Ways to work together

I join boards as an independent director when a board wants someone who has held the operating seat. I have been a founder, a CEO, a division president, and a chief strategy officer. I know what the executive in front of the board is carrying.

Most boards are now accountable for AI decisions their members have never had to make. I have made them from the executive side, and I can help a board ask its management the right questions. In the boardroom I ask the question no one has raised yet, and I treat people risk as seriously as financial risk. Between meetings, I am available to the CEO.

I look for companies whose mission I believe in. I can help most where a company is facing a new stage of growth, a move into new markets, an acquisition, or the AI question. If I sit on a board and the company also wants my advisory work, that runs under a separate agreement.

Advisory is for CEOs and leadership teams at a transition. Most situations are the four on How I work. Two more come up often: co-founders who no longer agree, and a founder who is excellent on the technology and unsure on the business.

The first weeks matter most. I read what the company has and talk to the leadership team and the people around it. Then we hold a working session, from a few hours to a few days, to name the goal and the real options. From there we plan the first steps and who owns each one. I stay involved while the leaders do the work.

Some engagements need an advisor to the executive leading the change. Others need me inside the business with the team. In some cases, an advisory role can evolve into a fractional leadership engagement.

For investors, I give an independent read on a company before the investment, and hands-on support when a portfolio company is stuck. For a larger transition, the investor can sponsor an advisory engagement for the portfolio company.

I mentor founders and small-business owners, mostly in Israel, through programs and one-on-one. What they ask me for most is a sounding board and an honest answer. When a founder is heading the wrong way, I say so, and we look for a better route together.

I speak at conferences and on panels, and I run sessions for boards and leadership teams. My current lecture is on the AI mythology: why people believe AI is more than it is, and how to adopt it without fear. It started as a conference talk on AI and consciousness.

Other topics I can speak on: