About Brian Gibbs.
More than 25 years watching technology reshape business. AI changes the stakes.
Every major technology shift brings the same question.
What does this mean for the business?
Brian started building websites in 1998, before most companies had a serious online presence. Search engine optimization came next, then paid advertising, platforms, automation, and digital systems.
Twenty-five years later, the technology keeps changing. The core decision stays the same. Brian helps leaders see what a technology shift means for their business: where it creates value, where it creates risk, and what deserves attention first.
December 23, 2022.
Flights were canceled across the country that day. A routine layover in the Centurion Lounge in Las Vegas turned into a scramble for one of the last seats back to San Antonio. Back home that night, YouTube served up something called ChatGPT. It had launched to the public on November 30, a few weeks earlier.
Four days and about 48 hours of YouTube later, one thing was clear to Brian. In twenty-five years of watching technology reshape business, he had never seen anything move this fast.
Business leaders were suddenly facing decisions that could change how their companies operated, how employees worked, and how customers were treated. Those decisions carried consequences that couldn't be handed off to a tool or vendor. They needed someone who could help them decide where AI belonged, where it didn't, and what deserved attention first.
That is the work Brian does now.
The lesson from the 1992 Olympic Trials.
At the 1992 Olympic Track Cycling Trials, the wind picked up and Brian had a decision to make. He chose smaller gear because it felt safer. Fear overruled what years of training had already taught him.
He still thinks about that decision when the stakes go up. Hesitation has a cost. With AI, it shows up slowly, in delayed decisions, scattered experiments, and months spent circling a choice.
Sometimes the most useful thing you can get is an outside perspective that helps you see what the hesitation is already costing you.
A clear AI decision you can stand behind.
Brian's dad ran a roofing company for thirty years. He knew his customers by name, understood what every decision could cost, and stood behind the work his company delivered. Brian grew up seeing how much responsibility comes with owning a business.
His dad never had to decide whether to trust a machine with customer relationships, pricing, operations, or reputation. You do. That decision deserves more than a tool demo or a quick recommendation.
You come in with a business that already works and an AI decision that needs structure. Brian asks the questions your team may be too close to see. He looks at where the opportunity is, where the risk sits, and what is worth doing.
The goal is to know what deserves your attention, what can wait, and why. Every engagement is built around making that decision clearer.
How the work runs
The decision is the product.
The work ends with one clear decision and the reasons it is the right one.
Cut what does not matter.
If an idea, tool, or project does not support the business decision, it comes off the table. That leaves room to focus on what does.
The scope stays tight.
The work narrows until the decision is clear enough to act on. That keeps the strategy useful and keeps the business from getting buried in options.
The decision has to hold up.
If you cannot explain the reasoning to your team, defend it when someone challenges it, and still believe it is the right call, the strategy is not finished.
Strategy decides where AI belongs.
Brian's three books keep coming back to the same four ideas.
Decide what stays human first.
AI is fast at drafting, sorting, and other repeat work. Brian draws the line first, so judgment, trust, and voice stay human.
Source: What Not to Automate and The Customers You're Already Missing
The money is already in the business.
Most businesses already have money in unread customer data and skilled people stuck on simple tasks. Brian looks there before new software or hires.
Source: What Not to Automate and The Customers You're Already Missing
Start with one small, real problem.
Big AI projects often stall. Brian starts with one narrow, measurable problem and lets the results earn the next step.
Source: From Overwhelmed to Optimized and The Customers You're Already Missing
Put the saved time back into people.
Saved time fills back up unless someone plans for it. Brian helps aim it at the best customers, the team, and planning ahead.
Source: From Overwhelmed to Optimized and What Not to Automate