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About Us

Built from inside the problem.

CYGNAL was built by a senior communications and change leader who has watched the same AI adoption pattern play out inside Fortune 100 organizations—and decided to do something about it.

Why CYGNAL exists.

Across two decades of communications, change, and transformation work at companies like Microsoft, Optum, UnitedHealthcare, Salesforce, Advocate Health, nVent, Ascension Health, 3M, and others—I saw the same thing happen over and over.

Companies invested in technology. Communications launched. Training rolled out. Leaders gave speeches. Employees nodded along.

And then adoption stalled.

Not because the technology was broken. Not because employees were resistant. But because the system around the technology—the leadership cascade, the governance translation, the sustained communication, the behavioral activation, and the feedback loops—wasn't built.

I started CYGNAL because that gap is what most organizations underestimate. It's the gap that determines which companies actually capture the full value of their AI investments.

 

A different kind of consulting firm.

Most consulting firms approach AI as a technology problem with change management attached. The typical model is: deploy the tool, run a launch campaign, hope adoption follows.

CYGNAL is built differently. 

Principle 1

We treat AI adoption as a communications problem that requires change management discipline. The work is led by senior practitioners — not staffed by junior consultants — and structured around a specific framework rather than a generic methodology.

 

Principle 2

We are boutique by design. We don't try to be everything. We aim to be deeply useful to a small number of organizations doing challenging AI work. 

Principle 3

We build for sustainment, not launch. Most consulting work ends at the launch event. Adoption work has to extend into the months after. 

Principle 4

We tell the truth about what we see. Even when it's uncomfortable. Especially when it's uncomfortable. 

What we believe.

 

  • AI adoption is a communications problem first.  

    The technology works. The system around it is what fails.

  • Diagnose before prescribing.  

    Most consulting goes wrong because the work starts before anyone has fully understood what's actually broken.

     

  • Build for sustainment, not launch.  

    Adoption is sustained by repetition, not by announcements.

     

  • Tell the truth about what we see.  

    Even when it's uncomfortable. Especially when it's uncomfortable.

     

  • Boutique depth beats consulting breadth.  

    We're built to be deeply useful to a small number of organizations—not modestly useful to many.

     

Want to talk?

The fastest way to start a conversation is a 30-minute strategy call. Worst case, you get an outside perspective on your AI work.

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