AI promised to revolutionize the workplace, streamline our processes, and reduce our workloads. But has it?

Many would say no.

What if everything you’ve been told about hustle culture is wrong? Could slowing down be the key to growing your business faster?

When I first starting leading design thinking workshops over a decade ago, I learned a lot about how to bring groups together to co-create.

A decade later, I believe democratizing the design thinking process isn’t just an abstract goal to work on; it’s a necessity. When we open the doors to more people, we get more perspectives faster, break down hierarchies and foster creativity. Getting ideas from everywhere makes solutions more reflective of the diverse world we live in.

In this piece, Paul Sears, Founder & CEO of The Navigator Collective interviews Sarah Harrison, MBA, Founder & Principal Consultant of Order of Operations, LLC. Sarah is an experienced operations professional and author of "Streamlining Success: Avoiding Common Pitfalls in Operations Management." Sarah shares her insights on leveraging AI to enhance business operations, informed by her extensive career in operations.

Our Founder & CEO, Paul Sears, recently had the pleasure of joining the Gloria Bailey Ray Show, to chat about The Navigator Collective’s viewpoints on AI in culture. Gloria and Paul discussed and debunked common misconceptions about AI, tackled the critical issue of bias in AI algorithms, and envisioned a world where great ideas can come from everywhere, regardless of an individual’s background or training.

Think AI will propel your team? Think again.

While AI gives your team a speed boost, the real power comes when you create a psychologically safe environment that unleashes creative risk-taking.

In today's high-pressure marketing & communications world, not giving your team access to AI is a bit like the tortoise hoping the rabbit didn’t learn anything from the last race. et giving access to AI without meaningful training is about as risky as handing a set of Ferrari keys to an unlicensed driver.

I continue to read pieces about ageism, particularly in creative industries. And many fear AI is a culprit. But as a power user and AI trainer—I know full-well that AI is nowhere near replacing human creativity

But what it can do is partner with humans to dramatically enhance creativity, and unlock it from all corners. We just need a radical re-think about how that’s supposed to happen.

I’m a huge sci-fi geek. Especially dark, dystopian stories. Movies like The Terminator, The Matrix, Blade Runner, I Robot, Ex Machina - I love them all. But when it comes to really thinking about AI and its impact on society, I’m 10,000x more optimistic than my taste in movies would suggest.

Today at The Navigator Collective, we’re excited to launch our new identity!

We’ve been working with a brilliant design team for the past few weeks to bring this new look to life. As soon as we saw the first iterations, we loved the vibrant color, the approachable hand-drawn shapes, and the powerful storytelling.

In today’s blazing-fast marketplace, companies are hitting a wall when it comes to innovation. The pace of play is only accelerating, and financial markets are raising the stakes to get it right, fast. The traditional model of relying on a small group of professionally-trained creatives and innovators is starting to show its age. How can new AI-enabled approaches flood the R&D pipeline with great thinking?

Agencies can’t escape the relentless and often unrewarding process of pitching. Studies show agencies can sink 7-figures before landing a client. And we all know there’s no silver medal. The process creates huge financial pressure as well as soft-costs: disruptions to client work, lost trust, and impacts to staff morale. How can agencies break the vicious cycle of spec-pitching and get into a much more virtuous one?