No matter the industry or level of seniority, the next 10 years will be the most disorienting in a leader’s career. They could also become the most impactful.
Dr Sandra Peter and Dr Kai Riemer are Co-Directors of Sydney Executive Plus and professors at the University of Sydney Business School. When they aren’t busy wading through data and dashing through airports, they’re speaking with heads of government and head chefs about leading through disruption, they’re upskilling over a thousand executives across 20+ industries in cutting-edge tech, and they’re sharing their insights on the future of work with adoring audiences in boardrooms, ballrooms, and opera houses around the world.
Businesses. Governments. Education and defence departments. Sandra’s led strategic initiatives and collaborated on executive programs with a variety of high-profile organisations. Her research expertise is in strategic foresight and the transformative influence of emerging technologies, with a focus on AI. And she’s explored those areas in numerous media formats: as a published author in high-impact journals, in regular commentary and interviews in national and international media, and as the co-host of influential business and technology podcasts.
Kai's expertise spans the fields of artificial intelligence, phenomena of disruption, collaborative systems, the future of work, emerging technologies, and the philosophy of technology. He boasts an impressive track record of industry-funded research, high-impact projects, and publications in esteemed journals. He’s founded and led research groups and labs from disruption to digital humans. Kai consults, podcasts about, and is frequently asked to comment on nuanced matters of tech and the future.
Together, Sandra and Kai uncover and unpack the challenges and opportunities of the ever-evolving business landscape. Their dynamic presentations cover productive engagement with the future and understanding the profound impact of emerging technologies, such as AI, on both business and society. The 2025 Skills Horizon is a new, annual, global initiative that focuses on the future of tech, work, and skills in this decade of disorientation. It explores what leaders need to know next and features insights from their conversations with numerous executives and leaders about our changing world.
Be it in boardrooms or auditoriums, online or IRL, Sandra and Kai captivate audiences in two ways. First, by providing insights on topics of immediate relevance: the business potential of AI, AI and the future of work, the dark side of AI, the trust economy, digital disruption, strategic foresight, and future trends. Second, but just as important, is their chemistry and delivery. Sandra and Kai’s combined extensive knowledge comes to life via an entertaining and accessible style—together, they make even the most complex concepts simple, tangible, and useful.
Talking Points
AI Beyond the Hype: Transforming Business & Work
Artificial intelligence has moved beyond the hype. It touches everything. It’s transforming everything. And it continues moving rapidly. You’ll learn how AI is being practically applied across different sectors, unlocking new capabilities and raising new questions. You’ll also gain an informed perspective on AI’s current capabilities and limitations, from the profound impacts on jobs and skills demands to how organisations can responsibly steer emerging technologies to benefit business and society. You’ll get insights from experts who connect cutting-edge research with real-world business and work, and who believe insight can be entertaining (let’s call it insightainment). Oh, and you’ll also discover what cats have to do with all of this.AI Beyond the Hype: Transforming Business & Work
Key Takeaways:
Audiences walk away with practical AI knowledge tailored to their business context and a broader cross-industry understanding, realistic expectations of AI capabilities, an appreciation of AI’s impacts on the workforce, and principles for deploying AI responsibly. This can inform their AI adoption strategy and investments.
Generative AI: Transforming Work & Society
Generative AI (gen AI) is at the top of the hype cycle. Rightfully so, since it promises to fundamentally change how businesses operate and how society functions. It might not be coming for your job, but it’s definitely coming for your job description. You’ll learn how gen AI is practically applied across different sectors, unlocking new capabilities and raising new questions. You’ll be given a guided intellectual tour of the ACE model (assist-create-explore), gen AI’s current abilities and limitations, its profound impacts on jobs and skills demands, and the new ethical challenges it raises. And you’ll understand potential resistance from stakeholders, along with what’s next for gen AI. You’ll get insights from experts who connect cutting-edge research with real-world business and work, and who believe insight can be entertaining (let’s call it insightainment). Oh, and you’ll also discover what cats have to do with all of this.Generative AI: Transforming Work & Society
Key Takeaways:
Audiences will walk away with a nuanced perspective on what gen AI can do today, its potential impacts on work, and key issues around responsible deployment. This can inform their generative AI pilot projects, change management strategies, job redesign, and governance policies. It equips them to be strategic leaders in navigating the opportunities and challenges of this emerging technology.
The Dark Side of AI
AI brings boundless opportunities… but it also holds the potential to destabilise markets and undermine trust. From bias and discrimination to deepfakes, synthetic activism, misinformation, disinformation and sustainability concerns, this talk fearlessly ventures into the tech shadows. See how AI can be powerful and weird. And discover how its use can land us in hot water. Threats from AI don’t just imperil society; they endanger the integrity of your organisation. If customers can’t tell real from fake, brand reputation evaporates. If ads are indistinguishable from organic content, ad spending becomes fruitless. If AI undermines education and changes what younger generations expect, your workforce strategy is challenged. You’ll be exposed to what the new threats are, what organisations need to prepare for and where to from here. You’ll get insights from experts who connect cutting-edge research with real-world business and work. And you’ll get to experience AI at its strangest, in ways that make you both think and laugh.The Dark Side of AI
Key Takeaways:
Audiences will walk away with a heightened awareness of the range of emerging AI threats, urgency around the business imperative to prepare against those threats, insights around safeguarding trust in their products/services, and protecting brand reputation. This equips them to proactively develop risk mitigation plans and governance policies around responsible AI adoption, workforce design and proactive communication. It drives home the message that neglecting the dark side of AI endangers business sustainability.
What Leaders & Executives Need to Know Next: Future Shifts, Future Skills, and… Four Blobs?
The next 10 years will be the most disorienting of your career. They could also become the most impactful. The 2025 Skills Horizon explores what leaders need to know next, and how you can make the most of the decade ahead. We will step you through the five messy shifts shaping our world— including the challenges and opportunities these shifts bring. We will What Leaders & Executives Need to Know Next: Future Shifts, Future Skills, and… Four Blobs?
bring you wisdom and insights drawn from conversations with more than 70 Australian and global leaders and executives, from heads of government to head chefs. We will cover the 36 skills you’ll need to lead through the next decade. And we’ll introduce you to the four Blobs, which are the four key areas of skills convergence. We will, in short, help you stay ready for anything as a leader.
Key Takeaways:
Audiences leave with an understanding of the new skills you need to learn (and the old ones you need to unlearn), the emerging risks and new opportunities for themselves and their organisation, and insights from prominent leaders on how the world is changing. The Skills Horizon is the audience’s dynamic guide to navigating what lies ahead, through learning and upskilling. It will provide you with a strategic lens for prioritising and planning your development and leadership trajectory—along with those of the people in your organisation.
Unlearn: When the World Changes Faster than our Thinking
Automation will make our work easier. Music is something to listen to. Large companies can’t innovate. Data is the new oil. Each of these things is no longer true. Even retirement is bad for you! The way the world works has changed, so it’s time to unlearn old wisdoms and discover new ones that will make you rethink the way you live and work. We will invite and inspire you to question the way you think about what you knew you knew.Unlearn: When the World Changes Faster than our Thinking
Key Takeaways:
The audience will walk away with a heightened ability to recognise outdated models (from the impacts of AI to innovation), enthusiasm for exploring counterintuitive ideas, eagerness to unlearn long-held assumptions that are no longer valid, and a more agile mindset overall. This equips them to see the world with “fresh eyes” and make more considered decisions aligned with emerging realities.
6 Megatrends for the Future of Business
We’re witnessing times of profound change that will significantly alter the way we live, work, and do business. One of the biggest challenges we face is understanding the far-reaching changes that are underway—their range, speed, and potential impact on individuals, business, and society. You’ll master the six megatrends that encapsulate the patterns of transformative change underway: impactful technology, accelerating individualisation, demographic change, rapid urbanisation, climate and resource security, and economic power shift. You’ll learn about the forces that will shape your business, and leave with unexpected facts, like why the world is running out of sand.6 Megatrends for the Future of Business
Key Takeaways:
The audience will gain a comprehensive view of the major transformative forces shaping the future, clarity on how their business specifically may be impacted, strategic foresight to capitalise on opportunities and mitigate risks, and insight into integrating megatrends into ongoing strategic planning. This equips them for strategy discussions and supports long-term planning.
Video
Generative AI for personal productivity with Dr Sandra Peter & Professor Kai Reimer
Discover how generative AI can transform your productivity with Assistive, Creative, and Exploratory (ACE) capabilities, boosting task efficiency, enhancing content creation, and facilitating innovative discussions.Generative AI with Dr Sandra Peter & Professor Kai Reimer
ChatGPT has exploded in popularity – but just how does it work? It’s an example of generative AI. Generative AI is a type of machine learning that allows computers to create new content or data. By training models on large datasets, generative AI can produce text, images, and even music. Large language models like ChatGPT allow users to experience firsthand the capabilities of generative AI by interacting with a system that generates human-like responses to their queries. From creative writing to virtual assistants, generative AI is changing the way we interact with technology.
