We’re running on 100-year-old code.
Most org charts, approvals and job descriptions were built for factories and filing cabinets. AI won’t fit until we redesign how the whole organization works, from concept to cash.
Change – With a Coach Approach, LLC
I have spent more than three decades learning what happens after the strategy meeting ends.
The plan gets approved. The initiative gets announced. The technology goes live. The organization chart changes. The outside experts leave. And then real people have to make it work.
Testimonials
What people say about her
Dana brings a thoughtful, strategic perspective to AI adoption and acceleration, with a particular focus on helping organizations prepare their people, processes, and culture for emerging technologies. She understands that successful AI adoption goes beyond technology. It requires aligning organizational readiness, employee engagement, and business objectives. Dana brings valuable perspective to customer conversations, helping organizations explore opportunities to accelerate adoption and realize the potential of AI.
I recently partnered with Dana on a challenging project that focused on adapting to change as a company. She played a key part in how we developed our strategy, worked closely with our leadership, and provided tremendous value. Looking forward to continuing the partnership.
We had the pleasure of Dana facilitating a leadership workshop for a small group at Kimley-Horn. The focus was Engineering a Change Mindset. Dana did an absolutely fantastic job. Her preparation was extraordinary. It felt like she had worked with our firm for years by the time we got to the workshop. She engaged all 13 of us throughout the session, making it very interactive. I would strongly encourage other leaders looking for insights on change mindset and management to work with Dana.
I had the pleasure of working with Dana during her tenure as an Organizational Change Manager consultant for Microsoft. I can confidently say that her impact was immediate and substantial. Dana excelled in her role by setting up effective change management strategies and also took the initiative to educate our team on the fundamentals of OCM. Her dedication to coaching and upskilling our team ensured that we not only adapted to change more effectively, but also acquired valuable skills for future initiatives. What stood out most about Dana was her ability to grasp our organization’s complex interdependencies and silos. She didn’t hesitate to immerse herself in understanding our unique challenges. In fact, whenever Dana attended meetings, they seemed to run more smoothly — a testament to her knack for bringing clarity and direction to discussions. Dana’s professional demeanor, alongside her proactive approach to learning and teaching, made her a valuable asset to our team. I highly recommend her for any role where expertise in organizational change management and a collaborative spirit are valued.
Dana is an outstanding person with an insane work ethic. I have had the pleasure of working with her in graduate school for our classes. She taught me so many skills, both inside and outside of the classroom. Dana is very inspiring to me. Anyone who has the honor of working with her is in great hands. She has a wealth of knowledge, experience, and wisdom. What a great coach to have on your side. Dana is well-recommended!
Dana has supported me for the last several years delivering a large EAM consolidation/upgrade program (a portfolio of projects). Dana is an excellent change management leader, and SME, and has done great work for me focusing on program CM&T strategy and tactics. Additionally, Dana is a skilled Change Management and project leadership coach. Dana has supported me in this coaching capacity since the middle of 2022; this has greatly benefited me in continuing to lead my program through challenging waters. I really appreciate Dana’s willingness to help me, and the program, succeed.
Dana is a dynamic change leader with a passion to support people-centered change in organizations. Her expertise incorporates various frameworks from her broad experience across disciplines and industries. Her energy and enthusiasm is inspirational. I have had the pleasure to co-present with this her and her unique perspective helped me see engagement in a different way.
I recommend Dana for expertise in project and change management. Dana has "on-the-ground" experience in working with utilities all the way up through consulting with executive leaders. You can be sure that if you need to know something about "how-to" change management work, Dana has the solution and can implement it well. Additionally, Dana is an expert public speaker and she has delivered high-end presentations for Change Management Review and received multiple accolades for her well-presented actionable content.
I had the good fortune of finding Dana after listening to the Change Management Review podcast. I reached out in hopes she might provide mentorship for a large business transformation project I needed help with. She was very eager to assist, provided book and course recommendations, and shared some of her unlimited knowledge and extensive experience. Dana's advice and leadership has been invaluable and she has opened up new opportunities for me I could not have imagined pursuing. Dana is a true rock star of all things change!
Dana Houston-Jackson is simply awesome. Any random question I have for her, she knocks the response out of the ball park. She goes above and beyond to help explain concepts in a meaningful and relatable way – amazing teacher and trainer. I am so appreciative of the time she has given me over the past year. I have learned so much thanks to her unwavering guidance both in change management and project management. She reads people like no one I’ve seen before – knows why they provided the answer to a certain question and helps to explain the concepts behind the thinking – all while making complete sense. So incredibly powerful. I learn something new and valuable every single time I’m with Dana. She is an amazing asset to BMcD and 1898 & Co.
Dana brings tremendous depth in change management to her projects. She is a perpetual student with an intense desire to improve her understanding of the discipline. She is never satisfied with the status quo and is always looking for ways to help those around her by equipping them with tools, skills, and resources necessary to be successful. It has been my pleasure working with her to absorb some of her knowledge and apply these principles in my own personal and professional life.
Short professional bio
Biography
Dana helps leaders make change less confusing, less painful and far more useful. As an AI ways-of-working architect, she helps organizations move from AI access to real adoption.
Dana Houston Jackson is Founder and Chief Operating Architect of Change – With a Coach Approach, LLC. She is an author, speaker, advisor, executive coach and organizational change and AI enterprise change doer with more than three decades of experience across engineering, utilities, technology, project leadership, organizational change and leadership development.
Her work focuses on the gap between implementing change and creating sustained changes in how work actually gets done. She writes and speaks on AI adoption, AI-enabled ways of working, enterprise change, leadership, coaching, organizational change and the multigenerational workforce. Her aim is teams that adopt, adapt and keep improving – with new ways of working built with people, not handed to them.
Dana is the author of The AI Adoption Traps (2026) and co-author, with Zac Jarrard and Douglas Wood, of the upcoming Leading a Five-Generation Workforce (Taylor & Francis, April 2027).
About Dana
I’m Dana Houston Jackson.
Founder and Chief Operating Architect of Change – With a Coach Approach, LLC. Mother of an Eagle Scout heading to the Navy. Tenacious Texan. Adventurous by nature. Lifelong learner. Researcher. Doer.
My career has taken me from manufacturing, construction, engineering, utilities, into technology, enterprise change, executive coaching, K-12 teaching, and leadership development. It wasn’t a straight path—and that became one of my greatest advantages. I’ve seen change from the executive table, the project team, the field, the classroom, and the coaching conversation. And I kept seeing the same thing:
Organizations can announce and even deliver a solution without actually changing the people and the work.
That insight shapes what I do today—especially helping leaders and teams move beyond simply deploying a tool, a process, a tech such as AI, and moving toward better ways of working, where change is taken to the people closest to the work and durable change is possible.
Credentials
Credentials matter. But they are not the work.
Dana holds a master's degree in Organizational Change Leadership and over 30 professional certifications across change management, coaching, project management, engineering and AI.
Education
- MS, Organizational Change Leadership (4.0 GPA) – University of Wisconsin–Platteville
- Graduate work, M.S.Ed., Information Technology – Western Oregon University
- BS, Interdisciplinary Studies: Business, Humanities and Geoscience, summa cum laude, Phi Kappa Phi – Western Oregon University
- AA, Transfer Studies for Engineering (honors) – San Diego Mesa College
- Associate degree, Transfer Studies, Phi Theta Kappa – Chemeketa Community College
Engineering and construction training
- Master Certificate, Electrical Construction Management – Purdue University
- Engineering transfer studies (see AA above)
Change management
- Certified Change Management Professional (CCMP) – ACMP; one of the first 500 worldwide
- Prosci Certified Change Practitioner
- Prosci Train-the-Trainer
- Prosci Advanced (Experienced) Practitioner
- Prosci Enterprise Change Management
- Prosci Integrating Agile and Change Management
- Agile Change Management – Capability for Change (Melanie Franklin)
- Neuroscience for Change Foundation – APMG International
- AI for Change Management – Capability for Change
- Coaching Skills for Change Management Professionals – Change Management Review
Coaching and leadership
- ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC) – International Coaching Federation
- Human Resources Certificate – National University
Project management, process and performance
- Project Management Professional (PMP) – PMI, since 2004
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt – Six Sigma Global Institute
- PuMP Performance Measurement
- Former Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)
AI
- AI for Change Managers · AI for Small Business · AI for Publishing
What I believe
Beliefs that guide the work
AI friction is a design problem.
When AI stalls, don’t blame the people. Look at the handoffs, approvals and decision rights it has to squeeze through.
Unlearn to make room.
New ways of working can’t land on top of expired ones. Let go of what no longer fits so the new has somewhere to live.
People help design the answer.
The folks who live with a change know the work best. Bring them in before the answer is finished. Built with people, not handed to them.
Communication can’t fix a poorly designed change.
Great communication matters. It just can’t create ownership that should’ve come from involvement.
Leaders own change.
Change pros advise, coach and build capability. Making the change succeed belongs to the leader.
Trust is earned, especially with AI.
It grows through transparency, real experience, safeguards, useful results and visible accountability.
Activity isn’t value.
Logins and training completions are activity. The real question: did behavior change, performance improve and capability grow?
Leaders don’t need every answer.
They need curiosity, good questions and the willingness to change their own minds, so better answers can show up.
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My experience
Over more than three decades, my work has included:
- Enterprise change
- Organizational change leadership
- Project and program leadership
- Utilities and energy environments
- Engineering and construction
- Technology implementation
- Executive and leadership coaching
- Leadership development
- Workshop facilitation
- Professional education
- Speaking and Keynotes
- AI-enabled ways of working and adoption
The thread through my work
I help leaders think about what must happen between a good idea and a better organizational reality.
- What are we actually trying to accomplish?
- What problem are we solving?
- Who understands the work?
- Who will be affected?
- Who should be involved now?
- What assumptions are we making?
- Where should decisions live?
- What would meaningful evidence look like?
- What are we asking people to trust?
- What capability must remain after this initiative ends?
Quick answers
About Dana: Q&A
Who is Dana Houston Jackson?
Dana Houston Jackson is Founder and Chief Operating Architect of Change – With a Coach Approach, LLC, based in the Kansas City area. She is the author of The AI Adoption Traps, co-author of Leading a Five-Generation Workforce (Taylor & Francis, April 2027), a speaker, and an ICF PCC executive coach with more than 30 years leading change and over 30 different certifications in multiple industries.
What is Dana known for?
Dana helps leaders make change less confusing, less painful and far more useful. As an AI ways-of-working architect, she helps organizations move from AI access to real adoption.
She's also known for custom, tailored workshops that help executives, managers and leaders navigate everything changing around them. Each session is designed with the client and built around their people, their goals and the work in front of them. Topics include:
- Adopting AI in ways people trust and actually use
- Leading a five-generation workforce without the stereotypes
- Change fundamentals for engineering, construction and utility leaders
- One-on-One Leadership coaching
- Building change capacity when teams are worn out by constant change
- Co-designing new ways of working with the people who do the work
The result is teams that adopt, adapt and keep improving – built with people, not handed to them.
What does Change – With a Coach Approach do?
It helps leaders build teams that adopt, adapt and keep improving – with new ways of working built with people, not handed to them. Dana does this through advising, keynotes, co-designed workshops, book-club sessions, customized training and executive coaching.
What industries has Dana worked in?
More than 20, including utilities and energy, engineering and construction, technology, manufacturing and logistics, and education. Organizations include SDG&E, Bonneville Power Administration, Tennessee Valley Authority, Evergy, Burns & McDonnell, Kimley-Horn, Microsoft and Nike.
What credentials does Dana hold?
Dana holds a master's degree in Organizational Change Leadership and over 30 professional certifications across change management, coaching, project management, engineering and AI.
What are you trying to make work?
Let’s talk about how AI is changing the work, your initiative, or the leadership challenge in front of you.