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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 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 the leaders, builders, and shapers who are designing new systems while standing inside the old ones.
It moves between two
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 Lead through Navigate competing forces without collapsing to one side, and turn paradox into design fuel.
Treat culture as 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 Create environments and microstructures where truth can surface, uncertainty is safe, and clarity is earned in motion.
Build systems that Shift from shipping products to constructing institutions that are resilient, coherent, and capable of evolving under stress.
Adopt a new leadership 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.
In Both, And, Matt Wood challenges the foundational lie of most transformation 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 the leaders, builders, and shapers who are designing new systems while standing inside the old ones.
It moves between two
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 Lead through Navigate competing forces without collapsing to one side, and turn paradox into design fuel.
Treat culture as 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 Create environments and microstructures where truth can surface, uncertainty is safe, and clarity is earned in motion.
Build systems that Shift from shipping products to constructing institutions that are resilient, coherent, and capable of evolving under stress.
Adopt a new leadership 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.
- GenresBusiness
119 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 27, 2025
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August 31, 2026
Michelle recommended this to me and let me give it a read. Although I do not do extensive management or leadership in the same way as the author does, this short read covers a lot of ground. It juxtaposes technical management theory with sailing and his experience on the water / his town. He talks about the uncertainty of AI usage in the workplace and runs through his various projects where they encountered issues and recommends how best to navigate them like his sailing. I am sure I would have enjoyed it more if I was in business processes etc, but it still had good wisdom and even poetic reflections on his sailing.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review