The Journey

For more than three decades, I’ve been pursuing one enduring question:

How can organizations better understand the people they serve?

That question has shaped every chapter of my professional journey.

Early in my career, it led to the founding and development of Buyer Personas—a framework that helped organizations better understand the goals, motivations, and decision-making of buyers before making strategic decisions. What began as an idea grew into a methodology adopted by organizations around the world seeking a deeper understanding of the people behind buying decisions.

Over time, I came to realize that the same principles extended far beyond buyers. They applied to audiences deciding whether to participate, communities deciding whether to engage, employees deciding whether to belong, and leaders making decisions that affect the lives of others.

Different contexts.

The same fundamental challenge.

Understanding people before making decisions.

That realization naturally expanded into Audience Personas™, Community Personas™, and ultimately to what I now believe is the next step in that journey: Human Understanding.

Human Understanding is an emerging organizational discipline and competency dedicated to helping organizations better understand the people they serve—and to apply that understanding to make better decisions, build stronger relationships, create richer experiences, and strengthen communities.

Along the way, I’ve had the privilege of applying these ideas across business, nonprofit organizations, healthcare, higher education, arts and culture, and community development. While every organization is different, I’ve found that the most successful ones share a common characteristic: they intentionally seek to understand the people they serve before deciding how to lead, communicate, design experiences, or grow.

Today, I write, speak, and advise leaders who want to build organizations that make better decisions, create stronger relationships, and serve people more effectively through Human Understanding.

My hope is to help establish Human Understanding alongside Strategic Planning, Organizational Development, Design Thinking, Systems Thinking, and Organizational Learning as a recognized organizational discipline and competency for the age of Artificial Intelligence.

For me, this has never been about creating another framework.

It has always been about helping organizations become more human-centered in how they think, decide, lead, and serve.

The Journey

Buyer Personas (Understanding Buyers)

Helping organizations better understand buyers before making strategic decisions.

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Audience Personas™ (Understanding Audiences)

Applying the same principles to audience development, participation, and engagement.

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Community Personas™ (Understanding Communities)

Understanding the shared motivations, aspirations, and identities that shape thriving communities.

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Human Understanding (Understanding People)

Advancing an emerging organizational discipline and competency dedicated to helping organizations better understand the people they serve.

Organizations don’t succeed because they know more about people.
They succeed because they understand people more deeply.

Everything begins with understanding people.