Systemic Topography
Posted May 2026, revised August 2026.
Some technologies become a condition.
Systemic Topography is a framework for understanding how that happens. Use becomes reinforcement, reinforcement becomes default, and eventually other systems are built which incorporate the original design.
The useful question is not simply what will win. It is:
Where is the leverage?
Explore the framework →I have spent most of my career in go-to-market rather than observation.
I co-founded a venture firm that invests in teams building technologies that change the way people, goods, data, and energy move. I helped build a workforce institution as the automotive industry changed around it. And I helped scale Zipcar, one of the mobility industry's first winners.
While those were different jobs, they originated from the same recurring theme. The important part often happens in the “between” places.
Selected work →The technology question led me to a human one.
As more decisions are shaped by systems we increasingly rely on — including AI — what happens to judgment? What leads a founding team to thrive rather than merely survive? What should a board member actually pay attention to when the person making the decisions is under extraordinary pressure?
I'm pursuing those questions through the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at Penn starting Fall 2026.
I don't have a framework for this yet.
That is intentional.
Beyond the Road
I write about technology, infrastructure, mobility, and institutions.
Detroit taught me that transitions run on two timelines.
One is visible to the people building the future. The other is experienced by the people whose jobs and institutions have to absorb it.
I live and work here. The pattern is not local.
About →Write to me about a company, a question, or a room you are organizing.