Bernard Marr is a friend, someone I’ve known for many, many years. He’s also a best-selling business author and strategic advisor to companies and governments. I wish I had known he was at the World Summit AI event in Amsterdam. I would have loved to spend time with him. At the same time, I was relieved not to know he was in the audience. That would. have increased the pressure to deliver! 😅 Following the event, Bernard shared his thoughts…
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…
AG Conect: AI kan alles, behalve samenwerken
via AG Connect Elke week kondigt er wel een bedrijf een nieuwe copilot, assistent of AI-agent aan. De investeringen zijn enorm, de verwachtingen hoog. Maar ondertussen blijft de echte transformatie uit. Organisaties worden productiever op taakniveau, maar werken niet fundamenteel anders. En door steeds meer losse agents toe te voegen, vergroten ze onbedoeld het probleem dat ze proberen op te lossen. Het is een scenario dat ik keer op keer tegenkom. Een organisatie investeert fors in modern dataplatform,…
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…
AI Is Moving Faster Than We Are, But the Future Is Still Ours to Shape
My conversation with Cal Fussman on “Big Questions” began with one of the most unsettling questions of the AI era. Since then, warnings from inside the frontier labs have only intensified. That makes the question even more urgent: If AI is accelerating faster than our ability to understand it, what is our role in shaping what comes next? There was a moment last year that shook me. I was watching Geoffrey Hinton, one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence, talking…
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…
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…
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…