The Elephant in the Algorithm Podcast.
The Elephant in the Algorithm is a conversation about what AI is really doing inside organizations.
Not the hype, not the doom, the actual human and organizational reality. Matt Perry and Rob Cannon, PhD talk with leaders about where AI is paying off, where it is producing activity and cost instead, and what it takes to bring people, strategy, and customers back into one line. The technology is the easy part. The conversation is about everything around it. If you are interested in joining the discussion, book a call with us using the button below.
Mentorship in the Age of AI.
The people who taught you the job were never just handing you answers. In Episode 2, Matt Perry and Rob Cannon, PhD sit down with Janette O'Neill, an executive-level People and Transformation leader with 30 years of experience, on what happens to judgement, mentorship and tacit knowledge when the answer is always one prompt away. Why expertise and judgement are not the same thing, how remote work and now AI quietly strip out the incidental learning careers are built on, and what leaders can actually put in place so the next generation still builds judgement, not just gets the answer.
Chapters
- 00:00The Elephant in the Algorithm (cold open)
- 00:37Welcome: meet Janette O'Neill, 30 years in HR and transformation
- 02:21The invisible rule book: what you absorb by watching experienced people
- 05:06Expertise vs judgement: knowing what to do vs when, why and how
- 09:28"Not in the loop": the incidental learning that vanished in COVID
- 13:33Over-automating: where skills quietly hollow out
- 14:35When the answer is one prompt away
- 16:13Mentorship when the technical answer is always available
- 17:25The answer disguised as a question: why the senior colleague still matters
- 18:32Mentors become sponsors: who vouches for you when you're not in the room
- 24:07What leaders can actually put in place (plus reverse mentoring)
- 28:25Building the human muscle: EQ, IQ and the 25/75 tools question
- 33:30The real risk: becoming the person who controls the machine
- 35:26Close: AI accelerates expertise; people still build judgement
- Guest
- Janette O'Neill
- Matt Perry
- Matt Perry
- Rob Cannon, PhD
- Rob Cannon, PhD
#AIatWork #Mentorship #ChangeManagement #FutureOfWork #AIAdoption
From the archive.
The Elephant in the Algorithm.
The podcast extends the book. A practical, field-tested guide for leaders getting their teams ready for AI, written by your hosts.
Your hosts.
Matt Perry.
Matt has spent 25+ years in senior leadership roles at organizations such as M&C Saatchi in London, WPP in Sydney, Omnicom in San Francisco, and Genero, where he launched and led the North American business. He's worked on projects with companies including Google, Meta, Hilton, L'Oreal, PG&E, Michael's, and Fanatics. He has experienced change through four major technology transitions and has led teams through each one. In each one, he recognized that, while technology dominates the conversation, the impact on people and process is always more important. Without people in the center, technology-led change will often fail. He studied at the Kellogg School of Management, where he completed the 'AI for Business Application', before founding Average Robot, the change management firm built for the age of AI. He co-wrote 'Marketing Your Creativity' and co-wrote 'The Elephant in the Algorithm' with Rob Cannon, PhD.
Rob Cannon, PhD.
Rob is an organizational psychologist who has spent eighteen years guiding people and teams through change, usually the kind that arrives faster than the organization is ready for. His work centers on how people think, adapt, and hold their nerve when the ground under their jobs is shifting. He holds a PhD from the University of Sydney and a grounding in coaching psychology that puts building human-capability at the center of his practice. He has experienced transition from the inside, six years at Sony Music and BMG across New York, London, and Sydney, as the industry was remade by new technology and the human cost went almost entirely unmanaged. He is co-founder of Average Robot, co-author of Aha! A User's Guide to Creativity, and co-author of The Elephant in the Algorithm with Matt Perry.