Between Worlds

One of the hardest things for any algorithmic leader is knowing when do nothing at all. This is not an entirely new dilemma. Test pilots in the early days of the space program, struggled with the idea of not having manual controls - even when their own interventions led to deadly mistakes. So just when do humans make good decisions? To get to the bottom of that, I chatted with Jason Collins, a behavioral economist, who has written extensively on these ideas at the Behavioral Scientist, and currently runs the data science team at a major financial regulator. He previously co-led PwC Australia's behavioral economics practice.

The Life Insurance industry is a fascinating case study in the challenges, and the potential rewards of digital transformation. Traditional insurance carriers have been largely slow to transform themselves, with many policies hosted on a multitude of legacy platforms. But change is coming, in the form of new types of insurance companies, like Haven Life, a spin-off from MassMutual, which uses AI and machine learning to radically reimagine the customer experience. To learn more about this complex industry, I had coffee with Gautam Thakkar, who is the CEO of se2, a company that builds platforms for 21st century insurance carriers.

Mark van Rijmenam is one of the world’s foremost experts on the Blockchain, and its potential impact on the future of the firm. Named as one of the top 10 global big data influencers by Onalytica, he is the author of the book Think Bigger – Developing a Successful Big Data Strategy for Your Business. His latest book is titled Blockchain: How a Revolutionary Technology will Improve Business and Society. After reading some of his research papers, I was fascinated to have a coffee with him and talk about algorithms, smart contracts and what decentralized autonomous organisations might mean for tomorrow’s leadership teams.

Rusty Young has spent his life living, and writing about things that most of us would feel uncomfortable thinking about, let alone actually experiencing. Strangely enough, he and I first met at law school many years ago. But while after graduation, I left to join the digital industry, he travelled to South America where he met Thomas McFadden, a convicted English drug trafficker who ran tours inside Bolivia's famous San Pedro Prison, and ended writing about his story in his first bestselling book, ‘Marching Powder’. Rusty was then recruited as a Program Director of the US government's Anti-Kidnapping Program in Colombia, after which he released a new novel about Colombia's child soldiers called 'Colombiano’, and a documentary on the drug trade called ‘Wildlands’. Catching up with him in Sydney, we spoke about the global drug trade, how Cartels design their technology stack, and the economics of the world’s strangest prison.

Vince Frost is a world renown designer, author, creative impresario, and one of the most brilliant thinkers on human centered design that I know. He is the founder and Executive Creative Director of Frost*collective, Sydney. We met almost a decade ago, when I approached him to design my first book, ‘Futuretainment’ which was published by Phaidon. His inspired work on that book led to a design award by the Art Director’s Club in New York. Before starting Frost* Design, Vince was the youngest Associate Director at Pentagram. In 2004, he relocated to Sydney and, as Executive Creative Director of Frost*collective, has lead a wide range of projects for clients such as Deutsche Bank, Qantas, Frasers Property and the Sydney Opera House. His latest book is called, ‘Design Your Life’, and is well worth a read. Vince dropped around to my beach pad in Bondi for a coffee, and we took the time to chat about the future of design, and how everyone, even business leaders, could benefit from thinking more like designers.

Artificial intelligence and automation are disrupting the business of law, leading to faster, more accurate decision making and improved access to justice. But what exactly will this mean for the future of lawyers, and law firms? To find out I spoke with Paul Greenwood, CIO at Clifford Chance - one of the top ten law firms in the world, and a member of the "Magic Circle" of leading British law firms. Some of the issues we discussed include the impact of algorithms on complex document analysis, whether AI tools trained against a firm's accumulated knowledge might also be a source of competitive advantage, and how companies might be able to automate strategic decision making in the future.

I first met the writer Molly Flatt in Bogota, Colombia a number of years ago, but to continue our discussion on the future of books and publishing, we arranged to meet in an equally interesting, although somewhat less exotic, bar in Fitzrovia, London. A prolific journalist and researcher into digital trends, Molly is the Associate Editor for FutureBook, Digital Editor for PHOENIX magazine and Associate Editor for the Memo, and writes regularly for publications such as the BBC and the Guardian. Her debut novel is entitled The Charmed Life of Alex Moore.

Peter Sheahan is one of the smartest people I know, and the perfect choice for our first podcast guest of 2018. An expert on business transformation, he runs Karrikins Group with staff in more than 23 cities across seven countries. He is the author of seven bestselling books, including the recently released ‘Matter: Move Beyond the Competition, Create More Value, and Become the Obvious Choice’. When our paths crossed again recently, we caught up over a meal and spent some time debating recent market moves by players like Amazon and CVS, and what it really takes for established companies to fundamentally reinvent themselves.

The new luxury consumer has never been more different. They're younger. They're more connected. They're more global, and more demanding of brands than at any time in history. To understand the significance of digital for the future of luxury, I caught up with Mohamed Marfouk, Global Operations Director of LVMH at their headquarters in Paris.

In an age of multiplying devices, platforms and social media channels - it can be tempting to forget the classic lessons of marketing and branding. On a recent trip to Miami, I caught up with Bruce Turkel, an author and marketing guru who has helped some of the world’s leading brands including Hasbro, Nike, American Express and Citicorp. We chatted about the challenges of marketing in this new fluid digital environment, and why some things - like discovering the authentic truth of your brand - will never change.

Sometimes the hardest thing for any leader to do, is to actually do nothing and just listen. For Michael Bungay Stanier, a bestselling author and a world-leading expert on coaching - the best way to engage someone in a meaningful conversation is to know the right questions to ask. Speaking with me over a coffee in Toronto, Michael (who left Australia 25 years ago to be a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University) explained the 7 simple questions that leaders should start with, and that where explored in his latest book, ‘The Coaching Habit’. My own question was perhaps a little more troubling: why will coaching still be important in the algorithmic, AI-dominated companies of tomorrow?

I was in LA over Halloween, and so took the opportunity to look up one of my favorite genre-bending, sci-fi authors - Peter Clines. Peter has a number of brilliant books including ’14’, ‘The Fold’, and his latest, ‘Paradox Bound’, which he originally pitched to his agent as a cross between Neil Gaiman’s ‘Neverwhere’ and ‘Cannonball Run’. Growing up in Stephen King's hometown of Maine, his first epic novel at the age of eight was ‘Lizard Men From The Center of The Earth’. In the bright glare of the LA sun, we spoke at length about a wide range of geeky topics from time-travel to the occult, evil stars to parallel universes.

The war for the living room used to be simple: influence whoever was in charge of the family TV’s remote control. With the rise of the Internet of Things, smart speakers, and AI-enabled home automation systems - the home itself has become the next computing platform. To get a handle on what the future of smart homes might look like, I caught up with Alex Capecelatro in LA. Alex started his career as a research scientist for NASA, the Naval Research Lab, and Sandia National Lab. He later joined Fisker Automotive, ran his own startup, At The Pool, before creating Josh.ai, an AI agent for the home.

If, at first, you are unconvinced of Dr Fox’s biographical assertion that he is a ‘modern day wizard-rogue’, you will certainly, when presented in the flesh, be assured by his impressive beard. Bestselling author of ‘The Game Changer’ and ‘How to Lead a Quest: a handbook for pioneering executives’, Jason is a thoroughly unconventional thinker on leadership, creativity and designing 21st century work environments. We caught up in London to talk about how we might need to reimagine the idea of work, in the post-algorithmic rubble of the robot job apocalypse.

Healthcare is on the brink of a profound transformation, enabled by data, analytics and algorithms. As the health ecosystem moves from providing ‘sick care’, to an integrated, human-centric approach to helping people manage wellness - providers, payers and pharmaceutical manufactures will need to change. I spoke with healthcare analytics experts, D. Sahay and Rohan Fernando, from the global advisory group, ZS Associates, about how leaders can learn to make decisions based on data and algorithms rather than experience and excel spreadsheets.