Bold Agendas

Bold Agendas Podcast

Over three decades of collaboration with some of the brightest minds in business reveals the simple truth that the most influential principals and policy makers consistently use innovative approaches to drive transformative change, while also reimagining and redefining human work. This series features forward-looking, provocative 360-degree conversations with industry experts on the digital transformation that continues to disrupt companies and the marketplace. We focus on organizational, leadership, and labor challenges as technology reshapes organizations and redefines human work.

  1. Jun 4

    Winning the AI Race: Why Execution Speed Matters More Than Perfect Strategy

    Winning with AI requires more than adopting new technology—it requires organizations to learn, adapt, and execute at a different pace. In this episode of Bold Agendas, Mimi Brooks is joined by returning guest Charlene Li, keynote speaker, strategic advisor, bestselling author, and co-author of Winning with AI: The 90-Day Blueprint for Success, to explore what differentiates organizations that are succeeding in the AI era and why speed matters more than perfect strategy. Together, Mimi and Charlene discuss why strategic clarity matters, how organizations can move beyond optimization to create new value, why AI is fundamentally a leadership challenge, and why adaptability, commitment, and imagination are becoming essential capabilities for leaders seeking competitive advantage in an environment defined by accelerating change. To learn more about Charlene and her work, visit https://charleneli.com/ or connect with her on LinkedIn. You can find Winning with AI: The 90-Day Blueprint for Success wherever books are sold and learn more at https://winningwithaibook.com/. Timestamps: 00:00 – Introduction: Why Execution Speed Matters More Than Perfect Strategy 03:44 – Why This AI Era Is Different for Leaders 07:10 – A 90-Day Blueprint for Winning with AI 09:21 – AI Is a Leadership Problem, Not a Technology Problem 13:29 – Beyond Optimization: Creating New Value 22:17 – What Differentiates Successful Organizations 29:41 – AI as a Leadership Problem: The Challenges of Leading Here and Now 36:16 – The Board's Role in AI Leadership and Strategic Change 41:27 – The Human Side of AI: Strategic Workforce Planning 1:01:15 – Leadership, Imagination, and Hope: New Strategic Capabilities for the AI Era 1:04:41 – Where to Find Charlene and Her Work

    1h 7m

  2. Apr 16

    From Strategy to Structure

    What happens when strategy and technology move forward but the structure of the enterprise doesn’t keep up? In this episode of Bold Agendas, Mimi Brooks is joined by Whynde Kuehn, founder of S2E Transformation and a leading voice in business architecture, to explore how organizations translate strategy into real operational change. Together, Mimi and Whynde unpack how organizations still default to technology-first thinking, the role of a clear business blueprint in grounding decisions, and how business architecture helps connect strategy to execution through capabilities, value streams, and operating models. In a landscape increasingly shaped by agentic systems influencing decisions and workflows, Mimi and Whynde explore how governance, control, and decision rights are becoming a central part of enterprise architecture. Whether you're leading transformation or navigating AI-driven change, this conversation will reframe how you think about the relationship between strategy, structure, and governance. Timestamps: 00:00 – Introduction: When Structure Can’t Keep Up with Strategy 03:58 – Strategy Execution Gets Harder in the AI Era 07:16 – The Reality of AI and Transformation Today 09:46 – Why AI Is Still Being Driven by Technology 13:07 – The First Step: A Business Blueprint for Decision Making 18:59 – From Change Management to Organizational Readiness 25:11 – Architecture as Governance 30:42 – Designing Governance as a Control Structure 40:45 – Understanding How Decisions Actually Get Made 43:46 – Who Owns Organizational Design and Change

    53 min

  3. Apr 2

    Control at Machine Speed

    As organizations begin delegating decisions to agentic systems, control can no longer rely on oversight after the fact. In this episode, Mimi Brooks is joined by returning guest Mike Carroll—an expert in industrial innovation, applied AI, and system strategy—to explore what it means to maintain control when decisions happen at machine speed. Together, they unpack why traditional governance breaks down, how causality and decision-making logic shift how decisions are made and governed, and what leaders must rethink about architecture, accountability, and enterprise agency in an increasingly autonomous world. Timestamps: 00:00 – Introduction: Control at Machine Speed 03:34 – AI, Productivity, and Why Work Isn’t Decreasing 10:50 – Why Governance Breaks at Machine Speed 14:42 – Less Experience, More Data, Higher Decision Burden 23:14 – How Agentic AI Changes Decisions, Permission, and Control 33:00 – Causality and the Shift to Decision-Relevant Data 35:50 – Looking Beyond Symptoms to Understand Performance 40:01 – How Agentic AI Enables Enterprise Agency and Decision-Making 48:25 – When Decisions Still Require Human Judgment and Accountability 52:31 – Embedding Principles and Values into AI Decision Systems 55:55 – Rethinking Knowledge and Application in the Enterprise 58:38 – How AI Is Reshaping Organizational Structure and the Enterprise 01:03:46 – Enterprise Agency and Rethinking AI Strategy

    1h 11m

  4. Feb 19

    Enterprise Architecture 4.0: Agentic Governance and the Leadership Mindset for the Age of Autonomy

    Agentic systems are reshaping the foundation of the enterprise faster than most organizations can adapt. In this episode of Bold Agendas, Mimi Brooks is joined by Jesper Lowgren—Agentic Enterprise Architect Lead at DXC technology and creator of the Enterprise Architecture 4.0 framework—to explore how enterprise architecture, governance, and leadership must evolve for the agentic era. Together, they examine Enterprise Architecture 4.0, the new governance requirements of agentic systems, and why leaders must shift from reactive oversight to governing through real-time guardrails and conditions. Jesper shares the mindset shifts leaders need, the risks of operating between legacy and agentic systems, and what sets organizations up for success as autonomy and uncertainty redefine the enterprise. If you’d like to reach out to Jesper, you can find him on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesper-lowgren/) or on his website (https://www.jesperlowgren.com/) Jesper’s Books: - Design or Be Designed: The Agentic AI Survival Guide - Agentic Governance: Governing the Space Between Timestamps: 00:00 – The Agentic Shift: Rethinking Architecture, Governance, and Leadership for Real-Time Enterprise 10:03 – Governance as Strategy: Designing Constraints for Agentic Systems 14:10 – Redefining Enterprise Architecture for the Agentic Era 18:38 – How Legacy Enterprises Begin the Shift Toward Agentic Systems 23:37 – Understanding Emergence: Why Traditional Architecture Can’t Support Agentic Systems 27:16 – Understanding Micro and Macro Governance in Agentic Systems 29:13 – Shifting Leadership Toward Governance Embedded in the System 31:07 – Embedding Governance into Transformation Strategy for the Agentic Era 36:49 – Avoiding the Gray Zone: The Danger of Operating Between Legacy and Agentic Systems 40:40 – The Challenge of Living in Transitional States During Transformation 43:20 – The Five Mindset Shifts Leaders Need for the Agentic Era 48:02 – Connecting AI Maturity Models to Leadership Mindset Readiness 55:59 – The Challenge of Technical and Cultural Debt in an Agentic World 57:48 – What Sets Leaders Up for Success in Agentic Transformation 01:02:39 – Where to Find Jesper’s Work on Agentic Governance and System Design

    1h 6m

  5. Jan 22

    Reinventing Industrial Operations: Digital Twins, Agentic Intelligence, and What 2025 Clarified

    An important lesson emerged in 2025: incremental transformation is no longer enough. In this episode of Bold Agendas, Mimi Brooks is joined by Pieter van Schalkwyk—CEO of XMPRO, author of Building Industrial Digital Twins, and a leader in the Digital Twin Consortium—to explore why today’s operating models are reaching a breaking point. Together, they unpack the systemic pressures reshaping operations—aging infrastructure, rising complexity, talent loss, and unsustainable work models—and why technology alone can’t fix them. From the cognitive burden on frontline workers to the fragility of legacy systems, Pieter makes the case for agentic intelligence, human-centered design, and rethinking productivity itself. It’s a conversation that spans intelligent digital twins, organizational modeling, decision intelligence, and the call to move from experimentation to action. Read Pieter’s article with co-author Michael Carroll, “Obituary for 2025: The Year We Buried the Copilot Dream and Discovered What Intelligence Actually Requires” Timestamps: 00:00 – Introduction: The Strategic Case for Reinventing Operations 03:15 – Why Operational Models Need Reinvention, Not Incremental Fixes 08:20 – People as the Point of Rationalization in Complex Systems 15:53 – Leadership’s Awareness and Urgency Gap 18:34 – System Experts and the Knowledge Gap in Industrial Transformation 21:48 – Common Mistakes Leaders Make in Transformation 29:00 – Priorities for Redesigning Your Ops Model 35:05 – The Value of Digital Twins in Future Operating Models 39:51 – A Practical Roadmap to Operational Autonomy 45:18 – The Real Transformation Challenge: People, Not Tech 47:34 – Digital Twins of the Organization: Modeling Culture, Strategy, and Decision-Making 51:33 – Relational Dynamics: A New Lens on Organizational Context 56:15 – Lessons from 2025: Letting Go, Designing for Humans, and Looking Ahead

    1h 4m

  6. 12/18/2025

    Acceleration as the New Normal: Lessons from 2025 & the New Road Ahead

    As we close out 2025, one thing is clear: this has been a year of acceleration. We saw the promises of AI tested against operational reality, watched composable enterprises take shape, and saw governance, trust, and resilience move from the edges of strategy to its center. In this year-end episode of Bold Agendas, Mimi is joined once again by Frank Diana—global futurist, thought leader, and Managing Partner and Principal Futurist at Tata Consultancy Services—to reflect on what 2025 revealed about the changing nature of transformation and explore what leaders must be prepared for as 2026 begins. It’s a timely conversation about acceptance, acceleration, and adaptability, and a powerful reminder of a new truth: transformation is no longer a destination, but a continuous state of becoming. Timestamps: 00:00 – Introduction: Reflecting on 2025 and Accelerating Toward 2026 02:43 – Big Movements in 2025: Acceptance, Acceleration, and Systemic Adaptation 07:52 – What Successful Companies Did Right in 2025: Open-minded Leadership, Workforce Inclusion, and Collective Intelligence 10:41 – Lessons Learned from 2025: Adaptable Governance and Simulation 15:57 – Frank Diana’s Strategy Framework: Pathways, Possibility Chains, and Systems Thinking 25:55 – Actioning the Strategy Framework 30:39 – Leading Through Orchestration, Unlearning, and Human Adaptability 33:26 – Accelerated Learning and the Culture of Experimentation 35:42 – The Core of the Strategy Framework: Convergence and Possibility Chains 38:26 – Activating Purpose through Human-Centric Pathways 43:29 – Emerging Global Priorities 44:45 – The 2026 Road Ahead: AI, Robotics, Synthetic Biology, and Policy Innovation 49:06 – Composability and the Fall of Hierarchies in Organizational Design 51:43 – The Reality of Predictions Meeting Plausibility 53:05 – Leadership Advice for a Changing World: Acceptance, Sense-Making, and Ambient Learning

    59 min

  7. 10/09/2025

    Recording Reality & Shaping the Future with Nicolas Waern: Digital Twins, AI & the Living Enterprise

    What if your organization wasn’t just digital, but living? In this episode of Bold Agendas, Mimi Brooks is joined by Nicolas Waern, Founder of WINNIIO, CEO and Founder of Life Atlas, and Co-Chair of the Digital Twin Consortium’s Manufacturing Working Group, to explore how digital twins, AI, and platform thinking are redefining the enterprise. Nicolas makes the case that the future of decision-making won’t be driven by prediction, but by rehearsal, simulating thousands of future scenarios before a single action is taken. Together, Mimi and Nicolas unpack why organizations must evolve from rigid hierarchies to modular, living systems; how digital twins become dynamic, decision-making environments; and how the built environment itself becomes intelligent infrastructure for transformation. They explore the shift from data for data’s sake to real-time, context-aware systems that learn, adapt, and scale impact. This conversation will reframe how you think about systems, leadership, and the future of work. You can find Nicolas on LinkedIn if you’d like to connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolaswaern/ Timestamps: 00:00 – Introducing Nicolas Waern: Reimagining Digital Twins and the Living Enterprise 03:05 – Digital Twins for People and the Planet 07:56 – Digital Twins Done Right: Creating Real Impact in Complex Systems 15:18 – Modeling Reality with Digital Twins for Better Decisions 26:00 – Rethinking Enterprise Data Strategy with Impact-First Digital Twins 39:40 – From Insight to Impact: Building Resilient Systems in a Changing World 49:45 – Finding Strategy’s North Star with Digital Twins 56:27 – From Strategy to ROI: Making the Business Case for Digital Twins 01:02:49 – From Strategy to Operating Models: Executing with Digital Twins 01:07:59 – From Authority to Orchestration: Leading with Digital Twins 01:19:10 – Anchoring Strategy in Reality: Practical Steps for Leaders

    1h 24m

  8. 09/25/2025

    Leading When No One Is Complete

    What does leadership look like when one leader can’t do it all? In this episode of Bold Agendas, Mimi Brooks is joined by Deborah Ancona, MIT Sloan professor and founding director of the MIT Leadership Center, to explore a radical shift in how we understand and practice leadership. Drawing from her groundbreaking research on X-Teams and the Incomplete Leader, Deborah makes the case that today’s complexity demands more than individual brilliance, it requires collective capability. Together, Mimi and Deborah dive into the capabilities leaders must cultivate and why no single person can excel at all of them. They unpack why leadership must move beyond hierarchy, how networks and external orientation drive agility, and what it means to lead in systems where no one has all the answers. Whether you're leading a transformation, scaling innovation, or building adaptive teams, this conversation will reframe how you think about leadership in a world that won’t stop changing. Timestamps: 00:00 – Introduction: Leadership in the Age of Complexity 03:24 – The Incomplete Leader: Debunking the Myth of the Perfect Leader 11:00 – The 4-CAPS+ Framework: Capabilities that Define Modern Leadership 20:40 – Rethinking Servant Leadership: From Humility to Leadership Signature 24:08 – The Case for X-Teams and External Sensemaking 36:28 – Cross-Industry Learning and the Power of Exploration 43:14 – Augmented Leadership: Sensemaking and Smart Collaboration with AI 54:52 – Strategic Mindset in the Age of AI: Anchors, Alignment, and Always-On Leadership 01:01:20 – New Trust Architectures: Redefining Relationships in Human-AI Teams 01:08:09 – Adapting Organizational Systems for a Fast-Moving Future 01:16:54 – The Power of Pause: Navigating Change with Humanity and Calm

    1h 20m
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About

Over three decades of collaboration with some of the brightest minds in business reveals the simple truth that the most influential principals and policy makers consistently use innovative approaches to drive transformative change, while also reimagining and redefining human work. This series features forward-looking, provocative 360-degree conversations with industry experts on the digital transformation that continues to disrupt companies and the marketplace. We focus on organizational, leadership, and labor challenges as technology reshapes organizations and redefines human work.

Information

  • Creator
    Bold Agendas Podcast
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    29
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Show Website
    Bold Agendas