#59: From hype to stewardship

Are AI and analytics teams more about checking off a box or delivering genuine value? Does anyone have an overview of shadow AI? Has hype created a short-term overexpectation bubble that might end up derailing long-term focus? Is this easy, safe, and valuable?

Last week, Stuart joined me for a splendid episode that covered all these topics and more. We go deep, wide, and personal as we take the temperature on (slow?) enterprise AI adoption and (fast?) AI's impact on society. And I couldn't ask for anyone better to have this conversation with. Stuart is grounded in research, experience, and curiosity in a perfect British blend. So here's a treat for everyone!

Read more about Stuart Winter-Tear at the bottom of this newsletter.

As always, I am very happy that we once again managed to make an episode that explores more than it explains 💡

Listen to the episode here:

Apple: The Only Constant on Apple Podcasts

Spotify: The Only Constant | Podcast on Spotify

Spreaker: The Only Constant (spreaker.com)

(note on sound quality: my mic played a trick on me - Adobe fixed it to make it pleasant, but I still come across sounding a bit weird at times)

What made this episode special to me?:

There's really been no avoiding Stuart for the last year or so. He is a consistent content creator, who shares his personal and professional thoughts on AI freely with his followers. And these thoughts are always well grounded. In experience, and in research - but also in humour. In many ways, this also made this a dificult episode to record: When you have someone on the show who is an expert in exactly this, you can approach the conversation as you would any authoritative book on a subject: I need this from it, let see if I can find this as well. But with Stuart, I knew we could go anywhere.

So we did. This is more than anything an honest conversation with a thought leader I hold dear. A pleasant, inquisitive, and open mind like Stuart's is not something you find everywhere, and I am tremendously pleased to have hosted him on the show for this episode.

An episode, by the way, that almost didn't happen: for one, our first recording was ruined by the Iberian power blackout in April - we rescheduled; secondly, when we finally recorded, my microphone recorded on way too high a level, which I didn't realize until after recording. Both of these could have ruined the episode, but thankfully, we found flexible solutions to bring you this episode today!

My key post-recording deliberations:

• If autonomous agents inherit our messy, undocumented processes, do we end up automating the mess - or does the prerequisite of mapping everything force a long-overdue spring-clean?
• Is degradation (of data, process, meaning, content) acutally the biggest threat from AI, and should we worry about this? Oh, and how should we guardrail against it?
• Generative AI promises to “give the data back to the business.” What governance (and courage) does that require when gatekeeping has been the norm for decades?

Here's to another great episode of your favorite deep thought podcast, The Only Constant. I really hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed recording it!

Do you want to know more about Stuart Winter-Tear ?:

Stuart is an accomplished Product Leader with 20+ years driving innovation across AI, Cybersecurity, eCommerce, and SaaS. As a fractional CPO, advisor, and consultant, he partners with ambitious companies to scale smarter, innovate faster, and bring cutting-edge products to market. He has founded and grown ventures, led cross-functional teams in both startups and enterprises, and delivered patented AI solutions that transformed adoption, automation, and growth. 

 Known for combining deep technical insight with strategic clarity, Stuart specialises in product innovation, go-to-market execution, and aligning AI capabilities with real-world business needs. As an Ambassador at the Centre for GenAIOps and a frequent speaker and writer, Stuart is at the forefront of AI evolution - committed to helping teams build ethical, impactful, and market-leading products.