So finally some good news: according to Cognizant’s Jobs of the Future index, since early 2017, the index's jobs of the future have been growing faster than all jobs. I strongly believe that the Algorithmic Age will create as many interesting jobs as it destroys, and so was fascinated to catch up with Ben Pring, who co-founded and leads Cognizant’s Center for the Future of Work. Ben is a co-author of the best-selling and award winning books, What To Do When Machines Do Everything (2017) and Code Halos; How the Digital Lives of People, Things, and Organizations are Changing the Rules of Business (2014). We spoke about why the jobs of the future will those that incorporate the qualities of coaching, caring and connecting - and what ultimately this means for leaders as they start to think about reimagining their organizations for the 21st century.

Christine is one of the most talented and thoughtful technology leaders around today. Currently CIO at Questrade, she was recognized in 2017 as a Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner. We met at a Gartner event where I was presenting on an early version of my 'Algorithmic Leader' idea, and as someone that exemplified many of those values, I was keen to continue our discussion about what she had learned from leading successful digital transformations. In particular, I was curious about the results of their ‘Spotify-style’ agile transformation at Questrade, the impact of automation on their organization design and why the most valued people in her team were ’T-shaped’ rather than ‘I-shaped’. 

As AI moves out of research labs and into the real world of commercial applications, we will increasingly see the rise of AI products - whether it be detecting fraud in financial transactions or optimizing supply chains. While you won’t need a detailed knowledge of machine learning models to take advantage of the next generation of AI tools, you may well require an appreciation for confidence intervals and a new approach to making decisions. On a trip to Toronto, I caught up with Karthik Ramakrishnan, Head of Industry Solutions & Advisory at Element AI. We spoke about the near-term challenges of embedding AI decision-making in organizations, and why just as important as getting algorithmic products to work with people, will be getting the products to work with each other to make complex, synthesized decisions across the company of the future.

Robotic process automation is a tempting proposition for many leaders: who wouldn’t want the ability to replace your processes with cheap algorithms that can run 24/7? However, the real benefit of automation is not efficiency or cost-savings, but the opportunity to rethink your entire operating model. I spoke recently with some of EY’s automation clients in New York, and one of the most interesting chats I had was with George Kaczmarskyj, a principal within EY’s Financial Services advisory practice, who leads Robotics and Intelligent Automation for Americas Financial Services. In this episode about the future of automation, we spoke about the similarities with the early days of electricity when companies also struggled to reinvent their paradigm and business models.

I met Tiffani a number of years ago when we were both speaking to an audience of business leaders focused on digital transformation. I was struck by her pragmatic message around navigating the difficult choices that surround achieving sustainable growth, and was keen to interview her for my show. Tiffani is the Global Customer Growth and Innovation Evangelist at Salesforce. Prior to that she spent ten years at Gartner as a distinguished analyst and research fellow. Catching up with her in Los Angeles recently, we spoke about her latest book, ‘Growth IQ’, and what leaders need to be thinking about today as they plan their next smart move.