AI-FIRST: Building the Central Nervous System of the Modern Enterprise

by Jeff Danley, Mark Brigman (Foreword)

AI-First is not simply about adding AI to your organization. Gaining true efficiencies and competitive advantages require rebuilding your organization around AI as its central nervous system. That distinction separates the companies pulling away from the pack from those being left behind. Walmart used this approach to compete with Amazon. Cleveland Clinic saved $60 million annually. Starbucks transformed operations across 38,000 stores. Kyndryl achieved 70x efficiency improvement. These organizations did not just adopt AI tools. They rewired how their enterprises sense opportunities, process information, make decisions, and learn from every interaction. Meanwhile, 95% of AI pilots fail to reach production. Why? Because most organizations treat AI as window a bolt-on tool attached to an obsolete foundation. This book shows you a different path. Award-winning innovator Jeff Danley introduces the A4 Framework, the systematic methodology for transforming established enterprises into AI-First Diagnose your true starting point across four foundations. Most organizations discover their data, talent, processes, and culture are far less ready than they assumed. Design the three layers of infrastructure that allow intelligence to flow freely. Industrial-age structures cannot support AI-age operations. Deploy AI at scale using the 90-Day Activation Sprint. Escape Pilot Purgatory where most AI initiatives go to die. Embed AI into organizational DNA through the Four Phases of Cultural Transformation. Technology without culture change is just expensive equipment. AI-First is written specifically for senior executives at established companies. You face challenges startups never legacy systems, entrenched cultures, stakeholders expecting quarterly results while you invest in multi-year transformation. This framework addresses your reality, not a theoretical ideal. "The A4 Framework addresses the single most critical challenge facing mid-market and enterprise executives how to transform their organizations for an AI-first world before their competitors do." Dr. Mark Brigman, CEO of PARTNERNOMICS The gap between AI-First organizations and everyone else widens every quarter. The window for transformation will not stay open indefinitely. Build the AI-powered central nervous system for your enterprise now, or watch competitors build theirs.

276 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 13, 2026