From the Horse's Mouth: Intrepid Conversations with Phil Fersht

Phil Fersht
From the Horse's Mouth: Intrepid Conversations with Phil Fersht

As technology rapidly evolves, the world has undergone a significant transformation. Society has shifted from being human-centered to a complex web of digital automation, AI, and human workers who support it. This rapid innovation outpaces regulations and threatens social mobility. The rise of AI presents a critical challenge: how can businesses and policymakers ensure that AI enhances, rather than hinders, human creativity and innovation? Automating routine tasks could free up people for roles requiring creativity, problem-solving, and emotional intelligence, but it demands a focus on continuous learning and digital literacy. The first season of From the Horse's Mouth: Intrepid Conversations with Phil Fersht explores the intersection of AI, work, and society, aiming to shape the future.

  1. 3D AGO · VIDEO

    Ethan Mollick: Why AI Is a Leadership Problem, Not Just a Tech Problem

    Lead Like You Mean It with Ethan Mollick, Professor at Wharton and Author of Co-Intelligence “You don’t need an AI course. You need to get your hands dirty.” — Ethan Mollick What You’ll Hear in 30 Minutes - Why AI is exposing leadership gaps more than technical ones - How LLMs are reshaping research, training, and decision-making - Why interns and junior roles are being replaced before we’re ready - What makes an effective internal AI lab—and why most aren’t - How AI’s personality could become a competitive differentiator - Why CEOs must experiment with the tools to lead with credibility Guest Snapshot Ethan Mollick is a professor at the Wharton School and author of Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI. Through his blog One Useful Thing, he helps organizations and individuals make sense of the generative AI wave. In this episode, Mollick shares how AI is challenging everything—from how we lead to how we learn—and why the best leaders are the ones who are hands-on.  Timestamps:  00:00 – Ethan’s Otter Test and the AI Acceleration Curve  01:33 – Rethinking Research, Workflows & Analyst Roles  04:53 – Apprenticeships Are Broken. Now What?  06:30 – AI Is a Leadership Problem  08:22 – Building an Internal AI Lab That Works  10:41 – Why “Perfect Data” Is a Red Herring  14:08 – How to Prep LLMs with the Right Prompts  16:09 – AI Personalities and the Next Differentiator  18:50 – The CEO's 5-Minute AI Briefing  22:02 – No One Has the Answers—But You Still Have to Lead  24:22 – Can Google Win?  What Comes Next in the LLM Race Explore More  📘 Co-Intelligence: https://amzn.to/3Yk0QYQ  📰 One Useful Thing: https://www.oneusefulthing.org  🔗 Follow Ethan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanmollick/  🔗 Follow Phil: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pfersht/

    24 min

  2. MAY 30 · VIDEO

    May Habib: Why Agentic AI Needs Guts, Grit - and the Human Touch

    Rewrite the Rules or Be Left Behind  with May Habib, CEO & Co-founder of Writer  “This is GenAI’s COVID moment—don’t waste the crisis.” — May Habib  What You’ll Hear in 30 Minutes  • Why enterprises are still miles away from building real agentic systems  • How Writer’s Palmyra X5 enables self-evolving AI agents with memory  • What smaller firms can teach enterprise giants about speed and scrappiness  • The new formula for promotions in the age of automation  • Why “loving tech and loving people” is the ultimate success metric  Guest Snapshot  May Habib is the co-founder and CEO of Writer, an enterprise-grade LLM platform focused on AI agents that work. From translation tech to leading-edge self-evolving models, Writer’s Palmyra models power agentic AI for the world’s top brands—from Salesforce to Spotify. Habib shares how her early work in machine translation shaped Writer’s agent-first architecture and why the next leap in generative AI isn’t technical—it’s cultural.  Timestamps:   00:00 – What Sets Writer Apart   02:35 – From NLP Roots to Real-World Agents   04:35 – Why Now: AI Urgency & Enterprise Inertia   07:45 – Enterprise Adoption: Challenges & Gaps   10:31 – Agentic AI in Action (Mars, Prudential, Salesforce)   14:27 – The Rise of Digital Personas & AI-Augmented Work   18:59 – Redefining Leadership & Recognition in the AI Era   22:00 – Scaling Up: Funding, Talent & What’s Ahead   27:16 – Culture, Grit & Staying Close to the Customer  Learn more about Writer: https://writer.com  Follow May Habib: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayhabib  Follow Phil Fersht: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pfersht Loved the conversation? Follow, rate ★★★★★ & review From the Horse’s Mouth to keep bold, practical AI insights flowing to your feed.

    28 min
  3. Episode 8: Pascal Bornet: Lead with Agentic AI — or Risk Being Replaced

    MAY 16 · VIDEO

    Episode 8: Pascal Bornet: Lead with Agentic AI — or Risk Being Replaced

    Hands-On Leadership in the Age of AI with Pascal Bornet, author of Agentic Artificial Intelligence “If your C-suite isn’t using large-language models to make decisions, you’re already behind.” — Pascal Bornet What You’ll Hear in 30 Minutes • Three competencies every leader needs now – AI-readiness, change-readiness, and uniquely human skills • Why 15–20 % “experiment time” should be baked into every employee’s week • How AI agents fuse LLM context with automation action—and what that means for ROI • Taming “AI overwhelm” and choosing the right pilots • Pascal’s journey from McKinsey & EY to 2 M+ social followers and a #1 Amazon AI bestseller​ Guest Snapshot Pascal Bornet is a former McKinsey and EY partner who built both firms’ intelligent-automation practices. His newest book, Agentic Artificial Intelligence: Harnessing AI Agents to Reinvent Business, Work and Life (co-authored with Jochen Wirtz, Thomas H. Davenport, Phil Fersht, David De Cremer & others), explores how agentic systems bridge the gap between powerful language models and real-world business automation. The title currently ranks at #1 in Amazon’s Robotics category and top-10 in AI & Semantics.​ Timestamps 00:00 — Intro & Pascal’s origin story 02:48 — “Tech is nothing without people” 04:50 — The three future-proof competencies 15:25 — Why CEOs must fund a culture of experimentation 21:58 — Large-language models in the C-suite 28:55 — Agentic AI: the convergence of LLMs + automation 30:40 — Closing & next-step resources Resources & Links Book – Agentic Artificial Intelligence → https://a.co/d/9DD7S23​ Follow Pascal on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/pascalbornet/​ Follow Phil on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/pfersht/ Loved the conversation? Follow, rate ★★★★★ & review From the Horse’s Mouth to keep bold, practical AI insights flowing to your feed.

    26 min
  4. Episode 7. Publicis Sapient CEO Nigel Vaz: Redesign Your Operating Model Before AI Redesigns You

    MAY 9 · VIDEO

    Episode 7. Publicis Sapient CEO Nigel Vaz: Redesign Your Operating Model Before AI Redesigns You

    Redesign Your Operating Model — Before AI Redesigns You with Nigel Vaz, CEO of Publicis Sapient and author of Digital Business Transformation "What you don't want is faster caterpillars; you want real butterflies." — Nigel Vaz What You'll Hear in 35 Minutes - Why AI is a chain of "sequential watershed moments," not a single leap - The S-P-E-E-D framework (Strategy, Product, Experience, Engineering, Data & AI) behind Publicis Sapient's transformations - Tackling the $1.5 – $2 trillion technical-debt mountain and flipping the 80/20 "run vs. change" budget - How Slingshot and Bodhi bring agentic AI + industry patterns into the SDLC to kill "spaghetti code" - Moving from "tools" to a digital-workforce mindset (Iron-Man-in-the-suit analogy) - Culture shift: learn → unlearn → relearn as an executive super-skill Guest Snapshot Nigel Vaz has spent 25 years at Publicis Sapient and became global CEO in 2019. His best-selling book, Digital Business Transformation: How Established Companies Sustain Competitive Advantage, introduces the SPEED model that Fortune 200 leaders still use to frame end-to-end digital change. Vaz now spearheads the firm's agentic-AI platforms Bodhi and Slingshot, aimed at collapsing delivery cycles and slashing tech debt for Global 2000 clients. Timestamps 00:00 — Origins: from early internet banking to CEO 03:30 — "Sequential watershed moments" & the post-Turing era 06:11 — Technical debt: why $2 T blocks innovation 11:00 — Fear vs. action: only 15% of firms truly embracing AI 14:45 — Inside Slingshot: combine-harvester for the SDLC 20:45 — Services-as-software: blending people, products, outcomes 24:55 — Operating-model redesign & the Iron-Man analogy 29:15 — Governance moves from review boards to real-time guardrails 34:30 — Closing thoughts: learning > knowing in an agentic world Resources & Links Book – Digital Business Transformation → https://www.publicissapient.com/insights/dbt-book-preview Sapient Slingshot overview → https://www.publicissapient.com/solutions/sapient-ai/sapient-slingshot Bodhi agentic platform → https://www.publicissapient.com/solutions/bodhi Follow Nigel on LinkedIn → https://uk.linkedin.com/in/nvaz Follow Phil on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/pfersht/ Enjoyed the episode? Follow, rate ★★★★★ & review From the Horse's Mouth so we can keep the bold, practical AI-transformation talk coming to your feed.

    33 min
  5. Ep 6. Inflection AI's CEO on Why Trust Is the Future of AI

    APR 18 · VIDEO

    Ep 6. Inflection AI's CEO on Why Trust Is the Future of AI

    Inflection AI’s CEO, Sean White, takes us behind the scenes to explore why trust is the cornerstone of the AI revolution. With boardrooms and tech leaders demanding an “AI-first” strategy, he reveals how building human-centered, conversational systems isn’t just about technology - it’s about forging genuine trust and empowering people. Drawing parallels to the transformative shifts of the 90s and the rapid innovations seen today, he explains how agentic systems and AI-driven insights are reshaping everything from customer service to enterprise data analysis.

    32 min
  6. Episode 5: Inflection Point - Todd Lohr, Head of Ecosystems and National Operations Leader for Advisory Markets, KPMG U.S.

    MAR 21 · VIDEO

    Episode 5: Inflection Point - Todd Lohr, Head of Ecosystems and National Operations Leader for Advisory Markets, KPMG U.S.

    In this conversation, Phil Fersht and Todd Lohr discuss the evolving landscape of technology consulting, particularly in the context of AI and ecosystems. Todd shares insights on KPMG's strategic shift towards ecosystem partnerships, the impact of AI on business models, and the importance of addressing workforce concerns amidst technological advancements. They explore the future of services, the trend towards onshoring, and the necessity for enterprises to adopt intentional ecosystem strategies to navigate the complexities of the modern business environment.

    24 min
  7. Episode 4: Speed of Change – Featuring Katie Stein, CEO of IGT Solutions

    MAR 7 · VIDEO

    Episode 4: Speed of Change – Featuring Katie Stein, CEO of IGT Solutions

    In this intrepid conversation, Phil Fersht and Kathryn Stein discuss the evolving landscape of customer experience, the impact of AI on service delivery, and the cultural challenges faced in the workplace. Kathryn shares her insights from her career journey, emphasizing the importance of driving change within enterprises and the need for a strategic shift towards a more integrated approach to operations. They explore the future of work, the role of technology, and the necessity of adapting education to meet the demands of a changing job market.

    34 min
  8. Episode 3: Fear of Becoming Obsolete – Jason Averbook, Senior Partner and Global Leader of HR Strategy at Mercer

    FEB 14 · VIDEO

    Episode 3: Fear of Becoming Obsolete – Jason Averbook, Senior Partner and Global Leader of HR Strategy at Mercer

    In this compelling conversation, host Phil Fersht speaks with Jason Averbook—renowned HR leader and Senior Partner at Mercer—about the seismic changes reshaping the modern workforce. They explore the looming “humanistic recession” driven by AI, and how leaders must shift from “change management” to “change leadership.” Averbook warns that organizations failing to integrate human and machine teaming risk irrelevance, stressing that HR must move beyond counting heads to making heads truly count.

    30 min
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As technology rapidly evolves, the world has undergone a significant transformation. Society has shifted from being human-centered to a complex web of digital automation, AI, and human workers who support it. This rapid innovation outpaces regulations and threatens social mobility. The rise of AI presents a critical challenge: how can businesses and policymakers ensure that AI enhances, rather than hinders, human creativity and innovation? Automating routine tasks could free up people for roles requiring creativity, problem-solving, and emotional intelligence, but it demands a focus on continuous learning and digital literacy. The first season of From the Horse's Mouth: Intrepid Conversations with Phil Fersht explores the intersection of AI, work, and society, aiming to shape the future.

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