Two years ago, The Economist asked what happened to the AI revolution. Today, we’re investing more than ever, still struggling to prove the returns, and discovering that AI’s impact on jobs is anything but predictable. I believe these seemingly contradictory signals are telling us something important about the AI Economy taking shape, and what it will take to lead in it. Investment continues to accelerate, the world’s largest technology companies are building an unprecedented infrastructure for intelligence, and AI agents…
On the Internet, Nobody Knows You’re a Robot
I’m preparing a new presentation for a delegation of European CEOs visiting Silicon Valley to explore the future of AI, business, and leadership. As part of my research, I’ve been revisiting some of my presentations and predictions from 2016–2018 to see what we got right, what we missed, and perhaps more importantly, what lessons from the past can help us make better decisions about the future. It’s been a fascinating exercise in digital anthropology, especially revisiting my work on customers…
The Future HappensWith or Without You: Why AI, Foresight, and Imagination are Forcing Every Company to Reinvent
I recently had the opportunity to speak with leaders at a global entertainment powerhouse, which was a meaningful full-circle moment for me. Before moving to Silicon Valley in the 1990s, I lived not far from the studios. At the time, I thought my future might unfold in entertainment or technology. Somehow, I found a way to stay connected to both. But the path was through technology and a career in Silicon Valley and the Silicon Valleys around the world. We…
AI Doesn’t Have an ROI Problem, Companies Have a Work Architecture Problem.
The conversation about AI has moved quickly from possibility to pressure or sense of urgency. Leaders are being asked to show results, justify investment, and prove that new tools are changing the business. But there is a more fundamental question underneath all of that…what happens when a new form of intelligence enters an organization whose workflows, decision rights, management systems, and operating structures were designed for a different era? The opportunity is so much more than making existing tasks faster….
In the Age of AI, Brands Must Feel More Human
As artificial intelligence helps people produce content at a blinding pace, personalization, and automation abundant, empathy, creativity, digital warmth, and memorable experiences become more valuable. I recently had the privilege of traveling to Johannesburg for my first visit to South Africa, where I opened the Standard Bank CIB Brand & Marketing Blue Flame Awards Gala. I knew I was walking into a room filled with people who think deeply about brands, creativity, customers, experiences, and growth. This global marketing team…
Forbes: Stop Automating Your CRM, Start Orchestrating Your Business
My latest for Forbes explores why AI in customer service must evolve beyond mere cost-cutting to deliver intelligent, personal, and experiential journeys. The traditional CRM, once a siloed record system, is transforming into an orchestrated action hub, leveraging AI agents. However, a critical “platform problem” arises from disparate vendor agents, causing sprawl and inconsistent controls. The solution is a unified control plane, acting as a central nervous system to govern and coordinate all AI assets, ensuring accountability. This shift demands…
The Financial Brand: Building the AI-Forward Bank
via The Financial Brand Only 18% of banks have integrated AI workflows. Everyone else is automating the past. Most banks and credit unions are using artificial intelligence to make yesterday’s work faster, then measuring the result with yesterday’s numbers. Brian Solis, Head of Global Innovation at ServiceNow, and Dave Wright, Chief Innovation Officer at ServiceNow, call this the iteration trap and argue it is the same failure that has consumed digital transformation. Their new book, Infinite: How Visionary Leaders Transform…
What CEOs Say About AI in Private and What That Means To Leadership
Originally published in Forbes AI is now firmly on CEO and board agendas. But many leadership teams are still asking the wrong questions. Recently, I led several workshops with roughly 100 CEOs and Chief Operators at a leadership conference in Arizona.The topic was AI. But the real conversation was leadership. These were honest conversations with operators who are under daily pressure to grow revenue, protect margins, improve customer experience, support stretched teams, open better organizations, retain talent and make faster…
The Biggest Risk with AI Isn’t Thinking Too Big, It’s Thinking Too Small
I joined HFS Research in New York for The Services-as-Software Economy: Disrupt or Be Disrupted conference where I delivered a keynote on AI Business Transformation: Optimized + Innovative AI on behalf of ServiceNow. In a room full of business and technology leaders leading AI investments, I asked everyone to press pause on conversations limited to use cases, automation and efficiency gains, and siloed pilots that optimize yesterday’s work. We are entering a phase of AI where the conversation has to…
AI Agents Won’t Transform Work Until Humans Trust the Work
I’m honored to be included in The Wharton Blueprint for AI Agent Adoption, a new report from Wharton Human-AI Research and Science Says that explores one of the most important questions facing every leader right now: if AI agents are becoming so capable, why aren’t more people ready to trust them with meaningful work? The answer isn’t just technical. It’s human. The report makes clear that agent adoption is moving from a technology challenge to a psychological one. People may…