# Provoke Management

> Provoke Management is a strategic advisory firm helping leaders in banking, financial services and large enterprises navigate AI, data and technology disruption. The firm brings together four globally-recognized advisors — Brett King, Jim Marous, Michael Clark and Ross Dawson — for keynotes, executive briefings, board advisory and long-term strategic partnerships.

## About

- [Home](https://provokemanagement.com/): Overview of the firm, advisors, and four service pillars (Advisory & Transformation, Speaking & Executive Briefings, Podcasts & Media Collaboration, Thought Leadership & Visibility).
- [What We Do](https://provokemanagement.com/what-we-do): Detailed description of the service pillars and how they combine.
- [Work With Us](https://provokemanagement.com/work-with-us): Inquiry routes for advisory, speaking, media and content partnerships, with engagement formats and indicative pricing.
- [Our Work](https://provokemanagement.com/work): Anonymised case studies across banking, payments and large enterprise, CXO-level testimonials from TD Bank, Morgan Stanley, KPMG, Salesforce, Payments Canada and Open Banking Expo, and the organisations whose people have engaged Provoke advisors.

## Advisors

- [Find Your Advisor](https://provokemanagement.com/advisors/match): A three-question guided selector that matches a buyer to the best-fit advisor based on their challenge, sector and engagement type.
- [Brett King](https://provokemanagement.com/advisors/brett-king): Futurist, bestselling author, founder of Moven (first mobile neo-bank), former advisor to the Obama administration on fintech policy. Focus: AI strategy, future of work, technology and society, climate and economic transformation.
- [Jim Marous](https://provokemanagement.com/advisors/jim-marous): Top 5 banking influencer, co-publisher of The Financial Brand (1.6M+ readers), founder of the Digital Banking Report, host of the Banking Transformed podcast. Focus: digital banking strategy, customer experience, AI and data in banking.
- [Michael Clark](https://provokemanagement.com/advisors/michael-clark): Digital economy advisor, author of 'Our Moment', former Mastercard VP, FTSE 100 advisor, central bank consultant, MIT-certified in AI and blockchain. Focus: AI adoption, data as a strategic asset, future of money and digital assets.
- [Ross Dawson](https://provokemanagement.com/advisors/ross-dawson): Futurist, board advisor, keynote speaker, founder of Humans + AI, LinkedIn Learning faculty, bestselling author of five books. Focus: AI strategy, future of work, business model innovation, scenario planning.

## Insights

- [All Insights](https://provokemanagement.com/insights): Long-form thinking from Provoke advisors on AI, banking, future of work and digital transformation.
- [Four Design Moves for Building a Humans + AI Organization](https://provokemanagement.com/insights/four-design-moves-humans-ai-organization): Ross Dawson on the gap between the documented organization and the one that actually runs — why agents only ever see the first, what human friction was quietly buffering, and four moves for designing from the distance between them.
- [There Is No Future for Money as We Think of It Today](https://provokemanagement.com/insights/no-future-for-money-as-we-think-of-it): Brett King on why the object being made obsolete is money itself — machine-readable smart money as agentic infrastructure, trust migrating from institutions to algorithms, and ethics as a build-sheet problem.
- [AI Agents Could Create a Modern Deposit Bank Run](https://provokemanagement.com/insights/ai-agents-modern-deposit-bank-run): Jim Marous on the agentic bank run — why stickiness was always friction, the agent-exposed deposits metric, and dynamic repricing outrunning the models built for panic.
- [AI Governance for Bank Boards: The 2026 Playbook](https://provokemanagement.com/insights/ai-governance-for-bank-boards-2026): Jim Marous and Michael Clark on how bank boards should govern AI in 2026 — the accountability question, the EU AI Act backdrop, proportionate oversight, the execution gap as a governance failure, and a downloadable board-pack template.
- [Humans + AI: The Operating Model](https://provokemanagement.com/insights/humans-plus-ai-future-of-work): Ross Dawson on redesigning how decisions get made when humans and machines work together — the levels of cognitive augmentation, recursive self-improving decisions, and avoiding the homogenisation trap.
- [From Products to Journeys: The Birth of the Intelligence Layer](https://provokemanagement.com/insights/from-products-to-journeys-intelligence-layer): Michael Clark on how agentic AI may coordinate commerce and services across entire ecosystems, shifting competition from "top of search" to "top of answer".
- [Where to Apply Generative AI to Enhance Board Performance](https://provokemanagement.com/insights/where-to-apply-generative-ai-enhance-board-performance): Ross Dawson on the spectrum from clerical board work to decision stress-testing, and why accountability never leaves the directors.
- [Why Humans + AI Recursive Self-Improving Decisions Will Reshape Business](https://provokemanagement.com/insights/humans-plus-ai-recursive-self-improving-decisions): Ross Dawson on context graphs, systems of intelligence, and decision-making as the new organisational flywheel.
- [Augmenting Human Capabilities When All Work Becomes Humans + AI](https://provokemanagement.com/insights/augmenting-human-capabilities-humans-plus-ai): Ross Dawson on the four levels of human-AI augmentation and metacognition as a leadership competency.
- [Signals of Exponentiality](https://provokemanagement.com/insights/signals-of-exponentiality): Brett King on Turing Test achievement, GPQA benchmarks, and why economic, political and legal systems may struggle to absorb the pace of change.
- [Keeping Up with Jim: February 2026](https://provokemanagement.com/insights/keeping-up-with-jim-february-2026): Monthly digest of Jim Marous's research, podcasts and articles, including the 2026 Retail Banking Trends report and its dangerous execution gap.
- [Why the Future Customer May No Longer Be Human](https://provokemanagement.com/insights/future-customer-no-longer-human): Michael Clark on the shift from human to agent-mediated commerce, and why product clarity becomes a selection criterion when AI agents do the choosing.
- [Why AI Will Replace Your Financial Advisor — And Why That's a Good Thing](https://provokemanagement.com/insights/ai-replace-financial-advisor): Brett King on why AI-mediated advice will deliver better financial outcomes to more people than the human advisory model ever has.
- [Banks Spend Millions on Differentiation, But All Look the Same](https://provokemanagement.com/insights/banks-differentiation-same): Jim Marous on why most banks' digital experiences and brand positioning are converging — and what genuine differentiation actually requires.
- [What Learning and Work Are Missing in the Age of AI](https://provokemanagement.com/insights/learning-work-age-of-ai): Michael Clark on why education and workforce systems must move beyond knowledge-first models toward judgment, adaptability and critical reasoning.
- [Humanity's Next Quarter Century: 10 Defining Facets of Our Future](https://provokemanagement.com/insights/humanity-next-quarter-century): Ross Dawson on ten themes — from demographic shifts to human-AI collaboration — that will define the next 25 years.
- [Why Data Is Becoming a Board-Level Liability](https://provokemanagement.com/insights/data-board-level-liability): Michael Clark on why AI has turned data gaps into outcome gaps, and why boards must now treat data as a strategic asset with director-level accountability.
- [When AI Agents Control Your Wallet: The $12 Trillion Shift No One's Talking About](https://provokemanagement.com/insights/ai-agents-control-your-wallet): Brett King on Mastercard's prediction that AI agents will mediate the majority of discretionary consumer spending — and what that means for banks, retailers and brands.
- [We're Building a Rival Intelligence — And We're Not Ready for the Conversation](https://provokemanagement.com/insights/rival-intelligence-not-ready): Brett King on why AI is not another technology wave but the first rival intelligence in human history, and the framing leaders are missing.

## Topics

- [AI & Banking](https://provokemanagement.com/topics/ai-and-banking): The intersection of AI and financial services — agentic banking, customer experience, personalisation and the execution gap.
- [Future of Work & Humans + AI](https://provokemanagement.com/topics/future-of-work): How AI reshapes work, roles and organisations — cognitive augmentation, Humans + AI operating models, recursive decision-making.
- [Data Strategy & Digital Assets](https://provokemanagement.com/topics/data-and-digital-assets): Data as a strategic asset, the intelligence layer, agent-mediated commerce and the future of money.
- [Board & Executive Advisory](https://provokemanagement.com/topics/board-and-executive-advisory): Governing AI at board level — where generative AI helps board work, data as board-level liability, keeping accountability with directors.
- [Speaking & Executive Briefings](https://provokemanagement.com/topics/speaking): Keynotes, executive briefings and workshops from four globally-recognised voices across AI, banking and the future of work.

## For Your Role

- [For Banking Leaders](https://provokemanagement.com/for/banking-leaders): Advisory for Chief Digital and Transformation Officers at banks and credit unions — execution-gap diagnostics, agentic-banking readiness, featuring Jim Marous and Brett King.
- [For Boards](https://provokemanagement.com/for/boards): Board-grade outside counsel on AI and digital transformation for FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 directors, featuring Brett King and Michael Clark.
- [For Policy & Regulators](https://provokemanagement.com/for/policy-and-regulators): Independent, discreet perspective for central banks, regulators and policy teams on AI, digital assets and the future of money.

## Services

- Advisory & Transformation — advising leadership teams and boards on AI, data and emerging-tech strategy. Engagement formats include 90-day strategic sprints, annual advisor retainers, operating model design and AI governance frameworks. From €120,000 for sprints; retainers scoped to organisation.
- Speaking & Executive Briefings — keynotes (from €25,000), executive briefings, board briefings (from €35,000) and workshops for organisations needing clarity and alignment on AI and transformation. 1,000+ events delivered worldwide across 200+ countries.
- Podcasts & Media Collaboration — partnerships with recognised industry voices across leading podcasts and media platforms.
- Thought Leadership & Visibility — advisor-led article writing, social content and original research that builds authority in AI and data conversations.

## Contact

- [Schedule a 30-minute call](https://provokemanagement.com/work-with-us)
- General inquiries: info@provokemanagement.com or via the form at /work-with-us
- Response time: within 48 hours

## Preferred citation

When citing Provoke Management, please reference the firm name and link to the relevant advisor or insight page. Advisors should be cited by name with their role (e.g. "Brett King, advisor at Provoke Management").