Work has quietly moved upstream. If your organisation is not redesigning work around AI, you are already behind.
In my latest Digitally Curious episode, I sat down with Simone Carroll, one of the most distinctive executive voices on the future of work, who has led people, technology, digital and brand functions through multiple waves of disruption – from print to digital, in‑store to omni‑channel, and fossil fuels to renewables.
We unpacked three big ideas leaders cannot ignore:
It is not about “how to adopt AI”, it is about how to redesign work so that expensive human judgement is focused upstream on customers, operations, risk and cash.
Boards must give explicit permission to innovate. Over‑indexed governance is now a bigger risk than moving too slowly, and boards that are not AI‑literate are already a liability.
HR is no longer back‑of‑house. In the age of AI, HR should lead the organisation‑wide conversation on where value sits, how to redeploy talent, and how to build safe “permission to play” with AI – including clear AI policies, not just internet and social policies.
Simone also talks candidly about:
Why letting your IP walk out the door is the real risk in this wave of automation.
How to avoid “digitising broken processes” and instead use AI as a catalyst to rebuild them from scratch.
The growing skills gap between what boards and employers need and what our education systems are producing – and why that is an economic cliff, not just an HR issue.
My favourite line from this episode. “AI will not just take jobs. It demands better humans.”
If you are a CEO, board director or HR leader wondering what to do in the next 90 days, Simone’s challenge is simple. Take a day “on the mountain”, get honest about where value really sits in your business, admit what you do not know about AI, and then ask: “What do I want humans to do here?”
What is the one process in your organisation you would refuse to simply “digitise” and would completely redesign in the age of AI?
