Inside Exec – Mentors to Executives Worldwide

This week we begin a four part series with Jim Stevenson who has returned to answer some of the questions submitted after his last visit in 2025.

In this podcast we discuss

There’s certainly some food for thought in the discussion, particularly about which AI models and LLMs to use for various tasks.

Kim revisits a popular podcast from 2019 about the L.O.R.E. management framework. She explores how leaders who might still identify as “fixers” can learn to step back from routine problem solving and redefine corportae worth in a leaner landscape as a “catalyst”.

In 2018, a simple question was asked “When do you draw the line between old processes and new ones?“

Revisiting that conversation now, the answer hasn’t changed, but the consequences have. Back then, running old and new systems side-by-side was inefficient. Today? It’s a strategic risk.

What has changed most is not technology. It’s expectation.

In a world where the “expertise half-life” is shrinking by the day, senior executives are facing a new brand of overwhelm: the pressure to make permanent decisions in a temporary environment. This week, we dismantle the myth that leadership speed is the ultimate goal. Instead, we explore why “human” core values, often dismissed as soft metrics, are actually the most robust risk-management tools in a high-tech landscape.

Join Kim as she discusses why your greatest asset in 2026 isn’t your data or your tech stack, but your clarity of intent. We’re challenging the C-suite to stop being the “know-it-all” and start being the “learn-it-all” to bridge the gap between human values and machine-driven scale.

If you are in a senior position in any organisation or business then you have probably come across this issue. You are replacing a long standing and valuable employee with a new hire that comes from the start of the career spectrum. Do you choose skills over abilities? Are they equally important? Are you choosing a replacement for the skills you want in that role or the role itself?

This week Kim looks at a question from a colleague who has been part of the process of finding a replacement in a role that has grown with the incumbent but has not ever been formalised.

Strategic thinking hasn’t changed… but the environment has. The shift is subtle, but critical. Technology is no longer supporting strategy, it is actively shaping what’s possible, which raises some uncomfortable questions: –

Is technology being treated as a tool rather than a driver?

Are decisions being delayed until there is certainty?

Are projects designed for today, but obsolete tomorrow?

Kim explores these questions with some real time examples from her current projects.

Back in 2016, a simple question was explored: Have I got the right qualifications?

In 2026, that question has changed. With more graduates than ever entering the workforce and fewer stepping straight into meaningful employment the real question now is are qualifications enough?

This week Kim explores what organisations and potential employees should be considering during their recruitment activities.

Kim has returned from floral design competition at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show to take an opportunity to apply the lessons from one of our 2018 podcasts about learning from failures.

She uses the example of her design to show how the basic principles from that earlier podcast are still relevant and important even though the business landscape has changed dramatically.

Kim and Jamie continue their conversation with Chris Clearfield, this week looking at how to communicate effectively when AI is a daily part of your team dynamic.

We also look at the dilemma for new graduates and those seeking to employ them – how do they highlight the skills they have and what those skills mean in the “new” team approach.

Leadership skills – how fast are they changing?

This week Kim and Jamie begin a two part conversation with Chris Clearfield about the newest pressures of leadership for CEOS and senior executives. What are the challenges of delegation in the age of AI? How do we select new staff? Is delegation still a major stumbling block?

What do you see as the shift in leadership skills in your organisation or industry?