Speaking
Erick Straghalis - Speaking
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Most organizations aren't failing at AI because the technology doesn't work. They're failing because they haven't built the organizational infrastructure to absorb it. Erick Straghalis has spent 25 years at the intersection of strategy, technology, and operational change — and he's the person executives call when they need someone who can actually explain what's happening and what to do about it.
About
Erick Straghalis is President and Chief Strategist at StitchDX and the author of BeAIReady — a weekly publication read by executives, operators, and practitioners navigating the real organizational challenges of AI adoption.
His work lives in the gap between AI’s technical capability and organizations’ readiness to use it. That gap, he argues, is not a technology problem. It’s a knowledge architecture, governance, and leadership design problem — and it’s widening every quarter.
Erick developed the Cognitive Operating Model (COM), a framework for how organizations must redesign their knowledge infrastructure, decision flows, and employee systems before AI can deliver measurable value. It’s the operating system most AI deployments are missing.
Before founding StitchDX’s Digital Workplace practice, Erick spent 16 years in creative strategy and organizational development at NBC Universal and with brands including Apple, Target, Best Buy, Lowe’s, Barnes & Noble, and Verizon — including helping scale a startup to $150M in revenue through acquisition.
He speaks from operational experience, not theory.
Topic expertise
AI readiness | Digital workplace | Knowledge architecture |
Microsoft 365 / Copilot | Organizational design | Future of work | Intranet strategy | Executive leadership | Change management
Credentials
President & Chief Strategist, StitchDX
Author, BeAIReady.ai (Substack)
Keynote, UMass Lowell Manning School of Business
Speaker, Intra.NET Reloaded USA (International)
Microsoft 365 Partner · Powell & Omnia Certified
25+ years advising Fortune 100 & growth companies
Creator, Cognitive Operating Model (COM)
Signature Talks
AI Gets the Credit. Your Organization Takes the Hit.
45-60 min: Keynote, Workshop, Executive Briefing
The tools work. The organizations don’t. In this talk, Erick makes the case that most AI failures aren’t technical — they’re structural. He walks leaders through the Cognitive Operating Model: a clear framework for diagnosing what’s broken in your knowledge infrastructure, decision flows, and governance before you spend another dollar on AI licenses. Leaves audiences with a specific, actionable diagnostic they can run in 30 days.
Your Career Is a System: How AI Is Rewriting Work — and What to Do About It
45–75 min: University keynote, Conference, Corporate all-hands
Built for the next generation of knowledge workers, this talk reframes AI not as a job threat but as an operating environment that rewards a specific set of skills: synthesis over retrieval, prompt fluency, process architecture, and judgment under ambiguity. Based on Erick’s research into Anthropic’s 2026 labor market data and the Federal Reserve’s graduate unemployment findings. Delivered at multiple colleges and universities in the Greater Boston area.
The Intranet Is the new AI Control Surface. Here’s What That Means.
30–45 min: Conference session, Panel, Podcast
For technology, HR, and communications leaders: a practitioner’s case for why the digital workplace isn’t a legacy concept — it’s the governance layer that makes or breaks AI performance. Erick lays out the four-layer model (Data → Governance → Intelligence → Control Surface) and explains why organizations that skip intranet strategy before Copilot deployment are building on sand. Highly practical. Product-agnostic.
Helping Leaders Get AI Right — Before It Goes Wrong
20–45 min: Board / C-suite, Executive briefing, Fireside chat
A boardroom-ready executive briefing on the four organizational decisions that determine whether AI deployments create competitive advantage or expensive noise. Draws on StitchDX’s implementation work across industries — manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, retail — to surface patterns that don’t make it into vendor decks. Designed for C-suite and board audiences who are being asked to approve AI budgets and need a framework, not a sales pitch.
Booking inquiries for conferences, podcasts, corporate events, and media appearances welcome.
ERICK SPEAKS TO
C-Suite & Board
IT & Technology Leaders
HR & People Leaders
Internal Communications
Business School Students
Founders & Operators
Microsoft Partners