About
The story behind the PeopleOps Manifesto and the conviction that the right people, doing the right things, with the right AI, is the only sustainable competitive advantage.
Why Now?
The CEO Playbook Has Three Chapters
Product. Profit. People. The CEO playbook has been written for decades with extensive guidance on product strategy and profit optimization. The people chapter remains chronically underfunded and misdirected. Most organizations still treat people operations as an HR compliance function, not a strategic competitive advantage.
AI Is the Biggest Workforce Transformation Since the Industrial Revolution
CEOs are asking "how do I use AI to be more profitable?" But the answer doesn't run through AI. It runs through your people. The question is not how AI works. The question is how your people work with AI. What you do next will define whether you survive the AI era or get displaced by someone who got it right.
AI-Native Companies Are Forming with Radical Efficiency
Somewhere right now, five people are doing the work that would require fifty in your organization. They're not smarter. They're not working harder. They have the right people doing the right things with the right AI. Established companies must develop the same precision about their people or be displaced. The legacy baggage (outdated processes, middle management bloat, people trained in a pre-AI world) is not a competitive advantage. It is a liability.
This Is a Conviction, Not a Certification
This manifesto is written for CEOs who believe that getting the people side right is not just ethical. It is essential. It cannot be delegated to HR, contracted out to consultants, or solved by better software. It requires CEO conviction and CEO-level leadership. The right people, doing the right things, with the right AI, is the only sustainable competitive advantage. That is not a nice-to-have. That is the game.
Thought Leaders Who Shaped This Vision
This manifesto builds on the shoulders of thought leaders who have fundamentally changed how we understand people in organizations. Their insights, adapted to the AI era, form the intellectual foundation of this work.
Marc Andreessen
The AI-Native Threat"Software is eating the world" defined the last era. Now AI is eating software. Andreessen's thesis is the urgency behind this manifesto: companies that fail to become AI-native will be displaced by those that are. The question is not whether to adopt AI, but whether your people will be ready when it arrives.
Alan Mulally
Working Together, Radical TransparencyMulally's turnaround of Ford is the operational blueprint for CEO-led transformation. His "Working Together" system proved that radical transparency, color-coded accountability, and a CEO who personally owns organizational alignment can save a company from the brink. That is exactly what the AI era demands.
Patrick Lencioni
Foundational Trust"The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" identifies trust as the bedrock of team performance. As humans work alongside AI, trust becomes even more critical: trust in the system, trust in leadership, trust in each other.
Kim Scott
Radical Candor"Radical Candor" makes clear that people deserve honesty, directness, and care. In a world of AI displacement and transformation, radical transparency about what is changing and why is not optional. You owe your people the truth before you owe them comfort.
Daniel Kahneman
Decision Science"Thinking, Fast and Slow" reveals how humans actually make decisions, often irrationally. Understanding these patterns is essential when designing how people and AI systems make decisions together.
Ben Horowitz
Hard Truths, Clear Choices"The Hard Thing About Hard Things" addresses the difficult decisions CEOs face when there are no good options. AI transformation forces some of the hardest choices ever: about roles, displacement, and organizational redesign. This manifesto does not pretend those choices are easy.
Work with Umair
Bring the PeopleOps Manifesto into your organization. Whether you need a keynote that reframes how your leadership team thinks about AI and people, or direct advisory on navigating this transformation, let's talk.
Speaking
Keynotes and panels on the PeopleOps Manifesto, AI governance, workforce transformation, and why the people side of AI is the only sustainable competitive advantage. For conferences, leadership offsites, and board sessions.
Advisory
1:1 advisory for CEOs and executive teams building their people strategy for the AI era. Practical, direct, grounded in 25 years of leading global technology teams. Not theory. Not frameworks that only exist in slides.
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