Executive Workshop
Half- or full-day, custom-built for your team. We map your specific business onto where AI is actually working in 2026, and leave with three to five decisions you actually need to make.
AI Strategy Advisory
An AI strategist who has shipped the work.
A clear, defensible point of view on where AI moves your P&L — and where it does not. Built for executives, founders, and boards who need to make decisions this quarter, not next year.
Why this exists
Most "AI strategy" is two slide decks away from being useless.
Most strategy work product I see follows a pattern: a heavy maturity assessment, a long list of "AI opportunities" scored on impact and feasibility, a roadmap with too many tracks, and zero teeth. The executive team nods politely and goes back to running the business.
I do something different. I write strategy the way an operator does — with a small number of decisions, each one defensible against a skeptical board, and each one tied to a measurable outcome we can revisit in 90 days. The output is not a deck; it is a set of decisions you can act on Monday.
The credibility for this comes from two places. First, I founded What About AI? and Automation Transformation Consulting — meaning I am building inside this market, not commenting on it from the outside. Second, I spent my career at JPMorgan Chase, where I learned how strategy actually moves through a large organization (and where it usually dies).
What it looks like
Four shapes the strategy work takes.
Board & Investor Prep
You have an AI conversation coming up that you need to win. I help you build the narrative, anticipate the hard questions, and pressure-test your roadmap before the room.
Roadmap Review
You have a strategy already. I give you an honest, opinionated second read. What is overscoped, what is underscoped, what is missing entirely.
Fractional AI Advisor
Monthly retainer. I sit in your leadership calls, your vendor selection, your hiring decisions. Continuous, not episodic — and accountable for outcomes.
Vendor Selection
You are about to commit six or seven figures to a platform. Before you sign, you want an independent voice that has used the alternatives.
Diligence Support
For investors and acquirers. Honest assessment of an AI-positioned target — what is real, what is positioning, what is dangerous.
Frequently asked
AI strategy, answered.
What is an AI strategist?
An AI strategist helps an organization decide where artificial intelligence will create durable value, where it will create new risk, and what to do first. Unlike an AI engineer, the strategist works at the level of business model, P&L, and roadmap — not implementation detail.
When does it make sense to hire an AI strategist?
When a leadership team has more AI ideas than capacity, when the board is asking pointed questions, or when previous AI projects have stalled. The strategist's job is to give you a clear, defensible point of view — not another presentation.
What is the difference between an AI strategist and an AI consultant?
Significant overlap, different emphasis. A strategist concentrates on what to do and why. A consultant generally also takes responsibility for how it gets done. James does both — but the strategy work is the higher-leverage starting point for most teams.
Do you do AI workshops for leadership teams?
Yes. Half-day and full-day workshops for executive teams and boards, designed around the specific business context — not generic AI 101 content.
Start with a 20-minute call.
No deck. No discovery questionnaire. A working conversation about your actual situation — and an honest read on whether the strategy work is the right next step.