Welcome and thank you for visiting the Deep Gap Journal.
I have spent most of my life exploring. Sometimes that has meant mountains, trails, cities and unfamiliar places. More often, it has meant ideas: business, markets, technology, organizations, human behavior, customer experience, education, communities and, increasingly, artificial intelligence. I’ve always been curious about how things work, why they work, why they don’t, and what might be waiting just around the corner. All of that will live here on the Deep Gap Journal.
I will use this new Substack publication to share my thoughts, observations, conversations, essays, papers, infographics, photographs and other things I discover along the way. Increasingly, some of those explorations begin as conversations with AI. Those conversations have become an extraordinary way for me to question assumptions, connect ideas, test conclusions and venture into subjects I might never have explored otherwise. When something useful comes out of that process, I’d like to share it.
The Deep Gap Journal will also provide a home for my previous works. Over the years I have created a substantial body of work across several different chapters of my life: publications, articles, presentations, business programs, models, videos and other projects. Some of it is decades old. Some is much more recent. Rather than leave those pieces scattered across old websites, publications, computers and digital filing cabinets, I am gradually bringing the work that still has value together here. Some will remain as it was originally created. Other pieces may be revisited, updated or completely reimagined with the benefit of hindsight and today’s remarkable tools.
That is part of the meaning behind An Explorer’s Journey. The old work is not separate from what I’m doing today. It’s an earlier trail. It shows some of the places I’ve been, questions I’ve asked, ideas I’ve pursued and lessons I’ve learned. The new work simply picks up the trail from here.
The name Deep Gap comes from the Deep Gap Trail, which has become one of my go-to hikes here in the Asheville area. I’ll be sharing more thoughts about this magnificent trail soon.
I also like what the words suggest. To go deep is to look beneath the obvious. A gap is a passage between places, and sometimes between ideas. I’ve found that some of the most interesting discoveries happen when you wander into those spaces and start asking questions.
And questions may ultimately be what this journal is about. I have never been particularly good at accepting that’s just the way it is as an answer. I like looking at familiar things from unfamiliar angles, connecting dots that don’t necessarily appear connected, and asking what might be coming next.
At this point in my life, I have covered fairly long trail but I am much more interested in the trail that lies ahead.
The Deep Gap Journal will be both a record and an ongoing exploration: a place to preserve work worth keeping, revisit ideas worth reconsidering, and share new observations as they emerge.
I don’t know exactly where it will lead but I promise it will be interesting.
Thanks, again, for stopping by. New content should begin to appear in late September 2026.
Steve Saenz
September 15, 2026
Asheville, NC