Organizations are investing heavily in AI. Licenses are being purchased, usage is being tracked and employees are being encouraged to experiment.

But has the work itself actually changed?

In this episode of foHRsight, Mark Edgar speaks with leadership advisor and author Tom Mawhinney about the gap between adopting AI and genuinely redesigning work around what the technology makes possible.

Tom argues that the biggest opportunity is not simply to automate existing tasks or reduce headcount. It is to reconsider how roles are structured when AI can take on more of the analysis and production, while humans focus more deliberately on judgment, context and prioritization.

That shift raises an important question for HR. If entry-level work has traditionally been where people develop many of those capabilities through experience, how do organizations build them when some of that work disappears?

Mark and Tom explore why HR can play a critical role in answering that question, how to make the financial case for redesign rather than reduction, and why organizations do not need to transform every job at once. Starting with a few roles, testing what works and proving the value may be enough to begin.

Because having AI available across the organization is one thing. Building an organization that works differently because of it is another.

About Our Guest

Tom Mawhinney is a leadership advisor, author and keynote speaker whose work sits at the intersection of leadership, strategy and technology. Drawing on three decades as an executive, board member, founder and advisor, he helps organizations rethink how those three areas need to evolve together as the conditions around work change.

Resources Mentioned

• Tom Mawhinney: tommawhinney.io Tom Mawhinney
• Tom Mawhinney on LinkedIn: ca.linkedin.com LinkedIn
• Tom Mawhinney’s books: tommawhinney.io Tom Mawhinney
• So... Now What? Recognizing Four Organizational States in an AI-Driven World: goodreads.com

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On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link. Hope to see you there!

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HR leaders are being asked to help their organizations adapt to AI at extraordinary speed. But what happens when the technology is changing faster than the systems, leadership models and assumptions underneath the way we work?

The opportunity is bigger than adopting better tools.

In this episode of foHRsight, Naomi Titleman Colla speaks with returning guest Gary Bolles about what it takes to navigate continuous change without losing the humans at the centre of it. They explore why traditional command-and-control leadership is increasingly at odds with the kind of adaptive organizations we need, why leaders may need to trade having the answers for asking better questions, and how changing expectations around purpose and motivation are reshaping work.

Gary also introduces the idea of “synchronous rewards,” a more flexible approach to aligning what organizations need with what individual workers value at different points in their lives. And as AI makes greater personalization possible, he offers an important caution for HR: technology can help us scale human systems, but it can just as easily make them less human if we stop applying judgment, context and care.

For HR leaders navigating both the promise and pressure of AI, this conversation offers a useful reframing: the goal is not to automate the old rules of work. It is to build better ones.

About Our Guest

Gary Bolles is the author of The Next Rules of Work and Chair for the Future of Work at Singularity University. With decades of experience spanning Silicon Valley, technology, learning and the future of work, he brings a systems-level perspective to how leaders and organizations can navigate exponential change while keeping people at the centre.

Resources Mentioned

• Gary Bolles: https://www.gbolles.com/
• The Next Rules of Work: https://www.gbolles.com/
• Possible Futures Podcast: https://www.su.org/possible-futures
• Singularity University: https://www.su.org/
• Nell Watson: https://www.nellwatson.com/
• TR2050: https://www.tr2050.com/
• Gary Bolles on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gbolles/

Stay Connected with foHRsight
To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE

Follow us on LinkedIn:

• Mark Edgar
• Naomi Titleman Colla
• future foHRward

Follow us on Instagram

On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link. Hope to see you there!

Support the show

Your organization is investing in AI. People are experimenting, training is happening, productivity tools are everywhere.

But is any of it actually making work better?

That’s the question at the centre of this episode of foHRsight, as Mark Edgar speaks with Dessalen “Dess” Wood about moving beyond AI activity and toward meaningful AI enablement.

Dess argues that the first phase of workplace AI was inevitably messy: organizations were handed transformative technology without a clear playbook for what transformation was supposed to look like. Now, the opportunity is to become much more disciplined.

If AI saves someone five hours a week, what should happen in those five hours? Which capabilities does everyone genuinely need? Who actually needs to become a builder? And which parts of HR work should be automated because nobody particularly values the human delivery, versus the moments where human presence is precisely what makes the experience valuable?

The conversation offers a practical framework for thinking about AI fluency at different levels, why learning should be grounded in the tools and experiences employees actually encounter, and why HR does not need to turn every employee into an AI expert.

Most importantly, it challenges People leaders to get much clearer about the work only humans can add meaningful value to, so they can stop defending work that simply keeps the lights on.

About Our Guest

Dessalen “Dess” Wood is a global Chief People Officer at Syntax, where she has played a key role in advancing AI enablement across the organization. After spending much of her career in retail and service environments before moving into technology, she brings a cross-industry perspective on what actually drives human performance, learning and organizational change.

Resources Referenced

• Syntax — the global technology company where Dess is Chief People Officer and where much of the AI enablement work discussed in the episode is taking place. syntax.com
• Reclaim the Plot: How Leaders Rewrite the Story When AI Rewrites Work by Dr. Kelly Monahan — Mark references Kelly Monahan and her recent work while asking whether AI is actually making organizations better. Reclaim the Plot
• Cognitive dissonance — the behavioural concept Dess references when explaining why action can precede attitude change, particularly around mandatory AI learning and adoption. Learn more about cognitive dissonance
• Dessalyn Wood on LinkedIn — Dess specifically invites listeners to connect with her there at the end of the episode.

Stay Connected with foHRsight
To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE

Follow us on LinkedIn:

• Mark Edgar
• Naomi Titleman Colla
• future foHRward

Follow us on Instagram

On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link. Hope to see you there!

Support the show