FA
Separate signal from noise
Change a plan when buyer behavior moves, not every time a product ships a feature.
Leadership in the AI Era
Leading marketing teams when AI
changes the operating model
Field notes for executives responsible for people, priorities, and revenue while AI rewrites how buyers discover brands. Built from my work at Semrush since 2011 and the daily work of turning research into decisions, not leadership theatre.
Operating principles
My operating principles for changing markets
The goal is not to predict every platform change. It is to build a team that can absorb new evidence without losing strategic direction.
Keep accountability human
AI can accelerate the first draft. Judgment, quality, and consequences still need a clear owner.
Shorten the evidence loop
Use rolling decisions and explicit review dates instead of pretending an annual plan is certainty.
Connect research to revenue
Translate technical change into the buyer, budget, and operating decisions executives own.
Executive field notes
Two decisions leaders need to make now
Each note turns an AI-search shift into a management decision, an accountable owner, and a practical next move.
Measurement & execution
OKRs when the metric is moving
How to set durable outcomes while measuring rankings, traffic, mentions, and citations separately.
Read the field note → Buyer behavior & revenueWhen buyers arrive informed by AI
What marketing, sales, and leadership must own before an AI-informed prospect enters the pipeline.
Read the field note →People
- OKRs when the metric is movingSetting goals across search and AI-answer visibility.
- Leading when the map redraws weeklyLeadership under the volatility AI creates in your market. Coming soon
- Deciding with AI in the loopWhen to trust the machine's confidence and when to trust judgment. Coming soon
- Managing a team that works alongside AIWhat humans still own when AI does the first draft. Coming soon
- Hiring for an AI-augmented teamThe skills that matter when AI does the first draft. Coming soon
Execution
- Prioritizing research under volatilityCost-of-delay when AI changes the market weekly. Coming soon
- Rolling planning horizonsWhen 18-month roadmaps die in 3 months. Coming soon
- Sprints for insight, not featuresRunning sprints when the deliverable is knowledge. Coming soon
- Standups that surface signalStatus-free standups for knowledge teams. Coming soon
- Retros that compound learningRetros in a field that moves this fast. Coming soon
- Project management amid shifting scopeScope that moves mid-sprint because the landscape moved. Coming soon
- Meetings worth havingMeetings worth the time when AI summarizes the rest. Coming soon
- Knowledge management as AI fuelKM as the fuel both your team and the public AIs cite. Coming soon
Revenue
- When buyers arrive informed by AIWhat AI discovery changes before sales ever talks.
- Competitive intelligence at AI speedTracking competitors who move at AI speed. Coming soon
- Sales enablement after the AI summaryEnabling reps when prospects already got the AI answer. Coming soon
- Customer care when AI answers firstWhat's left for humans once AI handles question one. Coming soon
- CRM for revenue intelligenceCRM hygiene as the foundation for AI-driven revenue. Coming soon
Communication
- Public speaking in an age of AI summariesWhy human stage presence matters more, not less. Coming soon
- Data storytelling when everyone has chartsMaking data persuasive when charts are commodities. Coming soon