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A Return to Strategic Leadership: Judgment in the Age of AI

Summary

Return to Strategic Leadership: Judgment in the Age of AI follows Bill Ellis, a retired CEO drawn back into his former consulting firm just as artificial intelligence explodes across the business world. Clients are adopting powerful new platforms, competitors are automating whole functions, and the firm he once helped build is losing ground by the week. What begins as a quiet request for guidance quickly turns into a battle for relevance in an industry being reshaped faster than most leaders can comprehend.

To confront the threat, Bill helps create VERITY, an AI designed not to replace humans but to augment their judgment. It becomes the centerpiece of a larger reinvention—one that forces the firm to rethink how it works, how it competes, and how it defines value when answers are cheap and insight is rare. Along the way, Bill must navigate partner infighting, a breakaway faction led by Edward Lang, and a market that rewards speed even when it costs organizations their soul.

The book blends business urgency with character-driven storytelling, offering a clear look at how organizations can fall behind when they ignore technology—and how they can rise again when they learn to harness it with purpose. At its core, it argues that AI will transform every industry, but only leaders who bring courage and clarity to the table will survive the shift.

Excerpt:

“I’m not here to save Barney-Hamilton,” he began. “I’m here to remind it what it was built to do.”

He walked slowly, scanning faces that ranged from curiosity to calculation. “This firm used to be about judgment. Now it’s about throughput. We were the world’s best at asking questions; somewhere along the line we decided answers were more billable.”

Bill paused, glancing toward the cameras streaming the event.

“Our challenge isn’t just private equity. It’s that the very idea of expertise is being rewritten. Tools like Erebus are democratizing intelligence, taking what once made us indispensable and making it downloadable. We can’t out-compute machines. We can only out-understand them.”

Nervous laughter.

“I returned because we have two truths to face at once. The first is internal: our partnership model, the one that built this place, is straining under its own weight. It rewards tenure over contribution, consensus over courage, predictability over imagination. Our partnership model taught me everything I’m to know. However, it now pays people to play last year’s game, distributing success faster than we build it. We hide risk by punishing it, then wonder why courage goes quiet.

The second truth Is external: They’re using agentic platforms — tools that learn, synthesize, and predict — sometimes better than we do. Our clients are discovering they can do in minutes what we used to charge millions to provide. Intelligence has been democratized. Decks have been commoditized. Confidence is now available on subscription. AI will not make us obsolete—unless we insist on behaving like a deliverable instead of a partner.”

He let that sink In. “The consulting Industry was built on scarcity — the scarcity of understanding. But the machines have broken that monopoly. If we don’t redefine what we sell, Erebus and its cousins will turn our legacy into a library of footnotes.”

“What’s scarce now is judgment. And the courage to use it.”

He could feel the room draw closer.

“If we keep selling answers, we will lose to machines. If we start selling better questions, framed by context, ethics, and conviction, we will lead the era those machines are enabling.”

Hands moved to chins. Laptops stopped. Even the latecomers hovering in the back stopped hovering.

“I won’t pretend this is simple. It isn’t. We have habits that feel like values and incentives that look like truths. We’ve made process into religion. Today, we begin making purpose our practice.”

“We face two existential challenges,” he continued. “One: private equity thinks it can own us. Two: artificial intelligence thinks it can replace us. Both might be right—if we let them.”

He paused. “But know this to be true: judgment still matters. Maybe more than ever. Our clients don’t just want predictions; they want meaning. They want to know which numbers matter.”

Praise for the book:

"Mark Van Sumeren has written a business thriller--a book you can't put down. He has also provided strategies on how to confront AI in today's business world that provide a playbook for success. All business leaders, at any stage of their career should read this book. It will be both enjoyable and incredibly helpful."- Nancy M. Schlichting, Retired President and CEO, Henry Ford Health System

"An entertaining take on modern business issues." - Joe Gleberman, CEO, The Pritzker Organization

"A brilliant meditation on leadership in the era of AI. Mark captures what every executive must confront: technology may accelerate decisions, but only judgment can guide them.” - Russ Rudish, Principal, Rudish Health, Former Deloitte Global Healthcare Leader

"Mark Van Sumeren’s “A Return to Strategic Leadership: Judgment in the Age of AI” contends that AI’s power is not a substitute for leadership but a force that must be guided. In order to fix and transform healthcare for coming generations, AI undoubtedly will play a critical role. However, AI will need to be strongly accompanied by leadership that includes curated insight, courageous inquiry, moral clarity, and seasoned professional judgement. This is essential reading for mid-career and executive leaders in this age of AI impacting virtually everything in our healthcare world." - Mark D. Dixon, President, The Mark Dixon Group, LLC

"Mark Van Sumeren’s perspectives on the role of artificial intelligence in today’s rapidly changing business environment offer a compelling and timely read for business leaders. His insights remind us that emerging technologies should not be feared but embraced as catalysts for progress. Mark’s voice is both unique and essential—serving as a steady guidepost for those who feel uncertain about the fast-approaching future." - Jay Takefman, Head of Tactical Investments, Beach Point Capital

"Adopting and managing the risks of Artificial Intelligence” is the most difficult decision leaders are focused on, and the most prevalent governance challenge faced in the boardroom. Success requires leadership and diligence when implementing AI as opportunities are endless and the risks of failure are critical. Mark does a wonderful job highlighting the journey all executive leadership teams will be navigating over the coming months (not years!) as technology and capabilities continue to accelerate." - Tim (TJ) Johnson, Corporate Board Director, Retired Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, Victoria’s Secret

"A Return to Strategic Leadership is the rare business novel that actually feels urgent in 2025 and may well become the defining leadership parable of the AI era.

Mark Van Sumeren has crafted a gripping, beautifully written story that reads like a thriller while quietly rewiring how you think about power, judgment, and the future of work. Through Bill Ellis’s high-stakes rescue of a legendary consulting firm on the brink of irrelevance, we watch the real-time collision of artificial intelligence, human courage, and institutional soul. You’ll recognize every boardroom, every whispered corridor conversation, and every moment of quiet conviction that decides whether an organization lives or dies.

This is not another breathless ode to technology. It is a clear-eyed declaration that AI’s true impact will not be speed or scale, but the mirror it holds up to our own complacency, and the rare leaders willing to look straight into it. Part succession drama, part ethical manifesto, and part love letter to disciplined renewal, the book leaves you both inspired and unsettled in exactly the right proportions.

If you lead anything—a company, a team, or just your own career—this is the one book that will make you ask the question no algorithm can answer: 'When intelligence becomes infinite, what is judgment 'worth? Do we still have it?'

Read it before your competitors do." -Kevin von Keyserling, CEO, ReadySet Surgical, Co-founder, Key Factor

“In the age of AI, the managerial habits we’ve leaned on for a hundred years are crumbling at the edges. But the principles of leadership — both professional and personal — are about to be magnified a hundred-fold. While there’s no clear playbook ahead, Mark van Sumeren’s compelling narrative offers a unique opportunity to reflect on what that pathway could be.” - Tarun Kapoor, MD, MBA , Digital Health and Transformation Leader and Strategist

"The striking visual imagery and three-dimensional characters pull you into Mark VanSumeren’s second lessons-in-leadership-disguised-as-a-novel. But what remains with me after the last page is turned is the questions of how his teachings apply to the field of healthcare. Will AI be healthcare’s salvation, or its downfall? It all depends on the leadership, the courage, and the clarity of those who deploy it. - Amy Cohn, PhD , Arthur F. Thurnau Professor , Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan , Chief Transformation Officer, Michigan Medicine , Faculty Director, Center for Healthcare Engineering and Patient Safety