Expert's Gold: Leverage Nuggets for Experts

In the war for talent, money is important, but not enough. If you're serious about attracting and keeping top talent, look at other drivers - including flexible work. In Iceland, 90% of employees now enjoy a four-day workweek, working fewer hours with no pay cut and no loss of productivity. In fact, productivity went up, well-being improved, and workplaces became more equitable.

https://swiy.co/go-be-like-iceland

I’m speaking soon at the AHRI (Australian Human Resources Institute) conference in Perth, talking about the future of work. One of the four key elements of the future of work is attracting the best people, and one of your most important levers in that area is offering more flexible work options.

During the pandemic, flexible work meant mostly working from home. And that (often in the form of hybrid work – some days in the office, some from home) is still one kind of flexible work. But it’s not the only form of flexibility.

For example, in Iceland, about 90% of workers who enjoy a four-day work week. They work four days a week rather than five, and still get paid 100% of their wages or salary. In return, they are expected to deliver 100% of their productivity.

This started with a small pilot project in 2015, which worked so well they extended and expanded it in 2019. And now, it’s spread to the whole country. This is not mandated by law, but rather encouraged through workplace agreements. And now it’s part of their workplace culture.

Strictly speaking, they don’t get a full day off each week. Their 40-hour week is now 36 hours, so they work four 9-hour days rather than five 8-hour days. So each day is a bit longer, but they still work fewer hours, for the same money and the same productivity.

In fact, the research shows productivity has either stayed steady or, in some cases, even improved. In addition, this arrangement has dramatically improved mental health and well-being, work-life balance, and gender equality.

This has been a huge success for Iceland, and is just one of the many models for flexible work.

Could you do the same?

Iceland is a small country, with only about half a million people, so we can’t necessarily extrapolate it to larger nations.

But that’s not my point.

We don’t have to do it as a country.

YOU could do it for your organisation.

Or maybe even just for your team.

In the war for talent, money is not the only driver. Flexible work is one of the most in-demand requirements for employees.

Esepcially for Generation Z, who will be 30% of the workforce by 2030.

Some managers and leaders will push back and say Gen Z are entitled, privileged, unrealistic, and need to pay their dues before they can start demanding these "perks".

In return, many Gen Z’s are saying, "We don’t care! If you don’t provide that, we’ll find somebody else who does". And they will.

Just because others in your industry aren’t doing it, that’s no reason for you not to do it. In fact, that’s exactly why you SHOULD be doing it, as a competitive advantage for attracting the best people.

Why not be a pilot project for your industry?

Just an idea. Have a go. Be the Iceland for your industry, and it will put you ahead of the game in the future of work.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-be-like-iceland

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Do you have a workfluencer in your team? And if you don't, maybe you should! If you have a culture you’re proud of, workfluencers are powerful brand voices for you - helping attract the right sort of talent, long before an interview. It’s time to support, nurture, and trust the people already championing your workplace.

https://swiy.co/go-workfluencers

In a nutshell, a workfluencer is an employee who talks about their work in online communities.

Of course, we’ve been doing this for a long time even before the online world – with friends and family at parties, with other parents at your children’s school events, in your local community or church community.

A workfluencer is the 2025 version of that, and it expands and amplifies the concept because of the power and reach of online networks. Typically, it’s a younger person – a Gen Z or maybe a younger Gen Y (Millennial). They work in your team, and are also active on social media and other online networks, sharing the good, the bad, and even the ugly about work. Exactly as you do when talking to friends at a barbie, but on a much larger scale.

If you don’t have workfluencers in your team, maybe you should. Not by forcing it, but by creating a culture people feel proud to boast about.

If you like the people in your team, you want them to talk to their friends and community, because you want to attract more people like them. And you want those people to know about you before they join – not through the traditional hierarchical interview and recruitment process, but by knowing somebody "on the inside". Those people will be a good fit for your team, because they already know your values.

This is an important element of the future of work.

Generation Z (roughly in their mid-twenties now) will be a significant part of our future. By 2030, they will be 30% of our population. That means

30% of your customers,

30% of your community,

and 30% of your employees.

Of course, it will vary across industries and sectors, but broadly one in three employees will be Gen Z. That means they will also be your future leaders.

So you want the best of them, and you want to leverage all their skills and talents – including their ability to influence others online.

Now, some people will push back, saying it’s too much of a risk to let employees talk publicly about you.

It could damage your reputation.

Breach confidentiality.

Create security issues.

And so on. And on. And on.

And you know what? You’re right ... to some extent.

But that shouldn’t stop you. Yes, you need some coaching, mentoring, and guardails in place. Do it reponsibly, but do it!

You might also NOT be proud of your work culture. In that case, this advice is not for you (I might have some other advice for you, but that’s a different topic!).

But if you have the sort of workplace culture and team you’re proud of, you have nothing to be afraid of. Encourage and nurture workfluencers to share their experiences online, far and wide.

This becomes part of your employee value proposition (EVP), which is a key element of the future of work.

I’m running an online presentation soon about the future of work, and this is one of the four key elements for all leaders to understand. It’s free, public, and open to all. So please register, and invite others in your team and organisation as well.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-workfluencers

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As a leader, you need to be regularly scanning the horizon and planning for the future. But if your people aren’t inspired to bring that plan to life, it won’t go anywhere. Strategy without execution is like a car without fuel. For real progress, you need to engage your team and connect your plan to meaningful work.

https://swiy.co/go-from-planning-to-progress

You might have big ideas and a clear strategy (good!), but what are you doing to engage your people to execute and implement that strategy?

I work with a lot of leaders – especially senior leaders – who want me to help them understand the future. They can then feed that into their strategic planning. That’s good, because it gives them more confidence and clarity about their plan and decision making.

For example, here are three leadership teams I’m helping now:

A high school that’s looking at extending what they do by teaching students about skills beyond the curriculum – that is, the broad skills that will help them to be more future-ready. A local council that wants to make sure they are planning for changes in their city and and for their residents. A financial services organisation that’s facing a lot of disruption from technology, and want to first leverage the technology themselves and also be disrupters themselves.

With all three leadership teams, I’m helping them understand what’s coming up in the future, so it can feed into their strategic planning.

But there’s a third crucial element to a successful strategy: engaging, inspiring, and motivating your people to implement and execute that strategy. Even with the best strategy in the world, if your people aren’t on board to implement it, it will fail.

Many leaders are good at the first two elements, but not as good on the third. Or, even worse, they forget about the third.

It’s like trying to drive a car where you have control of the steering wheel, and maybe even the accelerator, but there’s no petrol in the tank!

One of my speaker colleagues, Stef du Plessis, an international leadership expert based in South Africa, puts it well. He says your people aren’t there to execute your strategy. You might think they are – after all, you’re paying them – but that doesn’t engage, motivate, or excite them.

So what DO they want?

They want meaningful work.

They want to feel fulfilled at work.

They want to know they are making a difference.

Yes, of course, they want the money as well. But more than ever, your people want their work to be about more than money.

So, if you want them to engage with your strategy, make it meaningful – to THEM, not to you! Align it with what people care about. Find the pieces that will motivate people, and prioritise those pieces. Then find the people who want to make that happen.

Whenever leaders ask me about the future of work, I talk about four key elements. And only one of them is about the work itself – what needs to be done. The other three are about the people doing the work.

If you can’t get your people on board, your strategy will fail.

I’m running a free, public online presentation soon about the future of work – and especially what you can do to engage your people at work. Please register here, 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-from-planning-to-progress

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Strategic change often stalls after the initial excitement fades, especially when the change involves future scenarios that might be uncertain, unknown, or challenging. Instead of letting all that strategic thinking go to waste, focus on small, immediate actions that fit into existing workflows rather than creating extra work. Don't just inspire people in the moment; start building a culture where you support, empower, and encourage them to welcome and embrace change.

https://swiy.co/go-strategy-to-action

How do you turn strategy into action?

Next month, I’m running a workshop at a strategic leadership forum for an organisation in Melbourne. They bring together their top 100 leaders every six months to work on the big issues facing their organisation. The CEO told me everybody loves those sessions, and they walk out energised and motivated.

But ... Very little changes in practice. The leaders walk out with the best of intentions, ready to roll up their sleeves and put the big ideas into practice. But then life gets in the way. They get caught up in the everyday operational work, so those big ideas get forgotten.

And it’s not surprising. Because those big ideas are new.

And challenging.

And ... well, big!

So it’s easy to put them off until things get quieter, or easier, or less chaotic.

Of course, that never happens!

So how do you turn strategy into action? How do you stop all that great thinking go to waste?

The big mistake leaders make is they try to do too much at once.

They might be excited by the idea. And why not? After all, it was probably their idea! And they can’t see why everybody else is not as excited.

And that’s the problem. For others in their teams - and often even for the leaders themselves - implementing big ideas takes time.

And effort.

And courage.

And a willingness to be uncomfortable.

So it’s not surprising they don’t jump at the chance!

If you don’t have a culture of change agents - where your people are open, willing, or even excited about change - you’ll be fighting an uphill battle.

So what can you do?

First, don’t give up on that big idea! It might be crucial part of your strategy.

But also work on building your culture of change. And that happens one step at a time.

So give them the big picture, but also give them things they can put into action - right now. And ideally, those small actions don’t add to their workload, but slip in as part of their work.

Your goal is not to get other people to do the work for you, but to build a culture where people are open to change.

And there are some really specific things you can do as a leader to start building that culture.

I won’t go into the details here, but I want you to start thinking that way. If your people are slow to change, think first that it might be YOUR fault. Which means you can fix it. You can’t force people to change, but you can create an environment that supports and even rewards them for having that change mindset.

I’m running an online presentation soon. We’ll look at the future of work in four specific areas. And in each, I will give you a practical action you can use to build that culture of change. And of course, in the spirit of this topic, they are things YOU can do easily as well!

It’s free, public, and open to all. So please join us, and invite others in your team and network as well.

https://swiy.co/go-strategy-to-action

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Do you have a bad attitude at work?

Specifically, do you have a bad attitude about AI at work?

If you’re a leader or a manager, having a bad attitude about AI is not just bad for yourself – it’s bad for your team as well. Those bad attitudes are contagious.

We should be excited and curious about AI.

We should be appropriately cautious about using AI.

And we should be unsure about AI because we don’t know what it will look like in the next five years (let alone two years).

If anybody tells you they know exactly where AI is headed, they’re either lying or deluded.

So, if you say, “I’m excited about AI, I’m cautious about AI, and I’m unsure about AI”, that’s a really good start.

But be careful!

One thing I’ve noticed is that some people who admit to being unsure about AI turn that uncertainty into a roadblock. They say, “I don’t know enough about AI, so let’s wait until we get it exactly right before we do anything”.

And then … nothing happens!

Not only do YOU do nothing, but more importantly, you stop your team – or even your entire organisation – from doing anything.

That’s the bad attitude I meant.

Be unsure about AI (that’s health), but channel that uncertainty into education, practice, and professional development. That way, you can understand the risks, challenges, and opportunities – so you and your team can make informed decisions.

The real danger is when leaders take a passive stance: “We don’t know enough, so let’s just wait”. That attitude spreads, and suddenly, an entire team holds back, even when some are eager to explore AI.

A recent global survey by Slack revealed some interesting insights about AI in the workplace. In Australia, the results were largely positive: three-quarters of knowledge workers are using AI at work.

BUT ... Almost half (42%) of those who use AI at work feel uncomfortable telling their manager about it!

Why?

When asked, employees gave three main reasons:

1. Their boss might think they are less competent because they relied on AI.

2. Their boss might think they are lazy for using AI instead of doing the work themselves.

3. Their boss might see AI as cheating.

This is an outdated mindset.

Imagine if someone said, “Instead of spending 10 minutes with Google, I spent 10 hours in the library”.

That might have been reasonable 25 years ago, when search engines were new. But it would be bizarre now.

AI is heading in the same direction. In some organisations, it’s already as natural as using Google. In the next year or so, that will be the norm, not the exception.

As a leader, your attitude matters!

If you haven’t started integrating AI into your team, now is the time.

And the first step is simply to talk about it.

Ask your team how they feel about AI.

Are they excited? Cautious? Unsure?

How do they think AI could help their work?

What concerns do they have?

What opportunities do they see?

By starting the conversation, you set the tone.

And if you already have people in your team who are keen to use AI, identify them, support them, and let them be your AI champions.

AI isn’t just on the way – it’s already here. The real question is: Are you embracing it, or are you holding your team back?

Download my worksheet here to help craft some initial conversations about AI with your team.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-ai-attitudes

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Adopting AI successfully isn’t about the technology – it’s about your culture. As a leader, your role is not to dictate AI use, but to create an environment where people feel empowered to explore, leverage, and share AI-driven innovations with everybody else.

https://swiy.co/go-ai-in-your-team

Do you have hidden AI talent in your teams?

In the last week, I had two very interesting conversations with senior leadership teams from two very different organisations in completely different sectors. Despite their differences, they had one key thing in common: they were both thinking about how to integrate AI into their organisations.

What struck me was I had almost identical conversations with both teams.

At first, they were talking about what they needed to do was understand AI, craft an organisation-wide AI policy, create strict rules about using AI, engaging IT in creating a safe environment, and so on.

And then came the turning point.

In the middle of this discussion, one person - let’s call her Mikaela - spoke up. In both cases, “Mikaela” wasn’t the Chief Technology Officer, The Chief Information Officer, the Head of IT, or anyone formally responsible for AI. She was a senior leader, but in a non-technical role.

She shared that she had uses AI regularly in her day-to-day work: Experimenting with ChatGPT to draft emails, analyse spreadsheets, conduct competitor analysis, and explore how her team could use AI in their roles. She had even paid for her own subscription to access advanced features and had taken the time to dig deep into the technology.

So when these leadership teams asked me how they should approach AI adoption, my response was clear:

Find and support AI champions in your organisation.

For those senior leadership teams, “Mikaela” is their AI champion! She isn’t formally responsible for AI strategy, but she is curious, proactive, and already using AI to solve real problems. And every organisation has people like her.

The role of senior leadership is not to dictate how AI should be used from the top down. Instead, it’s about helping leaders and managers throughout the organisation to find, facilitate, and support their own AI champions.

This is where many organisations go wrong. The traditional approach is to impose new initiatives from the top down. But that usually takes a long, long time. And with AI, which is moving so fast, it’s difficult to get it right.

A faster, more effective approach is to focus on culture, and start using AI everywhere. Adopting AI is not about the technology. Well it IS, but it’s really about people and technology working together.

And that starts with your people.

For more, join my online presentation about people-powered AI. It’s free, public, and open to everybody. And feel free to invite others in your team and network as well.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-ai-in-your-team

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If you’re still dragging your feet about adopting AI, don’t! It isn’t some distant future technology – it’s already here, and in five years it will be as normal as smartphones or spreadsheets. Smart leaders are already using it to enhance their customer experience, boost productivity, and make better decisions. And don’t just wait until you’re ready for the technology; you also need to bring your people along on the journey.

https://swiy.co/go-ai-in-2030

A few weeks ago, I was speaking at two conferences in the Northern Territory – one in Alice Springs and one in Darwin – for tourism and hospitality operators in those towns to understand what’s coming in the future and how they can take advantage of those changes.

During the Q&A segment of my presentation, a tour operator in the audience asked me:

"What will be the biggest impact of AI in the tourism sector in the next five years?"

This is a smart question – not just for tourism, but for any industry. You probably should ask the same thing about your own sector.

But wait ... To be more precise: This is a smart question NOW – in 2025. But in the next five years – by 2030 – this would be a dumb question!

Why? Because by 2030, AI will be a standard part of how we work, just like smartphones, laptops, workplace culture, innovation, and change management. We don’t ask, “What will be the impact of computers in our industry?” because we already know they are an essential part of doing business.

The same will be true for AI.

Even now, forward-thinking businesses and leaders are using AI to enhance their customer experience, build marketing campaigns, analyse data and reports, record meetings and automate follow-ups, and much, much more.

Some organisations are already integrating AI into almost everything they do.

But many are still hesitant. Right now, that’s OK – because your competitors and customers might not be doing it.

But by 2030, AI won’t be optional.

Where do YOU stand with AI?

If you’re hesitating – waiting until the tech is better, you’ve crafted the perfect policy, or have recruited the best IT people – you’re falling behind!

The good news is it’s not too late. But you need to start now.

Most importantly, you need to bring your people along on the journey. AI adoption isn’t just about technology; it’s about people. If you introduce AI before your people are confident, comfortable, and competent with it, they won’t use it. Or worse, they will use it badly.

I’m running an online presentation soon called "People-Powered AI", where I will focus on how leaders can bring their teams along on the AI journey. It’s not about the technology – it’s about your role as a leader. It’s free, open to everybody, and I’d love to see you there. Feel free to share it with your team and network too.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-ai-in-2030

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When giving your team access to AI, don't wait until you have finalised every policy and governance detail. Like learning to drive, adopting AI works best when people get hands-on experience early. Bring your people along on the AI journey now, to ensure they build the skills, comfort, and understanding needed to integrate AI effectively into their work. Don't wait for the perfect moment - start now.

https://swiy.co/go-driving-ai

Are you taking too long to get your people started on the AI journey?

My niece Abbey just turned 20 last week. I remember four years ago, when she was sixteen, I taught her how to drive. I didn’t do all the lessons, but I took her through the first ten or twelve hours of driving, and helped her become a competent driver.

The process of getting a licence now is rigorous, structured, and time-consuming. And it should be, because we’re letting teenagers operate heavy machinery in public for the first time! By the time Abbey had done her 50 hours of supervised driving, she was more than ready to take her test - which she passed first time - and then drive independently. When she then bought her first car, she was more than capable behind the wheel.

But imagine another scenario: if her parents had made her wait until she bought her first car before she could start driving lessons. Of course, that would be bizarre! And yet, I reckon that’s how many leaders use AI with their teams.

Almost every week, I get enquiries from leaders and teams asking me to come in and teach them about AI: what it means for them, their organisations, and their leadership.

But one mistake I see many leaders making is wanting to get everything right from a management, governance, and policy perspective before they let their people start using AI.

I think that’s a mistake - for two reasons.

First, like it or not, your people are already using AI! Some use it at home for personal tasks.If they are not allowed to use it at work, some are still using it to solve work problems, but without telling you! And of course, that creates risks.

Second, if you go back to the driving analogy, you don’t want to wait until you buy someone a car before they learn how to drive. You want them to learn first so that when they finally get behind the wheel, they are already a competent driver.

It’s the same with AI. You must bring your people along on the AI journey - even while you’re working on policy, investing in technology, and building your AI strategy. Don’t wait until this is perfect (whatever that means anyway!). Give them the confidence to use AI, feel comfortable using AI, and secure in knowing AI won’t replace them.

If you want to explore this further, I’m running an online presentation soon called People-Powered AI, where we will talk about bringing people along on this journey. The session is free, public, and open to everybody. I’ll see you there!

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-driving-ai

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Your organisation can use AI in two key ways - but it might be using only one. The first is embedding AI into core operations, where it works behind the scenes to streamline processes like loan approvals, insurance claims, and medical diagnoses. The second, and often overlooked, is giving people direct access to AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, AI agents, and deep research assistants. If you’re serious about being an AI-driven organisation, make sure you’re using AI in both ways.

https://swiy.co/go-the-two-sides-of-ai

Is your organisation an AI-driven organisation? And what does that even mean?

About a year ago, Amazon in Australia surveyed CEOs and other leaders across different industries and sectors, asking about AI’s impact. One key question was whether they expected their organisation to be AI-driven by 2028. The result was 90% of leaders said yes!

That’s only three years from now. But what does it really mean to be AI-driven?

You organisation can use AI in two key ways - but it might be using only one.

First, AI might be built into your core processes - for example:

* Banks use AI to assess loan applications.

* Insurance companies use AI to determine premiums and process claims.

* Healthcare providers use AI to analyse scans and diagnose diseases.

* HR teams use AI to screen job applications.

In these cases, AI works in the background, supporting decision-making or automating processes that would otherwise be too complex or time-consuming for humans. Your people might not even be aware they’re using AI, because it’s just part of how things work.

This is a valuable use of AI, but it’s only half the picture.

The second side of AI is what we’ve seen explode in the last few years: generative AI, like ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot. Instead of AI running in the background, people use it directly to enhance their work. This is extremely powerful for boosting productivity, enhancing your customer experience, and improving decision making.

But many organisations are still hesitant to embrace this use of AI. Some organisations still ban tools like ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot, despite their value. And AI capabilities are evolving fast - with agents and deep research tools that can automate, summarise, and proactively deliver insights.

For example, OpenAI recently launched its Deep Research tool, allowing users to conduct detailed investigations with AI. Right now, it’s only available to premium ChatGPT users for about $300 per month. But Perplexity, a ChatGPT rival, introduced a similar feature - available free!

This shift from passive AI (behind the scenes) to active AI is where AI and people are really working together. But many organisations are missing this opportunity.

And that’s a mistake.

If you’re only using AI in your core operations but not equipping your people with AI-powered tools, you’re not fully AI-driven. You’re missing out on a huge opportunity for productivity, innovation, and competitive advantage.

The longer you wait, the further behind you’ll fall. But it’s never too late to start.

I’m running a free, public online presentation soon about people-powered AI. Register now, and learn how to bring your people on the AI journey.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-the-two-sides-of-ai

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Change isn’t easy, and everybody in your team will respond to it differently. Instead of trying to push everybody to embrace change, focus on finding the "bright spots": small success stories where change is already working. By highlighting these successes, you create a culture where change feels possible, practical, and positive.

https://swiy.co/go-find-the-bright-spots

Whenever a client engages me to speak at their conference, we always have a presentation briefing call beforehand, so I can learn more about their organisation, the people attending their event, the outcomes they want from my presentation, and how my presentation fits in with the rest of the conference program.

In this meeting, I always ask this important question:

“How receptive are your people to change?”

We all know there’s a lot of external change right now (you don’t need a futurist to tell you that!), and the pace of change is increasing. As a leader, your job is to create a culture that supports, encourages, and embraces change, so you can remain relevant and valuable in the work you do.

In any team, you will have a mix of attitudes toward change - for example:

- Some people embrace it enthusiastically, and will gladly lead change in the team.

- Some aren’t as excited, but accept change as part of their life.

- A few might even actively resist change or fight change.

To build a culture of change - and change agents - you can’t click your fingers and expect everybody to magically change their attitude immediately. It takes time, but there are simple things you can do to facilitate the process.

In their book “Switch”, brothers Chip and Dan Heath describe nine strategies fofr creating change in challenging circumstances. In fact, the subtitle of the book is “How to Change Things When Change Is Hard”.

When I work with leaders and eams about building change, I share some of these ideas (and others from other sources). In my experience, the most useful and practical technique is from this book, and it’s called “Find the Bright Spots”.

In a nutshell, this means seeking and highlighting individual success stories.

For example, a bright spot might be:

- A small change a team member tried (and succeeded)

- A team success story

- An example of successful change from outside the team

Your goal is to highlight these success stories - for example, by sharing one or two at the start of every staff meeting.

By doing this, you help people see examples of change that worked, frequently remind them that change is possible, encourage them to try small change projects themselves, and bring change closer to them in a low-risk way.

This isn’t a magic bullet. Just finding bright spots won’t be enough to bring everybody on the change journey. But it’s a low-risk, high-value first step on the path to building a culture of change agents.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-find-the-bright-spots

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How do you stay on top of all the changes with AI? It's evolving fast, and staying in touch can feel overwhelming. Instead of trying to track every new development yourself, find an AI champion in your team and give them the support they need to lead AI adoption and integration.

https://swiy.co/go-ai-champion

AI Champion: The Role Every Team Needs to Navigate AI

I run regular AI Leaders Labs for clients and others in my close network to help leaders share their ideas and experiences about using AI. These leaders are interested in AI, both for themselves and their teams, and want to bring their people on the AI journey.

In my most recent Leaders Lab, three participants asked the same question:

“AI is moving so fast - how can we keep up with what’s new?”

I have two answers ...

First, of course, if you want an external perspective, engage me! I can run a masterclass for your team or deliver a keynote presentation at your next conference. It’s part of my regular “day job” to know what’s new in AI and make it relevant and meaningful for you.

The other option I recommend - which I also recommended to my group - is to find an AI champion for your team.

If you work in a larger organisation, you might be tempted to wait until somebody “higher up” creates rules, frameworks, policies, and tools for everybody to use AI.

But that’s too slow!

Sure, there are some things that need careful thought and strategic insight. But you can still get a lot of value from AI right now. That’s where an AI champion can help.

You want somebody who is excited and enthusiastic about AI, and also keen for everybody else in the team to start using it. She might be the person who’s always testing the edges of what’s possible, and willing to extend the team’s capabilities.

Your first step is to find the right person (or people, if you’re lucky enough to have more than one in your team). Your role is to nurture them and create an environment where they can excel as an AI champion for your team.

They don’t need to be a senior person who understands all the policy implications and the bigger picture. It’s better to have someone who’s excited about AI, even if they don’t have the experience to make big-picture judgment calls (that’s YOUR role in this partnership).

It’s not all plain sailing, though.

Often, your AI champion is a more junior team member (although not necessarily a young person). This can create friction - for example:

* Other team members might be jealous of this person’s special status.

* Your peers, managers, or senior leaders might not respect this “junior” person when they speak up.

* The IT department might be wary of allowing your AI champion freedom to test new tech.

These are all valid concerns, and they are challenges you and your AI champion will need to navigate together.

For help in this process, download my worksheet about finding, nurturing, and working with an AI champion in your team.

This process takes a bit of effort - especially at first. But by investing in this effort, you will ensure your team stays informed, adapts quickly, and makes the most of AI’s opportunities.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-ai-champion

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What do you know about this new Chinese AI app called DeepSeek that’s taking the AI world by storm?

DeepSeek, a new app similar to ChatGPT, became the #1 downloaded app on the App Store when it was launched recently. You might have heard about it in technology news, but it’s also in the mainstream media.

But how can we separate the hype from the reality?

Let’s talk about three things about DeepSeek, and also what it means for you as a leader.

1. China’s Growing AI Capabilities

The common wisdom was that China was lagging behind the USA in AI expertise and development. So it caught most people by surprise to see something as good as DeepSeek coming out of China.

But that assumption was wrong. China has been a leading force in AI for years - for example:

* Last year, they created the world’s first virtual AI hospital to advance medical procedures.

* They have been using AI to tackle climate change for many years.

* As far back as 2016, China set out to make an entire city that only allowed driverless cars.

2. Bias and Censorship Concerns

Another issue with DeepSeek is the possibility of bias and government censorship in DeepSeek’s results.

This is true! For example:

* If you ask it about Tiananmen Square, it doesn’t know (although some reports say that has changed).

* If you ask it about the sovereignty of Taiwan, it gives you the stock standard government response.

* If you ask it to make a joke about Xi Jinping, it says that would be rude.

So yes, DeepSeek has bias and censorship. But so do other AI tools!

For example, US president Donald Trump recently declared that the Gulf of Mexico was now going to be called the Gulf of America. For most of the world, that makes no difference (no one country can unilaterally rename an international body of water). But in the USA, Google has adjusted Google Maps so that - for US users only - it will apear as the Gulf of America.

3. DeepSeek Is Faster And Cheaper

DeepSeek was developed with fewer resources than its competitors, and that surprised many people. It was cheaper to build, cheaper to train, and uses less energy to run. (In the ultimate irony, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, claims it has inappropriately used some of ChatGPT’s material in its training!)

But this is just a natural evolution of technology. All the other AI platforms and tools are also becoming cheaper and faster. DeepSeek isn’t leapfrogging other platforms; it just happens to be new.

What This Means for You as a Leader

When you hear news about DeepSeek, take it with a grain of salt. Some of the hype doesn’t match reality.

More importantly, what does this mean for you as a leader? In general, not much at all!

You should definitely know what’s around the corner, over the horizon, and maybe even just landed on your doorstep. But also assess it carefully, because not everything needs immediate action.

If you’re already using ChatGPT, Copilot, or some other AI tools, keep going! There’s no immediate need to switch to DeepSeek.

If you haven’t already started using AI, you should. And you should be having regular conversations with your team about using AI in the workplace – to help improve productivity, enhance the customer experience, and make better decisions faster.

Download my worksheet about having AI conversations with your team.

https://swiy.co/go-deepseek-disruption

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As we step into 2025, it’s clear we will have much more change and uncertainty - but also opportunity. Your path to success depends on how well you can lead yourself and navigate your team through the year. Your focus should always be about people first: guiding your team, customers, and yourself through the complexities of the year ahead. It’s not about predicting the future but staying adaptable, monitoring trends, and bringing people on the journey.

https://swiy.co/go-leading-in-2025

As a leader, what are you expecting in 2025? You might have done your initial planning for the year, but we all know that our plans will change! Whatever we can foresee now, we will face a lot of change, uncertainty, and disruption before the end of the year.

For example, you might have already heard rumours about the Next Big Thing in AI: AI agents, which can scurry around doing things on our behalf. How can you plan for that now when you don’t know exactly what they will look like?

It’s easy to use AI as an example because it’s obvious to us all that it will change. But this applies to many other things in our world as well - including workplaces, hybrid work, Federal and State elections, cybersecurity, sustainability, and more!

The most thing to keep in mind as that it’s about people first.

Your path to success depends on how well you can lead yourself and navigate your team. It’s not about predicting the future but staying flexible and bringing people on the journey.

I recently published some research about the key leadership trends for 2025. Even those that are about technology - like AI and cybersecurity - are about how people engage with the technology, not the tech itself.

For more about these trends, join my online presentation very soon, where we’ll look at three in more detail. I’ve chosen three directly related to important groups of people in your organisation: your customers, your employees, and of course yourself.

It’s free, public, and open to all. So feel free to invite others in your team as well.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-leading-in-2025

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With up to five generations working side-by-side, your workplace is more diverse than ever. This offers many opportunities for collaboration and innovation, but it also presents challenges, like differing attitudes toward hybrid work, financial pressures, and conflicting priorities. If you're a leader who can embrace these differences and foster a culture of mutual respect, you will be better equipped to manage conflicts, retain talent, and build thriving, future-ready teams.

https://swiy.co/go-bridging-the-gap

How many generations are working in your organisation? It might be up to five – and in rare cases, there could even be six generations working together.

From the oldest to the youngest:

Baby Boomers, who are usually the most senior people in the organisation Generation X (my generation), in their fifties and sixties, often in senior roles and some close to retirement Generation Y, or the Millennials, many now in management positions Generation Z, roughly up to the age of 25, who are new to the workforce Generation Alpha are even younger workers, often apprentices or in their first "real job"

With so many generations working together, you have people with different worldviews, different attitudes to work, and very different experience and expertise. This creates some interesting dynamics.

On the positive side, if you have the kind of culture that values and embraces diversity, it gives you great opportunities for collaboration, innovation, and different perspectives.

But sometimes, it doesn’t work so well. Often, you get these generations butting heads against each other.

For example, the pandemic forced organisations to provide working from home for their office workers, and now many – especially older managers – are trying to drag their people back full-time into the office. But younger workers want to hold on to that flexibility. In fact, they have always wanted it, even before the pandemic. They don’t necessarily want to work from home all the time, but they also don’t want the drudgery of the Monday to Friday nine-to-five commute their parents endured.

Other things like rising costs of living and rising inflation create pressure at both ends of the generational scale.

For younger workers, facing high costs of living and high inflation, it’s more difficult to save for investments – for example, in the property market that created financial security for their bosses.

At the other end, many older workers who were planning to retire are being forced to delay their retirement because rising living costs. So, they stay at work for longer. That’s good for the organisation because it retains their wisdom and expertise. But it’s also bad for the organisation because it creates a bottleneck at the top, which hurts the career path for younger employees.

Younger people also care more about an organisation’s values, purpose, and ESG commitments. They holding their managers and organisation responsible for things like climate change, sustainability, diversity, and equity. If you don’t provide that, they will often choose to move.

I’m running an online prsentation soon about these challenges and other leadership issues for 2025. It’s free, public, and open to all. So register now, and invite other leaders in your team and network as well.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-bridging-the-gap

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How do you cope when employees, customers, and other stakeholders are more demanding than ever before? It's impossible to solve every problem, but you can partner with others - even outside your industry - to solve complex challenges and meet rising demands. Use cross-industry collaboration to unlock innovative solutions, share resources, and strengthen your organisation.

https://swiy.co/go-cross-industry-collaboration

How are you coping – and planning to cope – with our fast-changing world in 2025?

You don’t need a futurist to tell you our world is changing faster than ever before, and we’re going to face a lot more change, uncertainty, and disruption in the future.

We’re all experiencing this every day. But as a leader, how are you managing and navigating your team through that?

Leaders have a dual responsibility now. On one hand, you have to navigate this change and lead your team through it. And on the other hand, you must keep an eye on the future so you can take advantage of the opportunities that change brings.

The problem is people expect more.

Customers are more demanding. Our employees are more demanding. Other stakeholders are more demanding.

It’s not enough to simply try to pedal faster and faster to keep up. It’s tempting to try, but you will burn out. And even if you don’t, it’s impossible to keep up.

So, what can you do instead?

Instead of trying to solve all your problems internally, partner and collaborate with other organisations. It doesn’t even need to involve people within your industry. You just need people who can help you solve problems you’re not equipped to solve.

This idea is called cross-industry collaboration, and it’s rapidly gaining steam.

I’m sure you have seen examples of it aready – for example:

Woolworths partners with OzHarvest to provide surplus food to charities so that they don’t waste it. Telstra and the Royal Flying Doctor Service are collaborating to increase the number of telehealth services for people in regional areas. The National Australia Bank (NAB) is partnering with Good Shepherd Microfinance to provide small micro-loans to customers who NAB isn’t equipped to serve.

This idea of cross-industry collaboration is one of ten key trends I’ve identified for leaders in 2025. I’m running an online presentation soon about these trends.

I won’t cover them all, but instead will focus on three key trends: one about customers, one about employees, and the other focused on you as a leader.

This presentation is free and open to everybody. So please register and feel free to invite others in your team, especially leaders.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-cross-industry-collaboration

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The future of leadership is about navigating complexity with clarity and purpose. As technology reshapes industries and societal expectations evolve, leaders must foster human connection, champion transparency, and embrace adaptability. Success will come to those who prioritise learning, sustainability, and collaboration, creating workplaces where people thrive. In a time of uncertainty and rapid change, future-ready leaders will be those who inspire trust, foster innovation, and thrive in change.

https://swiy.co/go-10-trends-2025

Human-Machine Collaboration : Leaders must foster environments where technology amplifies human strengths, so AI serves as a trusted partner, working alongside humans for greater productivity and innovation. Sustainability : Customers and employees prioritise businesses that value sustainability, and leaders who authentically embrace sustainability initiatives will be rewarded, while those who don’t will be penalised. Cybersecurity : As cyber threats escalate, leaders across all areas and at levels are expected to champion a culture of vigilance and accountability in their teams. Transparent and Authentic Leadership : As the world becomes more digital and automated, customers and employees are demanding transparent, values-driven, and authentic leadership. Future-Ready Skills : Leaders must promote and endorse a spectrum of emerging skills, such as digital literacy, cognitive flexibility, creative thinking, and emotional intelligence. Continuous Learning : Leaders must cultivate a culture of learning where people can upskill, reskill, and even “un-learn” outdated practices - using AI, microlearning, and immersive technology. Cross-Industry Collaboration : In an interconnected world, organisations are investing in collaboration and partnerships to help them solve problems they can’t tackle alone. Employee Experience : In a competitive talent market, where employees expect more, organisations must provide empathetic leadership and dynamic work cultures that prioritise the individual’s journey. Workforce Demographics : With up to five generations working side by side, leaders must navigate diverse expectations, communication styles, and priorities. Crisis Leadership : Organisations everywhere are more vulnerable to external shocks, and leaders need to manage these shocks, balancing decisiveness with empathy and risk with opportunity. (BONUS) Quantum Computing : Quantum computing is still in its early stages, but its impact will be rapid and massive, and has the potential to revolutionise entire industries.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-10-trends-2025

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The world is changing faster than ever, and we need teams to be embracing change. But many people are slow to change, reluctant to change, or resistant to change. If that's true for your team, maybe YOU are the problem! Many leaders unintentionally say and do things that create a change-resistant culture. Recognise these words and actions, and replace them with a new mindset and behaviour that encourages change and adaptability.

https://swiy.co/go-maybe-youre-the-problem

Are you, as a leader, getting in the way of making progress for your team and maybe even for your organisation? You might be doing it unintentionally, but it still stops and slows down change.

In a recent online presentation about the future of AI, I asked people to share their biggest questions and challenges about AI. Some were about the future of AI and what’s ahead, but by far the biggest obstacle that many people are facing is slow adoption of AI at work.

They said things like:

“We’re blocked from using AI.”

“I feel like I’m the only one who’s interested in it.”

"It’s not part of our policy."

"It’s not your job.”

These are common frustrations - not only with AI, but with change in general.

The problem is, many leaders and managers are unintentionally saying things that stop or hold back change in their teams.

Have you ever said anything like this to your team members?

“It’s not part of your job.”

“We tried that once, but it didn’t work.”

“It’s against our policy.”

“Our customers won’t like it.”

When you say these things, it’s for a good reason: You want to protect your team, keep the organisation safe, ensure projects stay on track, and so on.

But you might also be creating a culture that resists change.

If someone comes to you with an idea and you say, “It’s not part of your job”, they might feel discouraged. They might try again and get a different objection. After a while, they will stop.

As a leader, it’s a tough balance to strike. On one hand, you have a responsibility to the organisation to stay on track, protect its reputation, and remain productive. On the other hand, you also have a responsbitiliy to create a culture of change. With so much change happening in the world, your team needs to be ready to embrace it.

So, how do you remove obstacles to change while still meeting goals, KPIs, and customer expectations?

Of course, I can tell you to just stop saying these things! But it’s not as easy as that. Instead, look for reasons why those things - while they might have been true in the past - might not be as appropriate now.

In other words, find objections to the objections.

To help you with this, download my worksheet about creating obstacles to change - and how to overcome them. It’s a useful and fun activity to use with your team to tackle these objections - even before you raise them.

This is especially useful right now, as many leaders are planning for the year ahead. As you plan for the future, don’t only think about strategies and goals. Also consider the behaviours you want to encourage in your team - and yourself!

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-maybe-youre-the-problem

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Do you feel like you're only person championing AI in your organisation? It can feel like an uphill battle, especially when you face restrictive policies and scepticism. The key is to respect existing boundaries but still find ways to use - and demonstrate - AI to create value through small, safe projects. Lead by example to inspire curiosity, build trust, and create a ripple effect.

https://swiy.co/go-flying-the-ai-flag

Do you sometimes feel like you’re the only person in your team - and maybe even your organisation - flying the flag for AI? It’s not easy, especially if others are not interested, actively pushing back, or even banning it.

This is one of the most common responses when I ask people about the biggest challenges they have with AI right now. They say things like:

“I love using it and there is lots we could do with it. But our organisation is just slow to catch on to new technologies.”

“Fear, lack of trust and lack of education make AI an uncomfortable space…. It’s like you are doing something wrong!”

“I feel like I’m fighting this battle alone. My team is not really interested in trying to use it.”

Do you feel the same way? Are you excited and eager to use AI more, but you’re constantly being blocked or banned?

The solution is to smart small.

First, of course, everything you do must be within your organisation’s AI policy. Don’t go outside those rules - that would be risky, unsafe, and potentially a career-limiting move!

But within those rules, there’s often still a lot you could do.

Ideally, everybody is moving fast to becoming an AI-driven organisation. But that kind of change takes time - a lot of time. But even if you’re not there yet, look for things you can do right now.

For example:

Use AI yourself for admin tasks like email, meetings, draft reports, and data analysis. Identify other AI champions in your team who can help and support each other. Engage your teams in running small-scale AI projects that create value just for the team.

Start small, set a good example for others, and demonstrate AI’s value in low-risk, highly visible ways. Over time, these small wins help to spread the message through your organisation.

I’ll be discussing this in my next online presentation coming up very soon - about AI in 2025 and beyond. It’s free, public, and open to everybody. Register now, and and share the link with your team and others in your organisation - especially those who are wary of AI now!

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-flying-the-ai-flag

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At what level are you using AI, and what’s your plan for using it next year and beyond?

Whenever I deliver my Leveraging AI keynote presentation at a conference, I always include an extra “hands-on” AI masterclass afterwards - run over Zoom within three months of the conference. The keynote gives them the big picture, and the masterclass shows them how to get immediate value from AI - whatever their role and familiarity with AI.

I always start these masterclasses by asking participants to rate - on a scale of 1 to 10 - how much they are using AI. Typically, the average is in the 4-6 range, with a few below or above those middle numbers.

When we dig a bit deeper, I find the main reason they don’t have a higher score is something like:

“I just don’t know how else to use it.”

That’s a reasonable response, especially for something as new as AI.

If you’re wondering the same thing, here’s a useful framework. Think of people in your team using AI at four levels: personal, professional, projects, and platform.

Level 1: Personal

Are you using AI in your personal life? Tools like ChatGPT can be incredibly useful, even for tasks unrelated to work. I suggest you encourage everybody on your team to exploring AI at home to help in their personal life.

Level 2: Professional

Next, use AI to enhance your professional role. This isn’t about your core job, but rather the surrounding tasks like managing emails, running meetings, or interacting with people. These tasks are essential but often time-consuming and stressful. AI can reduce the burden and make you more efficient and effective in your professional life.

Level 3: Projects

At this level, AI becomes a tool for your team. These are short-term projects - no more than three to four months - that deliver real value to the team without needing full organisational buy-in. For example, you could use AI to streamline a process or tackle a specific challenge. Of course, you do them within your organisation’s AI policy, but you can still do them independently.

Level 4: Platform

This is the highest level, where AI becomes integral to your organisation’s operations. Think of banks using AI to assess loan applications, insurers using it to calculate premiums, or HR departments designing personalised learning journeys for employees, or IT teams using AI to enhance cybersecurity. Initiatives at this level typically need a strategic decision at the organisational level, and it’s where you get the biggest overall benefits.

Broadly, those are the four levels: personal, professional, projects, and platform.

If you’re a senior leader responsible for a department, division, or the whole organisation, you might start thinking about AI at the platform level. But if you’re not, don’t wait until the organisation does something. Look at the other three levels. Encourage people to use it in their personal life first, then in their professional roles, and then create projects as a team.

If you want to know more, I’m running a free public online presentation soon about AI in 2025. This will help you use AI strategically and practically to solve business problems and achieve goals, including organisational and people goals. If you’re interested, register here and invite others in your team and network as well.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-scaling-ai

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Imagine giving every customer and employee the personal touch, even at scale. By analysing behaviours and preferences, AI lets you tailor experiences for customer journeys, learning paths, or timely interventions to re-engage people.

https://swiy.co/go-the-human-touch-amplified

For example, all four baristas at my local cafe know exactly what coffee I want because I’m a regular, and they don’t need to ask every time. With a few dozen regular customers or even a few hundred, they can remember the regaulrs and treat them personally.

But when you’re trying to scale that – with thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of customers – that’s not possible for humans to do just by themselves.

That’s where AI comes in. AI lets you personalise at scale.

For example, I regularly shop at Woolworths, and every week Woolies emails me my weekly specials. These are literally MY weekly specials because the email is crafted for me, based on my buying habits.

It’s very different from the old days when everybody got the same Woolies catalogue in the post because it wasn’t possible to personalise it for every single customer. But now it is, and AI enables it.

I recently delivered a keynote presentation to a large member association in Australia, who wanted me to talk about the future of member engagement. I shared some technology, trends, and innovations this association could use to improve, enhance, and deepen their engagement with their members.

We shared a number of ideas, but those that resonated the most were about personalisation. Here are three examples I shared:

1. Individual memberships

Instead of having a few groups of memberships – like student member, affiliate member, and full member – what if every member could completely personalise the services they wanted? The association would then only offer those services to that member, and it would be different for everybody. It’s like knowing every member’s coffee order and only giving them that every time.

2. Learning journeys

The association provides individual learning journeys for every member (and the same applies to you and your employees). After a member completes a learning module, AI reviews and assesses it, and suggests the next module for them - with the appropriate content, format, and time frame for that particular member.

3. Member engagement

AI could also monitor and assess member engagement with the association’s services. If it sees engagement waning, it first reaches out to the member with additional services (again, tailored to that member’s likely preferences). And if that fails, it alerts member engagement staff to intervene.

These three examples demonstrate personalisation at scale. It was the way the corner store worked in a small town, and the way a local coffee shop works now. We lost it as population expanded and companies grew. We’re getting it back now with AI.

Personalisation at scale is just one of the ways you can use AI to enhance experience. It applies to both your external customer experience (and part of your customer value proposition, or CVP) and your employee engagement (part of your employee value proposition, or EVP).

I’ll talk about this in my next public and free online presentation, which is all about AI in 2025 and beyond. This is a free public online presentation, so please register, and invite others as well.

https://swiy.co/go-the-human-touch-amplified

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As a leader, you're no stranger to disruption! But what if disruption didn’t just happen to you? What if you could actually create it? Constructive disruption is about being proactive, not reactive - making change happen before the world forces it on you. Discover the three essential habits for embracing this mindset, so you’ll be better equipped to navigate uncertainty and turn disruption into opportunity.

https://swiy.co/go-constructive-disruption

Would you like more disruption in your life? That might seem like a silly question, and you might be thinking you want less disruption, not more! But it depends on how you think about disruption.

I was in Adelaide last week, speaking to an association of leaders from large organisations around Australia. Their event theme was "constructive disruption", which I love because it turns the common idea of disruption on its head.

We often think of disruption as something that happens to us. But I often say disruption and innovation are the same thing: They are both about change, and the difference is that disruption happens when change happens to you, and innovation is when you create that change yourself. So, constructive disruption is about being proactive and creating disruption - or change - before the world forces you to change.

We have to expect more disruption, more change, more uncertainty, and more more chaos in the future. But we also have more opportunity - if we are willing to embrace constructive disruption.

There are three key things you can do - and these should become habits in your leadership journey.

Think ahead.

Reach out

Lean in.

1. Think Ahead

We need to think more about the future. The more senior you are, the more of your salary is being paid for you to think about the future. But that’s not easy because we often get bogged down in operational, day-to-day things. Those are important, but if that takes up all your time, who’s thinking about the future? Thinking ahead is about understanding what’s coming so you can make better decisions now.

2. Reach Out

In times of change and uncertainty, people re-evaluate their goals and desires, and often re-assess the "suppliers" who currently help them achieve those goals. Make sure everything you do is aligned with solving customer problems or helping them achieve their goals. If you’re not doing that, then you’re vulnerable to a competitor who will come along and do it better.

3. Lean In

You have a talented, diverse team with different skills and perspectives. Tap into their experience and expertise, which may extend beyond their job description. Lean in to your team, so you can access a wealth of insights that can help drive constructive disruption.

Those are the three keys to constructive disruption.

If you’re not doing them already, you can’t just snap your fingers and start disrupting from today. But you can start! And then make them habits in your leadership, in your team, and in your organisation.

AI, of course, is a big part of the future, and can help you with constructive disruption. I’m running a free public online presentation soon to help you understand how AI will affect you in 2025 and beyond. So, please register and invite other leaders in your team and network to join us.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-constructive-disruption

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AI is not just the latest tech trend; it's a fundamental shift in the way we work. As a leader, follow this three-step strategy for engaging with AI, integrating it into your workflows, and bringing your team on the journey.

https://swiy.co/go-unlocking-ai-in-2025

Do you know how you will be using AI in 2025?

Last week, I delivered the closing keynote presentation for the Local Government Professionals Association of Western Australia. I was talking about leveraging AI, which of course is a popular topic right now.

The presentation went well, and was well-received, but I want to highlight something that happened a few weeks earlier, as I was preparing for it.

As usual, I had a briefing call with the client and other people in the program committee to discuss what they want from me and to ensure my presentation aligns with their theme.

In the briefing call, I shared an example of some AI software I wanted to demonstrate at the conference. For this example, I used an example from one of the local government councils whose CEO was in the briefing call. Let’s call her Steph (because that’s her name).

The people in the briefing call liked my little demo and were happy for me to present it. But the reason I’m sharing this is because Steph took this a bit further.

A week later, she emailed me, saying she had

- tried the software herself,

- shared it with her Marketing and Comms team, and

- they are now planning on using it

I love that!

What Steph did, even though I didn’t say this to her, were exactly the three things I recommend for exploring everything new - and especially with AI.

Learn.

Share.

Act.

In brief:

1. When you first become aware of it, learn what it can do, what problems it can solve for you, and how it can add value.

2. Then share it with other relevant people in your team - partly because they have a stake in it and partly because they will bring different perspectives to it.

3. Finally, plan how you will act on it to integrate it into your workflows.

If you’re interested in more about this, join my next free online masterclass, "AI 2025", where I’ll help you put your plan in place for learning about AI, sharing AI with your team, and then integrating it in the work you do.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-unlocking-ai-in-2025

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You don’t need a futurist to tell you about all the external change happening in our world. And I’m sure you know that because of all this external change, you, your team, and your organisation also have to be open to change, embrace change, and even lead the change.

But change isn’t easy, and different people respond differently.

🙅 Some are resistant to change.

🚫 Some actively reject it.

😬 Some reluctantly take a few steps, then fall away.

It’s worse if your team is already overworked and overwhelmed. Even with the best of intentions, people get excited about a change initiative at first, but then fall back into their old ways.

So how do you start the change - and keep the change?

We address this in my leadership programs. Broadly, there are two parts to the program.

First, I show you how to look into the future and scan wider, so you understand more about what’s over the horizon and around the corner. That lets you make better-informed decisions about what to do now.

Second - and more importantly - I show you how to take those ideas back to your teams and foster a culture that encourages them to change.

And many leaders struggle with that second part.

The biggest mistake they make is to make change a big deal. When people hear about a new change initiative, they often get a sinking feeling of:

😒 “Here we go again”

🙄 “Just another thing that won’t make any difference”

📋 “Here’s something extra I need to add to my big to-do list”

😟 “I’m frightened by this change”

So, instead of making change such a big deal, start small. In fact, I often say (tongue in cheek!),

“If you want to be more successful, lower your standards”

Now, don’t get me wrong - I’m not suggesting we should have low standards!

But if you make the change initiative such a big deal, you’re setting yourself up to fail. If it succeeds, great! Or if your team culture loves change, wonderful! But most workplaces aren’t at that stage yet.

So, to build this culture of change, start small.

Here’s an example: Reverse mentoring.

Ask somebody more junior in your team to be your mentor (instead of the other way around). That’s “reverse mentoring”. You invite somebody to meet you for a coffee every week for, say, three months, and your job is to just listen and learn.

That’s already easy to do: You don’t need an organisation-wide mentoring program, you don’t need to announce it to everybody, and you don’t need anybody else’s permission.

But you can start even smaller, to make it even safer. When you invite the person, don’t talk about a three-month “mentoring program”; just ask them for a quick coffee meeting because you value their input. That way, you’re making a bigger commitment - unless you both want to, at the end of the meeting.

The key is to set the bar so low at first that it’s impossible to “fail“. You just keep trying things, keep what works, and ignore the rest.

For more ideas like this, download my worksheet about everyday innovation. These are all small things you can do to help build a culture of change agents. Choose one, try it, and if it works well, keep doing it. If it doesn’t, quietly stop doing it and try something else.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-small-steps-big-change

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Are you engaging your team in open and honest conversations about AI? There's no doubt AI is here to stay, and people have different opinions about it - from fear to excitement, and everywhere in between. Create a space for open conversations with your team about the the benefits, their concerns, and anything else. In this way, you're building a culture that's ready for change.

https://swiy.co/go-more-ai-conversations

I was in beautiful Brisbane last week to deliver the closing keynote presentation for an allied healthcare group, Healthia.

I was talking about the mix between people and technology, with my core message around “people first, technology second”. It was a pretty easy sell to Healthia because they’ve always made that part of their philosophy and mission. In fact, they’ve already started using AI in their organisation, rolling out tools that practitioners can use with their patients to improve clinical outcomes and make their work more efficient.

It’s great to see a forward-thinking organisation on the front foot about AI.

This is a larg group, so of course, people are at different levels of comfort with AI. Some are engaging actively with it, others are just starting to use it, and others haven’t started yet. This is true for any organisation and might be true for yours as well.

What I admire about Healthia and other organisations who are serious about AI adoption is they are starting to have conversations about AI. And I wonder: Is this true for you and your team?

Are you having open, transparent, and honest conversations about AI?

I know other organisations with big plans to launch AI projects, so they are holding back from AI conversations with their team. They are waiting to get everything right in terms of policy, governance, software and infrastructure first.

This can work, and it is important to get things right with any AI projects. But that doesn’t mean you can’t start conversation about AI! The risk is that, in the meantime, your team are already hearing about AI, using it at home, and maybe even using it secretly at work. You lose control of the conversation, which makes it much more difficult when you eventually roll out your AI projects.

Unfortunately, most of the public perception of AI - driven by the media - is negative. So, some of your people might think AI will take their jobs, or worry about having to learn new technology, or think they will fall behind.

On the other hand, if you start having conversations about AI now, you help to create an environment where they see AI as a tool rather than a threat.

So, what are you doing to have conversations with your people about AI?

For help with these conversations, download my worksheet of questions and discussion points for open conversations with your team.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-more-ai-conversations

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As a leader, you must focus on the right priorities as we move towards 2025. There are many internal issues - like flexible work, diversity, and AI - but the most important focus should be external - on your customers.

https://swiy.co/go-future-focus

Are you focusing on the right things when you’re thinking about your work and workplace in the year ahead?

I was reflecting on three conversations I had with clients and audience members last week - one in the insurance sector, one in mining and resources, and the third in a large state government department. In all of those conversations, people asked me essentially the same question:

What’s the most important thing we should be thinking about when planning for 2025?

If you’ve been following me, you know I have many answers to that, including flexible work, more diversity to tackle complex problems, and of course AI. These ARE important, of course, but they are also all issues you’re facing internally.

The one thing that trumps them all is to focus on your customer. Think external first! Whether you call them customers, clients, members, patients, or constituents, it doesn’t matter.

Always keep asking: What problems are we solving for them now and in the future?

This has two components:

1. Be sure your customers, and their problems and goals, right now.

2. Understand the needs of your future customers.

As a leader, you have this two-fold responsibility: to keep your team focussed on what your customers need right now, and also understand what’s coming up over the horizon and around the corner.

You might think you do really understand your customers because of your experience, long-term connections, and strong loyalty. But it’s also easy to get so caught up in internal things that you forget about your customers. Maybe you were solving their problems in the past, but if they have drifted or you have drifted, you might not be as closely aligned anymore.

This is one of the four pillars of the future of work: What I call “Assess”. This is about assessing future trends, knowing what they mean for your customers, and adapting your work to match.

I’m running a free public online presentation about the future of work very soon. It’s open to everybody, particularly leaders who want to understand how to be fit for the future, especially in 2025 and beyond. I’ll share some ideas around each of these four pillars, and also give you practical things you can do right now in each area. It’s open to everybody, so please register and invite others to join as well.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-future-focus

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Good leaders provide ongoing professional development to their team members, but you can go one step further: The BEST leaders empower their employees to lead their own development. Give them the resources and trust to pursue personal and professional growth, and you not only create better employees – you help them become better people.

https://swiy.co/go-employee-led-development

What are you doing to really engage the people in your team?

Last week, I delivered a keynote presentation for one of my favourite clients. They have engaged me before, and this time, they asked me to deliver my “Fit for the Future” presentation to their employees. And the brief wasn’t about how to be fit for the future in the workplace, but for them as individuals to be fit for the future.

It’s a great group of people, and I like working with this client. But this time, I enjoyed it even more - for two reasons.

First, this company recognises the importance of having happy, contented, and satisfied employees, not only in their work but in their personal lives as well. They’re willing to invest money, time, and other resources for people to become better people, not just better employees.

Second, it wasn’t the senior leaders or managers who engaged me for this presentation; it was the employees themselves. This company encourages their team members and employees to create networks of their own around areas of common interest, and they provide resources for these networks to help them with professional development in those areas.

I like both of those things: the fact that the company values their employees and that they have empowered their employees to find the professional development that’s most valuable for them.

Especially now, when there’s a war for talent and many employers are wondering how to attract and keep the best people, this is one of the best things you can do. Empower your employees, and trust they will do the right thing by themselves and by the organisation.

If you’d like to know more about this, I’m running an online presentation very soon about the future of work. This idea about attracting the best people is one of the four pillars to the future of work. This presentation is free, public, and it’s open to everybody. So please register, and share the link with others in your network as well.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-employee-led-development

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There's been a lot of news recently about leaders of large organisations in Australia forcing their teams to return to the traditional office full-time. But that's a sure-fire way to limit both your talent pool and your competitive advantage. The future of work is no longer confined by geography or the traditional nine-to-five model.

https://swiy.co/go-teams-without-boundaries

If you're a leader, what do you think your future team will look like?

I've seen a lot of headlines recently - and you might have seen them as well - from CEOs of large organisations around Australia insisting that all their people who were previously office-based must now come back to the office full-time.

They acknowledge that during the pandemic, office workers had to work from home, and now many organisations have hybrid work or other flexible arrangements. But for these leaders, the message is clear: Their best and only way to collaborate and build their team culture is to have everybody working full-time in the office, five days a week - the way it used to be.

This narrow way of thinking limits your future.

If you think the team of the future is going to look just like the team of the past, where the best employees happen to live within commuting distance of your office, you're wrong! You're limiting your talent pool, you're less attractive to the best employees, and more progressive competitors will have a competitive edge.

Compare this to libraries. In the past, libraries were known for being quiet spaces - in fact, that was one of their key characteristics. And that made sense, because they were one of the few places where you had access to information, knowledge, and reference material. So it made sense to provide an environment to help people absorb that information.

But we now have many, many other ways to find, access, and absorb information. And, to their credit, libraries have evolved. My local library is now more of a community hub, catering for people talking on the phone, students working in groups, noisy community activities, and even loud young children. And if you still want that quiet space, they even provide free earplugs!

As a library member, I don’t even have to visit the library anymore. My membership gives me access to a large collection of e-books, streaming movie services, and more.

If you're a leader, take a leaf out of their, err ... book.

Two hundred years ago, the office WAS the best workplace for knowledge workers. But we no longer need offices to access files, use secretarial services, connect with others, and even use computers.

The team of the future is very different from the team of the past. And this applies to all workplaces, not just knowledge workers and offices.

This idea is one of the four pillars of the future of work. I’m running a free public online presentation soon about this, where I'll share these four pillars and give you practical steps to take right now to support your team and your leadership journey. It’s free to register, and you're welcome to invite other leaders in your team and network, too.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-teams-without-boundaries

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To be a future-ready leader, it’s useful to foresee coming trends, changes, and challenges. But it’s just as important to bring your team along on the change journey. It’s not enough to predict the future; you also need to create an environment where your people are open, willing, and excited to innovate and adapt.

https://swiy.co/go-leadership-2025

I do a lot of work with leaders, teams, and organisations across many sectors – recently with primary school principals, people in the mining industry, healthcare leaders looking to embrace digital innovations, and people in the public sector.

Everybody, of course, has their own journey, but they also share many common challenges and opportunities.

As a futurist, I help them in two areas.

First, as a leader, it’s useful to understand what’s coming up in the future – to see over the horizon and around the corner – so you can make better, more well-informed, decisions now.

Second, and equally important, you need to bring your team along on that change journey. It’s one thing to know what’s coming, up but if your team can’t – or won’t – change, that knowledge is useless.

We live in a time of constant change, and we need teams who are not just open to change but also willing to embrace and lead the change. That means actively building that culture, not just hoping it will happen by itself.

You take for granted that you get instant hot water in your home when you turn on the tap. But that happens only because of the pipes, plumbing, and other infrastructure behind the scenes.

So, should you prioritise knowing what’s coming up in the future, or should you prioritise bringing your team along on the journey?

The answer is Yes! Both are equally important. And when I work with leaders to help them be future-ready leaders, we talk about both aspects. Whatever you do in thinking and planning for the future, make sure you also invest time in bringing your people on that change journey.

And that means building that culture of change before you need it. So, when you do need to make a big change, people are ready.

I’m running a free public online presentation soon about the future of work. I’ll share the four key elements of the future of work for 2025 and beyond.

I’ll give you some strategic ideas in each area, and I’ll also share some practical, specific, tactical things you can do right now to help bring your people along on that journey. Join me for this presentation, and please invite others in your team and network.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-leadership-2025

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Imagine being able to turn your documents into engaging, podcast-like discussions. You can upload any text, from company reports to study notes, and in just a few clicks, it creates a realistic conversation between two AI personas discussing the content. It’s like having an instant expert breakdown of complex information, making it easier to digest.

Let's talk about an amazing AI tool with a wide range of applications at work, home, in a classroom, and elsewhere.

The idea starts with digital notebooks, which you might be using already for collecting information. We're talking about things like Evernote, Notion, the Notes app on iPhones, and OneNote in Microsoft products. These have been available for years, and recently most have enhanced it with AI - such as being able to summarise documents and even "chat" with them.

Google's offering in this area, Google NotebookLM, is similar. As with the other tools, you upload documents into collections for easy organisation, searching, and those basic AI tools like chatting and summarising.

But NotebookLM has a new jaw-dropping feature: creating podcast-like interviews from your material.

You upload a collection of documents into a notebook, press a button, and it automatically creates a two-person conversation about the documents.

These are not just robotic, AI-sounding voices either. It’s an incredibly realistic and conversational experience, and if you didn't know it was AI, you wouldn't guess it.

How could you use this? Here are some examples:

📊 You could upload a company's annual report to find out more about it.

🧐 For understanding a complex report, you upload it and listen to a conversation about it.

🗳️ For a complex and nuanced political issue like last year's Voice referendum, you could upload the Australian Constitution and various arguments for and against the proposal.

📚 Students could upload information about a topic they are studying.

📝 I uploaded all my blog posts about AI over the last two years, and the AI-generated conversation was impressively well-structured and organised.

It’s fascinating and opens up so many possibilities, whether you need to summarise complex documents for work, help your kids with their schoolwork, or just want a new way to consume information.

As an example for you, I uploaded my book "Disruption by Design" and - within minutes - had a full 15-minute podcast conversation about it. Listen to it here.

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As a leader, you’re responsible not only for managing now but also planning for the future. But it’s not always easy to find the time to look ahead. Scenario planning helps you navigate the uncertainties of the future with clarity and confidence. Youj can’t have certainty, but knowing what’s over the horizon helps you make better-informed decisions now.

https://swiy.co/go-over-the-horizon

Over the last few weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of running my Future Scenarios program for two groups of leaders in large organisations. In the program, we spent time exploring the future so they can gain a better understanding of what’s around the corner and over the horizon. This allows them to take that insight back to their teams, integrating it into their planning and helping them navigate through that fast-changing and uncertain future.

Now, obviously, they won’t have certainty about the future – nobody does! But they can act with more clarity and confidence, which helps them make better decisions now.

I love facilitating these programs, because the leaders who attend don’t often have the time to do this kind of thinking. They should, but it’s not easy.

If you’re a leader, part of your role is to be able to see into the future. In fact, the more senior you are, the more you’re expected to understand and plan for the future. But there are so many other demands on your time, with operational responsibilities, putting out fires, managing people, and everything else that fills up your day!

It’s not easy to carve out time for future planning. But it’s essential!

Here are some of the questions you should consider:

Do you know what your future customer will look like? Do you understand the customer journey they will take? Do you understand the external pressures and trends that will affect your organisation? Do you understand the external pressures and trends that will affect your entire industry or sector? Do you have a way to monitor those trends and pressures? Are you tapping into the skills and diverse thinking of everybody in ytour team? Do you involve them all in this kind of scenario planning? Is this a regular practice, or something that gets pushed aside and forgotten because of other priorities?

These are the questions leaders need to ask if they want to be able to see into the future.

To assess your current capability, complete this free online assessment. It only takes five minutes, and it’s worth doing – both for yourself and your team. It will give you a clearer idea of how well you’re planning for the future.

Do the self-assessment quiz:

https://swiy.co/go-over-the-horizon

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When building AI capability in your workplace, you can find many ways for it to help you personally as a leader – in improving your decision-making, boosting productivity, and helping you lead more effectively. It’s equally important to help your team leverage AI – by sharing your knowledge, providing resources, and empowering them to harness it in their professional (and even personal) lives.

https://swiy.co/go-ai-selfish-generous

Should you be selfish or generous when it comes to using AI in your workplace? My answer might surprise you.

I recently conducted my two-day Future Scenarios program for a group of 25 leaders from various departments in a large organisation. The goal was for them to build their strategic foresight, so they can anticipate changes, plan for them, and build a culture of change agents.

At the start of all my programs, I say to the participants:

“In this program, I want you to be selfish and generous.”

I say selfish because I want them to focus on outcomes that will make a difference for them walk out at the end of the program. It’s important they get as much value as they can in those two days so they can make meaningful change in their workplace.

At the same time, I also encourage them to be generous towards others during the two days. I create many opportunities for them to share, collaborate, network, and ask and answer questions during the program. By being generous with their time and expertise, everybody benefits more.

The same applies to AI in your workplace: Be selfish and generous.

Be selfish in learning as much as you can about AI – for your own use. Use it to improve your productivity, make better decisions, and be a more effective leader. AI is here to stay, so make the most of it for yourself, both at work and in your personal life.

And when it comes to your team, be generous in helping them get value from it, too. Give them the resources, support, and opportunities to build their own AI capability. This is not only for their benefit, but for yours, too.

So, should you be selfish or generous with AI? The answer is both. Be selfish to advance yourself, and be generous to your team.

For more, join my online presentation soon about bringing your people along on the AI journey. It’s free, public, and open to all.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-ai-selfish-generous

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Unfortunately, most of the media stories about AI are negative, and if that’s all somebody sees, it's not surprising they might be hesitant, reluctant, or even scared of using AI at work. And that's a problem for you if you're a leader who wants to use AI effectively in your teams. There's one key thing you can do to overcome this fear - and it doesn't take much.

https://swiy.co/go-overcoming-fear-of-ai

I’ve noticed a change in the last year in the attitude of leaders to AI. A year ago, many leaders were yet to be convinced about the value of AI. They were saying things like:

“I’ll wait and see.”

“I’m not quite sure what value it brings.”

“I’ve got too many other things on my plate now.”

It wasn’t true of everyone, of course. Many leaders and managers saw its potential and were keen to use it - but many didn’t. In fact, some of their team members were more excited and enthusiastic about it, and were trying to drag the rest of the team, including their boss, along into this AI future.

But now I’ve noticed most leaders are convinced of the value of AI. Now it’s about using AI effectively so it generates value - in improving productivity, enhancing the customer experience, and helping you and your team make better decisions.

But are there still people on your team who are dragging their feet? They’re not yet convinced, they don’t see its value, and they might even be scared by it.

If everything they hear about AI is what they hear through the media, unfortunately, most of that is negative. They hear stories about how AI will destroy jobs, how it will disrupt whole industries, and how it will slash wages because people aren’t going to be as valuable in the future. And if that’s all they hear, it’s not surprising they’re scared!

Unless you engage their minds - and hearts - your AI efforts will fail.

So how do you get them on board?

There’s one key thing that will help you bring people on the AI journey. I’ll explain ...

You might be convinced of its value. But some people are fearful. To bridge that gap, a simple thing you can do is to help people actually use AI themselves.

Many people have still never actually used AI, even though ChatGPT has been available (free!) for almost two years. So they have no practical experience with using it to create real value.

Fortunately, this is easy to fix: Give them the basic skills to start using AI themselves - to get quick wins.

Even if this is only in their personal life - like writing a wedding speech, planning a holiday to Italy, or generating ideas for a child’s birthday party - it doesn’t take much for people to start seeing AI in a more positive light.

The more they see examples of AI creating value - for them - the less they’re likely to be influenced by all the negative stories.

So, if you want to create value from AI and bring your people on the journey, educate them - by showing them how to get value from it themselves.

For more, join my coming presentation about people-powered AI. It’s free and open to all, so register and share it with other leaders in your team and network.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-overcoming-fear-of-ai

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What decisions are you making with AI? It's a powerful tool for enhancing your decision-making process, leading to more informed, accurate, and effective outcomes. It’s not about AI replacing your human judgment but augmenting and informing it, so you can make better choices to shape your future.

https://swiy.co/go-ai-better-decisions

What decisions are you making with AI? I don’t mean decisions about whether or not to use AI. Instead, think about how you’re using AI to improve and enhance your decision-making process.

This is one of the three big areas where almost everyone can use AI to elevate their work:

1. Boosting productivity

2. Enhancing the customer or client experience

3. Making better decisions, faster

I spoke recently at a conference for OpenText in Melbourne, where they invited many of their customers and wider network to share some important conversations about AI.

OpenText is an IT company, highly tech-oriented, and they do a lot of work in AI. But I was so pleased to hear everybody talking about putting people first and AI second. My keynote presentation emphasised this, the senior leaders at OpenText discussed it, the panelists echoed it, and even the customer representatives touched on it.

This is especially important with decision-making. You don’t want AI to make decisions for you, but AI can help, augment, and inform your decisions.

Of course, there are some areas where AI will make all the decisions – such as fully self-driving cars, where eventually these cars will have no steering wheel or brakes! But for most of what we’re using AI for – especially now – use it to augment and assist your decision-making process.

The technology is there to support the people. And it’s about people and AI working better together.

If you’d like to explore this further, I’m running an online presentation soon about people-powered AI, especially in the workplace. Please register, and feel free to share it with others in your team and network.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-ai-better-decisions

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How much should you integrate AI into your workplace? One company went too far, and faced a backlash from employees - and everybody else who heard the story. It's important to treat as a tool to help people. It must be about people first, technology second.

https://swiy.co/go-human-or-machine

How much should you integrate AI into your workplace? AI is a powerful tool, but one company went too far with it.

The company – a sofware company called Lattice – decided to embrace AI (good!) in their work. But they went too far and announced they were creating “digital employees” (bad!). These AI-based “employees” would have managers, performance metrics, a place in the organisational chart, and so on.

You might see where this is heading ... !

Predictably, there was a backlash from employees. They were upset, not because AI was being elevated to the same level as humans, but because people might end up being treated like AI – just a “resource” to be plugged in, pushed around, and valued only for their productivity output.

Faced with this backlash, the company backed down and said they are putting the idea of digital employees on the back burner. Personally, I think they’re setting fire to it and never touching it again!

This story has an important lesson for all leaders.

Most leaders aren’t elevating AI to the level of people, but they don’t always know exactly how AI will fit into their team. The answer will be different for everybody, but start with this principle:

People first, technology second.

This has always been true with any technology integration or digital transformation – AI just happens to be the big hot topic now.

Many leaders and organisations are thinking about AI now, and in my opinion they are focussing too much on the technology and not enough on the people.

If you want this to work, you must bring your people on that journey. And that means treating AI as a tool to serve people.

If you get it right, it makes the journey so much better – for you, for everybody in your team, and for your organisation. But if you get it wrong, it can go very badly wrong – as it did with Lattice.

For more about bringing your people on the AI journey, join my online presentation soon about people-powered AI. It’s free, public, and open to everybody.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-human-or-machine

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In today's fast-paced world, you can't just keep pushing your team to change unless you create the space for them to adapt, change, and innovate. Unless you do this, even the people who want to change will get frustrated that they keep bumping into obstacles.

https://swiy.co/go-create-space-for-change

I’ve been doing a lot of work with leaders recently about building their AI capability because, of course, many leaders and teams recognise AI is an important change they need to embrace. Of course, AI is not the only big change now, and many other external changes are affecting everybody - in their professional and personal lives.

You might want your team to change - and change faster - but you might be making it difficult for them. If you don’t create the space for your people to change, it’s very difficult for them.

It’s like them running as fast as they can in a narrow tunnel, and you’re yelling at them to change direction, but they can’t. Even if they want to, they don’t have the space to change.

How do you create space for change and innovation?

You must give them three things:

Permission: They need to know change is allowed, encouraged, and even something to embrace. Focus: You give them some direction, so they can channel their energy into creating value, which motivates them now and motivates them even more when the change succeeds. Time: Most people are running as fast as they can now - and still falling behind - they can’t even think about anything new.

Those three things – permission, focus, and time – work together to create space for change in your team.

For specific activities, in these three areas, download my worksheet, which will give you 15 ways to create space for change. You won’t use them all, but I’m sure you will find a few that will work for you and your team.

And if you’d like me to help you build that culture of change in your team, especially in this fast-changing world, I’d love to have a chat!

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-create-space-for-change

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Change can be challenging, especially with a resistant team. As a leader, you can help your team embrace change through simple, low-risk strategies that gradually make a difference over time. Start small and watch your team's mindset shift gradually.

https://swiy.co/go-navigating-resistance

Is your team resistant to change or more open to embracing it? There’s a lot of change in the world outside, and if your team is resistant or slow to change, it’s difficult to navigate those external changes.

This question came up recently when I was speaking at a senior leaders forum. We were discussing what it takes to be a future-ready leader, and a participant asked me about change. She has inherited a team that is resistant to change, and it’s been difficult for her to get them to think and act differently. She asked me for help.

I told her there’s bad news and good news!

The bad news is you can’t just snap your fingers and expect everything to change overnight. But the good news is that you can facilitate that change in a low-risk way by taking small steps that get people to change their mindset.

One of the examples I gave her is an activity I call “Teach Me”, where a team member volunteers to teach something simple to the rest of the team. For example, at your regular staff meetings, you could set aside 5-10 minutes for this activity.

What they teach could be from their professional role – such as:

designing a better PowerPoint slide learning how to spot fake emails starting a difficult conversation with a colleague

Or it could be something from their personal life – such as:

making an origami crane learning a magic trick they can show to friends and family understanding nutritional labels on food packaging

What they teach isn’t important! Your goal is to get everyone in the team learning something new. Learning is about change, especially if they can actually do the activity during the session. For example, if someone teaches a magic trick, have everyone try it out right there.

Could you use “Teach Me” with your team? If so, great! Go ahead and try it.

For more ideas, download my worksheet with twelve activities you might consider for your team. You won’t use them all, but you might find a few that resonate.

Don’t make a big deal of these activities when you introduce them. You DON’T start by saying "We need to be more change-ready" or "We need to be more open to change". Instead, just do it! If you find an activity doesn’t work, just move on and try another. These are all low risk, but with potential high return.

If you’d like to find out how we can work together to help your team be more future-ready and open to change, I’d love to chat!

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-navigating-resistance

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Some people are surprised when AI tools like ChatGPT fabricate facts and information. But the problem isn't that AI can "make up" stuff; it's that people don't realise that's possible. When you understand this, you can blend human intelligence and machine creativity to get better results.

https://swiy.co/go-creative-ai

I was running an AI workshop last week with a business, demonstrating how to use ChatGPT and other AI tools.

Some people in the room were surprised (shocked, even!) to discover that ChatGPT sometimes completely makes up information. I explained that’s why you always need to double-check and triple-check its facts.

But some people think that’s a fault in the AI. Surely (they said) if it doesn’t know the answer, it’s better to say that rather than giving a false answer!

That might be true, but there are some times when you want AI to "make things up". For example, if you’re:

- an author asking AI to help you continue the action in a chapter

- a screenwriter writing a screenplay asking AI to help with stage directions

- an artists asking AI to crete an image that’s never been created before

But it’s not only in the creative industries.

In any organisation, sometimes you want to be more creative, and AI can help. For example:

- You’re sending an email newsletter to your clients, and you want a creative subject line that encourages people to open the email.

- You’re creating a new product, and you want a creative name for the product.

- You’re doing your strategic planning, and you ask AI to act like a time traveller from 2040 looking back at now and describing the future.

The problem isn’t that AI "makes things up". The problem is that people don’t realise it!

Sometimes you want it to be completely fact-based, sometimes you want it to be creative, and sometimes it’s somewhere in the middle.

These AI tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity are just tools. And like other tools, we use them for a particular purpose, but always with our human intelligence.

That’s why education is such an important part of building your AI capability.

It’s about humans and machines working together, which means people need a basic understanding of what AI tools can do. Again, just like any other tool, if you don’t know how to use it, you’ll use it badly!

If you’re a leader or a manager, come along to my next online presentation, which is all about putting AI into action. I’ll talk about the three levels of building your AI capability - and the first of these is giving your people this basic understanding of the potential of AI.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-creative-ai

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AI is already here, but many organisations are holding back to ensure safe, ethical, and responsible use. That's fair enough, but what are you doing in the meantime to get your people comfortable, confident, and optimistic about using it? Be proactive, so your people are ready when you're ready.

https://swiy.co/go-ai-early-adoption

Many organisations are holding back on letting their people loose on AI – and sometimes for good reasons. They want their people to use it, but are still planning on how they can use it safely, ethically, and responsibly.

Fair enough.

But are you getting your people ready for that point?

Let's contrast two healthcare companies.

Company A is building their AI policy and strategy before they let their employees start using it. Healthcare is highly regulated, so they need to be careful about it. Also, so much healthcare technology and infrastructure is outdated, so it’s not as simple as just flicking a switch and turning AI on. So they are telling their people to wait.

Company B is in a similar situation. They’re also going through the same process to get ready for using AI, but they’re doing something extra: They are investing in some basic AI training for all their people, to encourage them to start using AI even before the organisation is ready.

Of course, they are warning people not to use AI on confidential and private information (such as patient data!). But they are encouraging them to learn how to use AI for other things – such as:

* planning a six-year-old’s birthday party

* finding out more about a travel destination

* having a difficult conversation with a manager

* (for a manager) having a difficult conversation with a team member

Both approaches can work, but Company B’s approach is better. When the organisation is ready for AI, their people are also ready – and with a positive attitude.

Unfortunately, most of the media news about AI is negative: AI is going to destroy jobs, destroy humanity, it’s bad for education, and so on. By the time Company A shows their how to use AI professionally, they might be fighting an uphill battle. But Company B is helping people add value to their own lives and get ready for AI.

So, what are YOU doing to get your people ready for AI?

Are you doing basic education to get people to that base level?

I’m always surprised when I run presentations for clients and their general staff about using AI that many people still have never used a tool like ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot.

They don’t know what they don’t know.

And they don’t know what’s possible.

Imagine if you’d never used Google and were still doing all your research at the library. Then somebody showed you Google – it would be mind-blowing!

Many people find the same with AI. There are AI tools at their fingertips, but they’ve never used them because they didn’t realise what was possible.

I’m running a free public online presentation soon about putting AI into action. I’ll talk about three ways you as a leader and an organisation can do that, and one of them is to get this base level of awareness. If you’re interested, register and invite other leaders in your team as well.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-ai-early-adoption

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If you're not already using AI actively in your team, it's time to take the leap. Don't wait until you have the perfect strategy and policy. Take small steps now to get quick wins, then move to small-scale projects, and eventually tackle the big initiatives.

https://swiy.co/go-take-the-leap

I was in Sydney last week, speaking at an international conference about thinking like a futurist.

Of course, the topic of AI came up, as it always does. After my presentation, one of the attendees asked me,

"In terms of AI globally, how ready is Australia for AI? How advanced are we as a country?"

There are two parts to the answer.

The first is that, on a global scale, we're not really doing that well. One report puts Australia at #31 in AI readiness - behind Malaysia, Cyprus, Bulgaria, and Belarus.

But the second part is that this doesn’t really matter! Instead of asking how ready Australia is for AI, a better question is,

"How ready are YOU for AI?"

For most organisations, our national readiness for AI isn't relevant. We're ready enough as a country. The real question is, what are YOU doing in your team or organisation to be ready for AI? Most of the practical things you can do with AI, you can start right now.

There are three ways to take the leap:

1. Quick wins you can achieve immediately

2. Small-scale projects you can implement in a few months

3. Bigger projects that need more dedicated time and resources

So, how ready are you for AI?

For more, join my free public online presentation where we'll be looking at putting AI into action at these three levels. You'll find the link to register here, and please invite others in your team and network.

And if you’d like to talk about putting these ideas into action, I'd love to have a conversation with you as well.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-take-the-leap

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There are two quick and easy ways to get value from AI: boosting your productivity and enhancing your creativity. AI can efficiently handle repetitive tasks, freeing up time for more strategic work. It can also spark creativity by giving you more ideas for you to choose from.

https://swiy.co/go-fast-and-loose

Are you playing fast and loose with AI?

Whenever somebody engages me to speak at their conference about AI, I also include in the presentation package a follow-up online session that shows them how to use AI in a practical way. So they get the high-level strategies at the conference and the practical tools and techniques in this follow-up online session.

At one of those recent follow-up sessions, we had covered many practical examples of using AI. Towards the end, one of the participants asked me,

“What are the top two things that you use AI for in your business? What are the must-haves that give you the biggest leverage and value?”

I said,

“AI helps me in two big areas: productivity and creativity.”

This is what I mean by “fast and loose”.

Your first big gain is in your productivity. AI helps with the heavy lifting in many repetitive tasks throughout your day. Regardless of your job or role, AI can boost your productivity and help you get things done faster.

The second benefit is creativity. Some people think AI can’t be creative, but that’s simply not true. Tools like ChatGPT can be more creative than I in many situations.

For example, do you need

- titles for a blog post?

- ideas for having a difficult conversation with a team member?

- innovative methods to meet a challenging goal?

Ask ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, or your AI tool of choice for help, and it will give you many things you wouldn’t have considered.

You still need to apply your human intelligence to these suggestions, but AI often helps loosen up your thinking and provides new ideas, enhancing your creativity.

So, be “fast and loose” with AI: fast for productivity and loose for creativity.

Consider these benefits for yourself as a leader and for your team and organisation.

For more ideas, join my next online presentation about putting AI into action in your team. I’ll share ideas about using AI to be more productive, more creative, and to enhance your customer experience.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-fast-and-loose

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As a leader, how are you going with creating change in your team and in your organisation? I've been thinking about change a lot recently because I've been working with many leaders and managers, particularly in the AI space. AI has created a lot of external change, and many teams and leaders are looking at how to build their AI capability. I always say to them,

"It's about people first and technology second. You can have all the technology in the world, but unless you get your people on board and build a culture where people are open to change, it's impossible to build that AI capability."

The same applies to any other kind of change.

I was running a workshop last week with a group of leaders - the executive team and their senior leaders - about building a culture of change. This wasn't specifically about AI, but rather about building a culture of change in their organisation.

Many people don't think they are the obstacles to change, but they might be, often unintentionally. There are things they say that contribute to a culture that suppresses change and diminishes innovation, and they don't even realise they're doing it.

For example ...

As a leader or manager, have you ever said any of these things when somebody suggest an idea?

"We tried that once, but it didn't work."

"That's not part of your job."

"Our customers won't like it."

"Senior management won't like it."

"Where's the business case for this?"

All of these things might be legitimate, and as a leader or a manager, it's part of your responsibility to consider them.

But every time you say that, the other person hears, "Yes, but".

"Yes, but ... we tried it once, and it didn't work."

"Yes, but ... it's not part of your job."

"Yes, but ... blah blah blah blah blah."

In other words, you're immediately creating an obstacle.

The next time, they might try again, and get another "yes, but".

If they're persistent, they might try again, and get another "yes, but".

And then they give up.

If you keep doing it, that spreads through the whole team, and becomes part of your culture.

"Yes, but" can be one of the biggest obstacles to change in your team.

The good news is you can turn this around.

Using "yes, but" itself!

Here's how.

Imagine a situation where somebody suggests an idea, and you're tempted to reply (for example):

"We tried that once and it didn't work."

Now, say "yes, but" - but to the objection, not the idea.

For example,

"Yes, but that's when we were a much smaller organisation."

"Yes, but that's before the regulations changed."

"Yes, but that's when we had a more risk-averse management."

"Yes, but that's before we had external investors from outside."

See how this works? You find as many reasons as possible why that objection might no longer be valid.

Try this now. You don't have to wait for it to actually happen. Think about the times when you've said "Yes, but" and do this exercise to find objections to the objection.

The next time you're tempted to immediately object to an idea, you'll be a bit more open to change.

Try this yourself by downloading my worksheet about removing obstacles to change. You'll see the ten most common obstacles to change, and you can do this exercise in your head. Download it, share it with other leaders in your team, and maybe even share it with your team members.

And if you'd like me to help you build a culture of change in your team, I'd love to have a chat.

https://swiy.co/go-yes-but

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AI champions are the new leaders in today's digital world. Find them, support them, and give them the right tools and resources to help them lead and transform how we work.

https://swiy.co/go-your-ai-champions

I was in Melbourne recently, speaking at a conference of executive assistants and personal assistants about embracing the digital revolution. When my client booked me last year, it was very much about all things digital - and now AI has taken centre stage.

Whenever I speak to leadership groups, I ask them,

"Who are the AI champions in your team?"

In other words, who are the people who are keen, enthusiastic, excited about AI, and can lead AI in their team?

But for this group of EAs and PAs, it's slightly different. For this group, I said to them,

"I want YOU to be the AI champions in your team."

Executive assistants and personal assistants are digitally savvy already. They are very good with technology, and many of the quick wins with AI come from boosting productivity with emails, spreadsheets, presentations, and managing calendars – all the things they do daily.

They are also perfectly placed to assess and refine the use of AI in these tasks – for example:

* They know what good writing looks like, so they can spot and correct weird AI output.

* They know how to write in a specific style and tone.

* They know how to extract and summarise long reports and emails, so they can evaluate how well AI does those tasks.

So, when they start using AI, they'll get quick productivity gains and also become the go-to person around AI.

What about you?

Are you someone in a team who'd like to be an AI champion, or are you a leader looking for AI champions in your team?

Either way, to fast-track your AI progress, identify and support those AI champions.

Download my worksheet about AI champions, which shows you how to identify and support them.

If you want to be an AI champion, use this checklist to promote yourself as an AI champion for your team. And if you are a leader looking for AI champions, use it to identify and support them on their journey.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-your-ai-champions

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To drive innovation and build AI skills, find and support AI champions in your team. These enthusiastic team members are already using AI themselves, can teach and inspire others, and will lead the way in building your AI capability. Your job is to identify them, support them, and remove obstacles in their way.

https://swiy.co/go-championing-ai

Who are the AI champions in your team and in your organisation? The best way to build AI capability in your organisation is to identify AI champions who will lead your AI initiatives.

Whenever clients engage me for an AI keynote presentation at their conference, I also include in the presentation package an online "AI At Work" masterclass for all their staff to help them understand more about using AI. Many people still haven't used tools like ChatGPT, so this gives them a basic understanding of what's possible.

I was running this masterclass recently for one of my clients. It was an interactive presentation, where many people asked questions, which I could answer immediately. But what was even more impressive was that other people in the room were answering other people's questions.

These were the people who were more advanced than others in the group. They were excited and enthusiastic about AI and had already started using it. Some were even doing it on their own time because they could see its potential. Because they were excited about it, they were racing ahead and were happy to share their expertise and give advice to others in the room.

I loved that I didn't have to be the only expert in the room!

It was very useful to faciliate that in an online presentation, but you can take that even further. If you're a leader, identify one or two AI champions in your team to lead your AI initiatives. You need to create the space for them and support them, but let them take the lead because - let's face it - they might be better than you anyway! Your job is to clear support them and clear obstacles in their way.

If you'd like more help, of course let's talk about how we can work together to engage and empower your AI champions. In the meantime, download my worksheet about AI champions for guidelines on how to identify your AI champions and support them in that role.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-championing-ai

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You don't need to take years and spend millions of dollars to get started with AI. Start with small, self-contained projects that don't need a lot of technical expertise. These projects are effective, practical, create real value for the organisation - and also help people become more confident and comfortable with AI.

https://swiy.co/go-ai-projects-today

How are you going at implementing AI in your teams and in your organisation? The approach you take will make a big difference.

Let me give you two contrasting examples.

I spoke recently with a senior leader in a large organisation that's keen to implement AI. But they want to do it "properly", so they are spending two years on a massive AI transformation project to build their own AI tool. The catch is, until they’ve built this, - which is two years down the track - they’re not allowing their employees to use AI.

Now, we don’t know what AI is going to look like in two years from now, so what they build will almost certainly be obsolete in two years. More importantly, for those two years, their employees don’t get to use and leverage the power of AI right now!

There IS a better way.

Last week, I was running an online masterclass about AI for a client, showing people how to use AI in their everyday work. Rather than waiting until they do a full AI transformation, they allow people to run small AI projects. Some are about marketing, some about social media, others about productivity and managing calendars, and some about enhancing the customer experience.

This is a much better approach for most leaders, teams, and organisations. Let your people run these small, self-contained, safe AI projects that create value, get them comfortable with using AI, and that can then inform your larger AI strategy.

The secret to making this work is choosing the right projects. Not everything you want to do with AI can be done in a small self-contained project, but many things can.

For some practical examples, download my worksheet about AI projects, share them with your team, and use them to spark ideas for projects you can start - right now - with your people.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-ai-projects-today

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You don't need a huge transformation to get the benefits of AI in your organisation - and in fact, this often gets in the way of making progress. Instead, run small-scale AI projects, which save money, boost productivity, improve well-being, and increase engagement. Plus, they help your team get comfortable with AI, encouraging a culture of innovation.

https://swiy.co/go-ai-projects

Let’s talk about two contrasting ways to use and implement AI. Both approaches have benefits, and both can work, but one of them is easier for most leaders, especially if you’re not leading an IT department or a very technical group of people.

The first approach is what the giant consulting firm PwC does. They have taken the AI transformation approach - and fully committed to it. They have invested a billion dollars in their AI transformation, with a big investment into technology, including building their own version of ChatGPT called ChatPwC. It’s also for educating their people, bringing in the necessary skills from outside, and providing mentoring from technical experts to help others in the organisation.

This is an excellent approach - if you can afford it!

If you have a cool billion dollars at hand, it can be a great strategy. 💰

But it’s a big job! 🏋️

And unless you commit fully, this can take a long time. For example, a senior leader in another organisation (which shall remain nameless!) told me their transformation process would take two years! And during this time, they won’t allow employees to use AI because it’s seen as unreliable and inaccurate. Even leaving aside the obvious fact that AI will have evolved beyond recognition in two years, the entire organisation is stuck in the meantime, unable to use what’s available now!

What if there was a better way? 💡

🚀 There is: Running AI projects.

Rather than a top-down strategy for the whole organisation, AI projects are small, fast, and driven by individual leaders and managers. These projects take 3-4 months, and generate immediate value in several ways: saving money, making money, saving time, boosting productivity, improving well-being, and increasing engagement. 🌟

As a bonus, these small projects also help people get comfortable with AI. Instead of fearing that AI will take their jobs, they see how it can enhance their work. This builds confidence and a mindset of using AI regularly in their roles. 🤝

So, we have two contrasting approaches: AI transformation and AI projects. The transformation approach might be "better", but it takes longer - much longer. Starting with small-scale AI projects quickly generates value and helps teams get comfortable with AI. That’s the approach I’m using with my clients, and they are seeing success - fast! 🏆

The first key to success is picking the right projects. Not everything can be done in a 90-day project, so choose projects that add value and are manageable by non-technical teams. For example, with one recent client, our first workshop started with about 150 projects, and the teams narrowed that down to just six! 🎯

If you need help running these projects, feel free to reach out to me. You can also download the worksheet I’ve provided to help you choose the right projects for your team. Start small, create value, and build a culture of innovation with AI. 📈

I’ll see you in the future. 🌐

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-ai-projects

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Many organisations are working from the top down to add AI throughout the entire organisation. But, unless you have a lot of money and other resources, that's way too slow. Instead, start doing small AI projects that create value - fast. You get quick wins, see real benefits, and build AI skills for everybody.

Find out more:

https://swiy.co/go-unlocking-ai

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Many leaders experimenting with AI feel let down by the results because they don't explore it properly, so they only get a limited view of wht it can do. That means you might give up on projects too soon, or not start at all. Dont underestimate its power! Rethink its capabilities and start putting it to work to generate value for you and your team.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-underestimating-ai

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AI is changing faster than ever, but if you want to step onto this fast-moving track, you probably don't need to know as much as you think you do. Spark innovation by creating a space that gives smart, talented people the freedom to get real-world results from AI - while doing it safely, responsibly, and in line with your goals.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-empower-and-elevate

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Many teams on the AI journey hit bumps when trying to convince others - internally and externally. Some team members worry AI might replace their jobs, while senior leadership might not always be fully on board or see its benefits. If you're a leader or manager on this journey, it's essential to get others on board.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-ai-bumps-and-bruises

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A year ago, when I was talking to clients about AI, many were still asking Why questions: Why is it important? Why should I care? Why should I make it a priority? Now we've moved on from those questions, and it's good to see most leaders are convinced AI is important and here to stay. We're moving from scepticism to action and from curiosity to application. The next steps are What, How, and Who - and it's important you get them right.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-putting-ai-to-work

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What does it take to be a future-ready leader - especially with so much change, uncertainty, and disruption in our lives? Research by Macquarie University during the pandemic sheds some light on what the best leaders do - and continue to do - in leading themselves and their teams for future success.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-avocado-leader

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When making a decision, it's useful and appropriate to consider your return on investment, or ROI. But that's only one factor in making a decision. Also consider what happens if you don't do anything, and include the cost of inaction, or COI, in every decision.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-from-roi-to-coi

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Using AI is not about technology! AI is already being used in every industry and sector - including teachers, tourism operators, medical professions, artists, and managers. Most of these people are not "techies" - they are simply using the power of AI to do their work better. That's the real power of AI right now - to engage your team to use it by their side.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-unleashing-ai

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The future of work involves humans and machines working together. As a leader, you play a crucial role in combining artificial intelligence with human intelligence. This includes defining clear outcomes, identifing the right mix of people and AI, exploring flexible team structures, and building a culture that attracts top talent. Embrace AI as a tool for empowerment and you lead your team to a smarter, more adaptive workplace.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-better-together

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The heart of AI success comes from people, not technology. It's about rallying your team, sparking enthusiasm, and navigating the journey together. When your people unite behind AI, you leverage the tech, innovate for success, and boost your performance.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-empower-engage-excel

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If you want to use AI more in your workplace, the most important thing to get right is to bring your people on the AI journey. It's not about the technology - it's about first understanding your people and how they think and feel about AI.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-dont-start-with-the-tech

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To thrive in an ever-changing world, be a possibility thinker. This isn't just about being optimistic; it's about actively looking for positives, possibilities, and potential in every situation BEFORE walking that back and considering problems, risks, and challenges. Ask "What could possibly go right?" first!

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-possibility-thinking

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In today's fast-changing world, it's tempting to try playing it safe and aim too low, because big goals and plans can get derailed quickly. But that's a trap! ROI has two parts - return and investment. Start by focusing on the return - the impact and benefits of taking bold steps - and you can dream bigger, achieve more, and turn challenges into springboards for growth and innovation.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-why-before-how

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AI is getting better and better, but it's still a long way from being perfect. So when you're creating your AI policy or framework, how do you protect your team from imperfect AI? Instead of aiming for relying on AI alone, strike the right balance between trusting the quality of AI and applying human intelligence to it.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-ai-empowerment

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When you're crafting your AI policy, go beyond your internal needs and consider your customers as well. Many customers care about how you're using AI to deliver their products and services - especially if you're capturing data about them and tailoring their experience based on that data. Respect their expectations and values, and make sure you're clear about how AI shapes their experiences.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-ai-for-your-customers

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This is the year when many organisations will be using AI in a big way. But with any change, innovation, or new technology, it's about people first. So if you're planning any AI projects this year, make sure you bring your people along on the journey.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-put-people-first

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You don't always need to take disruptive action to create significant change. Sometimes, a small strategic change - or pivot - helps you adapt and flourish. Assess and amplify the effect of making a small change, and you could potentially transforming them into key drivers of growth and relevance in a rapidly changing world.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-small-changes-big-wins

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As we step into 2024, AI will continue to play an important role in our lives. As a leader, use these three key questions to build your strategy for integrating AI into your role, your team, and your organisation in the year ahead.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-leading-with-ai-2024

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We know 2023 has been yet another year of massive change, and there's more change ahead. Looking forward, 2024 presents an opportunity to think and act differently in the face of change, uncertainty, and disruption - so you have more clarity and confidence and make better decisions in your personal and professional life.

Watch the video:

https://swiy.co/go-thinking-ahead-2024

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There are many examples of AI being used badly - even unintentionally. As a leader, you're responsible for the use of AI in your team, and may even be responsible for the consequences if it's not used well. Get this right as you lead your team on the AI journey in 2024 and beyond.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-digital-disasters

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In today's fast-changing world, what was once your edge could now be your downfall, with even big brands at risk from scrappy newcomers - think Uber's shake-up of the taxi world or AI startups catching out tech giants. Are YOU at risk of disruption?

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-building-castles-on-sand

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As a leader, you might be responsible for bringing AI into your team, but it's not easy to find the time to do it well. The secret is that you DON'T do it yourself - instead, identify internal AI champions to lead your team into an AI-enabled future.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-ai-champions

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We have all heard about how AI can make our life easier, but where do you start? The solution: Split your tasks into two groups - one which can give you quick wins and instant productivity gains, and the other that takes more effort and investment but will be better in the long term.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-ai-quick-wins

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Everyone's talking about sustainability now, but it's not only about being sustainable for the planet. That's important, of course, but as a leader you should also focus on two other crucial areas that will drive sustainable success for your team and organisation.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-your-sustainable-future

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Technology is changing so fast it's impossible to keep up. And it creates a dilemma: Do you adopt this tech now or wait for something better around the corner? As a leader, change your mindset, and adopt the 'scan, select, and switch' cycle.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-faster-and-faster

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It's almost a year since the public launch of ChatGPT, making 2023 the year that AI went mainstream. As you're looking ahead to 2024, will AI be a disruptor or an enabler? The answer is: It depends on you! It offers both opportunities and risks - and it's up to you to leverage it for success.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-disruption-or-innovation

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If you're a leader, you might be facing a dilemma when it comes to using AI. You - and your team - might see its enormous benefits and want to start using it as quickly as possible. But, as a leader, you're also accountable for making sure you use it safely, ethically and responsibly. How can you get the benefits of both speed and safety?

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-speed-vs-safety

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You might think you know what your customers want, but COVID-19 made many people re-assess and re-evaluate their priorities and goals. Take the time to engage and re-engage with them to find out what they really want now, so you can be sure you're still solving their problems and helping them achieve their goals.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-evolving-together

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In a fast-changing world, we can't plan ahead only by thinking about what's immediate, local, or urgent. To make better decisions for the present, scan wider for the future - so you understand what's around the corner, over the horizon, and already playing out in other parts of the world.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-scan-wider-act-faster

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In a time of constant change, it's not easy to create a culture of change in your own team. When you look to the future, don't ignore change that's happened in the past - especially success stories that demonstrate how change has worked for you and your team. These 'bright spots' can motivate, inform, and drive your team to create actionable ideas for the future and help to build a culture of change and innovation in your team.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-bright-spots

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As a leader, you're responsible for the way you and your team use AI in your daily work - so that it's safe, ethical, and responsible. This is a big topic, but there are three simple guidelines you can adopt right now as a starting point.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-ai-guardrails

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Finding new markets or a competitive advantage can help you expand, but it's not easy. AI can help you identify market trends, find opportunities for strategic partnerships, and leverage your unique strengths to accelerate your business growth.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-new-horizons

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It's easy to achieve small goals based on short-term scenarios because you can clearly see the path to success and plan the steps from day one. But what about medium-term scenarios, where the path isn't clear and the actions aren't obvious? The best leaders know medium-term goals are the sweet spot for success, but you need a different approach for taking action.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-act-today-track-tomorrow

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Customer experience matters now more than ever, and customers want you to deliver a personal, tailored experience. It's no longer good enough to treat all customers the same, or even break them down into broad segments. Now, you can use AI to engagement each customer individually, to foster deeper engagement, increased customer satisfaction, and ultimately, long-lasting brand loyalty.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-the-personal-touch

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AI is not new - I've been working in AI and following its growth for more than 30 years. But in the past, you needed a significant investment - in time, money, technology, training, and workflow - to use AI in your organisation. Now, tools like ChatGPT have fundamentally changed the way we can use AI, and tipped the scales in your favour for getting positive results - fast.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-instant-ai

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When creating a plan, you calculate the return on investment, or ROI, for taking action. But unless you also calculate the cost of inaction, or COI, your plan lacks context. You must ask both; otherwise you make the decision with only half the information.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-whats-your-coi

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In a fast-paced world, we all need to make better decisions, faster. AI can help, but don't delegate all your responsibility to the machine! Instead, learn how to leverage AI for valuable insights and better analysis to streamline your decision-making process - while staying in control.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-better-decisions-with-ai

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AI is a powerful tool, but only if you and your team use it responsibly, safely, ethically, and effectively. And it's evolving so fast you can't rely only on rules and policies - you need to trust your team members to exercise good judgement and use AI wisely.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-your-ai-powered-team

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In today's professional workplace, getting ahead means working smarter, not harder. That's where AI comes in. From chatbots that answer routine questions to intelligent scheduling software that optimises your workday, AI technology is transforming the way we work and boosting productivity.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-ai-productivity-boosters

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Are you struggling to drive change in your team? Despite your best efforts, are some of your team members dragging their feet and resistant to change? Don't try to bring everybody on the journey! Instead, identify change champions and focus most of your resources on them.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-empower-change-champions

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AI is a double-edged sword. Explore four recent examples of people using AI, see their results, and reflect on what that could mean for you, your team, and your organisation - so you can make more informed decisions about using and leveraging AI.

Do the self-assessment quiz:

https://swiy.co/go-ai-in-the-wild

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You've probably heard many arguments for and against people working from home - and they are usually about productivity, collaboration, innovation, or learning and mentoring opportunities. But the critical factor that makes this work is something else: Trust.

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-a-matter-of-trust

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AI and humans working together make a powerful team, but many people are concerned, stressed, and anxious about what AI will mean for their job, career, and future. How do you engage your people to work with AI rather than being afraid of it?

Download the worksheet:

https://swiy.co/go-bring-them-on-the-journey

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We often hear about small startup companies disrupting large, established market leaders. But what about companies that take the initative and disrupt themselves? There ARE such examples - even if they are harder to find - and they provide valuable lessons for all business leaders.

Download the worksheet

https://swiy.co/go-dont-wait-for-the-future

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We can speculate about many, many things that might happen in the future, but not all of them are equally likely. So how do you narrow them down to the things that will matter most for you - and, just as importantly, how do you identify those which that will give you a competitive edge?

Register for my virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-beyond-the-obvious

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You might think AI (artificial intelligence) isn't relevant for your role. But - with respect - I think you're wrong! AI is just as transformative as smartphones, social media, and even the Internet itself. And it's proven technology - not just hype. So don't get left behind!

Download the worksheet

https://swiy.co/go-dont-get-left-behind-ai

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If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it's that things completely outside our business, industry, or community can have a massive impact on us - and that will continue for a long time to come. It's your responsibility as a leader to understand and anticipate those external pressures - so you can give your people more clarity and confidence.

Register for online presentation

https://swiy.co/go-seeing-into-the-future

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You might have heard the phrase ‘survival of the fittest’, but most people wrongly think that means the strongest, biggest, or most powerful will survive. That's not true, and if you want to be future-ready and fit for the future, don't make that mistake!

Register for online presentation

https://swiy.co/survivalfittest

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