How New Things Get Done. The 1%ers

Darrell and Shana assess the size of the AI iceberg and consider how to survive in a regime when none of the usual rules apply. 

This episode of How New Things Get Done uses Oracle's layoff of 30,000 employees as a launching point for a wide-ranging conversation about what happens when the "invisible contracts" of the industrial age collapse and what individuals and organizations can do about it. The core argument is that we are entering a world where AI will handle the majority of routine left-brain work meaning the old pl...

In this episode, Darrell and Shana tackle the part of getting a new thing done that trips up almost everyone: route to market. Using real stories, an entrepreneur who sat outside a Walmart buyer's office for a day and a half with no appointment, a small automotive company whose breakthrough technology got bought and shelved by an incumbent, and Shana's own bruising experience of manufacturing in H...

In this episode, Shanna and Darrell explore the "1%er" mindset of running toward the difficult bits, the high impact, high discomfort challenges that define true breakthroughs. Using a 2x2 framework of impact versus comfort zones, the duo discuss how industry giants like Coca-Cola and Starbucks face existential disruption from GLP-1 medications, and how the "ideal final result" (such as self-clean...

Shana and Darrell dismantle the "locked-in" Prussian education system, rebuilding it for a future where AI renders rote answers obsolete. They identify that schools have historically functioned as a complex web of childcare and labor-market stabilizers rather than true centers of learning, creating a "sinkhole" where billions in EdTech have failed. The breakthrough comes from recognizing that the...

Darrell and Shana discuss shadow leadership systems. How AI can help you see the system and what to do about it.    

Shana and Darrell build a viable business model from scratch in real-time, starting with just three unemployed people and a simple goal: feed people healthy food. What emerges is a illustration of systems thinking, contradiction-solving, and ecosystem design that could scale to challenge billion-dollar incumbents. Watch out for the moment they identify the true compass that transforms charity into...

AI is collapsing traditional work timelines from months to days. This conversation explores how CEOs can use AI to identify organizational contradictions, measure what truly matters, and iterate faster than competitors. The key isn't replacing humans with AI, 's asking better questions and developing the creativity skills that will define future success.

In this episode Darrell and Shana talk about 1%ers as rare birds to spot in your organization. We dismantle innovation theater, explain why brainstorming sessions fail, and use SaaS and pharmacy cases to show what actual AI innovation does or doesn't look like. 

The Clawbot craze exposes a critical question: Is your AI strategy innovating or just managing decline? Discover how to identify true step-change opportunities and find the 1%ers hiding in your organization before it's too late. From Clawdbot to Moltbook: Inside tech's new AI obsessions

Calling all lonely leaders: What do you do when it's impossible to know what is going to happen next in the age of AI?  In this POD, Darrell gets practical with "next steps" and how to get some direction in these turbulent times. This week's case is for all companies of all types!

Disruption in the market often kills legendary companies. In today's case study we see how experts urged a compelling and logical path. Instead, the company made the counter intuitive move against all recommendations and thrived. It shows how progress often comes not from trend-following, but from confronting the reality that each business is unique in where it is at, what it is facing and what it...

In 1915, Ernest Shackleton's ship was crushed by Antarctic ice. Nine months of impossible odds. Every crew member survived. Right now, you might be feeling a crushing imperative with AI disruption. Your team's morale is waning, and you're trying initiative after initiative without clear ROI.  There is genuine uncertainty about what can and cannot be done and what comes next.  This conversation giv...