About Us
We’ve run companies. Now we help yours adopt AI
We lead your AI adoption, or we build and run the systems your team needs. Usually both. Two ex-operators who have carried a P&L.
30 minutes. We map where AI can save you time. No pitch.
We ran real companies before we ran AI adoption
The same two people who ran the companies are the ones who do the work.
Colin Cox and Tony Lam started The Work Smarter Company after decades of running real operations. Colin spent over a decade as an operator and COO, including running Activision's Demonware studio, then eight years coaching CEOs and leadership teams. He is a member of the Alan Weiss Million Dollar Consulting Hall of Fame. Tony is a computer scientist who served as COO of a 300-person business unit at Electronic Arts, Director of Operations at Microsoft Game Studios, and a venture investor at Vanedge Capital.
Between them they have made payroll, answered to boards, and shipped software that had to work on Monday. That is the lens they bring to AI: less about the technology for its own sake, more about what it changes in how the work gets done.
Companies hire them two ways. Some need someone senior to lead AI adoption across the organization: the strategy, the training, the governance, the reporting the board wants to see. Others need the systems built and run for them: the automations that take manual work off their teams. Most end up wanting both, which is why the firm does both, under one set of operators.
Leadership
Who you’ll work with
Colin Cox
Co-Founder
Former COO, Activision Demonware
Colin spent over a decade as an operator and COO, including running Activision's Demonware studio, with earlier roles at Electronic Arts and Rackspace. He then spent eight years coaching CEOs and leadership teams. He is a member of the Alan Weiss Million Dollar Consulting Hall of Fame.
He leads every training engagement and client relationship personally. If you book a call, you're talking to Colin.
Tony Lam
Co-Founder
Former COO, Electronic Arts
Tony is a computer scientist with a BSc in Computer Science and an MBA. He served as COO of a 300-person business unit at Electronic Arts, Director of Operations at Microsoft Game Studios in Vancouver, and a venture capital investor at Vanedge Capital.
He leads technical delivery: the AI systems and automations that take manual work off client teams. Tony architects every build the firm ships.
It started with a simple coaching call and has evolved into an essential extension of our team. Colin Cox came into my business as a consultant to help train my SLT... we needed tools to help us work through tough conversations. As part of the journey, I learned how to be a better boss, and my team learned valuable communication tools that have made us nimble, effective and aligned. He took the time to understand my business and the people in it, is generous with his ideas and always available for firefighting. Now, he's using his expertise in technology to help us integrate AI tools for proposal writing, report generation and more. Colin, and Work Smarter, have made my business better.
Catherine Runnals
President, Brandlive
We take a handful of new clients each quarter
Every engagement gets Colin and Tony personally. That only works if the client list stays short.