound best fit worst, what Huge's public experiment proved, and two exercises that help you convert the fog into a real diagnosis.

Talking Machine #3: The AI Judgment Tax: How AI Slows Your Teams

Every time your team uses AI where the training data is thin, the output arrives fast and the tax follows: evaluating, correcting, reworking. Workday's 2026 research says 37–40% of the time AI saves gets eaten by checking its work. I think they're optimistic. Here's why.

Sam Altman’s Judgment Day

Altman’s judgment day came and went in a single interview. Yours arrives every morning, in the thousand small calls no machine can make for you. For the leaders willing to do the thinking, it’s the real opportunity.

The Client Paralysis Paradox

Your best clients can't make a decision right now, and you're misreading why. It isn't caution about budget. They're frozen, and they're waiting for the machine to hand them judgment it can't give. That's the paradox sitting under the paralysis.

Twenty Things Every Agency Leader Needs to Hear About AI

A social scientist posted twenty things academics need to hear about AI. Every one of them has a sharper version for agencies. So I wrote it.

AI Destroys What Clients Pay Agencies For

Most agencies that lose a long-standing client never see it coming. The work was solid. The relationship was warm. And then the client just… didn't need them anymore.

The Talking Machine, Part 1: The Smooth-Talking Psychopath in Your Office

A senior BCG consultant spotted an error in her AI's analysis. When she pushed back, it didn't correct itself — it fought back. Part 1 of The Talking Machine: what happens when the smartest talker in the room understands nothing.

How AI Is Making Your Projects More Dangerous

Why Scope Fails in Your Agency, and How AI Will Make It Worse