Technology continues to change everything about the way we work. Centric Consulting CEO Larry English is here to guide the way.
Larry English is a workplace futurist, passionate about all things innovation, particularly technology that drives disruptive change.
Well before remote work became the norm, Larry was at the forefront of the virtual model. Twenty-five years ago, Larry, along with his two longtime friends and colleagues -- Dave Rosevelt and Eric Van Luven -- built their own company where employees could work virtually, and the culture would contribute to business success and employee happiness. Since then, we have expanded to more than 1,400 team members with locations across the US and India.
In 2020, Larry published Office Optional: How to Build a Connected Culture with Virtual Teams, a roadmap to virtual work success. The book distills Larry’s insights from more than two decades leading Centric, a remote-first company with an award-winning culture.
Larry continues to share his insights on Forbes.com, where he shares the latest thinking on all the ways the workplace is evolving, from leadership and organizational culture to technology and beyond. See Larry’s Forbes column below and check back regularly for more.
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Clearly technology plays a role in the plummeting job market for new grads. Will organizations suffer a future leadership gap if they don’t develop new talent? And what — if anything — can young people do to AI-proof their careers? There is hope.
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What if by using AI in project management, project managers could have better visibility into risks and past mistakes before they repeat? And the bigger question — why do they keep repeating the same mistakes?
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Sometimes AI generates misinformation and false insights. It provides an answer based on real data, but data that is outdated, incomplete or inaccurate.
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Layering AI on top of [a] fragmented and siloed digital infrastructure won’t produce good results; it only adds more chaos. Simply put, poor data quality makes AI useless.
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As businesses embrace AI and begin to see real impacts, app modernization has never been more urgent for organizations dragging their feet on getting started.
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The reality around AI and programming is more nuanced than headlines suggest. Programming is not dead and programmers do not need to panic — but their roles will evolve as AI advances and disrupts the programming industry.
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What if there was a way to get started with AI that lowers the investment costs, demonstrates ROI and avoids the security risks? Executives need to go back to the basics, exploring how AI can solve specific business problems.
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Q-Day — the leap in quantum computing that will severely weaken much of the world’s current cybersecurity systems — will come eventually.
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AI and culture may not seem an obvious pairing. AI is as high tech as you can get, while culture is deeply human, encompassing how people treat each other, treat customers and work with one another.
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By digging into how employees feel about AI, whether excited, anxious, apathetic or puzzled, leaders can better understand how to encourage AI adoption.
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Read on for an AI agent crash course, including a definition of this new technology and answers to questions about security, team impact and the investment required for leaders to get their organization caught up.
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AI implementation can be complex. But if you make sure to align the technology with your business strategy, have ROI in mind from the beginning, and put a robust measurement program in place, you’ll soon start reaping the rewards of AI.
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Many leaders seem to be delaying adding AI learning opportunities into their employee development strategies. Over half of workers in a recent UiPath survey said they haven’t received any AI education or guidelines about using AI at work.
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There’s been plenty of chatter about AI helping employees accomplish more in their day, the technology could serve a higher purpose: To help employees enjoy work more by finding better work-life balance and more meaning and satisfaction in their jobs.
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Leaders need a plan for responsible AI governance that protects privacy and personal data, upholds the well-being of users, mitigates bias and promotes transparency.
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The trust problem — referred to as the AI trust gap — goes deeper than employees mistrusting the technology itself. When implemented carelessly, AI can also degrade the trust workers have in their employer.
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To ensure the success of an M&A process with two remote or hybrid companies, leaders should understand the cultures at play, including where values align and diverge.
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Organizations that keep pace with modern technology can make more informed decisions more rapidly, offer a better customer and employee experience, and more deftly navigate the quickly changing business world.
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In early 2024, Microsoft made Copilot for Microsoft 365, its AI assistant, widely available to organizations of all sizes. This represents a huge opportunity for companies to take advantage of the powerful productivity gains possible with AI.
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Organizations should focus on the following action items in 2024 to protect themselves against attacks through third-party apps and services. Of course, the more mature an organization’s vendor security program, the more minimized the risks.
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Project managers, before you let that data point flood you with fear, listen up: AI is not going to replace you. But it will make you more efficient and effective giving you greater forward-looking insights and increasing your power over steering projects to success.
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RPA on its own is limited to straightforward, structured and objective tasks. AI expands the possibilities to include capabilities with nuanced, subjective or unstructured data.
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While most companies implementing AI into their operations aren’t dealing with anything so important as human life, there’s a salient lesson here: Feed AI systems bad data, you’ll get bad results.
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We all knew AI was coming, but suddenly, this new tool with seemingly limitless potential became available, leaving organizations scrambling to figure out when, where and how to use it. So, if you’ve been caught off guard by the AI revolution, don’t worry — you’re hardly alone.
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Hybrid work is emerging as a winner for workers and organizations alike. There’s just one problem: Hybrid work is most definitely a “messy middle,” forcing companies to navigate numerous complexities in an attempt to find an arrangement that works for everyone.
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Adapting to meet consumer needs has not been a part of the commercial office model. While the business world has changed, the office model hasn’t yet needed to evolve to keep up.
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The best ways to prepare for the security implications of artificial intelligence are to educate, create governance, remain vigilant and plan for recovery in case of a breach.
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Ready or not, the role of AI and working through everything from security to governance is now on every CIOs radar.
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Your company’s culture will impact how quickly and successfully an organization can adopt AI. And, done well, AI can actually improve company culture.
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Implemented thoughtfully, advancing technology can improve employees’ experience, unshackling them from draining menial work and freeing them up for more meaningful, satisfying tasks.
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According to a McKinsey survey, most businesses see less than one-third of the results expected from digital transformation efforts.
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As leaders face an uncertain economy in 2023, it’s important to remember the power and value of culture. It’s not a project that can be shoved aside during difficult times.
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The ranks of digital nomads with traditional employment have more than tripled since 2019, now making up 66 percent of all digital nomads.
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According to Gartner, by 2026, 25 percent of people will spend one hour per day or more in virtual reality, and nearly one-third of businesses will offer products or services for the metaverse.
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Recent studies have found that 25 percent of employees feel they don’t belong at their workplace, and 40 percent of employees feel isolated.
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According to LinkedIn’s 2022 Workplace Learning Report, 49 percent of learning and development programs in 2022 focused on leadership and management training.
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Before 2020, B2B sales of complex solutions and services were conducted almost entirely in person. All that changed with the pandemic.
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My son is what I like to call a remote native. He entered the workforce after the pandemic hit, and so he’s never known full-time office life.
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As the Great Reshuffle churns on, employees continue to look for new opportunities that better align with their desires for work-life balance and flexibility.
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The debate is over: Hybrid work is the new normal. The 2022 Microsoft Work Trend Index found hybrid work up seven points from last year (to 38 percent).
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When collaborating with other companies on a project, too many businesses rely on email and other outdated practices. Complications, headaches and frustrations ensue.
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In 2022, offering remote work isn’t a perk. It’s table stakes. The pandemic showed people the benefits of working from home, and they’re demanding flexibility from their workplaces.
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In response to the overwhelming evidence that employees don’t want to go back to full-time office life, companies everywhere are adopting hybrid workplace models.
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Companies that embrace the new world of work are reaping the benefits. For instance, they’re able to attract a significantly larger talent pool.
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You may think your hybrid strategy is going well, but do your employees agree?
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The remote work revolution is already over — hybrid has won — but another major shift could be coming.
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Many healthcare organizations are working on advancing virtual care options. That said, the path to digital healthcare transformation is bumpy.
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The rise of virtual work will bring widespread demand for work-life balance, and it will also lead to a more inclusive world with opportunities open to talent no matter where they call home.
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After compensation, the No. 1 thing employees care about in 2021 is flexibility.
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A recent Office Depot survey revealed that companies are failing their remote employees when it comes to technology.
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After getting a taste for the flexibility offered by remote work, 73 percent of employees don’t want to go back to full-time office life, says the 2021 Microsoft Work Trend Index.
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How do you know if remote employees are engaged and happy? Do your remote teams have the dynamics that fuel success?
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The remote worker typing away while lounging on a comfy couch or bed is a familiar image.
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More and more, workers are breaking free of the 9-to-5 paradigm and striking out on their own as independent contractors, freelancers and digital nomads.
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The pandemic has led many companies to become distributed, as their employees suddenly transitioned to working remotely.
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Digital nomads — employees or contractors who work remotely while traveling — were a small growing trend before the pandemic.
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As I talk with leaders of companies about permanently adopting remote work, they often ask, “What do I need to do differently to manage remote hourly workers vs. salaried employees?”
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The pandemic has more greatly exposed workers who have been unable to participate in the digital economy, threatening to leave them further behind.
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COVID-19 has helped many companies see the value of operating virtually. Businesses have continued to operate with empty offices while maintaining the same or improved productivity.
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As of May 2020, Silicon Valley was home to 2,000 tech companies — the greatest concentration anywhere in the world.
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AI and the Vanishing Entry-Level Job: The Changing Future of Work
Clean, Connected Data Is The Foundation Of AI — iPaaS Makes It Possible
How to 10x Your App Modernization Impact With AI Agents
AI and Programming: An Evolution, Not an Extinction
Practical AI: A Low-Cost, Low-Risk Guide to Getting Started
From Q-Day To AI Risks: The Cybersecurity Wake-Up Call For Leaders
Is Organizational Culture the Next Frontier for AI in the Workplace?
