Author: Phil Le-Brun

For the third consecutive year, HBR Analytics Services has researched contemporary data use, focusing on its applicability to generative AI. The report—“Scaling Generative AI for Value: Data Leader Agenda for 2025”—spans multiple industries and companies globally. It’s time as conversations have noticeably pivoted from abstract use cases and generative AI pilots to a desire to […]

The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice. —Brian Herbert, Author When I was 10, my parents bought me a Sinclair ZX81. The slim plastic-encased computer had a stick-on keyboard and a precariously attached memory pack. Programs were saved on cassette tapes. […]

“Productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before.” —anon With generative AI grabbing almost every organisation’s attention, watching how they use the technology is interesting. Today most AWS customers are focused on achieving productivity gains (e.g., making information easier to acquire and digest for customer service staff). A […]

All organisations are perfectly aligned to get the results they get. —Stephen R. Covey, Educator and Author My first blog post on untangling your organisational hairball describes six focus areas to increase organisational agility. The first is to be highly aligned. As the Cheshire Cat remarked in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, “If you don’t know […]

You show me a successful complex system, and I will show you a system that has evolved through trial and error. —Tim Harford, Economist Read any contemporary article on organisations and within the first few sentences the word, “agile” appears at least once. Some articles suggest achieving agility with a new target operating model (TOM), […]

Transformation is not a destination; it’s a journey of continuous growth and self-discovery. —Tony Robbins I used to run regularly until life got in the way. I now intend to spend a boatload of money on fitness gear and fit running around all my other activities, probably starting in the new year. I anticipate being […]

One year ago we published our first research report on the role of Chief Data Officers (CDOs). The renowned Tom Davenport, in partnership with MIT Chief Data Officer and Information Quality Symposium (CDOIQ), was commissioned to conduct a global study of CDOs across industries, tenures, and stages of the data journey. At the time I […]

Never waste your time; it is too precious. There are never any guarantees we will have tomorrow. —Catherine Pulsifer, Author “I don’t have enough (fill in the blank)” is a common refrain in the face of new demands. It’s normally followed by that much-loved phrase “We need to prioritise.” I’ve observed that the challenge is […]

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist & philosopher Thinking is hard; energy intensive even. Perhaps that’s the reason we obsess about food. One estimate indicates we make over 200 food-related decisions a day. Another popular internet statistic boldly states that the average human makes […]

We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run. —Roy Amara, Amara’s law I’m fascinated by the technological tipping points in history that have ignited the public’s imagination—the first TV broadcast, manned space flight, or video conference. Each of these events made a […]