---
title: Working frames
subtitle: How I'm thinking about leadership, organisations, and intelligence in the age of AI.
author: Rachel McBride
collection: Working frames
source: https://ip.rowanadvisory.co.nz/
version: v2.0 · 23 Jun 2026
as_of: 23 June 2026
---

# Working frames

*How I'm thinking about leadership, organisations, and intelligence in the age of AI.*

Most AI advice starts with tools. I think it needs to start with position, judgement, and the shape of the organisation instead. These pieces are the frames I'm building in public. They're live: some are settled, some are still sharpening.

## Start here

- [Intelligence at the core, built around people](https://ip.rowanadvisory.co.nz/intelligence-at-the-core/) — My updated stance: build intelligence into the centre of how an organisation works, with people in command.
- [My position on AI](https://ip.rowanadvisory.co.nz/position-on-ai-v1/) — The shortest statement of where I stand: AI can do a lot, but it can't do your position for you.
- A firm's position on AI (draft) — The same stance, one level up. How a firm holds its ground when AI moves to the centre. Personal stance first; this follows.

## Bigger frames

My own frames, published while I'm still working them.

- [The Intelligence-Centred Firm](https://ip.rowanadvisory.co.nz/intelligence-centred-firm) — What changes when intelligence, not hierarchy, becomes the organising centre of the firm.
- The same shape, all the way down (draft) — The same idea at three sizes: a person, a firm, the data itself.
- [The Verifiable Core](https://ip.rowanadvisory.co.nz/verifiable-core/) — A design principle: the raw record at the core, intelligence on top, and a human owning both ends.
- [Where the tool stops](https://ip.rowanadvisory.co.nz/where-the-tool-stops/) — What building Mappa has taught me about where tools help, where they stop, and what still has to stay human.
- [You're not a job. You're an architecture.](https://ip.rowanadvisory.co.nz/substrate-architecture) — A frame for thinking about a person's practice, judgement, and reputation as one buildable whole.

## The Leaders Ledger

What I'm seeing from New Zealand leaders, month by month.

- [№ 1 · "Clear, and stuck"](https://ip.rowanadvisory.co.nz/leaders-ledger-1/) — After 53 conversations across New Zealand: the four moves that separate the leaders pulling ahead, and why none need a mandate.

## Earlier thoughts

Earlier observations and field notes, from when my work centred on workflow redesign. Kept for the record.

- [The earlier-thoughts archive](https://ip.rowanadvisory.co.nz/earlier-thoughts/) — Eleven observations and artefacts from early-to-mid 2026. The thinking that led here; it predates my current frames.

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*The frames are mine; the thinking's in the open. Get in touch: [rachel@rowanadvisory.co.nz](mailto:rachel@rowanadvisory.co.nz).*

---
*Working frames · v2.0 · 23 Jun 2026 · ip.rowanadvisory.co.nz/*