Why AI can’t replace Career Coaches

Generative AI and the associated apps, tools and platforms, are heralded by many as the most efficient way for busy executives to crunch data, draw insights, elevate their brand and support pivotal career moments such as preparing for interview or creating a new profile

But what is real, what is hype, and what are the risks around trusting generative models to match you with the right opportunity – and to analyse and represent your unique set of talents, experience, attributes and requirements to the wider world, especially potential employers?

There is no doubt that GenAI can and should be used to support any aspect of professional development and career transitions. It is an invaluable resource, able to digest vast amounts of data and present it in a succinct, clear, comprehensible format in seconds. It can look for patterns, analyse current trends, forecast future ones and create highly personalised content.

However the technologies do come with limitations and challenges, so Rialto consultants use them alongside traditional coaching techniques and optimisation of networks, knowledge and experience to support clients looking for new leadership roles.

The Balanced Approach: Integrating AI and Human Coaching

The most successful executive transitions leverage both AI tools and human coaching in complementary ways. This integrated approach ensures executives benefit from technological efficiency while maintaining the authentic human connection essential for navigating complex executive career transitions. The future belongs to leaders who can skilfully combine these resources, using AI to enhance, rather than replace, the human judgment that ultimately drives successful executive journeys.

The time factor involved in mastering new technologies at such crucial and stressful junctures in life can also be an obstacle to their effective use. Hopefully, executives will only be seeking to transition once every five to nine years. Who wants to spend weeks training on specific AI tools for each stage of the journey, when this may be the only time they use those apps in their life? With the current pace of change, the tools will be obsolete or at least unrecognisable by the time the same individuals are back out on the market, all going well.

Luckily, there are experts on hand who know exactly which tools to use and how to use them. No need to reinvent the wheel, far better to just sit at it and drive, with an experienced human co-pilot who can navigate and smooth the way.

Where AI needs the human touch:

While jobseeking apps such as Indeed are useful for entry level jobs, and tools like ResumAI, Rezi, and Teal employ algorithms to analyse executive CVs against industry standards and specific job descriptions, the increasingly exacting, multi-layered processes and stages of executive hiring in this ultra-competitive market demand laser-sharp, sophisticated strategies which must be refined and adapted constantly.

This takes a human touch. emotional intelligence, instinct and delicate nuance that AI simply doesn’t have, at least not yet.

Contextual Understanding AI tools frequently struggle with nuanced industry contexts and organisational cultures. They may fail to recognise that what works in one sector could be inappropriate in another or vice versa. For example, they cannot differentiate tone and language a candidate might use if moving from a creative industry to a financial institution or pick up on the requirements of a generic position in a niche organisation. They may also struggle with cultural sensitivities. Emotional intelligence, instinct and human experience are essential in decision-making.

Authenticity Gaps This is a crucial one. The standardised language generated by AI tools will always undermine the authentic voice that distinguishes truly compelling executive profiles. Technology might be able to magic up what it perceives to be the perfect candidate for a position and help an applicant get through the first sift, especially if the organisation is using AI tools itself to create a longlist from the hundreds of initial inquiries. However recruiters increasingly report detecting AI-generated content that lacks personal perspective and genuine insight.  An AI generator cannot delve into a person’s memory and recall the unique experiences and successes relevant to the requirements of the role that make any individual stand out from the pack. Human coaches excel at building trust, drawing out this buried treasure, understanding individual needs and ensuring that the candidate on paper aligns with the candidate in person. They might use AI with a client to help structure this process, but it takes emotional intelligence and insight to interact in a productive and meaningful way to assess and truly represent an individual’s value proposition.

Strategic Limitations While AI excels at tactical optimisation, it falls short in strategic career guidance. These tools cannot effectively evaluate whether a particular role aligns with an executive’s holistic long-term aspirations, values and life priorities. AI cannot read a person’s character or recognise when they are genuinely lit up over a subject. A mentor or coach works hard to get to ‘really’ know their client and build trust to be able to hold up the mirror and guide them towards a career transition that will ultimately provide fulfilment and ensure continuous professional development. They can think several moves ahead like a chess pro, compared to the limited, chance-based algorithms of AI. AI may suggest openings in the market  and the generic skills being sought but good coaches can narrow down opportunities in the executive market that align with their client’s complex matrix of talents and requirements and support them to understand any gaps in their personal skillsets or experience. Experienced coaches bring extensive networks and relationship capital that open doors to opportunities never posted publicly. These connections frequently lead to the most fitting and rewarding executive placements.

Relationship Dynamics Executive hiring remains fundamentally relationship-driven, with cultural fit and leadership chemistry playing decisive roles. AI tools cannot replicate the human intuition that recognises when a leader will thrive in a particular organisation’s culture. Candidates should seek a more rounded view of the company’s culture, style and hierarchy. Nothing can replace the unedited information passed from human to human with nuance and personal opinions. Executives seeking new opportunities will feel more confident and comforted being able to access insider knowledge and trust their instincts.

The Personalisation Paradox While AI promises personalisation, its reliance on historical data means recommendations often gravitate toward conventional career paths rather than innovative trajectories. Executives seeking transformative roles may find AI guidance constraining rather than liberating. There is no “thinking outside of the box” or ability to assess challenges against opportunities and the individual’s appetite for risk vs need for stability depending on the stage of their career or family responsibilities, for example.

Algorithm Bias AI systems reflect the data they’re trained on, potentially perpetuating existing biases in executive selection. Women and minority executives should be particularly attentive to how AI tools might unintentionally minimise leadership qualities that don’t conform to traditional models. A human coach or mentor can navigate these sensitive issues and help identify unique attributes and how to optimise them.

The Technology Learning Curve Despite their promise, many executive-focused AI tools require significant time investment to use effectively. The learning curve can be steep, particularly for leaders less comfortable with emerging technologies. Executives may find it difficult to navigate the ever-evolving myriad of available options and integrate them into their workflows effectively.  Where time is an individual’s most valuable resource, AI can certainly be a frustrating adversary rather than an invested and trusted advisor.

Adaptive Strategy and Reflective Thinking Executive coaches continuously refine their approach based on subtle cues, market shifts, and emerging opportunities. This adaptability enables the development of dynamic career strategies that AI’s more rigid frameworks cannot replicate. As candidates progress, they gain deeper self-awareness, often adjusting their ambitions or realising they may find greater success and fulfilment on an entirely different path. Having a human mentor to listen, respond, and reflect helps clarify thinking, challenge assumptions, and inspire innovative career approaches. These conversations often lead to breakthrough insights that algorithmic interactions simply cannot generate. The best coaches provide candid feedback about executive blind spots, communication patterns, and leadership presence that AI tools cannot detect. This honest perspective is essential for authentic development and successful transitions.

Perhaps the most crucial element missing from AI, however, is compassion. Try telling Microsoft CoPilot that you didn’t get the job you desperately wanted after six gruelling rounds of interviews. It will generate a handful of practical suggestions in plain English—but what you truly need is a human being who knows you, acknowledges your effort, empathises with the disappointment, and guides you forward with encouragement and insight.

GenAI vs Executive Career Coaching

AI tools and platforms are a valuable addition to the multi-dimensional, structured approach executives should take when navigating executive career transitions. They offer efficiency, data-driven insights, and practical support—but they remain just one piece of the puzzle.

While AI continues to evolve, it still lacks the instinct, emotional intelligence, strategic foresight, and human connection that define truly effective executive career transition support. A great executive coach does more than provide insights, they challenge, mentor, and inspire. They recognise the nuances of each individual’s journey, helping leaders uncover opportunities they might never have considered and navigate setbacks with resilience.

A time may come when AI can fully replicate these qualities, seamlessly integrating empathy, strategic thinking, and creativity into its responses. But for now, the ability to truly understand, adapt, and empower remains uniquely human.

Executives are increasingly using AI platforms to support their professional development and pivotal career moves. These technologies can assist in a multitude of ways, including condensing vast volumes of text into checklists and relevant insights, helping to provide oversight of target companies, key contacts and job descriptions and optimising online networking and personal branding opportunities.

As discussed in our previous blog, Why AI can’t replace Career Coaches, these tools should be used as an aide, however, not a replacement for hard work or where needed collaboration with an experienced coach or mentor. When used in isolation, they can be more of a hindrance than a help, with algorithms narrowing perspectives rather than broadening them. This can lead to a loss of nuance and missed opportunities for meaningful reflection and personal growth. Additionally, applications processed through the same standardised large language models can sound repetitive and robotic, failing to convey the unique attributes and character of the individual.

With these caveats in mind, here is a guide to some of the most popular AI applications executives are exploring—and how to use them effectively.

LinkedIn’s suite of AI tools are increasingly being tested by executives to create content, research potential candidates, and manage professional profiles.  The platform’s AI-powered job recommendations analyse your profile, skills, and network to suggest relevant senior roles. Their Premium AI writing assistant helps craft compelling headlines, “about” sections, and accomplishments that resonate with recruiters. User feedback indicates these tools have dramatically improved profile visibility, with executives reporting up to 40% more views after implementing AI-recommended optimisations. An invaluable start, but relying on LinkedIn alone misses opportunities to access the hidden job market and lacks the emotional intelligence that a human coach can provide and the work that goes into really uncovering aspirations, values and ambitions.

Research: Open source Generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT and Claude will analyse vast amounts of information and, with the right prompts, edit them into succinct checklists and manageable briefings. Executives can reduce the amount of time spent researching target companies, markets, sectors and target contacts. However, they have a tendency to hallucinate, so all facts should be checked before being repeated in job applications or interviews. Poor prompting will provide poor results, possibly leading to crucial information being missed. GenAI cannot take the place of more sophisticated and personal insights from people who work in a company or close to it. What it should be used for is blank-page thinking: pulling together ideas and background for further exploration.

Networking Alternatives or complementary assistants include Nudge and Connectifier which allow executives to leverage their professional networks more effectively during transitions. These platforms identify warm connections within target organisations, suggest relationship-nurturing actions, and highlight networking opportunities.  This capability is particularly valuable for executives looking to pivot into new industries or roles.

However, these tools do not always provide the same invaluable focus that a coach or wider network connections can offer. A coach or trusted contact can suggest networking activities based on direct knowledge of job openings, facilitate warm introductions, and unlock hidden opportunities. Additionally, human coaches bring practical insights, share personal experiences, and provide recommendations on approached based on their experiences and firsthand understanding of different work environments.

Resume and CV AI Optimiser Tools like ResumAI, Rezi, and Teal evaluate content, structure, keyword optimisation, and impact statements. Executives have mentioned that these tools can support with thinking through transferable skills when transitioning between industries or functional areas.  However, these tools should be used only as a source of inspiration rather than a final solution. While they offer general advice based on patterns, they lack the ability to understand the nuances of personal circumstances, including individual experiences, cultural background, and life situation.

Interview Preparation Platforms: InterviewGPT and Yoodli have gained popularity for their ability to simulate interview scenarios and provide personalised feedback. They analyse responses for content strength, delivery clarity, and non-verbal cues. Users praise the convenience of 24/7 practice opportunities and the objective feedback. However, many note that these tools struggle with the nuanced, relationship-driven nature of high-level interviews, where cultural fit and leadership presence are paramount.

Additional platforms such as Comprehensive.io and Aiola can also provide value, offering AI-driven compensation analysis, helping executives understand their market value and negotiate more effectively. These tools assess factors such as industry, location, company size, and specialised expertise to establish realistic compensation targets.

Executive Positioning and Personal Branding Jasper AI, DALL-E and Copy.ai have become go-to resources for executives crafting their personal narratives. These tools assist in generating executive bios, thought leadership article outlines, and social media content and visuals that position leaders in their industry.

While users appreciate the efficiency these platforms provide, they often find them clunky and lacking in nuance. Significant human refinement is required to ensure authenticity and strategic alignment. Additionally, without advanced user expertise, these tools can be time-consuming and frustrating to work with.

Using AI for Executive Career Transition

For those who enjoy the challenge of mastering new technologies, AI-driven platforms can be highly effective in streamlining executive job searches. They help narrow down target positions, provide broad insights into markets, sectors, and organisations, benchmark an individual’s compatibility within those parameters, and identify emerging executive trend

However, these tools can also be time-consuming, frustrating, and inherently flawed. Over-reliance on them may hinder personal growth and limit the achievement of long-term career aspirations. At Rialto, our consultants help clients navigate the complexities of these ever-evolving technologies, integrating them effectively into a holistic, future-focused career strategy as part of our comprehensive executive transition services.  Our team also provide the emotional intelligence, contextual understanding, strategic guidance, networking connections, and long-term relationship-building that are crucial for a truly successful

Over the past decade the Rialto team have successfully assisted more than 7,500 senior executives accelerate their career trajectories. If you are seeking structured, expert support for your current or planned executive transition, ongoing professional development, career strategy, or organisational change initiatives, including Gen AI adoption, contact us for a free, confidential consultation.

As we move into year three of Generative AI, its potential for enhancing operations, driving innovation and building a competitive edge is becoming ever clearer, as are the challenges and risks.

The world’s most innovative companies have moved, or are moving, beyond experimentation to integrate AI-first models, adjusting spending and recalibrating business strategies to maximise ROI and stay ahead of the curve. PwC found almost half of the US’s Fortune 1000 companies now have AI fully embedded in their workflows, with a third using it in their products and services.

This year, priorities should include solidifying foundational structures, measuring outcomes and adjusting programmes to make Gen AI work effectively and safely and secure that advantage. Those late to the party or failing to understand the critical need to constantly evolve and manage Gen AI may struggle to ever catch up.

In a recent survey by Ernst & Young (EY), 97% of senior business leaders reported positive returns on their AI investments with a third planning to spend £8 million or more on AI initiatives this year while UK software buyers expect to increase spending by an average 5-15%. Organisations that commit 5% or more of their total budget toward AI are seeing more positive returns than more cautious investors with the biggest in operational efficiencies, (84%) and employee productivity (83%).

It is essential for c-suite executives to have a full and proper understanding of the AI landscape, both within their sector or industry and beyond. Trying to experiment or get to grips with Generative AI in a bubble or silo is like constantly trying to reinvent the wheel when budgets would be better spent targeting funding to improve its performance. Progressive organisations will research thoroughly the tools, programmes and platforms used by competitors and sector leaders to learn what has and has not worked for them and how they are prioritising their AI budgets in 2025 and beyond.

Chaotic implementation has led to lost ROI and confidence in some early iterations of Gen AI-powered programmes as over-eager organisations put the cart before the horse, buying the latest hyped-up tools or platforms through FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) without really understanding their value, testing them or building sound foundational infrastructure. Only 12% reported using sandboxes in one survey, for example, leaving too much to chance and increasing risks of damaging failures. Getting it right demands a disciplined approach with co-operation and collaboration from every department and at every level.

UK senior decision makers told Capterra’s 2025 Tech Trends that successful technological implementation was the greatest challenge they now faced as they moved onto the next phase of adoption, followed by training and upskilling employees, economic and geopolitical pressures, assessing value and risk of AI and identifying the right technologies to invest in.

The most innovative companies will be patient, appreciating that real returns on investment may take years to materialise in terms of profit, but that agile, future-focused and strategically aligned Gen AI-led programmes will ensure long term competitive growth.

(See our previous insight on the five stages of AI maturity)

Here we look at trends within the three main focuses for the AI spending priorities c-suite executives should be considering over the next 12 months: Tech, data and upskilling the workforce.

Spending on Tech:

Globally, spending on hardware and devices, including computers and smartphones, is likely to grow by £10 billion to £118.5 billion, with Covid lockdown working-from-home technology nearing the end of its useful life and new AI-powered devices offering far more possibilities.
Spending on software is expected to see an even greater increase, accelerating by 13.2% in 2025 to £230.5 billion.

Most software buyers in the UK expect to spend between 5-15% more on digital systems this year as they seek to increase ROI on their AI investments, according to the Capterra research. Six in 10 will dedicate one to four months choosing the right product and 38% see implementation as a key challenge.

The survey found security will be the highest priority, followed by AI, IT management, IT architecture and business intelligence and data analytics.

Automation: Justina Nixon-Saintil, vice president and chief impact officer at IBM, believes AI automation will be the story of 2025. “Any tasks or jobs in the company that could be automated by AI will happen within the next year,” she said.

Alicia Pittman, global people team chair at the Boston Consulting Group said a priority should be custom GPTs and mini-automations to build bottom-up power, enabling entire knowledge-based workforces to boost productivity and quality. She said: “It’s super quick, and it doesn’t require big investments or processes.”

CRMs: This year, more companies are expected to move away from in-house Gen AI solutions towards buying partner solutions. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms such as HubSpot, Salesforce and Amazon AWS are constantly improving their AI-powered offerings with broad options for customised integrated systems that can enhance almost all business objectives, from identifying new product or market opportunities and analysing big data to hyper-personalised marketing and sales which vastly improve customer experience, boost sales and build loyalty.

Fortune Business Insights predicts that the CRM market will more than double from the £50 billion spent in 2022 to £120 billion by 2029. Most platforms offer free, simplified versions of subscription models which can keep costs down, such as Microsoft Pilot and Salesforce Einstein, enabling smaller businesses and start-ups to capitalise on these fast-evolving Gen-AI powered technologies.

Spending on Data:

As the AI landscape matures, decision-makers at innovative organisations will look to upscale, standardise and refine AI use with connected, clean data across all functions and lines of their organisations to ensure it remains relevant, agile and that risks are understood and managed.

Two in five UK companies identified data quality as the greatest challenge to successful AI adoption in a survey by Hitachi Vantara. Nearly half reported significant challenges with data storage and 56% admitted to using less than half their data. Meanwhile 83% of senior business leaders say stronger data infrastructure would enable faster AI adoption.

Gen AI is only as good as the data on which it is trained and building scalable and flexible data architecture that can manage speed, variety and volume of data is critical to enable any organisation to scale up programmes and ensure maximum ROI, potentially accelerating adoption by 30%. The IBM Institute for Business Value found that poor data quality costs the US economy around $3.1 trillion a year.

Companies like Netflix and Tesco have shown the value of substantial investment in data and data infrastructure, able to process huge datasets to hyper-personalise their services, innovate, and get closer to their markets. Innovative enterprises are investing in tools including ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes, data lakes, or iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) solutions to optimise the value of their data.

Cloud storage: More than half of IT spending in key market segments is projected to shift to the cloud by the end of 2025, with global spending on cloud computing services expected to reach £1 trillion. Organisations are moving towards multicloud, open data storage to avoid vendor lock-in.

The UK government has welcomed news of £25 billion investment in data centres which will provide more computing power and data storage building infrastructure to boost AI development and innovation.

Businesses will need to manage 150% more data by 2026 and Gartner predicts that spending on data centres will climb by 15.5% in 2025 on top of a 35% rise in 2024.

Security: With this increasing reliance on data and cloud storage, security becomes ever more essential, especially in sensitive sectors such as finance, defence and healthcare. IBM reported the average cost of a data breach at more than £3.5 million in 2021. Gartner expects cybersecurity spending to increase 15% in 2025.

ESG: Organisations also need to think about the energy costs and impact on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) credentials of increased use of Gen AI and other technologies, investing in renewable sources wherever possible. Two thirds of senior leaders fear the negative impact of increased AI use on their sustainability targets and energy supply.

Steve Wanner, EY head of Americas Industrials & Energy said: “Leaders are waking up to the energy challenges inherent in scaling AI. To create innovative solutions that enable energy efficient and sustainable AI growth, companies must collaborate across the value chain, connecting the dots from energy providers to the end-use AI customer.”

Technology could also be part of the answer. Deloitte found three quarters of public companies planned to invest in AI-powered reporting tools to help them evaluate, analyse and share ESG data to comply with tightening regulations worldwide.

However, the biggest rewards are likely to be found in the joining up and safe (anonymised) data-sharing of and between AI systems, which demands greater collaboration within and between organisations, sectors and industries.

Spending on upskilling:

This year, CEOs and other c-suite decision-makers will be more hands on and, hopefully, AI-literate, and therefore committed to restructuring operations so that departments have access to data scientists and AI leads as well as focusing on educating and upskilling all knowledge-based workers and ensuring investment is more disciplined, methodical and targeted.

The speed of Gen AI evolution has taken even tech experts by surprise since ChatGPT opened it up to the masses in November 2022, so it’s hardly surprising that most of the workforce, from CEOs to customer agents and even IT managers, often feel overwhelmed and even intimidated by it.

Almost half of companies admit to lacking the know-how to integrate AI while 90% of executives say they do not know their workforce’s AI skill and proficiency. Four in five IT professionals say they are confident they can adapt but just 12% have significant experience working with AI. Organisations should consider the users of the technology before they buy it and the current skills landscape to avoid workforce burnout and unsafe or under-use of the tools and platforms.

This skills gap threatens to seriously destabilise and restrict the opportunities offered by Gen AI while increasing risk. Babies born in 2025 will be the first of Generation Beta and will grow up with AI all around them. Until they mature, businesses need to retrain their own workforces and bring in data science and Gen-AI planning expertise where it is lacking.

Tech companies are ahead of the curve on this. Amazon developed a Machine Learning University, investing heavily in training and development programs to build its internal capabilities.

IBM has made a commitment to scale up two million of its workers in AI by 2026. Nixon-Saintil said. “There’s a sense of urgency in making sure we are not leaving people behind.”

The growing sophistication of Natural Language Processing (NLP) will continue to enable employees at all levels to leverage AI, so the workforce needs to undergo continuous learning to keep up with new and evolving tools, platforms and emerging risks. Staff who will be using Gen AI models such as Chat GPT, Microsoft CoPilot and Google’s Gemini need to learn to craft clear prompts, interrogate the responses and use them to augment their own productivity and quality of work while understanding the inherent risks and having a clear chain of supervision.

EY says 59% of organisation are planning to increase training for workers on the responsible use of AI in 2025, up from 49% six months ago.

Investment in AI is only expected to absorb around a fifth of IT spending next year. Much more, then, will go into infrastructure and the people required to make it work. Both programmes need to be organisation-wide to enable AI-first business models.

Senior leadership also need to prioritise investing in their own AI literacy to make rational, evidence-based decisions before spending on AI programmes. In the EY survey, 54% of respondents said they felt they were failing as a leader as they struggled to keep up with AI’s rapid growth.

The pressure to act decisively is intensifying. Yet many leaders find themselves navigating incremental changes, unsure of how to transform their business models or confidently prove GenAI’s ROI.

Responding to feedback from our c-suite and senior leadership clients, Rialto are facilitating a virtual strategic collaboration programme between leaders from across the globe, to share experiences, perspectives, and best practices on GenAI adoption. It is designed to support leaders with the critical insights, tools, and actionable strategies needed to broaden their understanding of the complexities & opportunities of GenAI.

All participants in the programme will receive a personalised and group alignment report, to support them to more confidently lead their organisation in the GenAI era

To find more details and register onto the Adoption of GenAI Global Virtual Dialogue click here.

It’s difficult to imagine any business leader not yet open to the transformative possibilities of Generative AI. Most will already be exploring the potential or investing in it, to varying degrees.

But what impact is it having on employees and what exactly is the role of CEOs and HR heads in leading their people through this fast-evolving landscape of seemingly infinite opportunities and risks?

So far, the most cautious adopters have dipped their toes in, primarily viewing Generative AI as a tool for streamlining operations – summarising content, reducing human workforces, cutting costs. One analyst described this limited approach as an Ozempic-style organisational weight loss programme.

While that might make for a prettier bottom line in the short run, now is the time for beefing up, not slimming down. Underweight organisations will not have the agility, growth mindset or adaptive workforce to identify and seize the burgeoning AI-led opportunities to enhance, augment and strengthen their position, brand and future-focused growth and customer experience development.

There are few sectors, functions or roles that will not be affected by this revolution. Employers told a 2023 World Economic Forum survey they expect just under half of workers’ skills to be disrupted within five years. As GenAI develops at exponential speed, that estimate is looking highly conservative.

That means that companies of all sizes must prioritise their people to build agility and rapid learning systems into their business models.

How can CEOs and people leaders ensure they are priming their workforces to help them make the best uses of AI at the right time, pace and scale while minimising the risks?

Know when to automate and when to augment:

Generative AI is transforming workforces but not exactly in the way doomsayers had forecast. Yes, many roles will be displaced in the face of Gen AI’s ability to create content, code, marketing tools, conversational chatbots and data-driven insights.

The real transformative power of Generative AI, however, lies in both its accessibility – the open model means anyone who can write a question can use it – and its capacity to upskill and augment the work of humans.

Some forecasters predict that AI will do most jobs better, faster and cheaper. What does that mean for human workers?

Take the example of chatbots. They may replace the front line of call centre agents now that natural language processing has made their conversational skills so much more sophisticated.  However, their true value comes in the augmentation of bot and human. The bot can undertake the dull, repetitive tasks and work the unsocial hours while enhancing the experience of both the employee and customer. It can share personalised information and offers with the customer while enriching the data available to the human agent based on the customer’s history, wider trends and probabilities to guide the agent towards a conversation or transaction that satisfies all parties, whether through resolution of an issue or a sale.

If used properly, with training and guardrails, Generative AI can act as a highly informed and incredibly efficient co-pilot for almost all employees involved in work that involves using a computer or Smartphone which is why they all need to be confidently and actively engaged in the ongoing disruptive process affecting how work will be completed in the future .

Transforming your business model

This starts with investment in a Chief Data Office and/or a Chief Automation Officer or similar who can oversee the organisation’s customer and AI-based transformation, working closely with all c-suite leaders and especially the CEO to ensure that use and assimilation of new platforms, applications and processes are aligned with strategic objectives both in the short, medium and long term. End uses need to be defined in terms of cost and objective and ways to measure ROI identified; projects should be piloted before being scaled up and disrupted employees need to be fully informed and prepared.  The CDO/CAO will also be accountable for a robust data governance and adaptive regulation-adherent framework to minimise and mitigate inherent risks around AI such as data compliance, inaccuracy, poor data, security, privacy issues and intellectual property. They should also ensure a safe data-sharing mechanism to ensure insights, content generation and strategic scaling up of AI-powered projects are based on the most up to date, clean and complete datasets available.

Larger companies may wish to create a whole new ecosystem of data-trained leaders to ensure all teams are using their technology safely and effectively and to share data and insights vertically and horizontally.

Workforce optimisation

The CEO and people leaders will also need to work with the CDO/CAO to ensure processes are in place to constantly review their workforce’s skillbase and ensure staff are equipped, not just for the demands of 2024 or even the next fiscal year, but in alignment with strategic priorities for the known mid/long term

One way to do this is to leverage predictive analytics and data analytics to audit the workforce and identify functions , teams and even individuals who could increase their value – and job satisfaction – through upskilling.

Platforms including Gen AI-driven CRMs (customer relationship management systems) such as Salesforce Einstein have capabilities to create dynamic, upskilled workforces, identifying need and responding with personalised training or career advancement opportunities. This keeps the workforce agile and adaptable.

Introduce new skills

Generative AI’s potential for positive disruption depends on the quality of the data that goes in and the prompts used to extract insights. Employees who use it do not need to be data scientists, such is the beauty of the open model. However, the clearer and more refined their prompts, the greater the value of the Gen-AI insights that will enhance their productivity, efficiency and quality of work.

Those who upload clean data with an understanding of how that might be used will also add great value to their everyday work.

The more of this type of training provided to the workforce, the greater the ROI and employee satisfaction, creating skilled, stable, adaptable workforces, minimising attrition and attracting the best and most relevant talent. According to a PwC survey, two thirds of jobseekers considered a company’s use of cutting-edge technology when deciding where to apply. If they are looking for good use of AI, chances are they will come with a pro-tech attitude, willingness to learn and a level of skill.

Soft skills crucial to AI-based transformation such as adaptability, problem-solving, abstract thinking, creativity and empathy can be harder to teach. These are some of the skills employers should be looking for in new recruits if they are struggling to embed them into the existing workforce to fill the gaps and promote cultural change.

Foster trust to build resilience

While some employees, especially those trained in technology or science or younger recruits who have grown up around it, may embrace any opportunity to augment their own work with AI, there are sections of the workforce who may be more intimidated by technology and fearful of such a fast pace of change and the possible impact on their own careers.

Trust needs to be built from the top down to reduce these concerns. Offer flexible, human-centred training – not just digital – and ensure total transparency. Dispensing of teams or individuals whose jobs can be automated will have an unsettling ripple effect across your whole organisation.

The staff affected need a special type of transition assistance which guarantees to work with them until a new future is secure. This is an enhanced brand of transition support which only Rialto so far are pioneering globally.

Ensure any restructuring is designed openly, fairly, and with kindness. Explain the reasoning to the whole workforce and ensure they feel valued and understand the necessity and future value created by introducing technology, the security and opportunities for growth and, if you are able, explain that you are or will be offering upskilling to all employees who will be working alongside AI in the future. Open a dialogue, invite questions and answer them as honestly as possible.

Ideally, this should come directly from the CEO. Vacuums in knowledge will be filled by mistrust and misinformation. Take control of the messaging around AI, working closely with your operations and HR leaders.

We are only just starting to understand the true transformative potential of Gen AI. It’s no longer sufficient for CEOs and other c-suite executives to delegate responsibility for IT software and systems. They need to understand what is happening now, what is on the horizon and lead from the front, with compassion, confidence and strategic acumen.

If you require professional, structured support from our experienced team of AI, change and transition management experts, or would like to develop a greater personal understanding of Generative AI, its capabilities and risks, do get in touch.

In the first of our blog series on LinkedIn, we explained how to create an impressive LinkedIn profile. Here we explore ways to optimise your profile, network and seek out job opportunities on the platform.

There are currently more than 58 million companies listed on LinkedIn with more than 15 million open job listings.

Six people are hired via LinkedIn every minute. Read on for tips and tricks to make sure the right recruiters are matched with your profile, improving your chances of being found for the right role.

Be active:

The more active you are on your profile, the more you will appear in employer/recruiter searchers. Tweaks, updates and relevant content sharing and posting will help boost your presence. If you are currently job searching, make sure you are using LinkedIn regularly.

Follow the companies in which you are interested and their executives/thought leaders to build up links and stay informed on developments and opportunities and gain insights into their culture.

Connect, connect, connect. Don’t be shy about sending out a request to anyone you know or is connected to you in any way who you can share insights with and might be mutually helpful. This is not a friend-making platform, it’s about building networks. You will be as useful to an old colleague, schoolfriend, acquaintance, contact-of-contact as they are to you. Also, link in to recruiters, HR leaders, industry influencers and key decision makers. If an employer sees you are linked to them via other connections, they are more like to take you seriously. It will help you access the elusive hidden job market and bring recruiters to your door. Do follow etiquette, though. Don’t employ a scattergun approach, mindlessly messaging hundreds of people with no obvious links to you. Ensure there is a purpose or shared interest or field. Add a personalised message explaining why you want to connect and offer to help or share information, but keep it brief.

Be proactive. Message senior decision makers, hiring managers, recruiters, any of your connections in the relevant sector and ask about opportunities. Keep it brief, friendly and professional. Read profiles fully first to get a sense of their preferred style of communication and their role and experience so you can make any introduction or opening gambit personal and specific instead of sounding like a cut and paste job. Don’t send CVs on spec and long personal sales pitches. Just explain what you are looking for, how you think you can help and ask if they know of opportunities or can suggest anybody else to contact. Any inside information may give you that edge over other job seekers and valuable access to the hidden market.

Open to work. Consider whether it’s appropriate to set your profile to Open to Work. There’s a video here on how to do it. You can limit this information to recruiters, useful if you do not want other people to know you are looking or want to seek opportunities subtly. Alternatively, you can also alert all contacts, although you might wish to discuss this option with a skilled coach to decide on the right positioning for you.

Search and subscribe to job alerts: Clicking on the jobs icon in the toolbar will take you to a page where jobs matching your skills and experience will be displayed. You can search for further positions and switch the “set alert” toggle to “on” to receive notifications when relevant new jobs are posted.

Join groups and networks to extend your reach and stay informed. Add insightful comments to posts and share or create your own content to showcase your expertise and thought leadership and make sure people see your name. Nine in 10 super successful job hunters in a LinkedIn survey belonged to at least one group.

Maintain your network. Once you have made a useful contact, try to maintain it. For example, if you had a good job interview but didn’t get the post, follow up with a message to the panel members thanking them for their time, asking for feedback and politely requesting that they might consider you for any future roles. Be careful not to overstep the mark or become over familiar. Keep it professional unless the relationship has developed into a mutually more friendly one naturally. Ensuring you are gently in the background of a specific space will help keep you in the mind of employers, recruiters and other contacts who may have helpful information or consider you when an opportunity arises.

Prepare for applications and interviews. Use this incredible resource to frame your approach, response and interview style. Look at anyone who has worked for the company or comparable companies. What skills do they showcase? What were their career trajectories? Who do they follow? What do they post?

Similarly, read into the company culture and the backgrounds of any individuals who may have a part in the recruitment process. Finding a common interest with an interviewer before meeting them can be a good icebreaker – say a football team or the fact you’ve both worked at the same company or in the same European city. It shows you’ve done your homework. Don’t be over familiar though! Knowing it’s their first born’s 18th birthday or the name of their dog could backfire!

Should you pay for premium?

If you’re not actively looking for a job, recruiting or seeking to build your sales or following for commercial purposes, the free-to-use platform should meet most or all your needs.

But it’s worth going for the free one-month premium free trial to unlock the extra features and decide if it’s worth paying for while you are in the market. They include direct email access to hiring managers, notifications of views of your CV, LinkedIn Learning courses and AI-powered searches.

These are just some of the tools and benefits to LinkedIn and the beauty of it is that it’s a vast resource of accessible, free and easily searchable information to support you in so many aspects of your career development. However, while algorithms make it as personal to you as they can, there are limitations to its offering.

It goes without saying that competition for jobs at the very top is most intense and the process so much more complex as companies seek the very best candidate for crucial positions upon which futire company fortunes can be made and lost.

If you feel you could benefit from professional, structured highly personalised support in your executive job search, do contact Rialto for a free initial consultation.

In just 22 years, LinkedIn has gone from an experimental social media app created in its founder’s bedroom to the world’s stand out digital business platform. Here, we look at how to create a standout profile to build your personal brand and how to use the platform for executive and senior leadership job searches.

With a billion members in 200 countries and territories, LinkedIn has changed the way professionals connect and interact, a development turbo-charged by the lockdowns of the Covid pandemic.

While many see it simply as a live CV/recruitment service, it is a far more valuable resource than that with several functions that can be incredibly useful to anyone in any post in any sector. They include networking, influencing, subtle marketing and branding through delivery of quality content (no spamming or unsolicited sales approaches allowed) and research/learning.

For example, if you need to understand the opportunities and risks of AI in your business, LinkedIn is a good place to start. Companies including our own invest considerable resources in creating high quality, original and free to access content on topics like this, relevant to their target audience.

In this first part to our LinkedIn blog series, we will explore how to create a brilliant profile to build your personal brand and project a polished, professional front to support your career transition or development.

Part two will explain how to use the platform for executive and senior leadership job searches and ensure recruiters & other key stakeholders find you. Later in the year, we’ll show you how to grow your followers, promote your personal brand and increase your influence by posting relevant content to showcase your talent.

How it works:

Knowing how the LinkedIn algorithm works is key to getting the best use out of it. Unlike other social media sites, it is designed to avoid posts going viral, focusing instead on relevance, quality of content and meaningful connections between individuals with common interests and similar profiles.

The more time you spend using it, the more it can understand your needs, refining its selection of content and connections to organisations and people that will prove increasingly relevant and helpful.

Using LinkedIn Effectively

Today, the first contact any potential new business partner/employer/employee is likely to have of you will be digital, most probably through LinkedIn, which is why you need to be skilled in promoting yourself on it.

In person, it is said that we make 1,000 computations about an individual within seven seconds of meeting them. We read appearance, body language, personality – we respond through experience, instinct and chemistry.

Online, there are only visuals and words to go on. In some ways, this makes it easier – we can control how we present ourselves. In other ways, it makes it harder – with fewer readable clues, a single mis-step could carry far more weight than all the positive signals being sent out.

Think about what happens when you cast an eye over a LinkedIn profile. Your brain whirrs into gear, scanning for clues to build a picture. And, yes, you will form a fairly instant opinion based on what you see. You may even decide whether you want any further contact based on this first, rudimentary judgement. Without even realising, people who have not grasped the importance of this may be denying themselves the chance to make a better second impression in real life once the LinkedIn verdict is in.

Every day, people are doing the same to you which is why it is essential to get it right and fully exploit the power of this global connectivity.

Getting your profile right:

1. The basics: your profile needs to be easily discoverable, informative, up to date and professional. The right people need to be able to find you. Many professionals would be unimpressed if they struggle to find you and then find your profile lacking compared to peers. Pages with complete profiles get 30 per cent more views per week. Get your message across by writing in clear, plain English (or your language of choice). Avoid jargon, cliches and overly florid language. (Here’s a list of words to avoid). Check and double check for typos or errors or get someone else to cast a fresh pair of eyes over it for you, preferably a knowledgeable mentor or coach.
2. Ensure your photo reflects the image you want to present. It’s fine for a creative executive to look a bit whacky, but if you’re a finance director or working almost anywhere else in senior leadership, a professional head and shoulders with office attire and clear background is essential. Use company insignia if appropriate and ensure you are recognisable. No flattering 20-year-old photos!
3. Add detail. The more you include – school, university, previous employers, achievements, awards, professional learning, etc – the more search tags are available for people to find you and the more connections and relevant content will come up for you.
4. Write a stand out headline and articulate, succinct summary that lists your experience and skills in your target sector. It should read as a story with a personal touch to single you out and give you that elusive quality which never fails to attract the right people: likeability. So, if you’re on the board of a charity or have a burning ethical mission in which you are highly active, mention that, as long as it’s relevant. It’s a good idea to seek second opinions from a trusted mentor or career coach. How does your profile come across to them?
5. Use keywords for your industry and role and include your location and areas of expertise, in terms of skills, experience and geography. The more specific information you offer to potential recruiters and employers, the more easily they will find you and the better the matches. So, if you’re fluent in Mandarin, a member of a professional association or you’ve work for or partnered with renowned global organisations, name them.
6. Think carefully about which skills to list. LinkedIn offers keywords for Skills in three categories: All, Interpersonal Skills and Industry Knowledge. Think of soft skills too – the most in demand is creativity. List as many as you can justify if challenged. You need to think about examples you could give to illustrate any if asked in interview so stick to what you really know. Endorse other people’s skills and they are likely to return the favour, adding to your credibility and chances of finding a job – eight out of 10 people who secured a role on the platform within three months had at least 10 endorsements.
7. Consider upskilling to meet evolving or in demand requirements in the changing marketplace. It’s a good idea to look at leaders in your field or desired area of work to see what skills they are listing. LinkedIn has seen the number of members adding Generative AI skills like Copilot and ChatGPT rise by 142 times while non-technical professionals enrolling on AI courses has increased by 160%. (Rialto can benchmark your skills against the current market in your sector and function and help you fill in any gaps.)
8. Keep your profile up to date. It’s a good idea to get into the routine of dedicating time every month to maintenance; check it’s up to date, keep an eye on trends and stay ahead of the curve. The platform is always releasing new AI-powered tools to nudge you in the right direction. Use them!
9. Link to any successful accomplishments, videos or published articles in the Add Project section. These can be specific to your field or beyond to showcase your range of interests and skills.
10. Learn from the best. LinkedIn analyses some of the most successful profiles on the platform and explains why and how they work so well

Once your profile is sparkling and complete – check your rating, you want to be at all-star – it’s time to optimise it and start networking to get closer to that dream position. To learn more about this read part two to this Blog series, which explains how to use the platform for executive and senior leadership job searches and ensure recruiters and other key stakeholders find you.

Later in the year, we will show you how to grow your followers, promote your personal brand and increase your influence by posting relevant content to showcase your talent.

There’s no getting away from the fact that LinkedIn is now an essential tool for anyone in business. Whatever stage of your career, it’s worth investing your time and energy in it. First, ask what you want from it and dedicate your resources to that end. If you want to fully harness its many features and use it to offer a refined and finely-tuned personal brand, it’s worth getting professional support, particularly if you are seeking a senior role with a competitive salary in this difficult market.

Rialto can help you use LinkedIn effectively as part of a strategically structured, personalised executive career transition and job search. Contact us for a free initial consultation.

Our consulting and research teams at Rialto invest an increasing amount of time upgrading how we can best support business leaders to continually develop and flourish professionally and, perhaps most importantly, retain their zest, enthusiasm, drive and relevance in the face of emerging business and economic trends.

Whether our clients are just starting to realise their next horizon ambitions, looking to diversify their portfolio of executive positions or consolidate and plan for an active semi-retirement, the single most important, fundamental principle at the heart of all of their strategies is this: Progress. Stagnation and, worse, being left behind, are among the greatest fears of the world’s most dynamic and successful leaders and influencers.

Progress keeps things interesting, keeps leadership ahead of the curve, ensures a constant upwards trajectory. Progress means always having an eye on the future and being prepared for wherever it may bring. It means committing to continuous learning and personal growth; to nurturing and expanding networks; identifying, meeting and surpassing the changing requirements in an economic landscape that is evolving at lightning speed, propelled by exponential acceleration of technological disruption.

But how can individuals refine and upgrade their credentials, skills and expertise to be leaders of the future?

Here are three practical steps we support our clients to adopt to gain a competitive edge:

1. Invest in your own digital and technological literacy

Why It Matters:

The Generative AI-led technological revolution is transforming every function within every industry at a dizzying pace. It is no longer good enough to employ people to ‘do’ AI for you. AI, particularly Generative AI, should be reviewed, adopted and scaled regularly by anyone in any leadership capacity to drive innovation and efficiency and to empower workforces to use it safely and effectively.

Key Skills:

• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning:Understanding AI and its applications can help leaders automate processes, drive growth, performance and efficiency, derive insights from big data and enhance decision-making.
• Cybersecurity:Knowledge of cybersecurity and other risks around AI is crucial to protect organisational data, infrastructure and reputation.
• Data analytics:The ability to analyse and interpret data helps make informed, strategic decisions. Applications such as predictive analytics and simulation software enable low-cost testing and refining of new products, services and innovations.
• Digital transformation strategies: Implementing and managing digital transformation initiatives helps organisations to stay competitive and relevant.
• Blockchain technology: Helps secure complex, cross-border transactions and simplifies logistics solutions.

How to attain them:

We’ve dedicated much of our digital content and training to this for several years now and helped many hundreds of senior leaders from around the world get ahead of this fourth industrial revolution. Now AI is becoming mainstream, there is no hiding from it. It may seem intimidating but it is just like any business language and can be demystified with appropriate support and training. See our recent blog on how to go from AI avoidant/confused to pro. Rialto offers personalised development programmes and organisational analysis for AI implementation plus regular online webinars with specialist tech/change management experts.

Sites such as LinkedIn, Google, and Microsoft also offer free online training to help bridge your knowledge gaps and become proficient and confident in your own digital and technological literacy.

2. Cultivate your emotional intelligence.

Why It Matters:

Emotional intelligence involves the ability to understand and manage one’s own emotions, as well as recognise, interpret and respond appropriately to the emotions of others. This skill set is essential for effective leadership and has a profound impact on various aspects of business management and organisational success. It enhances decision-making, communication, relationship-building, navigation of internal politics, employee engagement, change management, leadership influence, and conflict resolution. By cultivating emotional intelligence, business leaders can create a more positive and productive workplace and interpret and respond to the changing demands of their marketplace.

In today’s business landscape, leadership needs to be able to connect, communicate effectively with and influence a huge variety of stakeholders across a broad range of media, networks and digital platforms. One day an executive or senior leader might be addressing MPs in a select committee hearing, the next, answering concerns of venture capitalists; later that week delivering difficult news to the workforce in the morning and an interactive webinar to schoolchildren after lunch. Emotional intelligence is an essential skill to tune in to the language, style, culture and expectations of different audiences.

Key skills:

• Self-awareness: Poor leaders are the last in the room to recognise their own shortcomings, whether it is a bad temper or failure to trust and delegate. Leaders who are self-aware can correct mistakes, apologise when needed and adjust their leadership style. They are more likely to continue to grow professionally and be more aware of the dynamics of their interactions with others, helping them to foster stronger, more productive relationships with colleagues, employees, stakeholders and customers.
• Self-regulation and rationality: No matter how skilled and experienced a leader may be, no organisation wants to take on the liability of an individual who can not control their emotions in today’s commercially sensitive and litigious world. Being able to regulate emotions and respond rationally even in the most arduous or stressful situations is a skill highly prized and valued in the modern business world. Staying focused and rational also helps ensure clearer decision making based on data, evidence and expertise, not temporal and unreliable feelings.
• Empathy: Leaders who show empathy and genuine concern and compassion for their employees’ well-being are more likely to gain their trust and loyalty. Empathy means appreciating that each member of your workforce is a human being with feelings, fluctuating mental and physical health needs, emotional needs and commitments outside of work. Empathetic leaders are attuned to their markets and respond quickly and appropriately to changing cultural dynamics and influential external events.
• Conflict management: Wherever there are people there is conflict. In a well-managed environment, conflict can be a positive energising force, driving original thought, innovation and passion. Get it wrong, and teams can disintegrate into bitter power struggles, simmering resentment and a vacuum of creative collaboration. Effective conflict management and resolution fosters strong teams and constructive outcomes.
• Building trust and rapport: Senior leaders and executives in an effective people-centred organisation know they have hired the right people, feel a natural rapport with them and trust them to do their jobs within the accepted parameters. That mutual trust is rewarded with loyalty and productivity. Such leaders inspire confidence and reassurance during times of uncertainty, helping to maintain morale and focus.

How to attain them:  

Taking the time to step back and reflect on successes and failures, whether relational or business decisions and outcomes, helps develop emotional intelligence and raise self-awareness.  Engaging in EI training and working with executive coaches can significantly enhance these skills. Seek a mentor or coach to act as a sounding board and mirror. Ask them to help you reflect on and learn from your emotional responses when dealing with others or making decisions. Are you able to understand the emotions you feel? How might your opinions and communication impact others? What expectations might there be on how you behave in difficult situations? Are there certain triggers that cause a more emotional response, for example?

Once you remove or account for these factors, you can analyse more clearly your emotional responses and look to balance them with logic and reason.

The best leaders find ways to manage stress levels, through positive actions such as seeking mentoring and coaching, a healthy exercise, diet and sleeping regime, hobbies and other cultural distractions and interests and spending quality time with friends and family.

In work, they treat their employees as individuals, not a hive or cogs in a machine. Pre-empt their needs, look after their health and wellbeing, practise active listening and responding with emotional clarity.

Good leadership takes the time to address the emotional dynamics behind disagreements and brings rational judgement to de-escalate and resolve conflict. Reasons behind any decisions should be communicated clearly and effectively to avoid any sense of injustice and help all parties learn from the experience. See our blog on leadership lessons from the tech titans to see how Apple CEO Tim Cook employs empathy and inclusion to motivate his devoted workforce and turn customers into worshippers.

3. Embrace lifelong learning

Why it matters:

The foundation of effective leadership into the future lies in a commitment to lifelong learning and in this category we include skills and expertise and experiential learning. Once, a quality degree, perhaps an MA in your specialist subject plus ongoing on-the-job training were considered enough. That was during the decades between World War Two and the late 1980s, when the economic landscape changed at a pace that was positively glacial compared to today’s dynamic, fast-evolving environment.

Technology and globalisation have combined to create a constant state of flux rocked by frequent shocks such as the internet and digital revolution of the 90s, the advent of AI and especially launch of ChatGPT’s open Generative AI interface in 2022, and the Covid pandemic.

Today, executives and senior leaders need to be agile, adaptable and proactive, not reactive. While nobody can really predict exactly when and where the shocks will come and what their impact will be, leaders can ensure they are ahead of any cultural and technological curves by building on-going learning into their professional routine. We have covered the need for constant upskilling and learning in digital and disruptive technologies above. Other areas for focus could include these key skills:

• Responsive leadership: You may think you have this leadership thing licked, but even if you are CEO of a FTSE-100 or Nasdaq-listed multi-national, the world of business continues to change around you and you must continue to change your leadership style with it to stay relevant. What worked in 2020, during the pandemic, may be less effective today, post ChatGPT. Laws and expectations around inclusivity, equality, mental health and work culture are changing constantly. Covid saw the move towards remote working and all the technologies that came with it. We’re moving through hybrid working and increasingly coming back into the workplace as we rediscover the benefits of physical proximity, close collaboration and emotional connection. How leaders dress has even changed as well as how we network and how we speak to each other, all so much less formal. A new book or blog by an influential leader can shift the dial almost overnight. Key/evolving topics to study might include strategic leadership, change management, team dynamics, decision-making processes, conflict resolution and organisational behaviour.
• Global Business and Economics: Globalisation requires executives and senior leaders to have a keen understanding of international markets, economies, and cultural nuances. They need to know what is expected of them in different environments, cultures and countries as their organisations expand into new regions. Cultural sensitivity is key to international leadership but equally important on the domestic front where stakeholders and staff will increasingly represent different nationalities and cultures. Gaffes can be costly in terms of reputation, productivity, contracts and partnership relations while sensitivity and awareness can help any organisation navigate new territory with success. Topics for learning might include cross-cultural management, global supply chain management, emerging markets, economic Trends and forecasting and international regulations and compliance.
• Marketing and customer experience: Understanding market dynamics and customer behaviour helps executives drive growth and create value for customers. In today’s volatile, globally competitive and fickle markets, customers have access to choice as never before which means leadership in all functions need to be finely attuned to their demands and relationships to the brands or services they are offering. Optimum CX and customer engagement/loyalty is fundamental to commercial success and therefore should be a consideration in every strategic decision. Key topics for study might include: digital marketing, consumer behaviour, brand management, customer relationship management, market research and analysis and user experience (UX) design.

How to attain them:

If you’re seeking a formal qualification, enjoy academia and have the time and capacity, you may wish to explore formal education options like the Open University or studying for a diploma to develop your expertise in your professional field. Some organisations will finance further study for employees and offer sabbaticals.

There is a myriad of less formal options available to help keep your broad business credentials polished and relevant for executive transition or progression. A burgeoning industry of professional learning has emerged in response to demand during this most testing of times for senior leadership. Personal recommendations are the best way to go or try using a Gen AI tool such as ChatGPT for suggestions.

Perhaps your company offers opportunities such as in-house training or mentoring schemes. Or you might wish to set up your own mentoring scheme or internship. Taking on PhD students or specialists or buddying up with younger recruits can serve both parties extremely well with reciprocal learning. As an experienced leader, you have much to give, while the process of mentoring can help build social skills, communication, self-awareness and intergenerational connectedness.

And of course there are many free online resources, such as webinars and courses produced by companies trying to promote their products or digital platforms such as LinkedIn, Coursera and edX. You can also watch TedTalks, tune into podcasts or follow blogs. Here’s a Forbes list of books and blogs for leaders to read in 2024 to get you started.

The Rialto website also has a library of resources.

If you require a more personalised Leadership benchmarking and understanding of your skill set, gaps that need addressing or expertise that needs updating, you may wish to engage a professional executive career coach.

What is crucial to all leaders who want to stay ahead of the curve and remain relevant, valued and influential, is the right mindset. Being open to new ideas, new technologies, new cultural dynamics; staying on top of trends, being aware of what is happening in the news, in politics, in the law, in global relations. This will help provide an external framework of contextual understanding of where the economy is headed in order to make strategic decisions and navigate your own career through an ever-changing climate on to a horizon which might look different every time you stop and peer out.

But it is equally important to look inwards – to have a meaningful understanding of your own capabilities and limitations; to work to develop an emotional maturity that allows you to tap into those feelings and intuitions and compassion when required, and other times, step back and think with logic and reason.

Rialto are global Executive Career Transition & Internal Mobility specialists who can support executives or senior leaders facing challenges in making progress within today/s more competitive and rapidly changing executive marketplace.

Executive Outlook:  Going from GenAI avoidant to pro – and raising your relevance and value in the future workplace. 

Whether you are looking to make a successful executive transition externally or progress within your current organisation, AI will undoubtedly play a part in your professional development.

Until very recently, AI was something scientists did and most people’s familiarity with it came from science fiction. Since the public launch of ChatGPT’s Generative AI tool in November 2022, however, it has exploded into action to become part of the very fabric of our global infrastructure.

Every individual in a position of leadership should be thinking about AI every day – how it is changing their industry now, what is on the near horizon, how different the world will look two, five, 10 years from now as disruptive technologies continue to develop and expand exponentially. Most importantly, how you can exploit it to stay relevant, further your own career and understand how to best use it to accelerate the growth and performance of your team or organisation to increase your own value in the workplace.

Here we review some common questions and comments from what Rialto  consultants hear from AI-curious executives and senior leaders and explain why and how it can support every individual’s professional development.

What does AI actually do?

Even though we have all been using it for many years, most of us on a daily basis whether through our smartphones or algorithm-based personalised services such as Netflix, almost all surveys show high levels of scepticism and fear around AI.

Some of those personal barriers to adoption are based in well-founded concerns around regulation, ethics, the risk of machines taking our jobs and the security and reliability of such new, constantly-evolving and mysterious technologies.

Others are born out of more nebulous reactions: suspicion, fear, feelings of intimidation and difficulty grasping how it works or how it could benefit an individual or organisation.

When terms such as Machine Learning (ML), Large Language Models (LLMs), Generative AI, Neural Networks and Big Data are thrown around, sometimes seemingly interchangeably, it can be easier just to think: I’ll leave that to the techie people.

However, this is a language we all need to learn to speak and a permanent addition to our personal and professional lives that we would just as well do to get to grips with now in order to stay relevant. History shows the Luddites did not win the 19th century war against cost and time-saving textile technologies, the machines and their owners did.  There is still time to benefit from being among the earlier adopters.

When you get under its skin, you can begin to understand that Generative AI is really about using machines to survey and analyse masses of information, volumes unimaginable to the human brain, looking for patterns, predicting what will come next to an increasingly accurate degree and suggesting ways to take advantage of this crystal ball-like magic. Think of it like that and the potential applications become endless. (Though GenAI is only as good as the humans operating it and it comes with caveats.)

Some industries and individuals are catching on faster than others but it will become as central to any sector or function as we humans.

I don’t work in technology, why do I need it?

In terms of any individual’s professional development, all evidence points to the fact that recruiters are increasingly valuing AI skills alongside experience, other leadership attributes and expertise, no matter what role is being filled. Astute candidates and in-post senior leaders are responding accordingly. There is growing evidence that candidates with AI skills and knowledge even if less experienced are likely to secure roles in preference to more experienced candidates.

In a recent survey by Microsoft and LinkedIn:

• 76% of professional respondents said they needed AI skills to remain competitive in the job market.
• 69% believed AI could help get them promoted faster.
• 79% said it would broaden their job opportunities.

Also:

• 68% of the fastest-growing US roles on LinkedIn didn’t exist 20 years ago.
• 12% of recruiters say they are creating new roles around the use of generative AI.
• Head of AI positions tripled in five years and grew by more than a quarter in 2023.

Meanwhile, non-technical professionals signing up to LinkedIn AI courses jumped 160%, with architects and project managers most eager. LinkedIn said it had seen a 142x increase in members globally adding skills like proficiency using ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot to their profiles.

Rialto research at the end of 2023 found some of the fastest growing positions among the C-suite were chief automation officer, chief digital officer and chief data officer while traditional roles such as chief executive officer and chief operations officer were oversupplied with fewer  advertised positions available.

While a background in data and digital technology are helpful in these new roles they are not essential. Candidates with expertise and experience in business operations, change management, project management and strategic management can gain sufficient skills in these areas to add them to their current CVs and apply for these in-demand roles or leverage them to improve their own performance and value in their current position.

Here’s how you can go from sceptic to experimenter to power user by working and playing with AI every day:

1. Start your day using Generative AI. How did you plan to start the day? How can you make that start better with AI? Become familiar with Microsoft’s Copilot, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini. Read reviews, find out what they can do. It may be that your company prefers one and has a policy on its use and/or a paid subscription to a more advanced version. If it doesn’t, can you be the one to take the initiative and suggest it does?
2. Practise prompting. Any time you have a thought or question, feed it into a GenAI tool. If you don’t get the answer you want, rewrite it and learn how to communicate with it to get the best out of it.
3. Research the tools being used in your industry. What are the best case uses, the most popular tools and how are they being exploited effectively?
4. If you are in work, look at your list of tasks/challenges. How could AI help? Investing time in research will save more than it takes.
5. Whether you are in work or looking for work, practice using it in your personal life until it becomes an integral part of your thought process. Play with it, ask random questions or for help buying a present for an awkward relative. The more you use it, the more proficient and confident you will become.

Now I’ve got the basics, what next?

First: Learn the language of AI and stay updated on rapid advancements, particularly those disrupting your sector. Think about the barriers to your own personal adoption to date – what are you afraid of? Do you need to benchmark your skills and devote time and energy to further training?

Next: Whether or not you are looking for to step up or are planning your future career direction, think about what AI skills you need to update your profile, including proficiency with ChatGPT and other GenAI tools, any training you need or have to complete and any AI strategies or projects with which you could or have been involved in. When creating a digital profile, think about keywords such as data, predictive analytics and Generative AI and whether they need to appear in any searches. If you are looking for progression within your organisation, seek to get involved in new AI projects and look out for any in-house training. If none is available, ask for some for you and your team.

Incorporate AI into every possible task and project. Explore possibilities, investigate opportunities, look at what your rivals are doing: what are they using? How? How could you do it better? How could it benefit your sector, organisation and individual roles to drive strategic implementation and deliver growth, efficiencies and improved performance.

It won’t take long to realise the potential benefits and applications and you will be using it like a pro, able to speak the language and naturally inspiring confidence from your teams, employers and potential employers in your capacity to drive growth through the power of AI and other frontier technologies.

DO be aware of the limitations and ethical responsibilities around AI. While Generative AI is getting more reliable, it can hallucinate and make up facts and even research papers. Read, edit and verify everything it produces before using and think about data protection and copyright/plagiarism issues and be alert to any possible bias.  One common mistake is expecting AI to make the same mistakes as humans – training is essential to be able to understand how Generative AI creates content to be able to identify any potential issues.

If you would like professional support benchmarking your own skills, better understanding what recruiters want or wishing to compete more effectively in the changing Executive job market, or if you would like Rialto to help you create a strategy to incorporate the most relevant Generative AI and other AI technologies into your business model, contact our team to discuss how we can help.

Rialto Consultancy and Rainbird Technologies Announce Strategic Partnership to Deliver Transformative AI-Powered Solutions

Uniting AI-powered decision intelligence and expert-guided transformation to elevate business success.

London (UK), May 22nd, 2024 – Rialto Consultancy, a leading global provider of change management, organisational transformation and multi-level employee career transition solutions, and Rainbird Technologies, the pioneering Decision Intelligence platform, today announced a strategic partnership to bring groundbreaking AI capabilities to enterprises.

This alliance combines Rainbird’s advanced, explainable AI technology with Rialto’s deep expertise in guiding organisations through complex people-oriented change initiatives. Together, the two organisations will empower clients to harness the full potential of AI to drive innovation, improve decision-making, and unlock unprecedented business outcomes through a compelling joint solution focussed on considerate AI adoption and workforce upskilling and transition priorities.

“We are thrilled to partner with Rainbird and leverage their cutting-edge decision intelligence platform,” expressed Richard Chiumento, Rialto Director. “By integrating Rainbird’s AI-powered insights and automation into our comprehensive people focussed change management solutions, we can help our clients navigate transformation with greater speed, precision and transparency.”

The partnership will focus on a joint go-to-market strategy, enabling Rialto to seamlessly incorporate Rainbird’s solutions into its portfolio of services. Clients will benefit from a unified value proposition that combines Rialto’s expertise in areas such as talent development, change communication, global career transition employee upskilling, with Rainbird’s ability to digitise human expertise, automate complex decisions and provide auditable explanations for AI-driven outcomes.

“Rialto’s deep understanding of organisational change and their proven track record of driving successful transformations make them an ideal partner for Rainbird,” emphasised Rainbird CEO, James Duez. “Together, we will empower enterprises to embrace AI-powered decision-making that is aligned with their strategic objectives and values.”

The partnership will initially focus on joint go-to-market efforts in the United Kingdom, with plans to expand into additional global markets in the future. By leveraging each other’s strengths, Rialto and Rainbird are poised to redefine the way organisations navigate change and harness the full potential of AI.

About Rialto Consultancy

Rialto Consultancy is an award-winning global provider of change management and organisational transformation solutions. With a focus on talent development, change communication, global career transition and employee upskilling, Rialto partners with enterprises to guide them through complex change initiatives and unlock their full potential.

For more information, visit https://www.rialtoconsultancy.com/.

About Rainbird

Rainbird’s revolutionary Decision Intelligence platform is transforming enterprise decision-making with trust and explainability at scale. For over a decade, Rainbird’s AI platform has enabled organisations to digitise human expertise into enhanced, yet transparent, extended knowledge graphs. Their advanced reasoning automates complex judgments at scale while providing auditable rationales behind each outcome.

For further details, explore https://www.rainbird.ai.

Press Contact

Rialto Consultancy: Justine Smith, Press@Rialtoconsultancy.com

Rainbird Technologies Ltd: Sabu Samarnath, sabu.samarnath@rainbird.ai

“Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window.” Peter Drucker (a founding father of modern management theory)

If death and taxes are the only certainties upon which we can rely, the best we can do is consider and interrogate the likely developments of the near future and prepare our business models and personal career growth plans accordingly.

Here are some of the major themes that the Rialto team believe will influence the economy and global executive job markets in 2024.

1: Optimising AI.  

If 2023 was the year that early adopters got ahead and most doubters came round to the reality that generative AI is here to disrupt every part of our lives and many occupations, 2024 will see a more mature, pragmatic and strategic integration of frontier technologies into all aspects of work automation priorities.

It is imperative that executives prioritise the need to ensure senior leadership are bringing in the talent or hiring expertise to identify the most appropriate applications and introduce them across the business as seamlessly and effectively as possible.  By the end of 2024, the gulf between believers and dinosaurs will become increasingly evident.  The influence of generative AI is developing exponentially. Looking back at the pace of acceleration of adoption in 2023, it is almost impossible to imagine the disruptive force it could generate over the coming 12 months.

As McKinsey succinctly stated in its recent report, “What matters most? Eight CEO priorities for 2024”,  executives need to ask: “which parts of the business can benefit? how can applications be scaled from one to many? and how will new tools reshape their industry?”.

This is not just a paradigm shift, it is a revolution, with accelerated change now a constant; business models and mindsets need to adapt to be able to respond in real time to stay ahead of the competition.

Rialto can help you benchmark your personal readiness for the future of work and identify any skills gaps. We also offer a programme of live online events presented by experts in specific fields around the frontier technologies and their application in various functions and sectors.

2: Another year of economic uncertainty.

2023 proved to be a year of economic contradictions and we go into 2024 with the same equivocation. Despite all of the crosswinds which threatened to push the UK and major global markets into recession, including conflict in the Ukraine and the Middle East, double-digit inflation, record energy costs, high interest rates and the legacy of Covid driving a cost-of-living crisis, markets ended the year buoyant with the US indices reaching record highs.

With inflation falling rapidly, interest rates likely to follow later in the year, wages rising faster than prices, and promised tax cuts in the Spring, many forecasters are now predicting a grey market up to the UK national election, with stagnation rather than recession.

In the background, the risk of conflict spreading and causing energy prices to spike will continue to prompt caution among investors.

Executives and board members across most sectors will be emphasising the need for resilience, efficiency and frugality. Spending is likely to be targeted on processes, technologies and strategic priorities that will focus on savings to build up reserves and create agile business models to adapt to the fast pace of AI-driven change; leaders will look for creative, low risk ways to promote growth in an otherwise stale UK economy which continues to lag behind other G7 countries.

That could offer little in the way of relief to the lean executive job market which Rialto highlighted with exclusive data at the end of 2023. It showed a dramatic fall in publicly-advertised executive level vacancies on the year, highlighting the increasingly critical need for the most senior level job seekers to be able to access the hidden market, identify the opportunities meeting their requirements and upskill or retrain if necessary. Pivoting towards new roles created by the technological revolution could open further pathways to successful career transitions.  The focus is on creating a brand and skillset which are more relevant than ever to the new market demand curve for leadership talent.

3: Elections.

2024 is a year of elections, local, national and global.

Will it be a 1992 – the year Labour leader Neil Kinnock snatched defeat from the jaws of victory after taking a tumble on Brighton beach? Or another 1997-style landslide for Keir Starmer’s more centrist Labour party? Markets are always averse to uncertainty. How might that affect the economy?

PM Rishi Sunak has indicated he will call a General Election mid=way through the year.

Will his promised tax cuts fuel increased consumer confidence and prompt a commerce-led recovery? – or spook markets concerned about further increases to record borrowing levels?

The most recent polls put Labour 19% ahead of the Conservatives which would give them the seats they need for an outright majority and a strong mandate for change.

However polls are notoriously inaccurate. Not only did they get it wrong in the last two US elections and our Brexit referendum, they can reduce turnout for the leading party from voters convinced the outcome is a foregone conclusion.

Rishi Sunak will betting on an economic turnaround as inflation and interest rates fall globally to carry him over the line but will his immigration all-in on the divisive Rwandan policy see him go bust and bring on a surprise early election?

And what will it mean if Labour do win? Starmer is keeping his cards close to his chest so little detail in his manifesto so far. He and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves are, however, determined to prove Labour can take care of business and keep tight fiscal control with new powers for the Office of Budget Responsibility so don’t expect any big public spending contracts, though the construction industry would see a shot in the arm with a promise to build 300,000 new homes a year for five years.  They have promised is to secure billions in private funding to promote growth in the regions, focusing on the green energy economy for which a massive injection of cash would follow a Labour victory.  Along with AI, it’s the growth sector of the moment. Can Starmer pull a rabbit out of the hat and rejuvenate the former industrial heartlands?

In contrast, Sunak has backpedalled on renewables in a bid to put fresh air between him and Starmer, so uncertainty over related future financial and economic policies is likely to deter foreign investment at a crucial time for the sector, potentially leaving the UK too far behind to play catch up with China and the US who are going full steam ahead in the race to become the green superpower.

Whatever and whenever the result, executives seeking new positions and career transitions could do worse than to reskill and pivot towards these emerging technologies.

Business leaders also need to keep an eye on regional elections, including the London mayoral election which could have a big impact on the City, and global elections, including US Presidential elections which will have an important bearing on Western relations with the crucial Chinese market.

4: Laser-focused strategic growth.

As leaders and executives seek to navigate stormy waters at the beginning of the year,  laser-focused strategic growth will be more important than ever.

Budgets remain tight, investment in new technological infrastructures will remain a priority; now is a good time to revisit and update McKinsey & Company’s 2022 10 rules for intelligent growth.

1. Put competitive advantage first. Find your winning formula first then scale up.
2. Make the trend your friend. Stay on top of emerging markets; recognise when the trend is waning and change.
3. Don’t be a laggard. If you’re ahead, keep moving to stay ahead, no treading water. Be more Apple, less Blackberry.
4. Turbocharge your core. How can you build strength into the core that will support new growth? Technology? Product development?
5. Look beyond the core. Expand organically using natural connections and progression.
6. Grow where you know. Optimise your local advantage, knowledge, connections etc.
7. Be a local hero. Win strong loyalty and brand awareness in your locality.
8. Go global if you can beat local. But be sure your product will transfer to new markets first
9. Acquire programmatically. Plan organic growth alongside new ventures. Think about the emerging sectors such as AI and green technologies.
10.  Shrink to grow. Prune dead wood and re-seed for stronger growth,

In this time of uncertainty, it is more important than ever that all leadership teams are constantly looking for opportunities for growth and development with minimal risk, whether micro or macro, into new markets, new sectors or improving on core business performance. Entrepreneurial curiosity needs to be built in to the workforce with strong two-way communications to open opportunities for all employees to contribute ideas to optimise performance at every level.

5: Filling skills gaps.

Technology is disrupting the way we do business at all levels but we need the right people at the wheel to prevent a kamikaze ride into the future.

Generative AI and other frontier technologies are bursting with almost limitless potential but are also fraught with tensions and risks that need a human touch. The most advanced business leaders are starting to recognise that abstract skills such as empathy, curiosity and adaptability are becoming more valuable to the fast-changing, AI-led economic landscape than traditional qualifications such as superior formal education. Emotional intelligence, creativity and strategic thinking are among the skills that cannot (yet) be replaced by technology.

The UK’s education system has been slow to catch on to the need for these skills to power the country’s future economic success. Even young people graduating from universities and sixth forms now have not been prepared for this brave new world.

Senior executives need to demonstrate these skills in their own leadership but also build them into the workforce through strategic recruitment and continuous upskilling and training. HR leaders should be bringing in AI applications to analyse and meet current and future skills requirements particular to the growth strategies of the business.

6: Minding mental health.

As the New Year blows in on the back of grey skies, driving rain and warnings of another gloomy economic 12 months ahead with further job layoffs and a lingering cost-of-living crisis, maintaining a feel good factor in the workplace is a challenge facing leadership in all sectors.

According to Gallop’s State of the Global Workplace 2023 report, almost six in 10 employees considered themselves quiet quitters – psychologically disengaged from work without a sense of meaning or purpose. It claimed that active and psychological disengagement costs the global economy $8.8 trillion a year or 9% of global GDP.

By genuinely committing to caring for the wellbeing and welfare of staff, companies could potentially make huge savings with minimal outlay at a time when critical skills shortages and economic uncertainty are threatening to undermine growth in every sector.

Investment in cultivating relational intelligence, empathy and introducing mental health toolkits, evaluation and support will pay dividends. That may mean hiring consultants or using AI programs to deliver focused training, continuous assessments and easily-accessed support services.

Employees who are being made to return to the office after the homeworking of Covid times and adjust to constant technology-driven changes in their daily operations may be at risk of burnout and disillusionment. Open, two-way communication, flexibility and understanding can all help cushion employees and make them feel safe and valued.

The CIPD claims flexible working can reduce staff turnover by up to 87%.

Some companies are going further, offering sensory spaces, menopause support and introducing wearable devices to track mental health, sleep patterns and AI programmes to analyse sentiment around workplace developments. HR directors should be actively analysing workforce engagement and identifying risks to reduce attrition rates and costs and maintain a healthy workforce to boost engagement and drive performance.

On a more personal level, executives and leaders have had to take on more responsibilities and cope with more change than at any time in history. Those in position should be aware of their own stress levels and look for ways of managing competing challenges, whether by re-evaluating leadership teams to maximise opportunities for delegation of duties or building in moments of decompression, rest and mindfulness throughout the working week.

For those seeking a career transition or out of work and actively looking for a new position, share your journey with a trusted relative, friend or consultant. It is too easy to get caught in a cycle of hope and despondency as opportunities come and go. Take time to reflect on any rejections and seek advice from someone who may have a more objective perspective and be able to help turn challenges into positive development.