Fit For The Future

You and your team are probably already talking about AI – with each other, customers, and friends and family. What really shapes these conversations is not the technology, but the stories. Whether it’s robotic dogs helping residents in aged care, AI stopping bank scams, or AI contributing to climate change, the stories you share influence how your team feels about AI and how ready they are to embrace it.https://swiy.co/go-your-ai-narrativeAs a leader, what stories are you telling about AI in your team?I was speaking recently at a sales conference for a large technology company in Australia. My client wanted me to talk to their salespeople about AI – and in particular, they wanted me to share interesting stories about AI they could share with customers.I was impressed they were looking at AI this way. These top-performing salespeople already have the technical knowledge to talk about AI from a tech perspective. And they have the sales skills to craft good sales conversation. But they also realised the value of

You’ve probably heard the hype about AI taking everybody’s jobs – but the reality is more nuanced. AI will affect almost every job, but it won’t replace most of them. About one in ten roles might disappear, but the rest will evolve, and that evolution depends on how well you support your people. As a leader, it’s part of YOUR job to make sure your team keeps up with using AI effectively – so you can stay ahead.https://swiy.co/go-999-jobs-in-1000Are you worried about AI taking over your job?Are your employees worried about AI taking over their jobs?As a leader, you should be thinking seriously about the impact of AI in your work and in your workplace.A recent report from investment bank Barronjoey said only one job in 1000 – in Australian workplaces – won’t be affected by AI and automation. That means 999 jobs out of every thousand will be affected – including most in your team and organisation.That doesn’t mean all those jobs will be replaced by AI – in fact, the report goes on to say that about 10% will. So

As a leader, you’re probably hearing a lot about where you could be using AI - but you should also be asking if you SHOULD use it everywhere. Not every bright shiny object belongs in every part of your organisation – and you need to make strategic choices about where you use AI.https://swiy.co/go-should-you-be-using-ai-for-thisAs a leader, where could you use AI more in your organisation? More importantly, where SHOULD you use AI more? And even more importantly, where should you NOT use AI?I recently attended a digital transformation event, with guest speaker Bobby Patel, the GM of Data & Analytics at RAC WA. They are a strongly data-centric organisation, and now use AI extensively, for almost every function.In the Q&A section, somebody asked him,“Will you use AI to replace your local call centre staff?”And he said No.The reason is their call centre is based locally, and part of RAC’s mission is to serve the community – and firing call centre staff to replace them with AI goes against that mission.In

As a leader, you probably have a lot on your plate already, but if you’re not carving out time to look ahead, you’re missing a key part of your role. Your job isn’t only to manage the present, but to help your team navigate what’s in the future. That means intentionally looking up from the day-to-day and scanning the horizon. Leverage AI to build a habit and culture of future thinking so you can thrive, not just survive, in uncertainty.https://swiy.co/go-beyond-the-nowAs a leader, are you spending enough time thinking about the future?I was in Melbourne last week, speaking at a conference to a group of senior leaders about seeing into the future. This is an important part of any leader’s role – whatever level or role you have in your organisation.Leaders have to manage two competing priorities.One, as a leader of a team or an organisation, you’re responsible for that team and organisation. So you’re looking down and having an internal focus to ensure you’re meeting your goals.But you also have a responsibilit

https://swiy.co/go-most-ai-projects-failCoincidentally, just in the last week, three seemingly unrelated things happened, but they are all connected.First, according to some research published by MIT Media Lab, where they surveyed leaders across many organisations and industries, a staggering 95% of AI projects failed. They didn’t meet their goals – whether they were for productivity gains, bottom-line results, customer enagement, or whatever.Second, I was speaking last week at a conference for school principals in Wellington, New Zealand, and one principal asked me:“Are we responsible for creating the AI policy for our school? It seems like a lot of work!”And third, the group Thinkers360 recently listed me among their Top 50 Thought Leaders in Change Management this year, which of course I was chuffed about.So what’s the common thread between those three things?Well, it’s about people.And AI.And people working with AI.So, my question is: Are YOU doing enough to bring your people along on the AI journey?Let’s

Whether you’re excited or anxious about AI, there’s a more useful way to look at it: as your intelligent assistant. You’re still in the driving seat and choosing the destination – and AI helps you get there faster, safer, and more efficiently. With this mindset, you use AI to unlock better outcomes without losing control.https://swiy.co/go-intelligent-assistantsHow do you think about AI in your professional role? Some see it as a great opportunity, a great possibility, and an accelerator. Others see it as a threat, a risk, and a burden that adds more work to what they are already doing.Let me give you an interesting perspective from a conversation about AI I had with my dad two years ago.My dad – who was eighty-six at the time – had really invested a lot of time learning about AI. Not just because he knew I knew about it, but because he was genuinely interested.Once, when I was driving him home, and we were stopped at traffic lights, he said to me, “You know, I think AI would be really good at managing traffi

You’re probably hearing a lot of news about AI, from many people with many perspectives. For example, with its environmental impact, some people say it’s saving the world, others claim it’s ruining it. Obviously (or maybe not?) the truth is somewhere in between. And that applies to everything else AI-related, too. As a leader, you’re not expected to know everything, but you do have to manage how you learn about it, engage with your team, and leverage AI at work.https://swiy.co/go-ai-hype-or-hopeOf course, there’s a lot of news – and noise – about AI, and that’s not going away. Some people say it will save the world, others say it will destroy it.For example, when it comes to the environmental impact of AI, you will hear many dire warnings. But how much of it is true?I did the maths!Here are some rough figures about the climate impact of AI at an individual level.Let’s look at three areas:1. The of water needed to cool all the servers running AI2. The electricity needed to run all these computers3. the CO2 emi

As a leader, you might think AI job losses are only a future problem, but your team might be already thinking about them now. With real headline news of organisations replacing people with AI – even those known for valuing their employees – your team might be quietly worried, wondering if they are next. That’s why you must acknowledge those concerns, start open conversations, and help your people build the skills they will need to remain valuable and relevant.https://swiy.co/go-ai-coming-for-your-jobAs a leader, do you know whether your people in your team are worried about AI taking their job? You should be!In the last few months, you might have seen stories about organisations – of different sizes and in different sectors – who fired people and replaced them with AI. So yes, AI is replacing jobs – or at least, replacing enough of a person’s role that makes it unprofitable to keep them.Some of these stories are about high-profile organisations – such as Australian company Atlassian, well known for its positi

AI agents have arrived, and they can do far more than just answer questions – they can act on your behalf. That opens up incredible opportunities, but also brings new risks for yourself, your team and your organisation. Even if you already have AI policies and guidelines in place, you need to update them now for agentic AI.https://swiy.co/go-ai-agents-are-hereAre you ready for AI agents? This is the next level of AI, and it creates both opportunities and risks.We all know generative AI now, where you type in a prompt or question, and AI spits out a response. AI agents take it to the next level, where they can act on your behalf. That creates great opportunities, but also creates new potential risks. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to understand both.For example, I recently used an AI agent to plan a trip to the Gold Coast, where I was speaking at a conference a few weeks ago. The “standard” way to fly from Perth to the Gold Coast is via Sydney or Melbourne, but that’s a long flight, especially because I

https://swiy.co/go-from-chatbots-to-chaosAre your AI guardrails, policies, and guidelines up to date or out of date?In 2022, Jake Moffatt needed to fly to Toronto for the funeral of a family member. Before booking a flight with Air Canada, he checked their rules to qualify for a bereavement fare. The helpful Air Canada chatbot assured him he could buy a ticket, fly, then request a partial refund. But when he returned home and applied for the refund, Air Canada refused to honour the request, referring to their website policy that clearly stated he had to make the request before travel.Fortunately, Moffatt had taken a screenshot of the chatbot conversation, which he showed to Air Canada, but the airline still refused his claim, telling Moffatt he should have referred to the website, and then bizarrely claiming the chatbot was “responsible for its own actions”. Not surprisingly, the British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal rejected that argument, and ruled that Air Canada had to honour the bereavement refund a

How are you using AI to enhance your customer experience?Broadly, AI can help in three areas: Interface, insights, and infrastructure. And all of them are to do with enhancing – not eliminating – the human touch.Let’s look at that with an analogy of the old-style deli owner, who knew everybody who came into their shop. I knew somebody like that, way back when I was a kid.1. InterfaceI would sometimes go to the deli after school, and the owner knew me. He remembered what I liked, asked me how school was, and sometimes suggested something new. It felt personal and warm – and it was also good business. He ran his business well by knowing his customers, managing his stock, and responding to what was happening around him.Now, AI can help us do the same – on a bigger scale. You can use AI first at the customer interface – through your website, contact centre, app, and in person.If you think I’m talking about chatbots, you’re right. It’s the fastest way to add AI. The earliest chatbots were very basic – only able to

You might be doing future planning to understand how the world is changing – that’s good. You might even be adjusting your plans based on what you learn – even better! But are you also changing HOW you plan? Many leaders miss this change, and it can make a huge difference to the quality of your plans. Things like AI, hybrid work, and generational diversity in your teams all bring new tools and insights to the planning process. When you use them to update your process, your future strategy becomes much more powerful.https://swiy.co/go-the-process-is-the-pointI’m preparing to deliver my Future Scenarios program soon for the leadership team of a organisation, and it’s the fourth year in a row I’ve been working with them.Of course, the outcome of the program will have changed, because 2022 was so different from 2025. But the process has changed as well.What has changed in that time that could influence the planning process?Here are a few things ...* COVID restrictions meant participants weren’t out interacting wi

If you want to know where to look to understand the future, don’t forget the people already in your team. Everybody brings unique perspectives and lived experiences that could shape smarter decisions and sharper strategies. The best leaders listen to external voices, but also actively include their team in learning about, shaping, and creating the future.https://swiy.co/go-yes-theres-an-i-in-teamI had an interesting conversation recently with a client I’ve worked with for many years, and we were re-engaging working together with him and his senior leadership team, to help them understand the future. We’ve done this work in the past, but the world keeps changing (so inconvenient, ha ha)!During our conversation, he asked me:“Gihan, it’s really good to be working with you again. But where ELSE should we turn to learn about the future?”It’s a great question! Because understanding the future doesn’t always mean going outside. Don’t get me wrong – I’m very happy to be working with him. But it takes more than one me

When you’re facing an uncertain future, it helps to know what’s around the corner and over the horizon. That’s the skill of foresight, where you spot the trends, signals, and shifts that could reshape your world. Before asking “Is this an opportunity or a threat?”, first figure out what’s actually changing - and then evalute that to make strategic choices.https://swiy.co/go-foresight-firstWhen you see change coming, do you view it as an opportunity, a threat – or maybe a bit of both?I’ll be speaking soon at a conference for an association whose members are cultural organisations – think museums and art galleries – and we’ll consider what lies ahead in that sector. One significant shift is the growth of tech that lets people immersive themselves in experiencex without visiting these places.Take virtual reality (VR), for example. You can strap on a headset and (virtually) visit the Louvre, walk with dinosaurs, explore outer space, or fight alongside Anzacs. All without leaving the comfort of your home, school,

If you're a leader, you should be thinking about what's next in your industry, but are you also scanning the horizon to see what’s happening outside it? The best leaders think deep, wide, and far to understand what will affect them now and in the future.https://swiy.co/go-deep-wide-and-farIn October, I’m speaking at the Bus Industry Confederation’s annual conference, and a few weeks ago I had the briefing call with the association’s CEO and the conference organiser. I was so pleased by the way they are thinking about the future of the industry — and what they would like me to contribute.This association represents owners and operators of buses and coaches, and others involved in that industry, from all around Australia.This is a specific part of the overall transport business. But what does it look like from their customer’s (passenger’s) point of view?For us, a bus might be just one of the ways to get from A to B. That journey might involve a combination of buses, trains, ferries, and trams — and that’s just

About sixty years ago, MIT Professor Joseph Weizenbaum built a chatbot, named ELIZA, that could act like a psychotherapist. It was programmed to look for key words and phrases typed by a person and reflect their words back to them in its responses. Despite its simplicity, many people were so taken by it they started treating it like a real doctor. On one occasion, Weizenbaum’s secretary asked him to leave the room so she could have a private conversation with ELIZA!My first experience with them was more than thirty years ago, when studying AI at university and we had ELIZA on our university computers. I remember once, one of my uni friends, who intensely disliked one of our lecturers, spent hours on ELIZA taking out his anger and frustration in fake conversations with it (her?). Little did he know all the ELIZA conversations where saved on the university servers! He spent the next few days frantically running around looking for an IT person to delete those chats.Oh, how we laughed!Anyway ...Sixty years on fro

You want to do the best for our customers, but sometimes you’re restricted by internal factors, like time, budget, geographical location, IR rules, staff availability, scheduling rosters, and floor space. You can’t fix all of these problems, but you might be surprised just how much you can address using AI. Done right, AI can shift customer experience from system-driven to truly customer-centered, creating value that simply wasn’t possible before, and giving you a competitive edge.https://swiy.co/go-ai-boosts-cx-innovationI was recently speaking at a conference on the Gold Coast, staying overnight at a hotel before my closing keynote presentation the next day. The hotel check-in time was 2pm, but I only arrived at 8pm. But they didn’t give me a later check-out to make up for those six hours I “missed out”, even though I told them in advance I would be arriving late.Of course, this is how hotels work everywhere. They have a fixed check-in time and a fixed check-out time, regardless of when you arrive or leave.

AI is all around us - and we see it in everyday life in our supermarkets. Large retailers like Coles and Woolies have been building AI into their operations for years, and show what's possible when you apply AI to enhance the customer experience. If you're exploring AI for your own organisation, use these examples to learn how to deliver faster, smarter, and yes, even a more human service.https://swiy.co/go-cx-reimaginedCustomer experience - or CX - matters. In fact, according to Salesforce, an astounding 80% of customers say the experience they have working with a business is just as important as the products and services they buy. So your CX makes a huge difference to whether they buy – and, just as importantly, whether they’ll buy again.And many businesses now are using AI to improve their customer experience.You might not be doing it in your own business, but you probably experience it yourself in your life.Take supermarket shopping, where the big retailers like Coles, Woolworths, and Aldi have been using

Even if you have invested in good customer service and worked on building a smooth customer experience, there’s a new layer you can’t ignore: customer intention. AI lets you predict what your customers might want - even before they tell you - based on their behaviour, habits, and even the behaviour of other customers like them. Using this data to improve your customer experience makes you more relevant and boosts loyalty. If you're not exploring this now, your competitors probably are, so you risk losing your customers to somebody else who did something smarter.https://swiy.co/go-from-service-to-intentionMany years ago, long before the recent boom in AI awareness and adoption, Target – the USA retail chain – made news about the way it used AI.An angry man turned up at his local Target store, and demanded to speak to the manager because Target had sent his teenage daughter a catalogue full of baby products for new parents. The man yelled at the manager, “Are you trying to get my daughter pregnant?”It turned ou

If you suspect or detect job candidates using AI in your recruitment process, do you see that as a red flag or a green light? If you reject them, you're pushing away exactly the kind of forward-thinking, problem-solving people you actually want on your team. More and more job seekers are using AI to explore careers, find opportunities, tailor their CVs, and even prepare for interviews. These are the people who will drive innovation from the inside.https://swiy.co/go-ai-savvy-employeesI recently delivered the closing keynote presentation at the AHRI (Australian Human Resources Institute) conference in Perth, talking about leading through disruption and the future of work. One of the biggest topics throughout the day was (surprise!) AI. I was pleased to see so many HR professionals seeing AI in a positive and optimistic way, as a powerful tool they can use in their professional roles.In contrast, there are many negative stories about recruiters and employers using AI, especially when they suspect or detect cand