The Clarity Map™
Align Before You Build.
A strategic lens for business leaders serious about using AI—not just saying they do.
Walk into any boardroom today and you’ll hear it:
“We’re using AI.”
But press deeper and the answers diverge fast.
One team is talking about a chatbot.
Another means an automation script from 2019.
Someone else is running dashboards they barely look at.
And another is testing ChatGPT to rewrite emails.
They’re all saying “AI.”
None of them are aligned.
That’s where the real risk begins.
Misalignment isn’t just a communication problem—it’s the root cause of wasted tools, failed pilots, and strategic paralysis.
That’s why I developed the Clarity Map™—a simple but powerful tool to help teams clarify what AI means for them before making technical, financial, or operational commitments.
Three Strategic Questions
The Clarity Map™ breaks AI down into three dimensions of clarity, drawn directly from the real-world adoption patterns I’ve seen in the field since 2016.
1. Core Modes: What kind of value are we trying to create?
There are only three ways AI creates business value:
- Automation: Speeding up or eliminating repetitive, rules-based work
- Prediction: Using data patterns to make informed decisions earlier
- Augmentation: Supporting humans to work faster, smarter, and with more context
Most failures happen when leaders assume they’re building one mode—while the team expects another.
2. Delivery Methods: How will people actually use this?
AI systems are only as good as their interfaces. A predictive model hidden in a spreadsheet is invisible. Put it into a daily Slack update, and it changes behavior.
Questions we ask:
- Is this a dashboard, chat interface, workflow trigger, or automated message?
- How does it plug into your team’s daily rhythm?
- Will your people trust it enough to act on it?
3. Capability Levels: How smart is this system, really?
All AI systems fall somewhere on a capability spectrum:
- Discovery: Surfaces patterns you didn’t know to look for
- Augmentation: Helps humans make decisions faster and better
- Autonomy: Makes and executes decisions with minimal oversight
Most companies fail by skipping this conversation. They build or buy a system, then wonder why adoption stalls or trust erodes.
Why It Matters
When AI projects stall, it’s rarely because the tech didn’t work.
It’s because the humans around it weren’t aligned.
One leader thought it was automation.
One team expected predictions.
The vendor showed off a chatbot.
The CFO was looking for hard ROI.
No wonder it failed.
The Clarity Map™ is how we prevent that.
From Insight to Action
If the Clarity Map™ gives you orientation, then The STRATA™ Playbook gives you execution. Together, they form a complete path:
- Clarity Map™: Strategic lens to align on purpose, method, and capability
- STRATA™: Six-layer framework to embed intelligence into your business, system by system
This isn’t about trendy tools or inflated expectations. It’s about building operational intelligence that fits—inside the real systems you already run.
If you’re ready to start with clarity and move with confidence,
book a call with me—and let’s build something that lasts.