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…
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…
Stop Asking What AI Will Do to Us and Start Asking What We Can Do With It that makes us stronger 💪🦾
AI has a leadership problem. For the last few years, people have been told that AI is coming for their jobs, their careers, even their relevance. Then we act surprised when people respond with fear, anger, or outright rejection. I recently joined my new friend Cal Fussman to talk about why I believe this is a leadership failure, and why we still have an opportunity to change the future. I shared a moment that changed my own thinking. After listening to…
Chief Executive: 5 AI Decisions Every CEO Must Own Before Agents Start Running The Business
Via Chief Executive We’re making the same decisions with AI. But for leaders who ask different questions, AI changes the assignment. Dave Wright and Brian Solis share lessons for CEOs from their new book, Infinite: How Visionary Leaders Transform Today’s Businesses into AI-Forward Companies. 5 AI decisions every CEO must own before agents start running the business For years, CEOs could delegate digital transformation. Digital transformation often lived somewhere between the CIO, the CDO, a transformation office and a series…
AI Is Changing How We Think, Work, and Lead; What We Do Next Is Up to Us
I’ve spent much of my career studying how technology changes people and how those changes eventually reshape markets, organizations, and culture (or how it needs to). AI is accelerating and stressing that cycle in ways and speeds I have not seen before. This is why I keep one question close by. Are we using this moment to rethink what is possible, or merely to make what already exists faster, cheaper, or more efficient? It’s something to think about… When the…
Beyond AI Automation: The Human Future of Work, Learning, and Communication
At Synthesia Live in New York, I had the privilege of closing a day dedicated to the future of AI video, learning, communication, and work. By the time I walked on stage, the audience had already heard amazing speakers, seen compelling demos, and explored what happens when AI powered avatars and videos becomes something more dynamic, adaptive, and personal for customers and employees. So I didn’t want to give another “AI is changing everything” talk. (Full talk at the end)…
The AI-Powered Status Quo: AI Transformation is a Test of Leadership
At AI Week in Milan, I had the privilege of representing ServiceNow on a stage filled with people thinking seriously about the future of artificial intelligence. Rather than offer another tour of tools, trends, and predictions, I wanted to challenge the premise guiding much of today’s enterprise investment: that applying AI to the existing business is the same as transforming it. It isn’t. Most organizations are using AI to accelerate processes, automate tasks, increase output, and extract efficiencies from operating…