Jude Pullen

Why AI is a new ‘bicycle for the mind’ (to paraphrase the old Steve Jobs quote). AI cannot tell companies what they will become, but it can accelerate how their teams explore the future. Jude takes you on a journey of establishing our natural ‘fear of the unknown’ (or ‘Gutenberg Printing Press -fears’), and how we can move through history, to the present and then prototype a future where more people become comfortable with a given new experience. He is keen to highlight this creates a feedback loop, accelerating acceptance and in time appreciation of bolder innovation that change our lives for the better.

Diversity may seem to be a PR / HR issue, but at its core, it’s an Innovation Issue. Whether you’re in FinTech and thinking ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ – but need to consider why none of your products are designed by women for women;  or you’re a Start-up of multi-racial geniuses, but who all have come from similar privilege; or you’ve been successfully designing best-sellers, but your market is shrinking as values and social norms slowly change. Many love the phrase “Think Different”, but really, how different are your team’s thoughts – and how can you connect better with existing consumers, and understand the needs of vast untapped ones? This talk helps establish awareness and methods for putting your company’s collective intelligence to greater use.

Innovation Myth 1: You can’t ‘see’ the Future. Truth: instead you have to ‘create’ visions of it – and Pilot / Beta Test it to validate it. Timing is key.
Innovation Myth 2: Organisations think “I’ll know it when I see it”. Truth: Many reports show ‘experts’ are the last people to see the next big thing! “Gradually… then Suddenly” is far more common than we’d like to admit, and the only way to prepare for it is to anticipate change and create stories that depict not just what might disrupt you from your industry, but to look beyond to other tangential industries which might enhance or undermine your strategy. As a Tech Scout of many years, Jude demonstrates how to quickly explore for cross-industry tech/innovation that might radically change your business. You cannot know what will happen and when, but you can anticipate more than you think…or indeed, you can choose to lead with it. There are times when being a ‘Fast Follower’ is shrewd, but there are some useful acid-tests to see if this is missing a bigger opportunity to overtake the competition altogether.

You can chase the Carrot or the wait for the Stick – but either way, “the times, they are a-changin'” – and your company can be seen as embracing new societal needs with vigour (even if making a few misfires, but overall being meaningfully progressive), or reluctantly dragging their heals – as a sign they are past their best, until a young upstart provides a compelling alternative that makes them obsolete. There is no ‘Sustainability project’ or ‘Diversity quota’ which will save you, but rather an ongoing process of education and finding the holistic benefit to what is unquestionably hard work, but makes for a healthier company with greater longevity and brand love. Jude aims to show how managers don’t have to be ‘100% right’ in order to win, but superficial posturing will not endure. Incorporating modern Ethics into a ‘business-as-usual mindset’ is key to these challenges feeling enjoyable and a countermeasure to ‘quiet quitting’. Ironically these ‘wicked problems’ are the seeds of job satisfaction and unprecedented growth, but we have to sow them well in advance.