Both, And: Leading Cultural and Technical Change with AI

Both, And: Leading Cultural and Technical Change with AI

This is not a book about best practices. It’s a guide to leading when the stakes are high, the answers are unclear, and the path forward is anything but simple. In Both, And , Matt Wood challenges the foundational lie of most transformation efforts: that change is a technical problem, solvable by tools, models, or frameworks. Drawing on hard-won observations from inside complex systems, he shows that real leadership isn’t about resolving tension — it’s about learning to live inside it. The future won’t be led by the fastest move or the most elegant platform. It will belong to the systems that can stay upright under pressure — that can stretch without snapping, hold paradox without losing direction, and evolve while still in motion. This book is for those already in the work: the leaders, builders, and shapers who are designing new systems while standing inside the old ones. It moves between two forms: Sharp, analytical chapters that map the ten core tensions of modern leadership — including Big Bets vs. Small Wins, Innovation vs. Integrity, and Central Power vs. Local Energy. - Quiet narrative scenes set in a remote marina — not as allegory, but as texture. They remind us that leadership is physical, sensory, and often felt before it’s understood. Inside, you’ll learn how to: Lead through tension: Navigate competing forces without collapsing to one side, and turn paradox into design fuel. - Treat culture as infrastructure: Understand culture not as the “soft stuff,” but as the system that decides what gets built, who decides, and how fast you move. - Design for contradiction: Create environments and microstructures where truth can surface, uncertainty is safe, and clarity is earned in motion. - Build systems that hold: Shift from shipping products to constructing institutions that are resilient, coherent, and capable of evolving under stress. - Adopt a new leadership posture: One that honors legacy while making space for change. One that doesn’t demand certainty — but moves with conviction anyway. This isn’t a blueprint. It’s a field guide for the builders of what’s next.