For nearly three decades, Abby Knowles served at the helm of some of Verizon’s most complex technology transformations, including programs that reshaped operations, accelerated innovation, and influenced how one of the world’s largest enterprises responded to disruption. She had the budget, the tools, the teams, and the authority that most transformation leaders only dream about. And yet, the insight that defines her work today didn’t come from a boardroom strategy session or a multi-million-dollar initiative.
It surfaced on a muddy hillside after a storm, when an engineer pulled out a $350 hobby drone to reach a site he physically couldn’t access. It was an unapproved workaround. A temporary fix. A moment most leaders would overlook.
But Knowles, then leading major technology teams at Verizon, saw something else entirely.
“That was the instant I realized transformation has very little to do with resources,” she says. “It’s about readiness, instinct, clarity, and the culture that allows teams to act when the moment demands it.”
What followed is now a defining illustration in her advisory work through AskTech Works. Rather than dismissing the idea or drowning it in bureaucracy, Knowles formalized it. She created a pilot program and demanded that it use the inexpensive drone, not a pricier option. She required that the experiment pay for itself before scaling. And she tied the team’s proposal directly to hard operational savings.
That discipline, more than the technology, allowed the idea to grow. Within months, the drone program expanded across the national organization. Within a few years, Verizon became the first carrier to receive operational drone certifications. Disaster recovery speeds tripled. The program evolved into a differentiator used in enterprise sales.
“The drone wasn’t the story,” Knowles says. “The readiness was.”
Today, as a strategic advisor and fractional C-suite partner, she helps leadership teams develop the same capability: the ability to transform not because they have the latest tools, but because they have the discipline to use what they already have.
Why Most Transformations Fail Before They Begin
Knowles is direct about the misconception she encounters most often: the belief that transformation is primarily a matter of investment.
“Companies assume that if they buy more tools, hire more people, or increase their spend, they’re ready,” she says. “But readiness is a leadership discipline. It’s cultural. And it shows up long before an initiative ever appears on a roadmap.”
Failure, she argues, often comes down to three simple issues:
- Leaders are not modeling the behaviors required for transformation.
- Teams do not trust or understand how decisions are being made.
- Organizations collect tools faster than they collect operational clarity.
This is why Knowles begins every engagement not with systems, but with people.
“The shadow of the leader determines everything,” she explains. “If the executive team is inconsistent in their fluency, their priorities, or their decision-making practices, the organization will be fragmented before it starts.”
Her diagnostic process begins with questions that both tech and business leaders rarely ask themselves:
- How regularly do you engage with emerging technologies?
- What financial metrics guide your technology decisions?
- How do you model experimentation, trust, and cross-functional clarity?
If leaders can’t clearly answer these questions, readiness is already compromised.
The Real Bottleneck: Decision Discipline
Knowles often finds herself playing translator between executives and technology teams – two groups that share the same goals but speak entirely different languages.
She has seen enterprises spend millions on digital transformations that stall because teams didn’t understand the financial implications of technical decisions. And she has seen business units push for new platforms when existing ones, properly governed, would have been sufficient.
“Most companies have too many tools, not too few,” she says. “The reason transformations remain incomplete is that leaders lack the governance discipline to eliminate redundancy and measure return.”
This is why she frequently teaches business leaders the fundamentals of technology and teaches developers the foundations of business fluency. She has taught hundreds of professionals on both sides and continues to make cross-functional fluency a core part of her advisory model.
“You cannot build readiness if the people responsible for executing don’t understand how their decisions affect profitability or risk,” she says.
Transforming While in Motion
Another misconception Knowles tackles is the idea that transformation has a clean start date, as if organizations should wait for perfect calm before taking action. The reality, she insists, is far more dynamic.
“You’re almost always transforming in midair,” she says. “The ground never stops moving. You don’t get to pause the business and begin fresh.”
This is why she advocates for micro-transformations: small, tightly scoped changes that generate measurable impact and reinforce trust across teams. Rather than large, disruptive transformations that come only after a crisis, micro-transformations build momentum and prevent catastrophe.
“Crash-and-burn transformations cost exponentially more,” Knowles says. “If you pay attention early enough, you can avoid most of them.”
She connects this philosophy back to the drone example often: transformation doesn’t require perfect planning. It requires a system in which ideas can emerge, be tested quickly, prove their value, and scale responsibly.
Readiness in the Age of AI
With generative AI reshaping industries faster than most leaders can comprehend, the concept of readiness has never been more urgent.
“AI amplifies everything – speed, risk, cost, and opportunity,” Knowles says. “A company that isn’t ready will see its problems multiply just as fast as its potential.”
She advises CEOs to move away from the assumption that AI adoption begins with technology purchases. Instead, it begins with strengthening decision-making, clarifying governance, and ensuring that teams understand the implications of every innovation they propose.
“The companies that win in the age of AI will be the ones with the clearest thinking, the strongest trust, and the most disciplined transformation practices,” she says.
Where Advisory Leadership Is Heading
As transformation becomes a constant state rather than a one-time event, Knowles believes the role of strategic advisors must evolve.
“Leaders don’t want another 80-page strategy deck,” she says. “They want a partner who can help them see what’s coming, make disciplined decisions, and operationalize change without derailing the business.”
This is the model she is building; one grounded not in theory, but in decades of firsthand leadership experience at enterprise scale.
Her message is consistent: readiness comes before resources. Trust comes before alignment. And the future is shaped not by the tools leaders buy, but by the discipline with which they use them.
“The mindset that notices the $350 drone,” Knowles says, “is the mindset that transforms companies.”
As companies confront unprecedented technological change, readiness has become a defining leadership discipline. Executives interested in applying Abby Knowles’ frameworks or engaging her for strategic advisory support can learn more by visiting https://asktechworks.com/
