Featuring insights from Geoff Livingston, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at CognitivePath.
Part of Kaptivate's Pivot & Thrive Series

In this edition of our Pivot & Thrive Campaign series, we sat down with Geoff Livingston, founder and Chief Strategy Officer at CognitivePath. In this episode, we discuss how small businesses can adapt and thrive amid technological change and market uncertainty.

Geoff reflected on the shifting landscape of tech acquisition and policy in the Greater Washington region, highlighting the impact on small consultancies like his. Rather than waiting out disruption, Geoff emphasized the need to explore new markets and new business avenues such as pivoting towards the private sector and deepening engagement in the association space.

At the heart of their conversation was the role of AI as a tool for empowerment. Specifically, Geoff discussed agentic AI—a form of AI that creates “agents” to perform tasks without constant human oversight. While acknowledging the technology’s immaturity, Geoff pointed out its potential to automate meaningful work and relieve pressure on stretched resources. This is especially true for small businesses, associations, nonprofits, and media.  In his view, these tools are critical to understand and adopt for an enterprise to succeed long-term

To get through current challenging times, Geoff’s message is clear: resilience lies in action. The easy thing to do is to wait things out, but that is a mistake. Where growth happens and people come to thrive is when they accept failure and take it as a challenge to try again in a different way.

“The challenge should be: how can I adapt so I can succeed? And inevitably, people will.”

He closed with a reminder that what makes challenging times difficult is often a lack of certainty. In Geoff’s view, faith is the antidote to uncertainty. This can be faith in a process, in people, or faith in one’s own persistence to try again. And even if you don't have faith, at least you can make an effort for today.

Kaptivate remains committed to helping brands navigate uncertain times and challenges, successfully pivot, and be able to thrive in the future. Are you interested in learning more on how we can help your organization pivot and thrive? Connect with us today!