Ongoing notes and observations from David White — drawn from the boardrooms, leadership transitions, and inflection points where organizations either find their footing or lose it. New writing is posted here as it's published.
What's actually happening inside leadership teams under pressure — noticed in the room, recorded before it gets tidied up in hindsight.
Publishing soonThe decisions that define an organization, examined at length. The current long-form pieces are published on the Insights page.
Read the InsightsNotes and expansions from speaking engagements on transformative leadership, sports and entertainment, and practical AI for skeptical professionals.
See SpeakingThe line between players and owners in professional sports is blurring fast — and that's both the most exciting and most unsettling thing happening in the business of sports right now.
My take — from that day forward, every feature of college sports life gets pushed towards one giant question: is this making us enough money?
USC just made history by hiring the first Director of AI in college football — but the architecture they're building already exists across warehouses, offices, and industries everywhere. The real question isn't whether AI will evaluate workers. It's who owns the data, and who captures the value.
My take — from that day forward, every feature of college sports life gets pushed towards one giant question: is this making us enough money?
On July 1, private equity arrives formally inside college athletics — and from that day forward, every feature of college sports life gets pushed toward one giant question: is this making us enough money?
My take — from that day forward, every feature of college sports life gets pushed towards one giant question: is this making us enough money?
Advocates fought for college athletes to get paid — and we were right to. But what we built is a market without a market structure, and the reckoning is closer than most people think.
My take — from that day forward, every feature of college sports life gets pushed towards one giant question: is this making us enough money?
On July 1, Crimson Brand Partners takes over commercial operations for University of Utah's athletics department as part of a $100+ million deal that routes most of the department's revenue streams into a new for-profit entity, backed by private equity firm Otro Capital.
My take — from that day forward, every feature of college sports life gets pushed towards one giant question: is this making us enough money?
Three lines of inquiry run through everything posted here — the same three that run through the practice itself.
What it actually takes to lead through transition, crisis, and cultural integration — the judgment calls that never appear in the org chart, and the habits that hold a leadership team together when the pressure is highest.
Notes from inside two of the most scrutinized industries in the country: how their institutions negotiate, govern, and adapt — and what leaders in every other sector can take from watching them work in public.
A grounded look at where the technology genuinely changes the work, where it doesn't, and how experienced professionals can engage with it on their own terms rather than someone else's timeline.
If something here maps to the moment you're in, the most useful next step is a direct conversation — no pitch, just a read on what you're facing.
Let's Connect