Critical Enablers We Have Loved

But leaders are people-people now.

I put “work” in the prompt box and there’s that white mug of coffee again. Photo by ian dooley on Unsplash

News just in from a PR Department that hasn’t realised I’m retired now.

Subject line: 69% of global leaders believe AI is the most important technology for driving sustainable growth.

Opening paragraph of the release: LONDON — HLB, the global advisory and professional services network, has today released its Survey of Business Leaders 2025 (Key messages here). The research highlights how organisations have a dual focus on embracing technological advances while simultaneously investing in their people to optimise operations and sustain profitability in an increasingly complex business environment.

My comment: I like the bit about “investing in their people”. And it gets better.

Later in the release, Marco Donzelli, Global CEO of HLB, is quoted as saying: “Leaders recognise that technology alone cannot drive success.”

So we haven’t all gone mad then. The Global CEO of HLB goes on to explain that the 1,242 business leaders (“spanning 55 countries and a diverse range of industries”) in the survey “are not only leveraging AI … but they are also investing in their people to ensure sustainable performance.”

So there’s hope. AI is a “critical enabler” and leaders increasingly see it as “essential … for augmenting human capacity”.

Which is nice of them. I guess we all have to blather on about AI nowadays, just as we had to blather on about dot-com stocks in the run-up to that bubble bursting. But at least some of us know the true value of what we’re talking about.