What We're Working Through ...
In Search of Organizational Excellence
Redesigning Work Around AI Expertise, Human Judgment & People Development Redesign the work. Reskill the people. Redeploy the talent.
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A community-powered homage to Tom Peters'In Search of Excellence (1982) — same question, new era.[/caption]
"Companies want and need expertise — human or AI. Judgment stays uniquely human. The C-suite goal is minimizing coordination tasks. Only 29% of workflows are using AI while 71% of employees are — that gap is the opportunity." — Karen KocherYou already know what good looks like: immersive experiences, peer connection, clear next steps. That's table stakes now. Leadership development built for the last era can't keep pace. October 1 is where we work the new one out — real talent challenges, trusted peers, and a 30/60/90-day plan you can bring back Monday.
Lead the AI Era—From Insight to Action
HR and L&D have always started with the individual — the persona, the role, the competency model. That's the muscle memory of a century of talent work. And it's exactly why AI-era transformation stalls.
The cleanest path starts with the workflow — what work actually gets done, and which parts humans should own, share, or hand off to agents. Once the work is clear, the person's development gets clear too. Skills follow. Reskilling follows. Redeployment follows.
October 1 is where people leaders reimagine a real workflow, work it with peers, and leave with a 30/60/90-day plan that redesigns the work — then reskills and redeploys the people ready to do it.This isn't anti-individual. It's pro-individual with the work they do.
The blindspot: AI isn't a productivity tool. It's a new form of capital
Most transformation plans still treat AI as software to roll out — and the people work as change management to run alongside. That's the old playbook. It's already breaking.
Satya Nadella called it plainly this year: every company is now building two kinds of capital — human capital (knowledge, judgment, relationships, creativity, pattern recognition) and token capital (the AI capability the company builds and owns). The winners get them to compound together. His line: "without human direction, you have compute running in circles."
Human capital doesn't shrink as AI grows. It gets more valuable — but only when the two dance and work as one.
That's Organizational Intelligence. AI & Business Intelligence amplifies what's happening now. Human Intelligence delivers what AI can't replicate — context from real work, judgment under uncertainty, adaptability when the plan breaks. AI adoption at scale needs both.
The workflow-first argument isn't new. ELE was making it in 2022.
Three years ago, Ravin Jesuthasan sat in this exchange and made the case that jobs are the wrong unit of work — that the future runs on fixed, flex, and flow. His Work Without Jobs framework predicted what AI now makes inescapable: reimagine the work first, then the people who do it.Jobs are the wrong unit of work. — Ravin JesuthasanHere's what's actually happening: two years ago, your org chart was all humans. Today, it's hybrid — AI agents already sitting inside workflows your people own. Two years from now, agents will outnumber the humans on it. The managers who figure this out first win the next two years. The ones who treat it as a blindspot lose them. Your people are leading these new hires in real time — no résumés, no managers, no one to show them the ropes — quality-checking output that used to be theirs and writing the rules as they go.
How the Exchange Works
- Real talent challenges — leaders bring what's actually stalling performance
- Roundtable discussions — peers share use cases and what's actually working
- Design Charrettes — small peer groups shape strategies
- AI Practical Labs — AI becomes a tool for execution, not noise.
What to Expect
- Real executive dialogue: Practical, unscripted exchange with senior leaders working through AI-era leadership challenges and workforce challenges.
- Business-outcome-first framing: Start with the result the business is trying to achieve, then work backward to the skills, roles, tasks, behaviors, and leadership support needed to move it.
- Design Charrette work: Small-group collaboration around real problems, root causes, sharper choices, and practical next steps.
- AI Working Lab mindset: Explore where AI can improve work, automate repeatable tasks, and support better decisions — while helping leaders frame the “why” and connect action to business value.
- Peer-powered momentum: Leave with clearer thinking, useful connections, and practical 30/60/90-day next moves you can bring back to the business.
Real Challenges We’ll Work Through
The community shapes the day. In the two weeks before October 1, registrants get the running list of talent challenges the community is voting up — the ones we'll actually work through in the room.
AI adoption is about data, tech & people. Leadership development matters more when change accelerates — not less.
Designed for Different Stages of AI Adoption
Three concurrent breakouts, color-coded so you pick the room built for where you actually are — not where you're supposed to be.🔵 Exploring — still building the internal case for workflow-first. Leave with language and a framework for leadership. 🟢 Piloting — a few AI Practical Labs running, results mixed. Leave with peer-tested strategies for what's working. 🟠 Scaling — AI's inside the workflows, but redeployment and reskilling haven't caught up. Leave with a 30/60/90-day plan built for your stage.
Pick the agenda topic right for you. Not someone else's playbook.
Who This Is For
The AI-era shift lands on every leader responsible for people — inside HR, L&D, and the business teams running the new playbook. October 1 is built for all of them, together in the same room.- CHROs and senior HR executives — setting talent strategy for a hybrid workforce
- Chief Learning Officers and heads of talent — rebuilding capability for AI-era work
- Heads of leadership development, org effectiveness, and employee experience — closing the gap between AI adoption and human performance
- Business leaders and people managers — leading hybrid teams of humans and agents
Hosted at CNA Insurance
CNA opens its Chicago headquarters for the day. CNA people leaders are part of the conversation.
