Cutting through with KSIB - newsletter 3

Welcome to the third issue of Cutting through with KSIB, a short monthly newsletter summarising key insights that I and the team at KSIB have learned in the past month. 

This month we consider how AI technology can be used at an enterprise level by all companies, not just large companies with big technology and data science teams. 

I was privileged to speak at a recent leadership masterclass hosted by a terrific Australian company, Buildcorp, during the month, and I am pleased to share some reflections from this.  

If you enjoy our insights, please forward the newsletter to others and ask them to subscribe. Please feel free to email, DM on LinkedIn or text me with ideas or feedback – including anything you think we should explore further. 

Regards

Kristin Stubbins

Our topics this month: 

1. AI can enable and facilitate growth at all ends of the market 
2. A practical example on how organisations without a big AI and data science budget can take advantage of AI 
3. Leadership and mental health

If you’d prefer to listen to understand the topics covered in this month’s newsletter, listen to our podcast. Kristin Stubbins and Chantalle Meijer discuss the impact of AI in marketing and the importance of leadership in mental health

① AI can enable and facilitate growth at all ends of the market

We are now seeing a number of our larger clients implementing AI agentic solutions at an enterprise level and that’s very exciting.  We hope smaller companies start to take advantage of this wonderful technology.  Risks do need to be managed but this can be done with deliberate thinking.  Typically, many smaller companies are focused on how to drive employee productivity, and this is useful.   

There are also many opportunities to start driving top line growth as well, and one obvious way to do this is to consider how the marketing function can be transformed using a Human led, AI powered approach.  This does involve using AI technology, but the technology is deliberately and carefully “led” by humans using critical thinking and experience.

② A practical example on how organisations without a big AI and data science budget can take advantage of AI

Chantalle Meijer, our Managing Director, Growth at KSIB, has developed a six-step methodology for transforming marketing functions using a human-led, AI-powered approach. Each step outlines a process that integrates human and AI capabilities and is adaptable to different levels of marketing capability and organisational AI maturity. The steps can be applied sequentially or independently. This approach can be implemented with existing marketing teams or as a KSIB-managed service.

Read more about KSIB’s Human-led, AI-powered six-step methodology for marketing.

③ Leadership and mental health

I was privileged to speak at the Buildcorp Leadership Masterclass recently on the topic of leadership and mental health. This is something I am passionate about, as are Josephine and Tony Sukker, Principals at Buildcorp.  The Buildcorp Foundation has donated millions of dollars to support mental health programs in recent years. I was joined by Professor Steve Moylan, Chair of Lifeline, and Josephine asked us to share our reflections on leadership and mental health. 

Two themes really resonated and Steve and I both spoke about them: 

Care for people – underpins successful leadership, and that includes empathy and understanding what is going on for as many individuals as possible who are in your care. This can sometimes mean having difficult conversations – people might not be in the right role, or might need direction to help if they are struggling. Ignoring a people problem is not caring, and it is the opposite of leadership.  We have a responsibility to help people access mental health support if they need it, but that is also very different to performance issues which always need to be addressed. 

Authenticity -  Those difficult, yet caring conversations are only possible if the leader is authentic.   None of us are perfect and it is unlikely as a leader that you can keep everyone happy and in agreement with you.  Being authentic about who you are and what you stand for though, enables productive, difficult, but ultimately helpful conversations. 

For more resources around workplace mental health, I recommend you access the Corporate Mental Health Alliance website at CMHAA - Corporate Mental Health Alliance Australia.