Most companies build AI systems their teams quietly avoid. Scott Howard Swain spent 30 years learning why – and how to fix it by designing for how brains actually work.
The story
Most companies are solving AI adoption backward.
They buy sophisticated tools, build impressive workflows, celebrate the launch. Three months later, people have quietly found workarounds to avoid the system entirely.
The pattern is predictable because the approach is broken. We treat humans as an afterthought to technology – then wonder why adoption fails.
Scott Howard Swain flips this. Thirty years in tech, yes – but he’s also spent over three decades studying how people actually think and collaborate. Not in theory. Through 650+ meetings with 2,100 members of his Practical Empathy Practice Group.
When he builds AI workflows, he designs for how your team’s brains actually work. Not forcing adaptation to rigid technical requirements. He mentors teams through adoption so nothing becomes a black box. He reduces complexity instead of amplifying it.
Teams often triple efficiency within weeks. Not because the AI is more sophisticated – because people actually want to use it.
That’s the trend everyone’s missing. The next competitive advantage isn’t better AI technology. It’s AI that aligns with human psychology.
The companies winning this race aren’t deploying the most powerful tools. They’re deploying tools their people will genuinely adopt.
Which means you need someone who plays both positions: builds the technical solution AND guides humans through using it.
A player-coach who turns technical complexity into business results.
