AI Moves from Hype to Governance

The start of a new year is always a good moment to reflect on technology trends shaping the consulting landscape. This week I've been thinking about how AI-assisted decision-making is moving from experimentation to mainstream adoption across regulated industries. The organisations getting it right are the ones treating AI as a capability enhancer rather than a replacement — augmenting human judgement with data-driven insight rather than attempting to automate complex decisions entirely. What's particularly interesting is how this shift is changing the consulting conversation. Clients are less interested in 'what is AI?' and more focused on 'how do we govern it, integrate it, and measure its impact?' That's a much more productive starting point.

This week reinforced something I've known for years but occasionally need reminding of: the most valuable thing you can do in a new engagement is listen before proposing. I had an initial conversation with a potential client who had a very clear view of what they thought they needed. By asking the right questions and genuinely listening, it became apparent that the real challenge was quite different from what was initially described. The solution they needed was simpler, cheaper, and more impactful than what they'd been planning.

New year, new habits — or at least that's the plan. I've committed to a morning routine that includes 30 minutes of reading before checking emails. Only a week in, but the difference in how I start the day is noticeable. Less reactive, more intentional. The trick will be maintaining it when things get busy.

Notion — I've been using it for years, but this week I rebuilt my personal knowledge base from scratch. The combination of databases, linked pages, and templates makes it incredibly powerful for organising consulting notes, client research, and project reflections. If you're still using folders of Word documents, give Notion a serious look.

This week's challenge: audit how you spend the first hour of your working day. Track it for five days. Most people discover they're spending that high-energy time on low-value tasks like email triage. Try protecting that first hour for your most important work and see what changes.