Keynotes, workshops, and facilitated conversations for people who build what lasts. Every engagement starts with understanding what your audience needs to move from where they are to where they want to be.
The best conversations start with “what are you trying to figure out?”
Three sharp ideas on AI, leadership, and differentiation in the built environment, plus one still in progress. Delivered when they are ready. No spam.
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The questions that show up in DMs, after keynotes, and in conversations with firm leaders figuring out what comes next.
3½ Things is Jigar Desai’s platform for helping leaders in expertise-driven industries move from inaction to action.™ It shows up as ideas, talks, and selective collaborations — all built on the same DNA: three sharp ideas you can act on, and one honest admission of what is still being figured out.
A decision model for how leaders combine Artificial Intelligence (speed and synthesis), Material Intelligence (domain expertise earned through years of practice), and Human Intelligence (judgment, relationships, and creativity). The formula: (AI + MI) × HI™. Human intelligence is the multiplier, not the add-on. (AI + MI) × HI™ is an original framework developed by Jigar B. Desai.
Every format shares the same DNA: making people move from inaction to action.™ Formats include keynotes for conference stages and association events, workshops for teams doing half-day and full-day deep dives, facilitated conversations for leadership teams navigating differentiation and AI adoption, and guest lectures for academic, association, and practitioner audiences.
Reach out through the speaking inquiry button above or through LinkedIn. Every conversation starts with understanding what your audience needs to move from where they are to where they want to be.
Jigar Desai is a Principal and Regional Manager at an ENR Top 100 AEC consulting firm, leading a multi-region team of engineers, architects, and building science professionals across six offices. He holds a PhD in Civil Engineering from Clemson University, an Executive MBA from Villanova University, and a PE license. His career path from PhD to business leadership spans 20 years of connecting materials science, AI, and human judgment in the built environment.
Jigar speaks on AI adoption and strategy for expertise-driven firms, the (AI + MI) x HI framework for leadership decision-making, differentiation and positioning, building energy performance standards (BEPS), material intelligence and building science, and the intersection of technology and human judgment. He has presented at BuiltWorlds, ACEC, AEC PM Connect, CREW Network, AMFP, Villanova University, and the AEC AI and Tech Strategy Podcast, where his episode was the number one most listened.
Material Intelligence (MI) is the domain knowledge that professionals earn through years of practice, observation, and applied judgment. In the (AI + MI) x HI framework, MI represents the deep, field-tested expertise that gives data its context and meaning. It is not limited to materials science; MI is any hard-won domain knowledge that AI alone cannot replicate, from reading a crack pattern in a parking deck to understanding how a building envelope ages over 30 years.
3½ Things is a thought leadership series published semi-regularly on LinkedIn and at threeandahalfthings.com. Each edition delivers three sharp ideas and one half-formed thought on AI, leadership, and differentiation. Topics have included building energy performance standards, the differentiation paradox in AEC, material intelligence, AI super-user journeys, and the art of making introductions that create value for others. You can explore the full collection in the Editions archive.
The platform is rooted in AEC and the built environment — that is where 20 years of credibility lives. But the ideas travel. The (AI + MI) x HI framework applies to any industry where human expertise is the product: healthcare, professional services, advanced manufacturing, and beyond. If your organization runs on judgment and domain knowledge, the framework has something to say to you.