A new working paper published today proposes a formal executive management discipline called Go-To-Market Governance (GTMGO) to help organizations engineer trust into growth rather than applying governance after the fact. The paper, titled 'Engineering Trust: Why the AI Economy May Require a New Executive Management Discipline,' is the first in the GTMGO Canon series and aims to address the growing challenge of preserving trust as innovation accelerates.
The paper introduces foundational concepts including Governance Engineering as the scientific methodology of the discipline, and the role of a Go-To-Market Governance Officer accountable for achieving Trusted Growth. It also defines the Governance Velocity Gap™ as the organizational challenge created when innovation outpaces governance, and GTMGO Thermodynamic-Friction™ as the cumulative resistance generated when governance evolves more slowly than enterprise change.
Rather than restating existing legal or compliance frameworks, the paper identifies recurring engineering principles across trusted professions and regulated industries, drawing from aviation, legal practice, professional sports labor relations, entertainment, broadcasting, healthcare, privacy, cybersecurity, and enterprise leadership. These observations are synthesized through management science, systems thinking, and engineering methodology to propose a unified governance discipline for AI-enabled enterprises.
The GTMGO Canon is being released as a sequence of working papers to allow for disciplined inquiry and refinement. The Version 1.0 Freeze preserves the foundational architecture while inviting constructive criticism and practical application. Executives, directors, governance professionals, technologists, and academics are encouraged to review the working paper and contribute observations through the GTMGO Research Notes process.
The paper's publication comes as organizations face increasing pressure to maintain trust amid rapid AI adoption. By proposing a dedicated governance discipline, the GTMGO Canon seeks to provide a structured approach for enterprises to balance innovation with accountability. The working paper will be released in the coming weeks, with future publications expected to build on the Version 1.0 foundation.
For more information, the full working paper notice is available at Peter Q. John's LinkedIn profile.
