The Goat in the Machine
The goat does not care about your AI strategy
A Leadership Field Guide to Turning AI Activity into Measurable Impact
Our field guide will help you...
Stop confusing AI activity with AI capability.
Use the “Walk the Fence” self-assessment with your team.
Learn how to move from training completion to measurable behavior and business outcomes.
Two thousand people completed the training. Great. What can they do now?
Inside the Field Guide
Everything you need to start unlocking value from your AI deployments:
- The free field guide
- The self assessment
- Field test leaders can run this month
- A practical framework for Enable, Elevate, and Evolve
- A way to evaluate whether AI efforts are creating value
What early readers are saying
This guide comes at a perfect time in the evolution of AI usage in the insurance industry. There is growing recognition that gaining true value through improved business outcomes across an enterprise takes more than strategy and tools. The Exposure to Sustainable Value progression is an especially useful way to think about where the industry is today (early stages) and where/how it needs to progress to ultimately achieve sustainable value.
Mark Breading
Senior Partner (Advisory, Research, & Partnerships), ReSource Pro
The Goat in the Machine cuts through the hype surrounding AI and returns leaders to the questions that matter most: What got better? For whom? And how do we know? Bell combines real-world operating experience with engaging storytelling to create a field guide that is both insightful and immediately actionable.
Alexander McGinley
Executive Vice President, Property & Marine Insurance Commission and Vice President of Product & Strategy, U.S. Marine Insurance Group
Most conversations about AI focus on the technology. Jay’s field guide focuses on the goats people, the work, and the outcomes, which is exactly where the real value lives. And somehow, through a cast of goats and homestead lessons, Jay turns a leadership guide into a story you’re invested in, leaving you eager to see where Peanut, Jellybean, and the rest of the herd take you in the full book.
Miles Wemken
AVP, Operations Performance & AI Lead, Zurich Global Specialty
I've spent more than 30 years i the insurance industry watching new technologies, strategies, and transformation initiatives promise to change the way we work. The Goat in the Machine gets to the question that ultimately matters: did anything actually get better? Jay Bell cuts through the noise around AI and offers a practical, human framework for turning technology into better work, better decisions, and measurable business outcomes. For insurance leaders trying to move from AI experimentation to real impact, this is an important and timely read.
Brian Farrell
SVP, P&C Programs, Arch Insurance Group
Who this is for
Operators responsible for making AI adoption work
Middle managers caught between strategy and execution
Innovation, underwriting, operations, and transformation leaders
Executives who want more than usage dashboards
Teams trying to turn AI enthusiasm into measurable business outcomes
Walk the Fence: A 9-question leadership self-assessment
The guide includes a practical assessment to help your team test whether your AI effort is creating activity, capability, behavior change, or measurable value. Every score above 3 requires evidence. Unsupported confidence is just another vanity metric.
About the author
Jay Bell is an insurance operations executive, AI literacy and enablement leader, USMC veteran, 4th degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, and small homestead owner.
He has spent more than two decades working inside complex businesses where strategy, operations, technology, judgment, and people all have to meet reality. He also lives with goats, sheep, chickens, livestock guardian dogs, fences, mud, and weather.
Both worlds punish assumptions.
Jay speaks on turning AI activity into measurable impact, helping leaders build more capable people, better work, and more adaptable organizations.
