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Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 2h

Elon Musk’s xAI venture Macrohard aims to build a “purely AI” company modeled after Apple, coordinating entire ecosystems without owning hardware. The real innovation lies not in AI itself, but in redesigning how companies operate, manage oversight, and structure work around AI agents.

If Macrohard Succeeds, Should Every CEO Be Taking Notes?

Just days ago (October 12th), Elon Musk made a stunning announcement: his xAI project Macrohard will be "profoundly impactful at an immense scale" - and it's not just about software anymore. Following...

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Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 1d

AI’s hype cycle is turning: after euphoria comes correction. As funding tightens, only firms built on coherence, resilience, and clear economics will last. Automate what can be, invest in what can’t: trust, judgment, connection. The slowdown isn’t collapse, it’s a test of coherence.

The Ten Commandments of Viability in AI

Your Survival Guide for When the AI Bubble Bursts

substack.jurgenappelo.com

Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 2d

Many leaders have ceded the design of their organizations to technology, letting systems dictate how work happens. AI now exposes these flaws by automating bad processes. Restoring balance means redesigning the business intentionally, linking strategy, structure, and experience once again.

To manage is to design

We often forget that leadership is above all about design. Not in the aesthetic sense of the word, but in the sense of giving shape to an intention. Before bein

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Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 3d

Most change management efforts fail. Though used by 58% of firms, only 32% of leaders see real adoption. Change is treated as a project, not a human process. Emotions, middle managers, and daily work are ignored. Without trust, ownership, or tangible value, no method can make change succeed.

Why change management fails - PEX Network

Change management is vital in transformation and process excellence, but change management fails. Learn the reasons why!

www.processexcellencenetwork.com

Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 3d

AI exposes a leadership gap, not a tech one. “AI-first” means little without clarity, judgment, and disciplined execution. The issue isn’t whether machines can think, but whether leaders can aligning autonomous minds while balancing algorithmic logic with human wisdom.

Leading Beyond the Illusion of Intelligence By Alex Adamopoulos - Global Peter Drucker Forum BLOG

We’ve reached a strange moment in business where intelligence itself is overrated. Everywhere you turn, companies are proclaiming their “AI-first” future, yet few can explain what that actually means ...

www.druckerforum.org

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Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 3d

Most claims about AI-driven productivity lack rigor. Without baseline measurements, progress can’t be proven. Firms measure perceptions, not data, individual gains, not collective output. The result: enthusiasm replaces evidence, and investments advance through fog, not facts.

How can we measure the productivity gains of AI?

There is a lot of talk about the productivity gains that artificial intelligence is said to be bringing to businesses. We read all kinds of figures, some of w

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Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 4d

Orange builds an ethical, inclusive, and co-created AI.
For CHRO Vincent Lecerf, ethics and inclusion are business levers: they attract talent, boost engagement, and cut turnover. With 55,000 trained in AI and 13,000 AI tools built by staff, Orange proves that trust and responsibility drive adoption

Orange Group CHRO: ‘We must build AI with the people, not against the people’

Ahead of his Main Stage panel at UNLEASH World 2025, Vincent Lecerf, Group CHRO at €40 billion revenue telecommunications giant Orange, shares why being ethical and responsible is good for business, p...

www.unleash.ai

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Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 4d

Generative AI is forcing consulting firms to redesign work under human control. Accenture reshapes its talent pyramid around AI-augmented experts, while Deloitte faces backlash for AI-driven errors. Efficiency now depends on human rigor, traceability, governance and trust remains the true asset.

Le problème de l'IA est aussi entre la chaise et le clavier - ZDNET

Former l'humain à devenir un critique de l'IA, et construire la gouvernance pour que la machine travaille toujours sous le contrôle de l'expert.

www.zdnet.fr

Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 5d

Delegating transformation means failing to lead it.
Creating a “transformation director” separates change from operations, turning leadership into two opposing forces. Real progress happens when transformation and performance are managed as one continuous responsibility.

Do you really need a transformation director?

There is something amusing about the way businesses try to resolve their own contradictions. They want to change, but without causing disruption; they want to a

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Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 5d

AI’s impact on work starts before jobs: it reshapes industries, value chains, and power structures. As Carlota Perez showed for past waves, transformation begins upstream. Work and employment decouple, skills circulate digitally, and organizations become lighter, hybrid, and more porous.

The Impact of AI on Work (Isn't About Jobs)

Why industries reshape first - and what that means for you. Join our free Work 3 Webinar on Thursday 16 October to explore this shift.

wrk3.substack.com

Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 5d

Performance isn’t just speed but doing what matters. Efficiency serves effectiveness. Leadership means clarifying priorities and making the right choice the easiest one. Systems shape behavior; good design makes good work effortless.

Lean Quote: Making Doing the Right Things Easy

Effective shop floors prioritize easy, high-value work by designing systems that make doing the right thing clearer and simpler for all.

www.aleanjourney.com

Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 6d

Parkinson’s Law shows that work expands to fill the time available, not from laziness, but because time itself becomes a terrain of power. In knowledge work, saved time rarely stays free: employees stretch, delay, or reclaim it, while organizations rush to occupy every minute.

Are you familiar with Parkinson's law on how your employees manage their own time and productivity?

In 1955, British historian Cyril Northcote Parkinson formulated the law that now bears his name: "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completi

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Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 6d

AI in customer experience: promise betrayed, trust eroded.
Qualtrics shows customers don’t reject AI itself, but its clumsy use. Automation meant to simplify often alienates. Speed replaced empathy. In 2026, trust depends on clarity, coherence, and truly human understanding.

« On ne fidélise pas avec un chatbot », la promesse est rompue quand l’IA sert d’abord à réduire les coûts - IT SOCIAL

Le dernier rapport de Qualtrics sur les tendances de l’expérience client révèle une vérité dérangeante : les promesses de l’IA sont trahies par sa mise en œuvre. Les consommateurs ne rejettent pas l’i...

itsocial.fr

Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 7d

EDGY is an open-source visual language that bridges identity, experience, and operations. By exposing gaps between intentions and execution, it helps teams build shared understanding, align strategy with capabilities, and design transformations true to their organization’s DNA.

EDGY: a common language to align identity, experience, and operations

I think this article will be of interest to many people because it deals with a subject that we all face on a regular basis to a greater or lesser extent: the n

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Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 8d

Digital transformation talks often stay technical, neglecting business goals. Creativity and tech shine, but impact fades. The fix is discipline: link every role to a real problem and measure results, not originality. Only measurable contribution justifies a role today.

The great misalignment in business transformation

Explore the increasing mismatch between the roles being created and the business problems companies need solved

www.processexcellencenetwork.com

Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 9d

AI faces an energy crisis. The Shift Project warns that generative AI could triple data center power use by 2030, reaching 10% of global electricity. Efficiency gains can’t offset the rebound effect, pushing a return to fossil fuels and threatening carbon neutrality goals.

AI, the driving force behind unprecedented energy growth

There are moments when technology, in seeking to accelerate the world, ends up accelerating its own contradiction. Artificial intelligence is experiencing such

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Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 10d

Agentic AI shows real promise but remains mostly at the prototype stage in enterprises, limited by poor work design and data structure. Without rethinking processes, it risks fueling “workslop” ie low-quality AI content. True impact will come from system-level transformation, not prompt tricks.

Doing the Work: Why Learning is Key to Agentic AI Success & Avoiding Workslop

Why we need to be ready to 'do the work' of organisational transformation if we are to realise the potential of enterprise AI, and thinking about what we need from L&D

academy.shiftbase.info

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Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 10d

Generative AI is reshaping consulting by automating junior tasks, not replacing the profession. Value shifts to senior expertise, strategic insight, and human judgment, skills AI can’t replicate. Consulting evolves with tech, but remains centered on trusted guidance and decision support.

AI won't kill consulting, but it will force it to grow

We've heard this story a thousand times before. The internet was supposed to make consulting firms obsolete by giving everyone direct access to all the world's

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Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 10d

At SAP Connect in Las Vegas, leaders framed AI as a partner, not a threat, reshaping HR work rather than replacing it. Skills are now the new supply chain with value in adaptability over expertise. Success hinges on culture: firms fostering learning and inclusion will turn AI into daily advantage.

‘Skills are the new supply chain’: SAP calls for different approach to AI adoption

SAP executives at this week's Connect conference in Las Vegas positioned AI as a partner for HR professionals, not a job replacement threat.

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Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 11d

Agentic AI offers operational gains but brings real risks. Legal liability, hidden infrastructure costs, security flaws, and unreliable outputs demand strict oversight. Success depends on clear use cases, robust safeguards, and an organization’s readiness to balance innovation with risk.

Managing the risks of agentic AI

As businesses explore the new horizons of AI, it’s important to consider the risks of agentic AI tools and how processes can help mitigate them

www.processexcellencenetwork.com

Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 11d

AI transforms nothing but accelerates everything. According to DORA 2025, 90% of developers use AI and 80% see productivity gains, yet delivery quality declines. AI amplifies what exists: strong teams improve, weak ones fail faster. Speed rewards structure, not tools.

Why AI Won't Save Your Broken System - DAVID NOWAK

Google Cloud's 2025 DORA research surveyed 5,000 technology professionals and revealed AI as an amplifier, not a transformer—magnifying organizational strengths and dysfunctions equally. The uncomfort...

davidnowak.me

Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 12d

When companies struggle to hire, it’s often not a talent shortage but a perception issue: top candidates spot red flags. The biggest turn-offs? Vague roles, sloppy hiring, poor interpersonal vibes, and bad reputations. Clarity, courtesy, and consistency remain the true magnets for talent.

4 Organizational Red Flags That Turn Off Job Candidates

A survey of hundreds of executives shows that the most common “red flags“ that deter qualified candidates from interviewing for or accepting jobs with organizations are a lack of clarity about the job...

hbr.org

Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 12d

The law of local maximum: optimizing isolated parts of a system without fixing its constraint lowers overall performance. As Goldratt showed, local gains, whether in teams, processes, or AI, create overload and inefficiency when not aligned with the system’s true capacity.

Local optimum vs. global optimum and the theory of constraints: why your productivity gains sometimes serve no purpose

Eliyahu Goldratt, although trained as a physicist, had a profound impact on industrial management with books such as The Goal (1984) and The Hays

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Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 12d

Deloitte Australia refunded $291K after an AI-generated report for the government was found full of fake citations. If that’s how AI plans to replace consultants, the profession’s safe for a while. The scandal exposes growing risks of unchecked AI use in consulting and auditing.

Consultants Forced to Pay Money Back After Getting Caught Using AI for Expensive "Report"

Deloitte was forced to reissue the Australian government $291,000 after getting caught including AI hallucinations in its report.

futurism.com

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Bertrand Duperrin @duperrin.com · 13d

Cory Doctorow warns that the AI industry is a speculative bubble on the verge of collapse, fueled by hype rather than substance. He argues 95% of AI projects fail, yet investors cling to the illusion. “AI won’t turn you into a paperclip but it may make you poorer.”

Cory Doctorow Says the AI Industry Is About to Collapse

Famed sci-fi author and tech journalist Cory Doctorow has a spectacularly grim warning about the coming AI-fueled economic disaster.

futurism.com