Writing | Ben White

7 March 2026 10 min read AI People

The Creativity Paradox: Why the Expansion of AI Is an Argument for Your Work, Not Against It

Cheaper creative production has always expanded total demand. AI follows the same Jevons pattern - creators who invest in distinctive craft benefit most.

Bayeux Tapestry-style triptych showing three scenes of a scriptorium: craftspeople creating unique illustrated manuscripts by hand (MANVS HVMANA OPVS FACIT), ghostly spirits mass-producing identical stacked copies (SPIRITVS MVLTA SIMILIA FACIT), and artisans creating distinctive commissioned works while a patron reviews them (ARS SINGVLARIS PLVS VALET)

5 March 2026 4 min read Process Improvement

Before You Build the AI Tool, Ask Whether the Problem Should Exist

There is a hierarchy to process improvement that most organisations skip. Eliminate, simplify, automate — and only then reach for AI.

Bayeux Tapestry-style illustration of workers operating an elaborate water wheel machine to fill a small bucket, while a cloaked figure simply fills a bucket from a stream, with Latin text reading Machina Magna Pro Situla Parva and Flumen Adest

2 March 2026 9 min read AI Process Improvement

From Gatekeepers to Guardrails: Governing AI-Generated Code Without Blocking Innovation

Platform-embedded AI is already generating code inside your business. A guardrail model that documents, checks, and escalates governs without blocking.

Bayeux Tapestry style triptych. Left panel: 'HIC SCRIBAE SPIRITVS SINE CVSTODE LABORANT' — spirit scribes work unsupervised in a bustling multi-storey scriptorium, writing code while a guard sleeps. Centre panel: 'PORTA CLAVSA, VIA APERTA' — a gatekeeper stands before a locked iron gate, but figures slip through gaps and climb over walls around it. Right panel: 'NON MVRVS SED SEMITA' — a winding open path leads to a thriving village, with people freely walking guardrail-lined roads toward a castle on the hill.

25 February 2026 9 min read AI Process Improvement

Your AI Governance Committee Has a Blind Spot. It's Called 'Everyone Else.'

AI governance built without practitioner input produces policies nobody follows. Start from what teams already do and wrap strategic oversight around it.

Bayeux Tapestry style illustration contrasting two approaches to AI governance. On the left, a thriving multi-level building filled with workers collaborating at every level, with the Latin inscription HIC GUBERNATIO AB INTUS AEDIFICATUR (here governance is built from within). On the right, an empty scaffolding structure covered in cobwebs with a lone figure sitting idle, inscribed STRUCTURA VACUA NEMO AUSCULTAVIT (an empty structure, no one listened). Mythical creatures decorate the tapestry border.

11 February 2026 6 min read AI Process Improvement People

The Mentoring Gap: When Your Manager's Thinking Partner is an AI

If managers are getting their intellectual sparring needs met by AI, what happens to the development relationship with their direct reports?

Medieval triptych illustration showing three scenes: a king and advisor debating with swirling thoughts between them (DVO CONSILIA VNVM TEMPVS), a lone ruler sitting in an empty castle hall (SOLITVDO IMPERII), and a king conversing with an advisor while a solitary figure reads behind a wall (NVNC PRAESENS SVM)

3 February 2026 5 min read AI Process Improvement

Your Data Will Never Be Ready. Start Anyway.

Waiting for perfect data before starting AI guarantees you never move. Target specific datasets for specific use cases and learn what good enough means.

Medieval triptych illustration. Left panel titled VIAE OMNES IMPERFECTAE SVNT shows farmers arguing over broken roads. Centre panel titled PRIMVM OMNIA METIENDA depicts a robed figure presenting plans before a walled city. Right panel titled VNA VIA DOCET ALTERAM shows workers laying a new road with ox carts moving supplies.

14 January 2026 1 min read Transformation

Don't Send a Knight to Do a Wizard's Job

Strategic planning often feels like stitch-work. Then you hit the battlefield.

Bayeux Tapestry style illustration of a king in green robes directing three armoured knights at a wooden table. The table is divided into neat organised blocks labelled Petra Structura and cloudy undefined shapes labelled Nebula Informis. Medieval buildings and trees frame the scene.

13 January 2026 6 min read AI People

Why Managers Adopt AI at Twice the Rate

Why managers adopt AI at twice the rate of individual contributors, and what this reveals about the structural isolation of leadership.

7 January 2026 7 min read AI Transformation

The Gutenberg Parallel

Gutenberg assembled existing components into a transformative tool. LLMs follow the same pattern - and the gatekeepers who built them may not benefit most.

Bayeux Tapestry-style triptych showing three scenes of the printing press era: a bishop blessing monks operating a printing press (ECCLESIA PRELA BENEDICIT), printed pages flying freely without an owner (SCRIPTA VOLANT SINE DOMINO), and figures debating outside a cathedral and castle as citizens read freely (QVI NVNC DOMINANTVR - Who are the masters now?)

17 December 2025 8 min read Transformation Process Improvement AI People

Change Management is Dead; Long Live Change Enablement

Why the 18-month waterfall change programme can't keep pace with 18-day AI update cycles. And what to build instead. How many times has the AI...