"Where do we start with AI?" It was the question heard most at CEO Summit 2026. And the answer isn't a tool, a platform or a new hire. After listening to Verne Harnish, Shuya Gong and Craig Scroggie, one conclusion stood out: the companies that succeed with AI won't necessarily have better technology — they'll have better leadership. Here are five practical actions to build real AI capability across your organisation, starting with what matters most.

At CEO Summit 2026 in Sydney, three world-class speakers delivered a single unified message: the companies that win in the age of AI won't win because they have better tools. They'll win because they learn faster. Verne Harnish, Shuya Gong and Craig Scroggie each approached the challenge differently — but arrived at the same conclusion. AI adoption is not a technology initiative. It's a people and leadership initiative. And it may be the CEO's most important responsibility ri

Most scaling businesses are run by a handful of core processes, and most of their valuation hides inside them. The Process Accountability Chart, or PACe, makes those processes visible. One page, three steps, three outcomes: productivity, efficiency, and a quiet but real lift in valuation. The next step in 2026 isn't to document your processes. It's to rethink them for an AI-enabled future.

Tim Cook is stepping down after nearly 15 years, leaving Apple worth almost $4 trillion. But the next CEO inherits more than a well-tuned machine. They inherit a fundamentally different job. As AI becomes the operating layer of business, the CEO role is being structurally rewritten, from steward of excellence to architect of adaptation. The new question is not "Can you maintain performance?" but "Can you build an organisation that learns faster than the world changes?"

Every January, we confuse ambition with progress. Most resolutions fail not because we lack discipline, but because heroic effort doesn’t scale. Sustainable change works the same way great businesses do: clear long-term direction, fewer priorities, and disciplined routines that compound over time. High performers don’t rely on motivation. They design rhythms that protect energy, sharpen judgement and make progress inevitable.

Great companies don’t hide from hard truths. They build systems, rhythms and cultures that drag reality into the light early and often. This article breaks down how leaders can confront the brutal facts with clarity, discipline and confidence, and use them to build a stronger, more resilient organisation.

I recently sat down with Blake McLean, UTS Sports, Exercise and Rehabilitation Associate Professor and Head of Performance R&D with the Oklahoma City Thunder, 2025 NBA champions. We discussed his research, which focuses on both player and non-player performance, and how it applies to organisational performance. Blake is also a keynote speaker at the CEO Summit 2026.

Scaling is harder than starting. That may sound strange if you’ve already battled through the chaos of building your first product, finding customers, raising funding. But the crunch comes later. Research shows 97% of new firms never make it past $5M in revenue. Only 3% keep scaling . Why? Because growth always hits a constraint.

Monthly team meetings, when done well, are vital for aligning leadership, fostering collaboration, and driving progress toward goals.

Get your organisation "match fit" using Scaling Up Tools One of the best things about the Scaling Up are the Tools. Practical exercises built on the past 60 years of leadership and management science. Best of all, managing scaling is easy to get started and quick to implement with these step by step exercises. My mission is that no entrepreneurial founder or leader fails to scale through lack of "how to" knowledge about scaling. So I have provided some of the Scaling Up Too

This is the third article in a series on Getting the right people in the right seats during Scaling. See my previous articles on How to determine the right seats using the Functional Accountability exercise and How to assess performance using the Talent Assessment exercise. The new year is usually a time of people movement. People who have been thinking about moving on usually do so within Q1 or after their annual bonus. Likewise, a fresh start to the year often brings with

Continuously improve your enthusiastic re-hire rate Are all highly skilled and capable Talent valuable? Some have deep skills and incredible expertise. They get the job done. Maybe they break a few rules and make a few enemies along the way. But the results are there. They speak for themselves. But they can lead to team dysfunction, persistent problems and long-term drop in capabilities of your business. In my previous article “How to get the right people in the right seats d

As the founder/CEO or leader of a scaling organisation, one of the best things you can do for your business (and your life!), is to prioritise hiring the right people into the right roles. We all know the pain of a mis-hire. Not to mention the wasted expense in salary and recruitment costs, only to find out weeks or months into an appointment, the new leader or talent you spent months searching for, weeks pursuing and days interviewing, are not right for the role and/or the c

Ever wondered why some technology businesses scale up and others stagnate? Here are 5 mistakes I observe technology start-ups make ahead of scaling, which can result in failure from premature scaling or growth stagnation. Ever wondered why some businesses scale and others stagnate? All entrepreneurs know from experience how difficult it is to start a business – but only a 3% percent of those that start ever make it beyond a few million in sales revenue. In my lived experience

When is the right time to hire more staff ? Recent layoffs particularly in the tech sector have largely been a result of over hiring and expectations of ambitious growth. There's no running away unexpected events that come along once or twice a lifetime, however there are some things you can consider when deciding whether now is the right moment to hire or to stay lean. Hiring often feels chicken and egg - we need the talent and extra capacity to drive growth. At the same tim

It is highly likely the initial team you assemble will not be the exact same people or roles as your start-up team. How do you assemble the SCALE Team? Image courtesy of the Drift website Wise founders know that you need incredible talent at all levels of the organization to successfully scale a business. However, all scale-ups were start-ups at some point – high on purpose and innovation, but low on cash and staff. At some point, you need to not just hire people or a team, b