Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the human-technology interface, the value proposition of products and services, and the future of work. This technology, like others, can advance positive or negative social outcomes, but often, the associated ethical considerations are considered lastly if at all. This episode of Center Stage explores a range of the ethical implications as the use of AI in business applications from credit scoring to autonomous vehicles explodes. The podcast also proposes some practical steps organizational leaders can use for developing a framework for AI ethics. Incorporating findings from the most recent The State of AI Ethics Report, Abhishek Gupta, founder of Montreal AI Ethics Institute, and Joe Cahill walk us through examples of design and use cases that reflect that dichotomy of positive and negative social outcomes.

David Dabscheck is the founder and CEO of GIANT Innovation, which transforms the way organizations and people think and act to become world-class innovators. David has led hundreds of innovation projects and workshops with leading organizations from a broad range of industries, including Citi, ExxonMobil, Roche, Columbia University, and Siemens Energy. He is an active social innovation entrepreneur having created several start-ups. David is the founder of the Innovation Leaders Round Table, a regular gathering of over 200 executive and senior level innovation practitioners. In this podcast, David helps us explore innovation through a lens that will highlight important factors for delivering value to organizations. This includes considering the low cost environment using failure for learning and how to think about experimentation. 

Believing that Africa’s economic development lies in the lands of the private sector, the Tony Eluemelu Foundation (TEF) is training, mentoring and funding entrepreneurs across all 54 African countries to transform the continent.  TEF recognizes that project management makes ideas reality and is a key contributor to achieving the Foundation’s goal of one billion in economic growth and one million jobs across Africa within 10 years.Join this inspirational discussion with TEF Chief Executive Officer Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu and PMI Chief Operating Officer Joe Cahill as they explore TEF’s efforts to unleash the power of African entrepreneurship.  They cover a range of topics from channelling passion to drive business success, improving access to knowledge and skills, leveraging technology, and mentoring. They inspire listeners to embrace this vision for transforming African communities and improving quality of life.Learn more about Tony Elumelu Foundation and the partnership with PMI at:  https://www.tonyelumelufoundation.org/

Peter Temes, Founder and President of the Institute for Innovation in Large Organizations, will be sharing insights into how large organizations innovate. In 2005, Peter founded the Institute for Innovation in Large Organizations (ILO), a membership organization providing research, community, and knowledge-sharing for upper-level executives leading innovation inside multi-billion-dollar corporations. This podcast explores the innovation practices that have emerged as a result of COVID. There is also a presentation of innovation practices that still matter. Peter discusses the importance of business-model innovation, secular innovation, promoting unexpected leaders.

We are living in a project economy where products, services, and ideas are developed  through the global exchange of knowledge. However, what are we talking about when we talk about working knowledge?In this podcast, Laurence Prusak will discuss how the most successful teams and organizations find, create, nurture, and distribute knowledge for the ultimate competitive advantage. Larry is the co-author of several of the most successful management books on this subject , ‘Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know,’ and ‘What’s the Big Idea? Creating and Capitalizing on the Best Management Thinking.’ Larry discusses with PMI COO, Joe Cahill, how working knowledge is very different from data and information. He will also discuss how organizations capitalize on effective knowledge and why knowledge is profoundly social.PMI community members can access 2015 PMI  Pulse of the Profession report on ‘ Capturing the Value of Project Management Through Knowledge Transfer,’ featuring Larry Prusak at https://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/learning/thought-leadership/pulse/capture-value-knowledge-transfer.pdf?v=b80b434a-f451-47ac-acb9-05adc1d834af&sc_lang_temp=en-GB 

According to numerous studies transformation risk is the greatest concern for leaders. The ability to connect ideas with results is the focus of Brightline. In this podcast, Ricardo Vargas shares insight on how to execute strategic intent for moving ideas into outcomes. The strategy to outcome gap is an issue that every leader must address. Dr Vargas discusses how Brightline conducts research, sponsors events, and creates content around organization transformation. The transformation compass is a system for focusing on building employee commitment and empathy with customers. It is a systematic way for “putting people at the center of the process” and for increasing workforce engagement. PMI community members can access information and content from the Brightline Initiative at https://www.brightline.org

Good governance requires great project management. This is amplified in times of crisis and recovery.In this podcast, Member of Congress Bryan Steil examines the importance of execution and disaster response during the pandemic crisis, ordinary citizens coming together during trying times, and American resilience in the path to recovery. Rep. Bryan Steil (WI-1), co-chair of the Congressional Future of Work Caucus, talks with PMI COO Joe Cahill about building coalitions to achieve maximum results, improving the education system in America, and readying the country for the future of work. Sharing examples from Rep. Steil’s experience in the manufacturing sector, as a member of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, and most recently as a federal legislator, the conversation explores how projects are the foundation for delivering value across the economy. PMI community members can access Rep. Steil’s official Congressional site at https://steil.house.gov/ and campaign site at https://www.bryansteil.com/. Follow Rep. Steil on twitter at @RepBryanSteil.  

Dr. Nancy Dixon is a world-renown leader helping organizations in collective sensemaking, managing knowledge, and designing virtual learning systems. There is a revolutionary shift in workplace practices and it offers a great opportunity to replace traditional toxic workplace settings, with more healthy and productive work. Her current research, and executive consulting, focuses on virtual work and conversation practices that help employees and organizations to shape the actions, values, goals, and direction for sustained success. This focus takes us toward a belief in the “wisdom of the collective”. Such a term highlights the shift in work, one where organizations are flatter, teams are self-governing, and there is an emphasis on inclusive and diverse strategies for agility, conversation, and knowledge exchange. This reimagining of work is taking place while we are simultaneously learning about making collaboration work through virtual technologies. Nancy will offer insights on our reimagined work landscape, and how leaders can excel through practices that promote collaborative response based upon conversation.

Joe Cahill and Tom Stewart discuss the trends in work with a focus on the middle market industries. This is the sector with the greatest opportunity for growth and innovation. The middle market companies bring revenues between 10M and 1B a year, and account for about 60% of net new jobs over the past decade. This middle section is an extraordinary group of organizations where you get scale and resilience. They represent a critical resource for work, innovation, and learning lessons about new ways of working. This conversation discusses the current challenges and opportunities for business, as well as ideas for focusing on customers.

Good leaders know they need to continuously learn, but great leaders know when to unlearn the past to succeed in the future.In this podcast, Barry O’Reilly shares the system he uses to help Fortune 500 executives and business leaders rethink their strategies, retool their capabilities, and revitalize their businesses for stronger, longer-lasting success. The best-selling author of Unlearn and Lean Enterprise talks with PMI COO, Joe Cahill, about how to rapidly adapt to changing circumstances, identify what to stop, what to keep, and what to change to unlearn, relearn and breakthrough to achieve extraordinary results.PMI community members can access Barry O’Reilly’s recent report on why Scaling Innovation Means Descaling Work is at https://barryoreilly.com/resources/