Ideas · what Mike has written and said, in one place

Ideas: the guide, the pieces, the talks, and the papers behind them.

Everything here is free to read and share. A field guide for the founder, owner, or CEO; position pieces for boards; talk recaps; and the papers from earlier work, 2010 to today. Each one names its sources.

The field guide

Change the Frame: how leaders open futures others can’t yet see.

Field guide · Edition 1.0

Change the Frame

Six real stories from thirty years of strategy work, and the one move they share. About thirty minutes to read. Free, complete, no email asked.

Read it on this site Read here · Download the PDF · Também em português

Position pieces

For boards and the CEOs who report to them.

A position piece · September 2026

From Oversight to Foresight: a board’s work in an age of AI

AI multiplies the options in front of a board, not the quality of its judgment. Three questions, one rule, and five things a board can hold management to. Every claim footnoted.

Read it on this site Read here · Download the two-page PDF

Talks

From the stage, with the slides and the takeaways.

Talk recap · The AI Collective, Atlanta · July 2026

Make your story stick.

An evening about the difference between where you’ve been and where you’re going, and why only one of them is a story. The recap, the web deck, and the two takeaway pages.

Read the recap Open the deck

Keynotes and workshops, and how to check a date: Speaking.

Papers

Earlier work, 2010 to 2014.

Customer experience and store design, from the years when that was the front line. Kept here because the thinking still holds; the examples are of their time.

2014Store of the Future: Playbook for Sponsors and Leaders (PDF)
2013A Experiência do Cliente (PDF, em português) · La Experiencia del Cliente (PDF, en español)
2012How Apple Applies Design To Its Experience — And To Itself (PDF)
2011On Customer Experience (PDF)
2010Give Your Customers a Retail Experience They’ll Rave About (Sleep Savvy cover story, PDF)

On LinkedIn

Shorter pieces, as they land.

Short pieces from the work, written close to when it happened, are on the Blog.

The position piece above is also a LinkedIn article, and shorter pieces appear there first: linkedin.com/in/mikewittenstein.

How this site is written, and where every claim comes from: How we use AI and Sources.

The next step

Book a free hour with Mike — no pitch.

No prep. No deck. No pitch.

A working conversation about the future you’re trying to create — and what’s keeping it from moving. Around here it’s called a Chemistry Check: a fit test that runs in both directions.

Pick a time with Mike

Prefer to write or call? Email mike@storyminers.com or call or text +1 404.229.5809.