Everywhere there are headlines talking about AI hype and the AI boom. However, with the unsustainable growth, more and more are talking about it as a bubble, and a bubble that’s feeding on itself.

This week on Future-Focused, I’m breaking down what’s really going on inside the AI economy and why every leader needs to tread carefully before an inevitable pop.

When you scratch beneath the surface, you quickly discover that it’s a lot of smoke and mirrors. Money is moving faster than real value is being created, and many companies are already paying the price. This week, I’ll unpack what’s fueling this illusion of growth, where the real risks are hiding, and how to keep your business from becoming collateral damage.

In this episode, I’m touching on three key insights every leader needs to understand:

• ​ AI doesn’t create; it converts. Why every “gain” has an equal and opposite trade-off that leaders must account for.
• ​ Focus on capabilities, not platforms. Because knowing what you need matters far more than who you buy it from.
• ​ Diversity is durability. Why consolidation feels safe until the ground shifts and how to build systems that bend instead of break.

I’ll also share practical steps to help you audit your AI strategy, protect your core operations, and design for resilience in a market built on volatility.

If you care about leading with clarity, caution, and long-term focus in the middle of the AI hype cycle, this one’s worth the listen.

Oh, and if this conversation helped you see things a little clearer, make sure to like, share, and subscribe. You can also support my work by buying me a coffee.

And if your organization is struggling to separate signal from noise or align its AI strategy with real business outcomes, that’s exactly what I help executives do. Reach out if you’d like to talk.

Chapters:

00:00 – The AI Boom or the AI Mirage?

03:18 – Context: Circular Capital, Real Risk, and the Illusion of Growth

13:06 – Insight 1: AI Doesn’t Create—It Converts

19:30 – Insight 2: Focus on Capabilities, Not Platforms

25:04 – Insight 3: Diversity Is Durability

30:30 – Closing Reflection: Anything Can Happen

#AIBubble #AILeadership #DigitalStrategy #FutureOfWork #BusinessTransformation #FutureFocused

AI isn’t just evolving faster than we can regulate. It’s crossing lines many assumed were universally off-limits.

This week on Future-Focused, I’m unpacking three very different stories that highlight an uncomfortable truth: we seem to have completely abandoned the idea that there are lines technology should never cross.

From OpenAI’s move to allow ChatGPT to generate erotic content, to the U.S. military’s growing use of AI in leadership and tactical decisions, to AI-generated videos resurrecting deceased public figures like MLK Jr. and Fred Rogers, each example exposes the deeper leadership crisis.

Because, behind every one of these headlines is the same question: who’s drawing the red lines, and are there any?

In this episode, I explore three key insights every leader needs to understand:

• Not having clear boundaries doesn’t make you adaptable; it makes you unanchored.

• Why red lines are rarely as simple as “never" and how to navigate the complexity without erasing conviction.

• And why waiting for AI companies to self-regulate is a guaranteed path to regret.

I’ll also share three practical steps to help you and your organization start defining what’s off-limits, who gets a say, and how to keep conviction from fading under convenience.

If you care about leading with clarity, conviction, and human responsibility in an AI-driven world, this one’s worth the listen.

Oh, and if this conversation challenged your thinking or gave you something valuable, like, share, and subscribe. You can also support my work by buying me a coffee.

And if your organization is wrestling with how to build or enforce ethical boundaries in AI strategy or implementation, that’s exactly what I help executives do. Reach out if you’d like to talk more.

Chapters:

00:00 – “Should AI be allowed…?”

02:51 – Trending Headline Context

10:25 – Insight 1: Without red lines, drift defines you

13:23 – Insight 2: It’s never as simple as “never”

17:31 – Insight 3: Big AI won’t draw your lines

21:25 – Action 1: Define who belongs in the room

25:21 – Action 2: Audit the lines you already have

27:31 – Action 3: Redefine where you stand (principle > method)

32:30 – Closing: The Time for AI Red Lines is Now

#AILeadership #AIEthics #ResponsibleAI #FutureOfWork #BusinessStrategy #FutureFocused

AI should be used to augment human potential. Unfortunately, some companies are already using it as a convenient scapegoat to cut people.

This week on Future-Focused, I dig into the recent Accenture story that grabbed headlines for all the wrong reasons. 11,000 people exited because they “couldn’t be reskilled for AI.” However, that’s not the real story. First of all, this isn’t what’s going to happen; it already did. And now, it’s being reframed as a future-focused strategy to make Wall Street feel comfortable.

This episode breaks down two uncomfortable truths that most people are missing and lays out three leadership disciplines every executive should learn before they repeat the same mistake.

I’ll explore how this whole situation isn’t really about an AI reskilling failure at all, why AI didn’t pick the losers (margins did), and what it takes to rebuild trust and long-term talent gravity in a culture obsessed with short-term decisions.

If you care about leading with integrity in the age of AI, this one will hit close to home.

Oh, and if this conversation challenged your thinking or gave you something valuable, like, share, and subscribe. You can also support my work by buying me a coffee. And if your organization is wrestling with what responsible AI transformation actually looks like, this is exactly what I help executives navigate through my consulting work. Reach out if you’d like to talk more.

Chapters:

00:00 - The “Unreskillable” Headline That Shocked Everyone

00:58 - What Really Happened: The Retroactive Narrative

04:20 - Truth 1: Not Reskilling Failure—Utilization Math

10:47 - Truth 2: AI Didn’t Pick the Losers, Margins Did

17:35 - Leadership Discipline 1: Redeployment Horizon

21:46 - Leadership Discipline 2: Compounding Trust

26:12 - Leadership Discipline 3: Talent Gravity

31:04 - Closing Thoughts: Four Quarters vs. Four Years

#AIEthics #Leadership #FutureOfWork #BusinessStrategy #AccentureLayoffs