The Cracked Egg

The organizations that win the AI future will not simply be those with the most powerful AI. They will be the organizations whose decisions can be trusted.

In The Cracked Egg, Morgan Templar diagnosis the current failures of traditional data and AI Governance then offers a path forward that aligns to a future when AI Agents will be the primary personas working with our data. Templar introduces the Guardian–Maker–Seeker Framework – a design for transitioning governance to the point of action as opposed to static governance oversight while maintaining traditional oversight functions. She proposes a method to validate, audit and attest that governance is happening according to established regulations, policies and strategy. Agentic Executable GovernanceTM (AEG) certification offers Boards, Executive Leaders and Data/AI Practitioners a new operating model for providing evidence that governance is occurring in organizations in which humans and intelligent systems increasingly work and make decisions together.

Early readers have called the book both a leadership challenge and a practical guide for what comes next: “Enterprises need more than access to data; they need shared meaning, visible boundaries, defensible knowledge, and governance embedded directly into execution.” Another calls it “a must read for anyone leading or implementing AI,” noting that Templar's approach is “a call to redesign structure (not eliminate it), tie roles to activities and strengthen accountability, trust, and innovation.”

Morgan Templar is an author, Founder, enterprise executive, and internationally recognized voice on the future of data, AI, governance, and organizational trust.

For more than two decades, she has worked at the intersection of business leadership and technology, helping organizations confront a question that has become increasingly urgent in the age of AI: How do we preserve accountability when machines can act on our behalf?

She is the author of the best-selling books “Get Governed: Building World Class Data Governance Programs” and “A Culture of Governance.” Her newest book, “The Cracked Egg: The AI Future,” extends that work beyond conventional governance to explore how organizations must change when AI moves from assisting people to taking autonomous action.
As a keynote speaker, Templar challenges boards, executives, and data and technology leaders to look beyond the latest model or tool and confront the leadership implications of intelligent systems that can reason, decide, and act. Her talks translate complex questions about Agentic AI, governance, data, accountability, and organizational design into ideas leaders can understand and act upon.

Morgan Templar speaks on AI leadership, Agentic AI, the future of governance, AI-ready organizations, data and AI strategy, and leading organizations through the transition from human-directed technology to intelligent systems capable of acting alongside us

Recognized as a LinkedIn Top Voice in Data & Analytics, Templar has been named among DataIQ's Top 100 Influencers in Data & AI and the Global Top 100 Innovators in Data & Analytics. She is a Certified Chief Data Officer through Carnegie Mellon University and has spent her career working across data, technology, governance, transformation, and AI in complex, highly regulated enterprises. As a senior executive for multi-billion dollar corporations she has lead programs eliminating billions of dollars in risk. She also contributes to industry groups initiatives advancing data management, AI governance, and responsible AI.