I recently sat down with Geoff Nielson on Digital Disruption, produced by Info-Tech Research Group, for a conversation that went far beyond the usual AI headlines. We talked about what AI is actually changing inside the enterprise, why so many organizations are mistaking activity for progress, and what leadership has to do with whether AI becomes a force for optimization or reinvention. Please do watch the conversation (video embedded below). It’s fun and rich with insights from the frontline of…
AI Is Reshaping Business, Yet Most Leaders Are Investing in the Optimization of Yesterday
If AI is eating the world, you could also say that it’s also exposing leadership. The companies that win next will not be the ones that automate the fastest, but the ones that learn to imagine bigger. That’s how we’ll start this story. Also, my keynote is below if you’d like to jump straight to the video. At Integrated Systems Europe in Barcelona, I talked about AI in a way that made some people nod, some people uncomfortable, and others…
AI Is Eating the World, Are We Ready to Dream Bigger?
At Integrated Systems Europe, I had the opportunity to continue the conversation after my keynote, “AI is Eating the World,” in a candid video interview with Rise TV about where artificial intelligence is really taking us, and where we’re still thinking far too small. AI is often compared to the discovery of fire, the invention of the wheel, or even electricity. Those comparisons are dramatic, but they’re not entirely wrong. These weren’t just inventions. They were enabling forces. They expanded…
Most Companies Are Using AI to Cut Costs, Smart CHROs Will Use It to Rebuild Work
Everyone is talking about AI as if the future of work is just a headcount story. It is not. That framing is too small, too reactive, and too dangerous. The real shift is not that AI will simply replace jobs. It is that AI is forcing companies to rethink what work is, how value gets created, and where human contribution becomes even more important. That changes the mandate for CHROs completely. CHROs cannot stay in a reactive HR role. They…
SXSW 2026: cognitive darwAInism, AI Slop, the Hidden AI Tax, and a Futurist Coming Home
This is a thoughtful piece by Danny Devriendt. Thank you, my friend. 🙏 Brian Solis is far from a neutral observer in my SXSW story; he’s a friend I’ve known for a long time, and one of the people who helped me -and a whole generation- see the social web for what it really was back in the day. Long before social media became a relentless ad machine, he wrote The Social Media Manifesto, arguing that this wasn’t a new…
The Companies That Win With AI Won’t Just Cut Costs, They’ll Redesign Work
Based on interviews in May 2025 and subsequent, more detailed,, and repeated warnings in 2026, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has predicted that artificial intelligence could wipe out roughly 50% of all entry-level white-collar jobs within the next one to five years. Amodei is sounding the alarm to get our attention. If he’s right, leaders don’t get the luxury of debating whether disruption is coming, they’ll have to manage how it lands. Amodei’s advice is to track track where AI is…
CTRL-ALT-DEL: Rebooting Your Business in the AI RenAIssance
Florence has a way of putting ambition in perspective. You’re surrounded by reminders that the future is something people choose to design, even when the tools, materials, and models of the day feel limiting. That’s what I kept thinking about as I prepared for the Baker Hughes Annual Meeting conference in January 2026. I’m proud to share that they 10-minute keynote address is now online and I’ve included it below 👇 This is not Just a Future of Work Moment,…
ScaleX Insider: The Mindshift Every Leader Must Make
Thank you, Brendan McGurgan. What a privilege to spend time with you. What if the greatest challenge facing leaders today isn’t technology itself — but how we think about it? In this episode of ScaleX™ Insider, Brendan McGurgan is joined by world-renowned digital anthropologist, futurist, and author Brian Solis for a powerful conversation on mindset, leadership, and navigating growth in an era defined by AI, acceleration, and constant disruption. Brian shares why meaningful scale begins not with tools or tactics,…
Chief Executive: The Mindshift CEOs Can’t Ignore – and why they need a mindset shift now
There’s a familiar pattern that plays out in C-Suites and boardrooms in every industry around the world. Something big happens…an economic shock, a geopolitical event, a climate disaster, a technological leap, like ChatGPT or tomorrow’s big quantum event, and for a moment, everything feels…different. Urgent. Unavoidable. “We need to do something!” becomes the prevailing mantra. And then, almost quietly, we drift back into business as usual. Not because leaders don’t care. Not because they’re not paying attention. But because the…
Rotman School of Management: What it takes to thrive in ‘the Novel Economy’ – Q&A with Brian Solis
The biggest risk in 2026 is leaders using 2016 mindsets to lead…but mistaking it as a 2026 mindset. I’ve been meaning to share my interview with University of Toronto – Rotman School of Management Magazine. This is a “Novel Economy,” where disruption is constant, compounding, and *always* novel (AI, climate, geopolitics, quantum, spatial intelligence… all evolving, emerging, and colliding). And when leaders talk about a “new normal,” it’s often a tell: they’re trying to steer back to business as usual…