AI
Where is AI already making you money and where is it just making you feel modern? I gave a talk on this in Edinburgh the other day to a brilliant group of people at SMT Network. Fast forward to the end to find out which types of AI your organisation uses today and where you might be
AI
Would you rather have more hospital beds for people or the latest version of Windows? Ooh, tough one. As patients lie on trolleys in hospital corridors, teachers buy classroom supplies out of their own pockets and councils close libraries, the government is paying billions a year for
AI
Microsoft’s AI chief Mustafa Suleyman recently told the Financial Times that artificial intelligence will automate most white-collar work within 12 to 18 months. “I think we’re going to have a human-level performance on most, if not all, professional tasks. So, white-collar work, where
AI
Your People Are Already Using AI Microsoft research shows 52% of knowledge workers hide their use or AI from their managers. Data is flowing to external systems without governance. Contracts are being drafted, code is being written and emails are being sent through tools your IT department
AI
We have entered what the industry is calling the "Agentic Wars." In December 2025, Meta paid over $2 billion to acquire Manus, a nine-month-old startup that had built something Silicon Valley now considers essential: an AI that doesn't just talk, but acts. ChatGPT and its peers answer
AI
I can't face another bar, restaurant or event. I don't know what it's like in your industry, but in mine, it's all about network. For the last three weeks, it's been black-tie dinners, pub meetups, parties, lunches and glaze-eyed breakfasts. I gave up drinking alcohol a couple of years ago
AI
Before we get into this, these are the pieces I am working on over the next few weeks. * A breakdown of the UK budget (Thursday/Friday) * The Executive Summary Awards 2025 (December) * Board dynamics: the paradox of talent vs teamwork * Opex crisis: the invisible costs your CFO can't find
AI
The executive summary is the most important and valuable paragraph or one-pager you'll ever write in business. It's also the one most people catastrophically mess up. I've reviewed and written hundreds of executive summaries as a journalist and CEO advisor from and with the largest
AI
My Executive Summary for this week: stop relying on someone else's platform, someone else's recruiters or someone else's sales process. Build what you own - the audience, the expertise and the narrative. The builders today are the ones who control their own distribution. Use social media
Leadership
Let's say one exec stakes their career on building the company's future on one tech vendor. Massive budgets are spent. Three years later, it's obviously wrong. But that person can't allow change because it means admitting failure. So the entire organisation slows down. Months are lost in
AI
Cognizant’s VP of Insurance, David Sexton, has forced a hard question into the boardroom. When a hiring request lands, directors now ask not only if a role is essential but whether AI could do it instead. This is no longer an experiment. Sexton points out that much of what insurance
AI
“We are seeing more pilots than Lufthansa,” - Klemens Hjartar, Senior Partner at McKinsey, talking today on stage at Nordic Fintech Week about Agentic AI. (Thank you Ewan MacLeod.) AI has sped up the race to the bottom. No sooner has someone invented a Tony Robbins AI agent to coach you
