Michael Earls’ ‘Finding Direction in the Age of AI’ Named to Tim Hughes’ Executive Bookshelf

The Cincinnati-based author’s first book joins a curated collection of ten works examining leadership, AI, culture, resilience and the human side of work.

CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES, September 18, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Finding Direction in the Age of AI, the first book by author and enterprise technology leader Michael Earls, has been selected for Tim Hughes’ Executive Bookshelf, a curated collection of ten books exploring leadership, artificial intelligence, culture, resilience and the human side of work.

The recognition carries particular meaning for Earls because Finding Direction in the Age of AI began a body of work that now spans three books focused on maintaining clarity and human direction as technology accelerates.

“This was the first book,” Earls said. “I wrote it before I knew whether anyone would read it or whether there would ever be another one. To see it on a shelf with people whose work I’ve learned from for years is something I don’t take lightly.”

The Executive Bookshelf brings together authors from distinctly different backgrounds and disciplines. The collection includes work from Charlene Li and Dr. Katia Walsh, Brady Pyle, Ramón “CZ” Colón-López, Kevin Dias, James W. Clement, Max van der Klis-Busink, Erika Alessandrini, Danura Miriyagalla, and Timothy Hughes, Adam Gray and Hugo Whicher.

For Earls, that diversity is part of the significance.

“These aren’t ten books saying the same thing,” Earls said. “They come from very different experiences, but there is a thread running through them. They ask leaders to think more clearly about culture, decisions, resilience, technology and what it means to lead people through change.”

Finding Direction in the Age of AI explores a challenge Earls observed throughout more than two decades working across infrastructure, cloud, enterprise transformation and artificial intelligence: technology can accelerate faster than people and organizations establish clarity about where they are actually trying to go.

The idea grew into three connected books.

Finding Direction in the Age of AI became the map — understanding the changing landscape and separating direction from activity.

Wired for Purpose became the practice — building the reflection and intentionality needed to remain grounded amid constant change.

The Digital Compass became the compass — maintaining direction when everything around us is moving faster.

Together, the books explore leadership, clarity and the human side of technology. Earls believes those questions are becoming increasingly important as artificial intelligence becomes more capable.

“We spend a lot of time talking about how AI can make us faster,” Earls said. “But moving faster only matters when we know where we are going. Speed without direction is just noise.”

That thinking has also expanded into Earls’ broader writing about how people and leaders can remain human in an increasingly digital world. Rather than competing with machines at being machines, he argues that leaders should place greater value on distinctly human capabilities including judgment, trust, empathy, intuition, presence and genuine connection.

For Earls, being included on the Executive Bookshelf is less about a ranking than knowing the ideas are reaching the audience they were written for.

“The measurement that matters to me is pretty simple,” Earls said. “Are the right people reading the work, and is it changing anything? Sometimes you have to put the work into the world and trust it to find its people.”

About Michael Earls
Michael Earls is an author and Enterprise Cloud and AI leader with more than 20 years of experience across infrastructure, cloud, data and enterprise transformation. He writes about leadership, clarity, AI and the human side of technological change. His books include Finding Direction in the Age of AI, Wired for Purpose and The Digital Compass.

Michael Earls
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