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Windy.com screen grab, March 14, 2026: the Kona low’s rain band aimed straight at Hawaiʻi. The weather was obvious. The operational lag it exposed was harder to see. A storm tests more than roofs and power lines. It tests whether fast field decisions become information the office can actually trust the next day. Weeks like the March Kona low expose that gap fast. Urgent work gets handled, but outside-party coordination, documentation, closeout, and owner/client updates start

Overclaiming the impact of AI is becoming a business model. Don't get me wrong. I like large language models. I have been using them heavily for a long time, and I think they already create real value in research, writing, analysis, and certain kinds of operational work. But using a tool is not the same as surrendering your judgment to the people selling it. Technology firms overclaim. Enthusiasts amplify. Markets reward bold stories. Meanwhile, actual adoption still has to s

Economics is often treated like a neutral scoreboard. But the most important choices happen before anyone starts debating tax rates or interest rates. They happen when we decide what counts as a “problem,” what counts as “evidence,” and what counts as “value.” Economic models are not just attempts to describe the world, they steer attention. They tell decision-makers what to count, what to optimize, and what to ignore. They also let people outsource responsibility: “I’m just

The phrase “great leaders are great followers” is a useful correction to the hero-leader myth, but it goes deeper than humility or personality. Followership is competence-based trust . It sounds abstract until you look at what makes interdependent systems work. People separate tasks. People specialize. Then they rely on each other, because no one can be the expert in everything and no one can be everywhere at once. This is older than markets. It is older than job titles. It i

TL;DR:  Layoffs can be “efficient” on the P&L and still destroy value. Amazon’s recent layoffs (about 30,000 roles across two waves) improve short-term margins, but they can also increase coordination load, push work into less visible places, and thin the knowledge system that keeps execution reliable. Reality-checked, value-accounted action asks: Who absorbs pain, who gets relief, who gains or loses time, where does the work land, and what becomes harder to rebuild later? La

Strategy is a human system, not a spreadsheet. Have you ever felt like a strategic plan or new tech tool compressed your complex reality into a tidy box? Many traditional frameworks promise clarity by simplifying problems. Think the classic 2×2 matrix that is supposed to make complex issues appear simple . But these models quickly break down when real life doesn’t fit neatly into four quadrants. In the same way, many AI tools and dashboards boil everything down to a handful o

There’s been a lot of discussion lately about whether big consulting firms like McKinsey are losing their edge in the era of AI. Current and former McKinsey folks are quick to defend the firm’s relevance — essentially pushing back on the idea that AI makes them obsolete. As a strategy wonk (and boutique consultant myself), I couldn’t resist putting that claim to the test using a classic framework from Strategy 101: VRIO . In plain language, VRIO asks four questions about a co

McKinsey sucks.  The once-revered consulting giants are seeing their shine wear off. Scandals and missteps have tarnished their reputations, and even their own analysts admit things aren’t what they used to be. AI Is Draining the Value Out of Big Consulting For decades, big consulting firms sold access to rare knowledge . You paid McKinsey money because you assumed they had something you didn’t: secret frameworks, best practices, and a bench full of people who thought like an

Yerkes-Dodson: The Popular Curve That Won’t Die If you spend time on LinkedIn or management forums, you’ve likely seen the famous inverted-U graph of the Yerkes-Dodson law (YDL). It’s the idea that performance improves with stress (or “arousal”) up to an optimal point, after which too much stress causes performance to plummet. It’s an appealingly simple concept, and it remains popular despite strong empirical evidence against it .   Researchers have pointed out that the Yerk

As we approach the end of 2025, many Hawai‘i businesses are reflecting on their strategic plans for 2026. This is the season of end-of-year reviews and goal-setting, a time to ask whether your strategy truly speaks local  or is simply a copy of a generic mainland playbook. In Hawai‘i’s unique business environment – with its strong sense of community, distinct cultural values, and even an evolving local political climate (e.g., upcoming 2026 elections) – a one-size-fits-all st