Become a Catalyst
Run the room. Your help is needed
A Catalyst leads one or more circles: a day a month in person, a two-hour call mid-month, and the judgment to keep a room of 10 to 16 experienced leaders honest with each other. If you've spent a career in operating roles and people already come to you about AI, this is the job.
The role
Six things a Catalyst owns.
Facilitation is the visible part. Most of the job is between sessions.
Run the monthly loop
Open the day, hold the check-ins to time, run the working block so two or three members leave with a plan, and host the mid-month accountability call.
Know every member's problem
Between sessions you know what each member committed to and you check in when it's slipping. You are the one who notices an empty chair before it happens.
Shape the topic calendar
You decide, with the circle, which months bring an outside expert and which you lead yourself. You're the filter that keeps vendors out and useful people in.
Carry the measurement
You make sure the ROAI Assessment and quarterly check-ins actually get done, and you read the quarterly report with each member before it goes to their CEO.
Feed the research
What circles work on, anonymized, becomes the Function Briefs and the Benchmark Vault. Catalysts are how the Institute learns.
Represent the Institute
At interest sessions, at the summit and in your own network. Catalysts are the people who make AiAi credible in a city.
The commitment
About three days a month per circle.
The in-person day, the two-hour call, roughly a day of preparation and member check-ins, and the quarterly report reads. Most Catalysts lead one circle in their first year; experienced Catalysts lead two or three.
The credential
Trained, certified, and listed.
Catalysts complete AiAi's training in the circle method, the ROAI Assessment and the Operational Maturity Scale, shadow a running circle, and are certified before leading one. Certified Catalysts are named on this site and carry the credential in their own work.
The arrangement
Paid, independent, and yours to grow.
Catalysts are compensated independent contractors, paid per circle they lead. As AiAi enters new cities, established Catalysts have first claim on building them. Specifics come up on the first conversation; we'd rather talk numbers with a person than publish them to the internet.
The path
From application to your first circle.
The first Catalysts in all five launch cities are being selected now for circles opening in 2027. Interest sessions, one city a month from December to April, double as a chance to meet us in person.
1
Apply
The form below. Ten minutes.
2
Conversation
An hour with Brett and Becky about your background, your AI practice, and how you handle a room.
3
Training
The circle method, the instruments, and the research. Mostly virtual, with one in-person day.
4
Shadow
Sit in a running circle for a month or two alongside its Catalyst.
5
Lead
Certified, listed, and running your own circle.
Catalyst application
Tell us about the rooms you've run.
We read every application personally. If you're a fit we'll set up an hour with Brett and Becky. If you're not a fit yet, we'll tell you what would change that.
We're looking for
- Fifteen-plus years running a function or a company, ideally mid-market
- Hands-on with AI in your own work, not just opinions about it
- Comfortable holding a room of strong personalities to the point
- Denver, New York City, Miami, San Diego or Sacramento now; more cities as circles form
Not a fit
Consultants and vendors looking for a pipeline. Catalysts don't sell to their circles, ever, and members can smell it. Career facilitators without an operating background. Anyone who needs this to be their full-time income on day one.