I help organizations figure out what AI actually changes.
I work with organizations built on expertise. I advise their leadership teams on AI strategy, and I teach their staff to use the tools well.
Three questions clients bring
What does AI change about the business?
AI strategy for leadership teams
Why is adoption uneven?
AI adoption that spreads past the pilots
How do we help staff learn?
Teaching, training, and talks
What I do
Everything I do is strategy, and most of it these days is AI strategy, because that’s the question most leadership teams are facing. If what you need is classic strategic planning with no AI angle, I do that work too.
I work both ends of the problem. With presidents, boards, and executive teams, I help them see what AI changes about the business and what to do first. With staff, I teach hands-on sessions that take people from anxious to capable. I offer both of these angles because both are needed for success: a strategy nobody can execute fails the same way as training with no direction.
I diagnose first. What AI changes is different in every organization: the business model carries different exposure, people carry different barriers, and no two starting points look alike. What to do first depends on that picture, and a recommendation made without it is a guess.
I use these tools every day. I rebuilt my own consulting practice around AI, and I teach from that experience. When I show your team something, it’s because I’ve done it myself and I know it works.
I work in plain language. My best reviews come from non technical people. I work hard to ensure my content is accessible and understandable.
You keep what I build. I create frameworks, surveys, and materials built for your organization, usable without me, so your team keeps improving after I’m gone.
Recent work
A national research organization
- The question
- The CEO wanted an AI strategy for the company. Adoption had stalled, and each group in the organization had a different explanation for what was holding people back.
- What I did
- I spent six weeks talking with researchers, managers and the teams building the tools. Then I wrote a short, data-supported diagnosis that put the pieces in one place, followed by a practical adoption plan the leadership team could run.
- What changed
- The diagnosis gave leadership a shared starting point, and the plan turned it into first steps.
A university school of public policy
- The question
- The dean wanted faculty and staff to use AI in their daily work. Some were already fluent, others had barely started, and the majority wanted to use it but lacked a starting point and the intuition to get good results.
- What I did
- I started by writing up the barriers that hold people back in academic settings, so the dean’s office could see which ones applied to its own school. Faculty and staff faced different barriers, so I designed separate sessions for each group, with office hours afterward.
- What changed
- The school’s chief of staff now recommends the program to colleagues across the university.
A social science research organization
- The question
- Staff at every level, from the executive council to project teams, needed to learn to use AI in their own work.
- What I did
- I built a catalog of courses in four tracks (foundations, research design, business development and project management) and taught each session live, with examples drawn from their kind of work.
- What changed
- The courses became a standing part of staff training, and the work has continued year after year.
An investment firm
- The question
- Some people at the firm used AI every day. Others had opened it a few times and stopped, and the leadership team wanted to reach that second group.
- What I did
- I worked with company leadership to run a survey to see where people stood, built a multi-session program around their own work, and reviewed the firm’s AI use policy through to its final version.
- What changed
- Staff now have a finished policy that tells them what’s allowed, and leadership brought me back to design a session for the people who hadn’t started.
What clients say
“Exactly what I was hoping for… honest, is candid, is likely to provoke a discussion that recognizes the potential stakes.”
“Thank you so much for imparting order into the chaos and for taking an enterprise implementation approach.”
“Because our community had widely varying levels of familiarity, Dave’s ability to customize the programming was invaluable.”
“Dave did a wonderful job today, as much because of his warm human skills as his technical sophistication.”
“You have that amazing combination of smartness, kindness and resourcefulness that quickly builds trust.”
Background
I’m Dave Baiocchi, founder of Spark & Compass. I began by designing optical systems for satellites, then spent ten years at RAND studying what new technologies could do for federal clients and what they would change. Today, I combine that experience with daily use of AI to advise leaders and teach their people.
Across those settings, I've learned to investigate how something works, find a useful way to explain it, and build something people can use. The longer version of that story is at davebaiocchi.net.