· 9 min read
In my recent attendance as one of the speakers in a CEO summit at the Harvard Business School, I had the great pleasure of addressing the Harvard CEO Mastermind on next-generation digital transformation and high ROI strategies for AI adoption. And I noticed that the air felt different that day. It's thick with a new kind of optimism.
We're watching artificial intelligence in business capabilities explode in real-time, paired with this growing clarity about what it can actually do across industries. The predictions are shifting. We might—just might— finally see our first year with lower global emissions. It feels like we're inches from that tipping point we've been chasing.
But here's the maddening paradox: while the climate crisis demands warp speed, most organizations are stuck idling in the parking lot. We all know AI is the "everything engine" powering unprecedented efficiency. We've watched tech workers flood into green jobs. Sustainability skills are the new MBA. Yet here's the gut punch: over 70% of AI transformations completely fail. Trillions of dollars. Millions of work-hours. Poof. Gone. At a time when every second literally counts for our planet.
Why? Because everyone's doing it backward. Your instinct might tell you to bolt for another tech upgrade. But no, the right step forward is fundamentally rewiring how we think about technology adoption. It's called Next Gen Digital Transformation (NDX.) It's your ticket to 100x results. Not just for your spreadsheets, but for our collective shot at solving climate change.
The problem: When good intentions meet outdated approaches
I've spent years working with organizations from Fortune 500s to nimble startups. I saw the same story play out everywhere. It starts with a genuine passion to innovate, millions thrown at AI tools, and then... crickets. Disengagement. Resistance. And a disappointing 1% ROI bump if they're lucky.
Why? The bottleneck isn't the technology. It's us. It's human adoption.
New systems can evolve in months, even days now with a robust AI strategy. But human behavior? That averages 5 years to shift. This adoption gap is the silent killer of transformation. It's why companies death-grip solutions from the 1990s while disruptors rewrite entire industries overnight.
For climate innovators, this isn't just frustrating. It's existential. How much more efficient could our supply chains be? How much faster could renewable solutions scale? If only our organizations moved at the speed of possibility instead of bureaucracy.
"AI adoption only happens at the speed of human comfort" - Matt Leta
We're drowning in data while starving for insights. We're buying hundreds of disconnected SaaS tools that build digital fortresses instead of unified intelligence. And our teams—the ones holding decades of irreplaceable knowledge—are forced to bend to rigid software instead of technology adapting to them. This isn't just inefficient. It's inconvenient to transformation efforts. And it's killing our climate goals.
The solution: Building your anti-fragile climate organization with next-gen digital transformation
So what's the answer? Forget bigger budgets or chasing the latest shiny startup. It's Next-Gen Digital Transformation (NDX)—a strategic approach that fuses your organization's DNA with purpose-built AI and custom, self-maintaining software.
At Future Works, we've flipped the script: technology learns from you, not the other way around.
This leads to the "100x" promise. What took 100 days to build? Now it's one. Some activities see 99% cost reduction. This isn't incremental—it's a complete reimagining of value creation. And it's exactly the efficiency engine our planet desperately needs.
If you think about it; what's less efficient than mining fossil fuels, shipping them globally, then burning them for mediocre energy output? It's madness. AI-enabled optimizations let us reimagine supply chains, extract prescriptive insights from data oceans, and find efficiencies that were literally impossible before.
Figure 1: AIs are getting better at longer, more complex tasks—at a pace that's hard to ignore. We're entering the era of sustained, multi-step reasoning.
Let me paint you a picture. Remember how our brains evolved? Started with the "Lizard Brain" (survival instincts), added the "Mammal Brain" (emotions and connection), then finally the "Human Brain" (advanced logic and reasoning). Here's the crucial bit—the new parts didn't replace the old. They built upon each other. They enhanced them, creating something exponentially more powerful.
Your business brain is about to undergo the same evolution.
The three brains of modern business
Figure 2: The Triune Brain Model shows how human cognition evolved in layers—each one building on the last. The same is true of modern transformation.
Just like our biological evolution, winning organizations develop through three interconnected layers:
People: This is your hidden goldmine. It's the institutional knowledge, battle-tested experience, and irreplaceable nuanced decision-makers. It's the slowest layer to change but the ultimate unlock. NDX amplifies this expertise instead of automating it away through replacement.
Data & Software: Your operational backbone. This is the bridge and glue holding everything together. Forget "garbage in, garbage out." The real killer is irrelevant data. We need unified intelligence from your scattered systems, turning digital chaos into clarity. This is where Data Lakehouses come in.
Figure 3: How raw data becomes real business value: a simple breakdown of the Data Lakehouse flow.
The idea is to organized massive amounts of structured and unstructured data, then refining it into actionable intelligence. Every aspect of your climate solution—carbon footprint, resource use, impact metrics—analyzed in real-time with unified data driving every decision.
AI (Intelligence): The new brain that learns, reasons, and evolves. We're talking AI agents, not just tools. These autonomous entities perceive their environment, make decisions, and take action. They're the invisible revolution—refining workflows, crushing inefficiencies, making everything smoother without your teams even noticing.
Figure 4: The key to 100x results is what I call the "invisible upgrade" principle: The system becomes more intelligent without becoming more complicated for the teams.
For climate innovators, AI agents can monitor production lines predicting failures before they happen. Optimize logistics considering real-time emissions. Analyze massive climate datasets uncovering patterns humans would never spot. Bayer Crop Science, Geotab, and OroraTech are already proving this with AI-powered solutions for fertilizer optimization, fleet management, and wildfire detection.
Figure 5: Transformation isn't a straight line—it's a self-reinforcing loop where people, systems, and intelligence build on each other.
True change happens when these three brains sync up. Each amplifies the other, creating an anti-fragile system that actually gets stronger from challenges.
Culture & speed: Your climate superpowers
As Peter Drucker famously said, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast." It doesn't matter how slick your AI strategy is or how clean your data is. If your culture resists change, you're toast. NDX focuses on building an Adaptive Innovation Culture (Chapter 7) where:
Technology adapts to people, not vice versa: Ethical AI is not optional. It's survival. Trust-by-design frameworks, clear audit trails, and human oversight ensure AI amplifies your team instead of alienating them.
Labor models evolve: We shift from time-based to value-based compensation. Why pay by the hour when an AI-powered employee delivers 10x output? This incentivizes embracing AI, finding efficiencies, and actually moving the needle on climate solutions. Your best people become A-player talent magnets, drawn to environments valuing impact over attendance.
Flexibility is a strategic advantage: In climate tech's rapid evolution, vendor lock-in means falling into a trap. Modular architecture, strategic open-source adoption, and multi-cloud strategies mean you pivot faster than any competitor. Adopt cutting-edge green tech without expensive overhauls.
Figure 6: The three categories of vendor lock-in costs.
This isn't about bean bag chairs in an "innovation lab." It's about weaving innovation into your organization's DNA. Where adaptability is natural, mistakes become data, and "truthiness"—acting on enough clarity without perfect certainty—drives bold action.
Start now, don't stop
You made it this far, which tells me you're ready to actually do this. Forget the 70% failure rate plaguing traditional transformations. Let's make this count.
Confirm a Leader: Transformation needs a champion at the top. Someone tenacious enough to start and— crucially—not stop. This might be you.
Map Your Ecosystem: Get brutally honest about your tech landscape, data silos, and shadow IT. Find those internal champions already pushing boundaries.
Start Small, Scale Fast: Pick one high-impact area where you achieve quick wins with AI. Automate that soul crushing task everyone hates. Unify that critical dataset. Show, don't tell. Nothing converts skeptics like their peers getting better results with less effort.
Embrace the LEAP: Our battle-tested framework for building innovation culture. It only needs 1 hour per week from each person on your team. Low commitment makes it easy to start, hard to kill, creating self sustaining innovation cycles.
Locate high-impact AI opportunities (energy reduction, waste optimization, carbon accounting) Evaluate and grab the quick wins
Action Plan to align teams and eliminate friction
Progress through rapid prototyping, funding, celebrating wins, then repeat
Figure 7: LEAP Innovation Supercycle order of action.
This is no longer a theory. It's been proven. We've automated hundreds of processes, slashed decision times 95%, and unlocked over $3Bn in value for major energy and real estate players. Check out for the future.works full stories about our approaches.
The future that works
The climate clock keeps ticking, but we've got the tools, insights, and framework to make a monumental difference. Your organization won't just manage change, it'll command it. With Next-Gen Digital Transformation, you'll be leading the charge, not just surviving it.
Imagine this with me: Time-to-market for climate initiatives will be cut by 85%. Operational costs dropping by 70% while efficiency soars. Innovation velocity tripling. Every quarter bringing another 100x return initiative. Your mission accelerating exponentially.
This is not going to be a one-time achievement. It's will be a living system growing alongside you. Data flows freely. AI continuously learns and improves. Flexibility will be baked into your DNA.
You become truly antifragile. New opportunities won't be perceived as risks anymore. They'll be invitations to lead. Your team won't be replaced by AI. Instead, you'll drive with AI.
The secret? The simplest mindset of all: you start and never stop.
Your transformation journey begins now. Start small. Learn fast. Keep going. Make it count. Transformation isn't a project you get over and done with. It's a muscle you build, one cycle at a time. The winners aren't those who planned perfectly. They're those who started and never stopped.
Ready to unlock your AI advantage today?
Grab my new book, "100x." It's perfect for executives seeking massive returns on their AI business strategy. Or get "The LEAP Guide," your practical toolkit for immediate action.
Better yet? Read both and transform how you grow with your company forever.
Visit to grab your copies, and start now. Download free AI tools, databases, and find an AI coach. leap.guide
Stop wasting money and time on AI transformations that fail. LEAP takes one hour per week. . Your team adopts the latest industrial tech trends to innovate and never stops. Massive gains in efficiency, profit, and growth await you.
This is how we build a future that works.
illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Sustainability & Energy writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.
