The Controller
Exposed by agentic autonomy. Their value rests on approving every decision, so the system learns to route around them.
Leadership isn't about knowing more. It's about unlearning faster.
Most leadership programs add knowledge. The leaders who thrive with AI are the ones who can let go of what used to work. These programs are built on Rewired Leadership, the book that makes that case.
Built on Rewired Leadership, the book by Mark Zides.
Talk about a program
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Your leaders were promoted for knowing the answer. AI now knows it faster.
That is not a character flaw. It is a wiring issue. Years of success built strong habits, and those habits were built for a slower world. You cannot lead today with yesterday's assumptions, and you cannot ask your teams to change if you are not changing yourself.
The book
The book behind every program.
Every program follows Rewired Leadership: its argument, its frameworks and its 90-Day Leadership Rewire. The book is the curriculum, and your leaders' own decisions are the case studies.
Of The Day Press · 2026 · Foreword by Michael Glass
From the book
Four kinds of leader. AI exposes three of them.
The Resister
Exposed by exponential speed. They protect legacy systems and old expertise while their teams fall behind.
The Solver
Exposed by analytical power. They spend their time finding answers AI finds faster, instead of asking better questions.
The Enabler
The one who thrives. They trade control for clarity, coach judgment, and make the human and AI partnership move fast. Every program is built to produce this leader.
The rewired leader
The Rewired skill stack
Three shifts every program is built around.
01
Clarity over certainty
Stop waiting for perfect data. Define the intent and the boundaries, then let the team decide inside them.
02
Coaching over directing
Stop jumping in with the answer. Ask the question that makes the team weigh the trade-off.
03
Speed over perfection
Stop polishing before you launch. Run small experiments, learn fast, and measure how quickly you change course.
The curriculum
The book is the curriculum.
| Module | From the book | What leaders practice |
|---|---|---|
| The leadership gap | Why expertise is now your enemy. The gap no one wants to admit. | Naming the habits that slow their own team down |
| The skill stack | Old skills, new world | Clarity over certainty, coaching over directing, speed over perfection |
| Speed, judgment and trust | Designing for speed, judgment and trust | Redesigning one real decision so it no longer needs them |
| Learning fast | The engine of adaptive intelligence | Becoming the Chief Question Officer, and running after action reviews |
| Unlearning the ego | The weight of knowledge. The leadership ego. | The Coat Check of Command, and asking for negative feedback |
| The 90-day rewire | The 90-Day Leadership Rewire | A 90-day plan they run back at work |
Formats
Three ways to run it.
Executive team program
The top team works through the rewire together, on their own decisions. Ninety days, with a working session each month and short check-ins in between.
Leadership cohort
Rising leaders from across the business, in cohorts of 12 to 20, learning the new habits before the old ones set. Ninety days, with a working session each month and peer groups in between.
Workshop or keynote
A single session that frames the argument for a leadership offsite, a board day or a portfolio event.
How a program runs
Reset, reframe, reinforce.
The three phases of the 90-Day Leadership Rewire from the book. Each one starts from what the last one changed.
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Days 1 to 30
Reset
See the system clearly. Where decisions stall, where leaders are over-involved, and what to stop doing.
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Days 31 to 60
Reframe
Redesign leadership for flow. Guardrails instead of approvals, and decision rights that sit where the information is.
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Days 61 to 90
Reinforce
Hold the line when the old habits come back, and measure whether the rewire is working.
Who it's for
Leaders whose job is changing while they do it.
Programs are built for a leadership team, not assembled from whoever is free that week.
- CEOs and executive teams
- CHROs and people leaders
- Newly promoted executives
- Rising leaders and high potentials
- Managers leading AI adoption
- PE portfolio leadership teams
What changes
What changes, and how you'll know.
The book ends the 90 days with a leadership dashboard. These are the measures a program is judged on.
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01
Decisions get made faster
Decision cycle time: the time from signal to decision, before and after.
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02
Fewer decisions climb the ladder
Escalation rate: how often decisions reach leaders that did not need to.
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03
Leaders spend their time on judgment
Leadership time allocation: judgment and system design, against execution and review.
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04
Teams act with confidence
Team confidence signals: how clear people are on what they can decide.
Endorsements
What leaders say about the book.
“If you’re a leader, talent strategist, or HR executive staring down the barrel of the AI revolution, Rewired Leadership is the wake-up call you didn’t know you needed.”
“Mark brings rare credibility from decades in boardrooms and high-growth environments, pairing practical frameworks with hard-earned judgment and humility.”
“As a friend and colleague of Mark Zides, I’ve watched this framework begin to elevate teams and outcomes in real time. It’s a must read.”
The path
Where development sits in the path.
Five steps, in order. Each one starts from what the last one found. See the whole path.
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Start here 01 · Uncover AI Readiness Assessment Where every engagement can start. Start with the assessment
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You are here 02 · Develop Leadership Development
- 03 · Coach Executive and Team Coaching If one leader, or one team, needs to move first. Explore →
- 04 · Design Talent and Performance Architecture If your people systems reward the old job. Explore →
- 05 · Build Learning and Enablement The delivery layer under all four. Explore →
Before you get in touch
Questions we get about this.
Anything not covered here, ask directly. We answer scope and pricing without a discovery gate.
No. Each program is built on the book and run on your own leaders and your own decisions. The framework is the material. Your business is the work.
It helps, but it is not required. Every participant gets a copy at the start.
Ninety days, following the 90-Day Leadership Rewire from the book: three working sessions, one for each phase, with short check-ins between them.
Usually. The assessment shows which leaders and which habits to start with, so the program is aimed at your real gap rather than a generic one.
Yes. The executive team program is built for exactly that.