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If you’re serious about staying relevant and building future-ready skills, start sharing what you learn. You don’t need to become a professional podcaster or YouTube influencer, but having a platform – even a simple one – gives you the discipline to take in information, make sense of it, and communicate it clearly. That habit (which is the skill of sense-making) sharpens your thinking beyond just passive learning.
https://swiy.co/go-learning-out-loud
What does your learning plan for the future look like?
I was speaking recently at the Financial Advisers Association of Australia National Congress, helping advisers remain relevant and fit for the future.
In the Q&A segment, somebody asked me a question about podcasting:
“I want to start a podcast, but I’m really new to it. How can I get over that fear of thinking that other people will dismiss it, and how can I build confidence – and then go on to build an audience?”
In the moment, I gave a response along the lines of:
“Just get started! Everybody starts off from that place, and with practice, you’ll gain confidence and build that audience.”
I still stand by that, but let’s take that a bit further.
If you plan to turn your podcast into an income stream, then, yes, focus on building your audience. But if you’re not, use your podcast as part of your professional learning network.
In other words, whether you’re podcasting, blogging, publishing a YouTube channel, or regularly posting valuable content on LinkedIn, these are valuable activities in their own right. Not just to share learning and ideas with others, but for your own learning as well.
When you start to invest in these activities, you’re making a commitment – even if just to yourself – to learn.
You have to:
absorb information
ask questions
filter what’s relevant
package it for others
make it relevant and engaging
and share it with others.
All of that makes you a better learner, not just a better content creator.
This is part of the future-ready skill of sense-making.
Sense-making is about examining our complex world, choosing what’s important, absorbing it, and sharing it. It’s once of the most valuable future-ready skills you can have – at work, at home, and in your community.
So what are YOU going to do?
To be a sense-maker, you don’t need a podcast, blog, YouTube channel, or other outlet. It might just be sharing regularly on a Slack channel at work or presenting regularly at staff meetings. Whatever you choose, commit to doing it now
And to REALLY get value from it, commit to doing it regularly. That’s because you’re investing not only in the content, but the platform. And that makes it easier to do it next time. And the next time. And the next time.
It’s like building a railway. You make a big commitment to get the first train on the track (because you first have to build the track!), but then every other train takes less effort.
If you don’t have a platform like this already, set that as a goal for 2026.
And if you’d like to know more about sense-making and other future-ready skills, join my free online presentation TOMORROW.
Register for the virtual masterclass:
https://swiy.co/go-learning-out-loud
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It’s easy to keep doing what worked in the past, but that comfort can quickly become irrelevance. Look at libraries — which where once silent spaces for reading, but are now vibrant community hubs full of energy, events, and connection. They didn’t change just for the sake of it; they changed because the world changed around them. And, to their credit, they reinvented themselves to stay relevant and useful. Is that true for you, your team, and your organisation? If you’re still operating with yesterday’s mindset and behaviour, you’re falling behind.
As we're coming up to the end of the year and looking ahead to 2026, can you truly say your business or organisation — maybe even your industry or sector — is fit for purpose for the future?
I was in Melbourne last week, running a workshop for a group of libraries about how to build a culture of change and innovation.
I told somebody about this a few weeks ago, and he said,
“Libraries? Why do libraries have to be innovative?”
And I said,
“Have you been to your local library recently?”
Libraries are so different from the way they were when I was at school and uni! You might remember those days, when you had to be completely silent in a library. Even a whisper earned you an angry “Shhh!” from a librarian or another patron.
Now, libraries have completely transformed into community hubs. People can speak, shout, and run around. Students go in for study groups. Pre-school kids have fun activities and sing-songs. Guest speakers run presentation for the community. My local library recently invited students from a local school to sing Christmas carols.
So, yes, libraries have changed. But not just because they felt like it. It's because the world changed.
In the past, when libraries – and books – were a key source of information and knowledge for their community, it was important to be quiet so you respected other patrons.
Now, books are still relevant, but they are no longer the main source of information for most people. So, libraries have evolved to provide other services for the community. Because of that change, libraries today are still relevant, valuable, and attractive to their customers.
Is that true of YOU as well?
I see so many organisations – and even entire sectors – still operating in a way that worked in the past, but is no longer fit for purpose for the future.
When the world was changing more slowly, what you knew in the past would serve you well going forward. But increasingly, that’s no longer true.
I’m not saying everything in the past is irrelevant, but everything in the past is not AUTOMATICALLY relevant.
One of the most important future-ready skills we need is the skill of letting go. It's not just about learning, but “unlearning” as well. In your personal life, in your professional role, and in your workplace.
I’m going to talk more about this in my upcoming online presentation about future-ready skills. It’s free, it’s public, and it’s open to everybody. Please register, and invite others in your team and network as well.
I’ll see you in the future.
Register for the virtual masterclass:
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When uncertainty rises, performance often drops – but it’s not just about risky, it’s about whether you feel in control. A surprising psychology study using electric shocks and virtual snakes shows that people are more stressed when they can’t predict outcomes, even if the danger doesn’t increase. That means building mental agility and a sense of agency are key to staying resilient in unpredictable environments.
https://swiy.co/go-snakes-under-rocks
Last week, I was speaking at the Financial Advisers Association of Australia National Congress, talking about being fit for the future – especially about being able to manage uncertainty and still perform well.
It’s obvious that people do worry about their future, and also that it affects their performance. But you might be surprised to know what contributes most that stress.
In 2016, researchers conducted an experiment to measure the relationship between stress and uncertainty. They designed a computer game where participants were asked to turn over rocks on the screen, and were given a mild electric shock if there was a snake under a rock. The researchers could change the game in two ways: Increase the danger by placing snakes under more rocks, or increase the uncertainty by moving the snakes between each turn.
As you would expect, participants felt more stressed when there were more snakes. But they felt even more stressed if they didn’t know whether a “safe” rock might have a snake under it next time. They would rather face a dangerous environment with more snakes, as long as they felt confident they could eventually determine their location.
In other words, they were more stressed by uncertain outcomes than predictable negative outcomes.
This is true for all of us. We’ve been through a lot of disruption and change – five years ago, it was COVID, now it’s AI. Tomorrow? Who knows?
One of the key skills for the future is the ability to be adaptable and flexible. Like it or not, that IS our future. And we need to manage a world full of change, uncertainty, crisis, and chaos.
I’ll be talking about that, and other future-ready skills, in my upcoming online presentation. It’s free, public, and open to everybody. So please register – and invite your team and network as well.
I’ll see you in the future.
Register for the virtual masterclass:
https://swiy.co/go-snakes-under-rocks
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As a leader, you must ensure you provide – and continue to provide – AI education and literacy in your workplace. The real risk is not in the technology, but in the lack of education about using it. When you introduce AI into your workplace, you must also include professional development for your team to build the right mindset, skills, and practical knowledge about using it.
https://swiy.co/go-education-before-automation
As we’re nearing the end of 2025, I wonder whether you feel you and your team have the right skills to be ready for 2026 – and beyond?
The ABC website recently published an article about ACM – Australian Community Media – using AI to assist their journalists – in writing and editing stories, checking them for legal issues, and so on. The story led with this headline:
“Staff in regional ACM newsrooms concerned about rollout of generative AI model”
The article quoted a journalist who had used AI (Google Gemini) to help write an article (nothing wrong with that), reviewed it (good!), but was shocked to find it contained factual errors. The article goes on to quote her union representative, who stood up for her, saying:
“That journalist caught it, by doing the fact checking, but had they not, it obviously would have been a disaster. Not only for the journalist, but also for the person who had been wrongly accused.”
As I was reading that, I thought, “Well, d’uh! Journalists being asked to do fact-checking? Isn’t that what they are SUPPOSED to do???”
Whether they ask somebody on the street, interview a politician, or ask AI, fact-checking is a basic part of journalism. It should be just part of the automatic response to any information before publishing.
The problem here is not with the journo – who in fact did the right thing.
The problem is with her union rep, who was outraged by AI’s (lack of) “intelligence”.
And the problem is also with the ABC, who considered it newsworthy to report on somebody doing their job!
And obviously, the REAL problem is the lack of basic understanding about AI – from employees, managers, and our national broadcaster.
This is a problem not only in the media, but in organisations everywhere. People are being given access to AI without appropriate education and training on what it can do, what it can’t do, and how to use if effectively, safely, and responsibly.
Whether you call it AI literacy or digital literacy, this is a key skill for the future. Young people get it, but many others don’t.
There are many people in roles now who knew how to operate effectively in the past, but the world has moved on, and they might no longer be fit for the future. That’s why it is up to all of us – especially leaders and managers – to educate and provide appropriate professional development, so we develop the skills for the future.
For more about this, join my online presentation soon about future-ready skills.
Register for the virtual masterclass:
https://swiy.co/go-education-before-automation
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In a world full of data, noise, and information overload, a key skill for the future – for yourself, your team, and others in your community – is you ability to make sense of it all. This is the skill of sense-making, and it helps you absorb, filter, and share what matters now and for the future.
https://swiy.co/go-make-it-make-sense
How good are you at making sense of the world for yourself and others?
A few weeks ago, I was in Byron Bay, speaking at a sales conference for a large tech company, and this client wanted me to help their top salespeople engage more with their customers through stories. They were particularly interested in stories about AI, but they were happy for me to share some storytelling skills more broadly.
I love the fact they were focusing on storytelling, because that’s still one of the best ways to engage with people and enhance customer relationships. As a salesperson, it’s too easy to obsess about products, benefits, and features; but it’s the stories that capture, captivate, and remain memorable long after you leave the room.
Storytelling is part of the future-ready skill of sense-making.
The Institute for the Future and other futurist organisations have identified sense-making as a key skill for being future-ready. It has two parts.
First, sense-making is about being aware of what’s happening in your world – full of data, information, overwhelm, limited time and attention – and “making sense” of it, so you can absorb, filter, and prioritise what’s relevant and meaningful.
The second part of sense-making is then sharing that with others – through stories, data, facts, research, and other methods – in a way that doesn’t overwhelm them, but is meaningful, relevant, and engaging.
Either of these components is valuable in its own right. Together, they make sense-making a superpower for the future.
For more about this and other skills for the future, join my final public presentation for the year, which is coming soon. It’s for everybody – not just leaders – so please register and extend the link to others in your team and community.
Register for the virtual masterclass:
https://swiy.co/go-make-it-make-sense
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Your customers know what they need next – but maybe you’re not paying attention. Shifting expectations, subtle frustrations, and new aspirations are all signals that can shape how you evolve your products, services, and experiences. To stay competitive, meaningful, and relevant in the future, focus on solving your customers’ problems and helping them achieve their goals.
https://swiy.co/go-future-signals
Are you listening to what your customers are telling you about the future?
I was in beautiful Hobart last week, speaking to a retail franchise group about what the customer of the future looks like, what they should be doing to engage more with them, and how to stay competitive in a crowded market.
I love that they are very customer-focused – and truly customer-centric. Their slogan is, “Make your customer’s day”. So they are always looking outwards to see what they can do to enhance their customer experience and improve their customers’ lives.
When I finished my presentation and was waiting for my ride to the airport, I was sitting in a little cafe and I saw a sign that said:
“This is the sign you’ve been looking for”
How appropriate!
When I was talking about the customer of the future, I made the point that you should always be looking for the signs your customers are giving you about what they want. And then look beyond your current customer to explore what other customers you might attract in the future.
As a futurist, I’m often asked: What’s the number one, most important thing we should be doing to be future-ready?
And I always say this:
Solve your customer’s problems.
It’s easy to get caught up in everyday work, the crisis of the day, operational stuff, and other internal issues. But if you’re not solving your customer’s problems, they’ll find somebody else who is.
So make this your number one goal: Ask your customers what matters to them. Look for the signs. Listen to what they’re saying. Then do whatever you need to do to help them get where they want to go.
For more, download my worksheet about solving your customers’ problems. Your customers HAVE changed – but have you?
Download the worksheet:
https://swiy.co/go-future-signals
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You might think it’s OK to be cautious with AI, but there’s a risk of being TOO cautious – waiting for the perfect tools, the perfect policies, the perfect rollout. But whle you’re waiting, smaller, more agile organisations are experimenting, learning, and sprinting past you. You don’t have to be reckless, but you do need to make space for trying, failing, growing, and trying again.
https://swiy.co/go-the-ai-readiness-gap
Are you willing to risk it all for AI?
I’m not talking about falling in love with an AI chatbot! I’m talking about your role as a leader.
I recently ran a small-group workshop about AI for leaders – from different industries, sectors, sizes, and roles. You might think the bigger organisations would be way ahead, but the opposite is true.
The larger organisations – with deep pockets, dedicated IT teams, and many, many more resources – were lagging.
Why? Because they were taking a slow, cautious approach.
Why? Because they think they have more to lose.
Market share.
Reputation.
External regulation.
Internal status and power.
On the other hand, the smaller businesses tend to be much more proactive with adopting AI. They’ll try an AI tool and, if they don’t like it, they’ll drop it and try something else.
They have some informal guidelines, and build policy on the fly.
There’s no question a smaller business is more fragile. They might rely on a few products, a few key staff, a few important customers, or one business model.
But when you’re fragile, you can also be more agile.
Larger organisations, on the other hand, have much more buffer against problems. Even when things change a bit, they can stay steady.
But if you’re too steady, you won’t be ready.
Especially with something like AI.
You can’t wait for the perfect tech.
Or the perfect policy.
Or the perfect training.
You can’t policy your way into AI!
AI is so new and moving so quickly you must be willing to be a bit more fragile.
Don’t be reckless, but don’t get stuck either.
Be more agile, like a small business or a startup, but also leverage your assets and resources to accelerate the experience curve.
For more, join my free public online presentation this week, where we look at this and some other issues for leaders as you’re looking at leveraging and embracing AI.
Register for the virtual masterclass:
https://swiy.co/go-the-ai-readiness-gap
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The biggest risk with using AI in your team is not the technology, but how you use it. Deloitte discovered recently how badly things can spiral out of control when they use AI-generated content without doing even basic checks. This should be a lesson for all leaders: Embracing AI is important, but you also need the right education, oversight, and mindset to avoid getting it wrong.
https://swiy.co/go-the-deloitte-ai-scandal
You might have seen the recent story about Deloitte caught cheating in a half-a-millon-dollar consulting report it created for an Australian government department.
Deloitte’s consultants used AI to research and generate some of the report. Nothing wrong with that. But then it didn’t do even the most basic fact-checking about the AI-generated content, and released the report riddled with errors. Specifically, some of the references cited in the report simply didn’t exist, and others did exist but didn’t say what Deloitte claimed they said.
When they were caught out, Deloitte claimed these AI “hallucinations” didn’t change the report’s recommendations.
But that’s no excuse!
The fact that some of the references didn’t even exist shows Deloitte didn’t even bother reading those references. They weren’t using AI as a research tool. It’s hard not conclude they they were just using this AI-generated content to bulk up the report and make it look more authoritative.
Deloitte has apologised, and apparently they are returning some undisclosed portion of their fee. We don’t know how much, even though as taxpayers, we should be told. But the government is refusing to say.
This is not just a Deloitte problem.
It’s a major problem for many leaders and organisations trying to use AI now.
You absolutely SHOULD be using AI as a research assistant. I do that all the time, and it saves me hours of Google searches and other research.
But it’s only a starting point. It’s an assistant. You then need to apply your own human expertise to the artificial intelligence.
That might sound obvious, and yet many people in many workplaces don’t get it.
And it’s not their fault.
Many organisations and leaders are giving their people access to AI without anywhere near enough education and professional development. Sometimes there’s none at all!
I’m stunned at how few organisations are providing the appropriate level of education for one of the most powerful tools available in workplaces now! AI is not just the future – it’s with us right now! So, that education is crucial.
If you’d like to know more about this, join my free public online presentation next week about AI for leaders – for 2026 and beyond. And please invite other leaders in your team and network as well.
Register for the virtual masterclass:
https://swiy.co/go-the-deloitte-ai-scandal
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You and your team are probably already talking about AI – with each other, customers, and friends and family. What really shapes these conversations is not the technology, but the stories. Whether it’s robotic dogs helping residents in aged care, AI stopping bank scams, or AI contributing to climate change, the stories you share influence how your team feels about AI and how ready they are to embrace it.
https://swiy.co/go-your-ai-narrative
As a leader, what stories are you telling about AI in your team?
I was speaking recently at a sales conference for a large technology company in Australia. My client wanted me to talk to their salespeople about AI – and in particular, they wanted me to share interesting stories about AI they could share with customers.
I was impressed they were looking at AI this way. These top-performing salespeople already have the technical knowledge to talk about AI from a tech perspective. And they have the sales skills to craft good sales conversation. But they also realised the value of stories in capturing attention and delivering key messages.
This is true not only in sales conversations but in every conversation happening with your team right now. They are already talking about AI between themselves, to their peers, to friends and family, and even to customers and other external stakeholders. And they are not talking directly about the AI technology, but sharing stories about its impact.
So, what stories are YOU telling about AI?
With this group of salespeople and account managers, I shared many AI stories – across many industries and sectors – and coached them on how to use these stories in their conversations.
Some were about the positive impacts of AI – for example, robotic dogs helping residents in aged care homes by giving them additional companionship. Or stories of AI stopping cyber-hackers. Or AI alerting bank customers of scanners. Or AI in the public sector improving communication between government and the public.
There are also stories about the dangers and risks of AI – such as AI “hallucinating” to make up case studies in consultants’ reports. Or the impact of AI use on climate change. Or cyber-hackers using AI to infiltrate secure systems.
Whether positive or negative,these stories shape the way people think about AI.
What stories are you telling about AI? Choose stories that reinforce the messages you want to share, so you can bring your people along on the AI journey.
For more about bringing people on the AI journey, join my next free public online leadership presentation about rethinking AI for 2026 and beyond.
Register for the virtual masterclass:
https://swiy.co/go-your-ai-narrative
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You’ve probably heard the hype about AI taking everybody’s jobs – but the reality is more nuanced. AI will affect almost every job, but it won’t replace most of them. About one in ten roles might disappear, but the rest will evolve, and that evolution depends on how well you support your people. As a leader, it’s part of YOUR job to make sure your team keeps up with using AI effectively – so you can stay ahead.
https://swiy.co/go-999-jobs-in-1000
Are you worried about AI taking over your job?
Are your employees worried about AI taking over their jobs?
As a leader, you should be thinking seriously about the impact of AI in your work and in your workplace.
A recent report from investment bank Barronjoey said only one job in 1000 – in Australian workplaces – won’t be affected by AI and automation. That means 999 jobs out of every thousand will be affected – including most in your team and organisation.
That doesn’t mean all those jobs will be replaced by AI – in fact, the report goes on to say that about 10% will. So that’s good news for most jobs and most employees, because AI will augment and help them in their job, not replace them altogether.
But it also puts the responsibility back on you to help those people work with AI.
I feel that I shouldn’t even need to be saying this!
But most employees are just not using AI well – because their employers haven’t invested in that education.
That’s crazy, right?
I mean, you do provide sales training to your salespeople, don’t you?
And customer service training to your front-line staff?
And leadership training to your leaders?
So why aren’t you investing in training, coaching, mentoring, and other professional development in something that’s already affecting 999 out of 1000 jobs???
It’s good for you, it’s good for your team, and it’s good for the organisation.
That’s part of your responsibility as a leader. And if you don’t provide that education, make no mistake – they will find somebody else who does.
If you’re interested in more about this and other issues you should think about as a leader in the AI age, join my next online presentation – and invite others in your team and network as well.
I’ll see you in the future.
Register for the virtual masterclass:
https://swiy.co/go-999-jobs-in-1000
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As a leader, you’re probably hearing a lot about where you could be using AI - but you should also be asking if you SHOULD use it everywhere. Not every bright shiny object belongs in every part of your organisation – and you need to make strategic choices about where you use AI.
https://swiy.co/go-should-you-be-using-ai-for-this
As a leader, where could you use AI more in your organisation? More importantly, where SHOULD you use AI more? And even more importantly, where should you NOT use AI?
I recently attended a digital transformation event, with guest speaker Bobby Patel, the GM of Data & Analytics at RAC WA. They are a strongly data-centric organisation, and now use AI extensively, for almost every function.
In the Q&A section, somebody asked him,
“Will you use AI to replace your local call centre staff?”
And he said No.
The reason is their call centre is based locally, and part of RAC’s mission is to serve the community – and firing call centre staff to replace them with AI goes against that mission.
In fact, they do use AI in their call centres – but to assist the staff, not to replace them. So, if a customer calls with a question or problem, the staff member can use AI in the background to find the correct answer faster.
This is a really good use of AI, and it’s all based on ensuring AI doesn’t contradict the organisation’s value.
You should do the same.
Align your AI strategy with your mission, vision, values, and principles.
It’s part of the “people first, technology second” approach to AI.
Use this whenever you’re planning to introduce AI (or any other initiative) in your team and organisation. To find the right balance, start by checking what you stand for, and make sure that remains front and centre at all times.
If you’d like to know more, join my online presentation soon about AI for leaders, where we will look at this kind of issue. Some of the issues are internal (leading your team) and others are external (enhancing customer experience). It’s free, public, and open to all – so you’re welcome to share it with others as well.
Register for the virtual masterclass:
https://swiy.co/go-should-you-be-using-ai-for-this
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As a leader, you probably have a lot on your plate already, but if you’re not carving out time to look ahead, you’re missing a key part of your role. Your job isn’t only to manage the present, but to help your team navigate what’s in the future. That means intentionally looking up from the day-to-day and scanning the horizon. Leverage AI to build a habit and culture of future thinking so you can thrive, not just survive, in uncertainty.
https://swiy.co/go-beyond-the-now
As a leader, are you spending enough time thinking about the future?
I was in Melbourne last week, speaking at a conference to a group of senior leaders about seeing into the future. This is an important part of any leader’s role – whatever level or role you have in your organisation.
Leaders have to manage two competing priorities.
One, as a leader of a team or an organisation, you’re responsible for that team and organisation. So you’re looking down and having an internal focus to ensure you’re meeting your goals.
But you also have a responsibility is to look up and out – to see what’s coming in the future. You won’t be able to predict the future exactly – nobody can – but you can gain some valuable insights that help you make better, more well-informed decisions now.
It’s not always easy to do that, but the more senior you are, the more of your salary is being paid for that role.
This is a crucial part of our role. It’s doesn’t have to be 100% of your day job, but you can’t ignore it. After all, if you don’t do it, who will?
In my presentation last week, I shared with those leaders some of the tools we futurists use to see into the future. And now that we have the power of AI at our fingertips, you can use it to do much of the heavy lifting, so you can focus on applying your own human intelligence to it.
For more on using AI for this part of your role, download my worksheet here, share it with your team, and use it!
I’ll see you in the future.
Download the worksheet:
https://swiy.co/go-beyond-the-now
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https://swiy.co/go-most-ai-projects-fail
Coincidentally, just in the last week, three seemingly unrelated things happened, but they are all connected.
First, according to some research published by MIT Media Lab, where they surveyed leaders across many organisations and industries, a staggering 95% of AI projects failed. They didn’t meet their goals – whether they were for productivity gains, bottom-line results, customer enagement, or whatever.
Second, I was speaking last week at a conference for school principals in Wellington, New Zealand, and one principal asked me:
“Are we responsible for creating the AI policy for our school? It seems like a lot of work!”
And third, the group Thinkers360 recently listed me among their Top 50 Thought Leaders in Change Management this year, which of course I was chuffed about.
So what’s the common thread between those three things?
Well, it’s about people.
And AI.
And people working with AI.
So, my question is: Are YOU doing enough to bring your people along on the AI journey?
Let’s look at those three things.
First, the MIT Media Lab survey:
The leaders surveyed said the reason for the failure was because AI just isn’t good enough yet.
But the researchers found that wasn’t the real problem. When they dug a little deeper, they found the real problem was the leaders hadn’t done enough to engage their people.
They had just thrown the Bright Shiny Object at them.
Told them to make it work.
Expected to get instant results.
And of course it didn’t work – because the people weren’t on board.
The solution is similar for those school principals.
I said to that principal – and this applies to all leaders – Yes, the AI policy IS your responsibility. But you don’t have to do all the work.
In fact, the best thing you can do is identify AI champions in your team to lead the AI journey for you. They are already keen and enthusiastic about AI. You need to give them a framework, some guardrails, and resources – but let them take the lead. And help them bring the rest of the team on the journey.
And what about change management?
Change management seems like something from the 1990s, right? But it’s still just as relevant today, especially in a new area like AI.
If you have ever been in – or led – any sort of change management, digital transformation, or the like, you know it will only ever work if people are engaged first.
It’s always about people firist, technology second.
If you don’t have the hearts and minds of your people, then the process is doomed to fail.
So how do you do that?
Of course, there’s no simple solution or sure-fire formula. But a good first step is to have an open, honest, and transparent conversation with your team about AI. Not about the technology, but about how they FEEL about AI. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
Win their hearts over first. Engage them at a heart level before you think about engaging them at a head level.
For help with this, download my worksheet about facilitating this conversation with your team.
Download the worksheet:
https://swiy.co/go-most-ai-projects-fail
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Whether you’re excited or anxious about AI, there’s a more useful way to look at it: as your intelligent assistant. You’re still in the driving seat and choosing the destination – and AI helps you get there faster, safer, and more efficiently. With this mindset, you use AI to unlock better outcomes without losing control.
https://swiy.co/go-intelligent-assistants
How do you think about AI in your professional role? Some see it as a great opportunity, a great possibility, and an accelerator. Others see it as a threat, a risk, and a burden that adds more work to what they are already doing.
Let me give you an interesting perspective from a conversation about AI I had with my dad two years ago.
My dad – who was eighty-six at the time – had really invested a lot of time learning about AI. Not just because he knew I knew about it, but because he was genuinely interested.
Once, when I was driving him home, and we were stopped at traffic lights, he said to me, “You know, I think AI would be really good at managing traffic lights.”
He’s right, of course, and when I asked him why, he said it’s because AI can see all the traffic flow in the city, and can make decisions to adjust the timing of lights at each intersection to make traffic flow more smoothly everywhere.
He’s exactly right. AI is really good for traffic management – for three reasons.
First, for that reason (having a macro view to make micro decisions).
Second, because it can process large amounts of data fast to make quick decisions.
And third, because it can learn – so it reviews what it did today, and fine-tunes it to make better decisions tomorrow.
As I was thinking about this conversation later, I also realised it’s a good analogy for the way we use AI in general.
Treat AI as your intelligent assistant.
In the traffic lights analogy: You choose your destination, you get into the driving seat, and you control the car. Along the way, AI helps you get there faster, safer, and more efficiently.
This perspective on AI – as an assistant, not a replacement – gives you a powerful tool to set better goals, make more insightful decisions, and reach better outcomes.
Even in the future, when AI is driving all our autonomous cars, it’s still up to us to choose our destination.
For more about rethinking AI, join my online presentation soon – especially if you’re a leader. I’ll show you what’s changed in AI in the last year, and what that means for yourself, your team, and your organisation.
I’ll see you in the future.
Register for the virtual masterclass:
https://swiy.co/go-intelligent-assistants
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You’re probably hearing a lot of news about AI, from many people with many perspectives. For example, with its environmental impact, some people say it’s saving the world, others claim it’s ruining it. Obviously (or maybe not?) the truth is somewhere in between. And that applies to everything else AI-related, too. As a leader, you’re not expected to know everything, but you do have to manage how you learn about it, engage with your team, and leverage AI at work.
https://swiy.co/go-ai-hype-or-hope
Of course, there’s a lot of news – and noise – about AI, and that’s not going away. Some people say it will save the world, others say it will destroy it.
For example, when it comes to the environmental impact of AI, you will hear many dire warnings. But how much of it is true?
I did the maths!
Here are some rough figures about the climate impact of AI at an individual level.
Let’s look at three areas:
1. The of water needed to cool all the servers running AI
2. The electricity needed to run all these computers
3. the CO2 emissions to generate that energy
Water:
If you do ten average ChatGPT queries a day for a whole year, it uses as much water as it takes to make one hamburger.
Yep, that’s ONE hamburger!
Electricity:
If you do 25 ChatGPT queries a day, it uses as much electricity as it takes to heat up the water in one hot shower.
Carbon emissions:
And if you do ONE HUNDRED ChatGPT queries a day for a whole year, that creates about as many carbon emissions as taking one domestic flight in Australia.
OK, so these are average figures, but it gives you some idea of the scale of the climate impact of AI.
That doesn’t mean we should ignore the climate impact. But it’s all relative – especially for us rich Westerners (because, let’s face it, that’s who we are) when you compare it to many other activities in our daily lives.
I’m sharing this because it’s just one example of how some of the AI news is just not true. And this applies to everything – not just this one climate change example.
Nobody has time to check and double-check every “fact” like this, but for things that matter, don’t just assume what somebody says is true.
This is good advice in general, but especially when it comes to AI.
And this makes a difference.
Not just for you personally.
But for your professional role.
And your team.
And your organisation.
I’m running a free public online presentation soon about rethinking AI – and I’ll share some of the facts, changes, and misconceptions about AI – and what it means for you as a leader.
You can register here, and invite others in your team and your network as well.
Register for the virtual masterclass:
https://swiy.co/go-ai-hype-or-hope
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As a leader, you might think AI job losses are only a future problem, but your team might be already thinking about them now. With real headline news of organisations replacing people with AI – even those known for valuing their employees – your team might be quietly worried, wondering if they are next. That’s why you must acknowledge those concerns, start open conversations, and help your people build the skills they will need to remain valuable and relevant.
https://swiy.co/go-ai-coming-for-your-job
As a leader, do you know whether your people in your team are worried about AI taking their job? You should be!
In the last few months, you might have seen stories about organisations – of different sizes and in different sectors – who fired people and replaced them with AI. So yes, AI is replacing jobs – or at least, replacing enough of a person’s role that makes it unprofitable to keep them.
Some of these stories are about high-profile organisations – such as Australian company Atlassian, well known for its positive attitudes to work, workers, and the workplace. Even they recently let some of their staff go because they could use AI instead.
We’re not seeing mass layoffs yet. But for your team members who have seen these stories, they might be looking over their shoulder nervously, wondering whether they will be next to lose their job. Not from an AI robot, but from their boss telling them, “Sorry. We can’t afford to keep you anymore”.
In the last three years, some AI commentators have said something like this:
“You won’t lose your job to AI – you will lose it to somebody else using AI better than you.”
I’ve never said that – because I don’t think it’s true.
Well, it’s partly true – the second part, which urges you to keep learning about AI, so you can use it as part of your job. I firmly believe that.
But the first part – about not losing your job to AI – is not true.
The reality is: AI is already taking jobs, and will continue to take jobs.
Whether or not you think it’s true, there might be people in your team who are worried about the prospect of AI taking their job.
So what can you do about it?
Keep learning about AI, learning how to use it, and ensuring you education your team as well.
It’s even more important to have open, meaningful conversations with your team about the impact of AI.
Understand their feelings and fears – whether you think they are well-founded or not – so you know they issues they are facing. Remember, this is about their job, their livelihood, their family, and their future.
Also, register for my free online presentation soon, where I will share what has changed in the AI space in the last 6-12 months, and explain what that means for you as a leader. The changes are not just about the technology; they are also about the impact on people.
And feel free to invite other leaders and other team members in your organisation and in your network as well.
Register for the virtual masterclass:
https://swiy.co/go-ai-coming-for-your-job
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AI agents have arrived, and they can do far more than just answer questions – they can act on your behalf. That opens up incredible opportunities, but also brings new risks for yourself, your team and your organisation. Even if you already have AI policies and guidelines in place, you need to update them now for agentic AI.
https://swiy.co/go-ai-agents-are-here
Are you ready for AI agents? This is the next level of AI, and it creates both opportunities and risks.
We all know generative AI now, where you type in a prompt or question, and AI spits out a response. AI agents take it to the next level, where they can act on your behalf. That creates great opportunities, but also creates new potential risks. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to understand both.
For example, I recently used an AI agent to plan a trip to the Gold Coast, where I was speaking at a conference a few weeks ago. The “standard” way to fly from Perth to the Gold Coast is via Sydney or Melbourne, but that’s a long flight, especially because I have to allow extra time in transit so I don’t miss my connection. What I prefer instead is to fly to Brisbane and then organise a car to take me to the Gold Coast. That’s faster, simpler, and more reliable.
For my recent journey, I decided to experiment by asking ChatGPT’s new AI agent option to plan this trip. I simply gave it dates and venues, without any guidance about choosing options. I was hoping it would be clever enough to consider the flight-and-drive option.
Sure enough, it did!
That alone isn’t the “agent” part. You could have asked older versions of ChatGPT or Copilot to do that research to get the same result. So that’s nothing new.
But after showing me the options, the AI agent asked me:
“Would you now like me to book this trip for you?”
If I had given it my personal details, frequent flyer number, and credit card information, it would have made those bookings for me!
This is the power of AI agents: They don’t just give you a response; they can act on your behalf.
AI agents have huge potential for boosting productivity and efficiency, freeing you up for more high-level work, and even doing work that wouldn’t otherwise be feasible or practical.
But because you give them the power to DO things, you’re also opening up new potential risks.
This applies to everybody in your team - including yourself. Unless you all have the appropriate education, AI policy, guardrails, and governance in place, it’s easy for an AI agent to make decisions that could damage your organisation.
Because AI agents are more powerful than just generative AI, you might need to upgrade your policies, guardrails, and education to keep up.
AI agents are just one of the new features in AI over the last year, and that means you should also adapt now-outdated policies and education.
For more, join my coming online presentation “Rethinking AI”, where I will share how AI has advanced in the last year - and what it means to you. It’s free, public, and open to all, so register here and invite others in your team and network as well.
Register for the virtual masterclass:
https://swiy.co/go-ai-agents-are-here
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https://swiy.co/go-from-chatbots-to-chaos
Are your AI guardrails, policies, and guidelines up to date or out of date?
In 2022, Jake Moffatt needed to fly to Toronto for the funeral of a family member. Before booking a flight with Air Canada, he checked their rules to qualify for a bereavement fare. The helpful Air Canada chatbot assured him he could buy a ticket, fly, then request a partial refund. But when he returned home and applied for the refund, Air Canada refused to honour the request, referring to their website policy that clearly stated he had to make the request before travel.
Fortunately, Moffatt had taken a screenshot of the chatbot conversation, which he showed to Air Canada, but the airline still refused his claim, telling Moffatt he should have referred to the website, and then bizarrely claiming the chatbot was “responsible for its own actions”. Not surprisingly, the British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal rejected that argument, and ruled that Air Canada had to honour the bereavement refund and pay costs. But the reputational damage to the company- which could have been avoided by simply honouring the claim – was much bigger than those costs.
From a customer experience viewpoint, Air Canada should have just given him the discount anyway, right? It was only about $150, and that would have been much better for the company than the reputational damage when the story made international news!
But from an AI viewpoint, the problem is the chatbot was acting independently. Like other chatbots, it learned from the training data it was given - and advised the customer based on that data - but gave that advice without a human reviewing or overseeing it.
This is more relevant now than ever. People are building AI systems that act autonomously. This is known as “agentic AI”.
You might hear people talking about “AI agents”. It’s a buzzword right now, and is the next step in AI systems.
This is fundamentally different from earlier generative AI, where you could prompt ChatGPT or Copilot, review its response, check it, and then act. Now, AI agents no longer have a human in the loop.
You don’t need much technical expertise to build an AI agent, either. In fact, it’s available right now in ChatGPT and other common AI tools.
That means you can create it yourself.
Or a team member can.
Or you can choose from a list of AI agents others have created.
Make no mistake - AI agents create new opportunities for improving productivity and enhancing your customer experience.
But if you don’t do it the right way, they also create new risks and potential problems for you, your business, and your organisation.
Imagine creating an AI agent that’s “empowered” to give a customer advice - as with Air Canada.
Or asking an AI agent to book a business trip – giving it your credit card details so it can book flights and accommodation.
Or building an AI agent that reviews employee records and automatically send them email or WhatsApp messages about their performance.
It might be very efficient, and it might let people do their work faster.
But it also means you can make mistakes faster!
Is YOUR governance up to date? If not, you’re at risk. I’m running an online presentation soon about what’s new in AI - and what it means for you as a leader to put the right governance in place. You’re welcome to register, and please share this with your colleagues as well.
https://swiy.co/go-from-chatbots-to-chaos
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How are you using AI to enhance your customer experience?
Broadly, AI can help in three areas: Interface, insights, and infrastructure. And all of them are to do with enhancing – not eliminating – the human touch.
Let’s look at that with an analogy of the old-style deli owner, who knew everybody who came into their shop. I knew somebody like that, way back when I was a kid.
1. Interface
I would sometimes go to the deli after school, and the owner knew me. He remembered what I liked, asked me how school was, and sometimes suggested something new. It felt personal and warm – and it was also good business. He ran his business well by knowing his customers, managing his stock, and responding to what was happening around him.
Now, AI can help us do the same – on a bigger scale. You can use AI first at the customer interface – through your website, contact centre, app, and in person.
If you think I’m talking about chatbots, you’re right. It’s the fastest way to add AI. The earliest chatbots were very basic – only able to respond with simple scripts. But they are now much better, and can hold reasonable conversations with people – both with written text and voice.
AI chatbots also help human customer service agents. A customer might be speaking to a person, and behind the scenes, that person uses AI to pull up the customer history, past issues they have faced, business policies to help the customer, and so on.
2. Insights
The deli owner from my youth wasn’t just able to recognise me and talk to me when I walked into the deli. Based on what he knew about me, he could also recommend things that I might be interested in in the future.
In the same way, AI helps you understand your customers by analysing their past behaviour – and the behaviour of others just like them. It draws on everything from individual purchase history to wider behavioural trends, letting you personalise messages, offers, and interactions.
We know this when interacting with platforms like Amazon, Netflix, and Spotify – who have been doing this for years. The result is more precise targeting and better recommendations. Instead of making generic offers, AI uses real data to be more relevant, more helpful, and more likely to connect in a meaningful way.
3. Infrastructure
A business is only as good as its back-end infrastructure. This isn’t as visible to customers, but it still affects them. For example, the deli owner knew to stock up on ice cream in summer and hot pies in winter!
AI can do the same – and in even more sophisticated ways. It can help manage inventory by forecasting demand, adjusting stock levels, or even suggesting product placement based on customer flow. It can also help you adapt to external factors like seasons, weather, or local events.
You can also apply AI to workforce management – like rostering staff based on expected foot traffic, customer demand, or past patterns. Or use it to optimise delivery routes, monitor supply chains, or improve internal systems. A better infrastructure supports a better customer experience.
How are you managing these three areas with AI?
If you’re getting started with AI, explore opportunities in each of these three aareas. You don’t need to do everything at once. But even starting in one of these areas can make a big difference.
For more, download my free report, "AI-Powered Customer Experience":
https://swiy.co/go-human-touch-ai-brain
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You might be doing future planning to understand how the world is changing – that’s good. You might even be adjusting your plans based on what you learn – even better! But are you also changing HOW you plan? Many leaders miss this change, and it can make a huge difference to the quality of your plans. Things like AI, hybrid work, and generational diversity in your teams all bring new tools and insights to the planning process. When you use them to update your process, your future strategy becomes much more powerful.
https://swiy.co/go-the-process-is-the-point
I’m preparing to deliver my Future Scenarios program soon for the leadership team of a organisation, and it’s the fourth year in a row I’ve been working with them.
Of course, the outcome of the program will have changed, because 2022 was so different from 2025. But the process has changed as well.
What has changed in that time that could influence the planning process?
Here are a few things ...
* COVID restrictions meant participants weren’t out interacting with the world as much
* Hybrid work now means particpipants spend more time in their local communities
* Some Gen Z employees are now moving into management roles
* We have more generations in the workplace
* Online meetings have become more common
And then, of course, there’s the growth of AI.
Over the last three years, we have used AI differently in this program:
* Three years ago, in early 2022, we talked about the potential growth of AI as a significant external pressure, but we didn’t have ChatGPT and generative AI to use during the program itself.
* In 2023, we had seen the growth of generative AI, but this organisation was fairly restrictive in allowing their people to use it. So I could show them how to use it, and do some AI education, but they couldn’t directly use it in the program.
* Last year — the third year we ran it — they all had access to AI, so I asked them to do some pre-work using AI, and they could use that as a starting point for their future planning.
They year, I’ll ask them to go even deeper and further with the pre-work – because AI has come a long way, even in the last twelve months. Now they can do deep research into their area of responsibilities to understand the future challenges and opportunties they are facing. With AI doing a lot of the heavy lifting for them even before they arrive, they can dedicate more time in the two-day program to make it even more practical, useful, and customised for their needs.
So how has YOUR future planning changing?
Are you taking advantage of these tools that are available now?
Are you leveraging the unique perspective and insights of your team – with up to five generations in your workplace?
Are you using the hybrid work opportunity to bring in external perspectives?
It’s not only that the future has changed — and will continue to change — but the way you THINK about the future should change as well.
I’ll be talking more about this in my online presentation “Seeing Into the Future”, where I will share some of the tools we futurists use — and how those tools are evolving. It’s free, public, and open to everyone — so please register, and invite others in your team and network as well.
Register for the virtual masterclass:
https://swiy.co/go-the-process-is-the-point
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