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There’s a comforting story we tell ourselves about technology: that it scales smoothly, obeys policy, and waits for permission. This week’s reality is less polite.

AI is pressing against systems that were never designed for it—power grids, capital structures, governance frameworks—all at once. Some regions built vast AI infrastructure that now sits idle. Others can’t expand fast enough because electricity, not talent or chips, is the constraint.

Efficiency is no longer the question. Readiness is.

This edition looks at AI not as a breakthrough, but as a pressure test—of infrastructure, governance, and leadership.

As Thucydides warned, “The strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.”
 

Technology doesn’t change that rule. It just redraws the line.

Some things read better than they sound—charts and data included in the written edition.

If you want it even tighter (one-line, end-of-episode whisper), say the word and I’ll compress it further.

Still Experimenting

Year-end reflections tend to exaggerate what didn’t matter and sanitize what did. This one won’t try.

For the second year running, I’ve been operating from a different seat—commercial rather than advisory—across financial services and supply chains, after years in consulting and SME environments. Same markets. Different incentives. That shift changes what becomes visible.

From this side of the table, a few things stand out. Technical excellence without context has limited value. Clients rarely arrive with requirements anymore—only direction. And most failures trace back not to bad decisions, but to assumptions no one bothered to surface.

This edition reflects those observations. It looks at AI not as a tool, but as a system whose behavior may soon force uncomfortable questions. It looks at why infrastructure leaders are pulling critical technology closer instead of outsourcing it. And it looks at how capital itself is changing shape, as family offices quietly accumulate influence once reserved for institutions.

Before getting into it, a genuine thank you. This is the 28th edition of The B. The fact that you’re still reading suggests the signal-to-noise ratio has been acceptable—by today’s standards, that’s saying something.

We’re living in interesting times, which history reminds us is rarely meant as a compliment.

Let’s begin.

PS: Charts, figures, and references are available in the written edition

Some things read better than they sound—charts and data included in the written edition.

If you want it even tighter (one-line, end-of-episode whisper), say the word and I’ll compress it further.