The Only Constant

Brian Evergreen | On hype and strategy, and the difference between the synthetic and relational | Episode #91

In this episode of The Only Constant, Lasse Rindom speaks with Brian Evergreen - leading AI strategist, author of Autonomous Transformation, and founder of The Future Solving Club. Brian brings a refreshingly grounded enterprise lens to cut through the AI hype cycle and challenge the narrative that AI agents will replace white-collar workers, become our "coworkers," or magically transform organizations through prompt workshops and democratized tools.
Main topics they discuss include:
Why the loudest voices predicting an AI-driven jobs apocalypse all have a vested interest in that narrative
The relational layer of organizations and why it can't be replaced by synthetic networks
Why "ChatGPT is not your AI strategy" - and the difference between adding a new piece to the board and rewriting the whole game
Future Solving as an alternative to "future-proofing" - choosing the future you want and reverse-engineering it
The trap of quarter-by-quarter incrementalism and why real value creation needs a longer horizon
If you've been overwhelmed by the daily "CEO said something" cycle and want a grounded, honest conversation about what AI actually means for enterprises, leadership, and life - this one is for you.
 
Do you want to know more about Brian Evergreen?
Brian Evergreen is one of the most respected voices on strategy and AI as a leading author, advisor, and speaker. He teaches leaders and organizations how to take the future into their own hands and create value with it. From small businesses to corporations like Microsoft and Mastercard, from Hollywood to NASA to Wharton, he has presented his ideas and a new system of leadership called Future Solving, which has supported over $20B of investment. He has written one book, Autonomous Transformation, and co-authored two books, Driving Sustainable Innovation and Agentic Artificial Intelligence and is quoted frequently and regularly contributes to national publications.
 
Brian is the founder and CEO of The Future Solving Company, an advisory, training, & events company serving a global community solving for the future. He is the host of the popular podcast Future Solving, which has featured Rita McGrath, Kim Scott, Alex Osterwalder, and other top thinkers. He is also the President of The Future Solving Club, a private group of senior executives shaping the future who dialogue with world-renowned thought leaders and executives weekly and at exclusive dinners and events throughout the year. His work has been featured on Bloomberg, Forbes, Fast Company, CIO, VentureBeat, the Next Big Idea Club, and Thinkers50.
 
You can learn more about and connect with Brian on LinkedIn, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianevergreen

Nikki Barua | On cognitive atrophy and enterprise metabolism, and the resilience of craftsmanship | Episode #90

In this episode of The Only Constant, Lasse Rindom speaks with Nikki Barua, serial entrepreneur, bestselling author, keynote speaker, and co-founder of FlipWork. Named Entrepreneur of the Year and one of Entrepreneur Magazine's 100 Most Influential Women, Nikki has spent 25 years at the intersection of people, technology, and transformation. Drawing on her own journey from Mumbai to building businesses in America, she brings a rare mix of optimism, pragmatism, and cultural depth to a sprawling conversations spanning agentic AI, identity, urban conformity, and what it really takes for humans to stay relevant.
Main topics they discuss include:
Why agentic AI is already reshaping management, culture, and trust inside enterprises — even before scaled adoption
The difference between chasing efficiency (a race to the bottom) and reallocating freed capacity into real competitive advantage
Why cognitive atrophy, not AI slop, is the real danger - and why originality, depth, and craftsmanship become more valuable when average is free
How "strategic metabolism" and trust, not technology, are the true bottlenecks for enterprise transformation
The Darwinian shake-out ahead for C-players, B-players, and short-term-thinking executives - and why lazy layoffs destroy institutional knowledge
Tune in for a wide-ranging, surprisingly personal conversation that moves from AGI ethics to hillbillies, from Manhattan's density of talent to the elephant in every boardroom.
Do you want to know more about Nikke Barua:
Nikki Barua is a serial entrepreneur, keynote speaker, bestselling author, and globally
recognized expert on transformation. She is the CEO & Co-Founder of FlipWork, the
transformation partner helping organizations reinvent their culture, capabilities, and competitive edge for the AI age.
For over 25 years, Nikki has worked with some of the world's most iconic brands, guiding them through digital transformation, workforce reinvention, and organizational change at scale. She knows firsthand that technology is only half the equation; the real breakthrough comes from building the people and culture ready to use it.
As a tech entrepreneur who has built and scaled high-growth businesses, Nikki brings both the strategic lens of a leader and the hard-won wisdom of someone who has navigated disruption herself. Her personal journey from humble beginnings to building global companies has made her a sought-after voice on resilience, reinvention, and what it actually takes to lead through change. Her story has been featured in CNBC, Bloomberg, Fortune, and Forbes.
Nikki has been named Entrepreneur of the Year by ACE, honored as an EY North America Entrepreneurial Winning Woman, included in Entrepreneur Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Women, recognized as one of the 21 Leaders for the 21st Century, and celebrated as a Woman of Influence by The Business Journals, and Top Entrepreneur by Comerica Bank & LA Lakers.
Nikki Barua Links:
Newsletter: https://www.nikkibarua.com/newsletters/reinvention-roadmap/subscribe
Personal Website: https://www.nikkibarua.com/
Company Website: https://www.flipwork.ai/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkibarua/
Twitter: https://x.com/NikkiBarua
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenikkibarua/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thenikkibarua

Dan French | On the productivity illusion, and the importance of asking why | Episode #89

In this episode of The Only Constant, Lasse Rindom speaks with Dan French, Founder and CEO of Consider Solutions - a specialist consultancy and technology integrator serving some of the world's most recognised brands. With 25 years of experience advising on end-to-end business processes, operating models and finance transformation, Dan brings a sharp, no-nonsense perspective on what technology actually delivers - and what it doesn't.
Main topics they discuss include:
Why decades of technology investment have yielded surprisingly little improvement in economic productivity - and why silo efficiencies rarely make it onto the P&L
The data quality blind spot holding back both classical and AI-driven technologies in finance
How LLMs are making knowledge work more intense rather than less - and the real danger of abdicating critical thinking to AI
Why asking "why" before reaching for any technology remains the most powerful move a CFO or finance function can make
If you work in finance, technology, or anywhere near the intersection of the two, Dan French will challenge some of your assumptions - and sharpen the ones worth keeping.
Do you want to know more about Dan French?
Dan French is CEO at Consider Solutions, supporting global businesses with strategies, operating models and data insights to align, optimise and transform “end-to-end” business processes and create the maximum value from digitization.
The core focus is delivering measurable business results in P&L, Working Capital, Balance Sheet and Risk Management impact, with a significant focus on Revenue (Customer to Cash), Spend (Demand/Source to Pay) and Financial Accounting (Record to Report) business cycles.
With a background of 25 years in strategy, operations, general management, business processes, technology, performance improvement, risk management & compliance, Dan French also enjoys skiing, playing blues guitar and red wine though, for safety reasons, not all at the same time. www.consider.biz

Gry Hasselbalch | On human power and machine logic, and the sovereignty of thought | Episode #88

In this episode of The Only Constant, Lasse Rindom speaks with Gry Hasselbalch - AI ethics researcher, digital rights advocate, and author of Human Power: Seven Traits for the Politics of the AI Machine Age. 
Gry has spent over two decades shaping the European conversation on digitalization, data ethics, and the politics of AI, including contributing to the EU's high-level expert group on AI and co-signing the Cannes Declaration on the sovereignty of human thought. In this wide-ranging conversation, she and Lasse explore what it really means to be human in an age that keeps trying to optimize it away.
Main topics they discuss include:
The age-old tension between mechanistic order and human complexity - and why the AI machine age is one of history's most aggressive bids to tip the balance
Henri Bergson's distinction between intellect and intuition, and why AI captures one brilliantly while remaining fundamentally incapable of the other
The homogenization of language and culture - how AI is colonizing human expression before we've even noticed what we've lost
The Cannes Declaration on the sovereignty of human thought, and what it means to legally protect the mind from algorithmic manipulation
EU regulation, digital sovereignty, and the geopolitical asymmetry that threatens to dismantle the very frameworks built to protect fundamental rights
If you've ever felt that something quietly important is slipping away in how we think, write, and relate to each other - this conversation is for you.
 
Do you want to know more about Gry Hasselbalch
Gry Hasselbalch is a Danish author and scholar specialising in the politics and power dynamics of technology, with a focus on data, AI ethics, and the historical forces shaping technological development. Her work bridges policy, academia, and public engagement, and she is widely recognised for promoting a humanistic approach to technology.Through two decades, she has contributed to EU and global discussions on digitalisation, AI and data. She was a member of the EU's High-Level Expert Group on AI (2018-2020) which developed the EU's AI ethics guidelines that were transferred into the EU's momentous AI Act.Gry Hasselbalch holds a PhD in data/AI ethics and power and is the author of several critically acclaimed books including Human Power – Seven Traits for the Politics of the AI Machine Age (2025), Data Ethics of Power (2021), and Data Ethics – The New Competitive Advantage (2016).She has advised governments and international organisations, spoken at leading global events, and moderated high-level conferences for the European Commission and others. Her expertise is has been sought by major media, including CNN International, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, Euronews, and Wired.

Mikkel Flyverbom | On the politics of the digital domain, and the challenge of aligning AI with society and business | Episode #87

In this episode of The Only Constant, Lasse Rindom speaks with Mikkel Flyverbom, Professor of Communication and Digital Transformations, about why technology is never neutral and why the real challenge is not what technology is but what it does to us. Together, they explore how digital tools become infrastructure, how power and ideology get embedded in platforms, and why Europe now faces a defining moment for digital sovereignty.
Main topics they discuss include:
Why digital transformation is about alignment and misalignment rather than success or failure  
How AI, platforms, and social media both democratize access and create new gatekeepers  
Why digital infrastructure should be governed like roads, electricity, and public institutions  
What it takes to balance individual responsibility with political action, regulation, and European alternatives
 
Do you want to know more about Mikkel Flyverbom?
Mikkel Flyverbom is Professor of Communication and Digital Transformations at the Department of Management, Society and Communication,and the founding academic director of the BSc in Business Administration and Digital Management program, both at Copenhagen Business School.His research on digital transformations, data, tech governance and tech companies has been published in leading international journals, such as Business & Society, The Information Society, Telecommunications Policy, Organization Studies, Management Communication Quarterly, Organization, as well as a number of books. His most recent book, titled ‘The Digital Prism: Transparency and Managed Visibilities in a Datafied World’ has been published by Cambridge University Press. His research is cited widely, placing him among the top 2% of scholars worldwide according to the most recent Ioannidis/Stanford list.
Mikkel Flyverbom has been a visiting professor at Stanford University, University of California, Santa Barbara, LUISS University and Rutgers University. He is a member of the Danish government’s Data Ethics Council and Expert Group, Digital Task Foce for AI and former chairman of the Expert Group on Tech Giants, and a widely used media expert on digital transformations and the tech industry.

Walter Quattrociocchi | On Fluency and Judgment in AI, and the Fragility of Human Trust | Episode #86

In this episode, Lasse Rindom speaks with Walter Quattrociocchi, complexity scientist and professor of computer science, about what really happens when language becomes automated and answers arrive without the effort of thinking.
Their conversation circles around:
Why large language models simulate judgment rather than possess it, and why benchmarks miss the point
The concept of "Epistemia" - when fluent wording replaces verification and we feel we know without having evaluated
How AI increases content production while quietly eroding trust in content itself
Reliability, error, and the danger of delegating decisions to systems that cannot recognise their own mistakes
Whether expertise becomes rarer - and more valuable - in a world full of convincing but ungrounded answers
It is less a debate about machines becoming intelligent, and more a question of what happens to human judgment when fluency becomes cheap and cognitive labour optional.
Do you want to know more about Walter Quattrociocchi?
Walter Quattrociocchi is Full Professor at Sapienza University of Rome, leading the Center of Data Science and Complexity for Society (CDCS). His research interests encompass data science, network science, cognitive science, and data-driven modeling of dynamic processes in complex networks. Professor Quattrociocchi has an extensive publication record in peer-reviewed conferences and journals, including Nature and PNAS. His research on misinformation spreading has informed the Global Risk Report 2016 and 2017 of the World Economic Forum. International media have extensively covered his work, including Scientific American, New Scientist, The Economist, The Guardian, New York Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Fortune, Poynter, and The Atlantic.
 
In 2017, Professor Quattrociocchi coordinated the round table on Fake News and the role of Universities and Research in countering fake news, chaired by the President of Italy's Chamber of Deputies, Mrs. Laura Boldrini. In 2018, he served as the scientific advisor to the Italian Communication Authority (AGCOM), and in 2020, he was a member of the Task Force to Counter Hate Speech, appointed by the Minister of Innovation. He has recently been one of the Principal Investigators of the IRIS research coalition (UK/G7) focused on combating misinformation about vaccine hesitancy and climate change.
 
In 2023, the US State Department appointed him to the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on the topic of Data-Driven Policies.
Professor Quattrociocchi is regularly invited to deliver keynote speeches and guest lectures at major academic institutions and other organizations.

Kathy Pham | On how Workday balances high stakes with rapid innovation, and the ambiguity of purpose | Episode #85

In this episode, Lasse Rindom speaks with Kathy Pham, global AI leader at Workday and long-time voice in responsible technology. The conversation moves straight past surface-level “AI is cool” talk and into agency, purpose, governance, and what actually happens when autonomous systems meet real work and real people. 
4 sharp conversation topics from the episode
Agency vs purpose - how giving tools more autonomy can quietly remove meaning from the very tasks we thought we were optimizing
The balance between technology fading into the background and moments where its presence must be explicit.
How governance can be an accelerator, and why good rules and architecture do not slow innovation but actually make teams move faster without creating tech and social debt
The tension between flexible, composable systems and the need for clear structures so AI can navigate finance, HR, and planning without going off the rails
This episode is less about “what AI can do” and more about what we should let it do, and what happens to human purpose when efficiency becomes the default answer.
 
Do you want to know more about Kathy Pham?
Kathy Pham is vice president of artificial intelligence at Workday. She also serves as the first Workday AI ambassador, and hosts the AI Horizons video series.
A computer scientist and product leader, Kathy has experience across industry, academia, non-profits, venture capital, and government. In addition to her role at Workday, Kathy’s a senior advisor at Mozilla, where she co-founded the Mozilla Builders Incubator and Mozilla Responsible Computing, funding and enabling start-up founders and academics. And she’s on the faculty at Harvard University, where she created and teaches the Product Management and Society course and co-founded the Ethical Tech Working Group. She also serves on various technology and non-profit boards.
Previously, Kathy served as the inaugural executive director of the National AI Advisory Committee, was deputy chief technologist at the Federal Trade Commission, and was a founding engineering and product member of the U.S. Digital Service at the White House, where she helped build critical digital services in government across three presidential administrations. In addition, Kathy spent over a decade building large scale systems in industry and healthcare at Google (search, health, people operations), IBM, and Harris Healthcare. She also previously served as a fellow at the MIT Media Lab and at the Harvard Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Initiative, where she co-founded ai-in-the-loop, exploring how AI fits into the human world.
Kathy completed her undergraduate and graduate studies in computer science at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and Supelec in Metz, France.

Phil Lee | On regulation and AI, and the challenge of balancing innovation with control | Episode #84

In this episode, Lasse Rindom speaks with Phil Lee, the Managing Director of Digiphile and a leading legal expert on data privacy, GDPR, and the evolving EU digital rulebook. It is a conversation that moves beyond the hype of the AI Act to explore the practical, often messy reality of compliance, investigating how organizations can navigate the "regulatory vicious circle" without stifling innovation.
4 sharp conversation topics from the episode:
- How excessive complexity in legislation causes companies to accidentally fall out of compliance, prompting regulators to create more rules, which only deepens the problem.- Why the biggest governance headache isn't always new tools, but existing vendors quietly rolling out AI features - like a PDF reader suddenly sending data to servers in China via a software update.- The legal reality that systems cannot be held accountable, meaning that regardless of how autonomous an AI agent becomes, a human must always remain in the loop to absorb the liability.- Looking beyond personal data (GDPR) to the new Data Act, which essentially serves as competition law designed to break vendor lock-in and force cloud providers to make proprietary data portable.
This conversation sets the tone and the reality for the interplay of regulation and innovation and is not to be missed by practitioners in the field of AI and data.
 
Do you want to know more about Phil Lee?
Phil is a lawyer with over 20 years' experience, specialising in data protection and artificial intelligence. His practice focuses mainly on technology, cloud and digital media companies, and he has worked in both London and California.
Phil Lee runs UK challenger law firm, Digiphile, which specialises in data protection, AI, and digital regulation. Digiphile's mission is to provide its global clients across all sectors with simple, strategic and actionable legal advice.
He holds CIPP/E, CIPM, AIGP and FIP status with the IAPP, and a degree in Computer Science from Cambridge University.

Katrine Bach | On inclusion and representation in AI, and the blind adoption of norms | Episode #83

In this episode, Lasse Rindom speaks with Katrine Bach - co-founder of Connected Women in AI - about why the real challenge in AI isn’t the tech itself, but how fast our systems entrench around whoever shows up first. Their conversation cuts through talk of values and hype, and asks what it really takes to build representative, inclusive, and effective AI adoption at scale.
Why AI isn’t a specialist tool anymore - and why that changes who should be in the room
The early adoption trap: how default practices quietly harden into systems, often without reflection
Representation as strategy - and how a more diverse talent pool improves both innovation and adoption
Why the gender gap in AI use and education is not about competence, but confidence - and how community changes that
How learning profiles, systemic structures, and invisible assumptions still shape who feels entitled to work with AI
This episode challenges the idea that “progress” is neutral - and insists we act now, before habit becomes excluding infrastructure.
Do you want to know more about Katrine Bach?
Katrine Bach is the CEO and founder of Expansion Partners, a consulting firm that helps leaders and entrepreneurs turn AI’s potential into tangible business growth and responsible innovation.
She is also the co-founder and CEO of Connected Women in AI, an organisation that in just one year has brought together more than 5,500 women with the aim of creating equal access to AI skills, career development, and professional networks. For Katrine, diversity is not only about innovation, but about unlocking the full talent pool and thereby strengthening Denmark’s competitiveness at a time when AI is reshaping both the labour market and value creation. Under her leadership, the network is now launching a new digital platform designed to make AI learning and community accessible to even more people, helping ensure that Denmark maintains a strong position in the global AI landscape.
With more than 25 years of international experience in the global pharma and technology industries, Katrine combines strategic insight, business acumen, and a passion for responsible technology. She is a prominent voice in the debate on how Denmark can maintain its competitive edge in the AI era through diversity, innovation, and bold leadership.

Jeanette Bronée | On scaling a broken system, and the discipline of staying human | Episode #82

In this episode, Lasse Rindom speaks with Jeanette Bronée - global keynote speaker, author of The Self-Care Mindset, and creator of Power-Pausing™ - about how the real lever in today’s fast-moving, AI-shaped workplace isn’t faster output, but human clarity, connection and trust.
AI can supercharge the hamster wheel, unless leaders redesign what the wheel is even for
The difference between output and outcome, and why speed without discernment just multiplies dysfunction
Agency as the real battleground, and the risk of outsourcing sovereignty to tools that feel like they “understand” you
Why global connectivity creates both opportunity and mass comparison, and how that pressure shapes work, identity, and attention
The uncomfortable question behind “future of work" - Who actually gets to choose what it becomes?
Are we designing for and with care? Or just accelerating mindlessly? That's the question this episode explores.
Do you want to know more about Jeanette Bronée?
Jeanette Bronée is a Danish-born, New York–based global keynote speaker, TEDx speaker, and culture strategist who helps organizations unlock the Human Advantage in a world shaped by AI and constant change. With a background in customer experience, brand strategy, and more than two decades as a coach and consultant, she works at the intersection of human performance and organizational culture.
Her career began in design and leadership, where she learned firsthand that customer experience is inseparable from employee experience. After burning out and rebuilding her life from the inside out, she dedicated her work to understanding how people function under pressure and how trust becomes the invisible infrastructure of every high-performing team.
Jeanette is the creator of Power-Pausing™ and CARE OS®, practical frameworks that help leaders build self-trust, strengthen team trust, and design human-driven cultures where clarity, care, and collaboration fuel innovation. She has spoken at the United Nations and guided leaders across global companies, and she is the author of The Self-Care Mindset® published by Wiley.
Her work challenges the outdated idea that productivity is the goal. Instead, she highlights that high-functioning organizations grow from the inside out when people have the tools to navigate uncertainty, recalibrate their energy, and lead with wisdom instead of speed.
In a future where technology accelerates everything, Jeanette believes our competitive edge is profoundly human. She helps leaders turn trust into strategy, care into culture, and change into momentum so people and organizations can thrive, adapt, and innovate, no matter the pace of the world around them.