“When you encounter the Department of No, ask: ‘Under what circumstances could you say yes?’ That turns resistance into a discussion about the real issues.”

About Peter Williams

Peter has built a portfolio career at the leading edge of technology and new business models. He leads Deloitte Australia’s Centre for the Edge, co-founded scale-up Packform, consults and speaks through Rexster Consulting, and has trained thousands of people in generative AI. He is also a founding member of the DisasterWISE Community Network.

Q1: What’s the reality of the business world you’re navigating?

The speed at which generative AI came upon us is like nothing I’ve ever seen. The web emerged in 1993, but it took years to become pervasive. Generative AI arrived extraordinarily quickly, and it’s accessible to almost everyone.

That accessibility is both a benefit and a challenge. Suddenly, all the world’s information is there: access it, knock yourself out. That creates ambiguity, fear and questions about jobs, energy, data centres, copyright and whether people will become deskilled.

But I’m seeing enormous success. Work that once took me a day can now take an hour. The price of software innovation has collapsed. Rather than spending hundreds of thousands of dollars preparing business cases and prototypes, people can build something functional, test it and learn. I’ve always said: “Experiments over Excel, prototypes over PowerPoint.”

Q2: What tension are you sitting with right now that has no easy answer?

Helping people overcome fear. If you don’t understand something and you’re surrounded by a threat-based narrative, fear is understandable.

I live in the bush and have horses. I was taught that the first step in building a relationship with a horse is helping it overcome its fears. You need patience. You communicate, acknowledge every effort and ask politely. You don’t go in all guns blazing; you bring calmness to the situation.

It’s similar with AI. Understand where people are, what concerns them and how you can help. The two biggest risks I see are laziness and ignorance: expecting AI to do everything while avoiding accountability, or assuming that because AI said something, it must be right.

There are also unresolved questions around trust, copyright and cultural appropriation. Some I can’t answer, and I’m okay with that.

Q3: Tell me about a moment when you got the message, decision or timing wrong. What did it teach you?

I characterise myself as rarely wrong, but always early.

Around 2005, I wrote that voice would become one of the predominant ways we interact with technology. It took a long time for Siri and conversational AI to arrive. I also thought B2B marketplaces would become much bigger, about 20 years before they did.

What I got wrong was technology determinism: assuming that because the technology existed, everybody would use it. I underplayed the importance of relationships, trust and user experience.

I’ve also learnt to be clearer about timing. If I ask someone to “check this out”, I may mean spend 15 minutes on it, while they think I mean come back in two weeks. Now I put boundaries around what I’m asking.

Q4: When the stakes are high, how do you bring people with you, especially when they’re anxious, sceptical or resistant?

When I was 19, I became an insolvency practitioner. If a company is going broke and you’re trying to rescue it, the last thing you do is pretend everything is all right.

Later, after the Black Saturday fires, two family members were burnt out and I became one of the leaders of Flowerdale’s recovery. Thirteen people died and 250 of 300 homes were lost. Communication had to be direct: what are we going to do, who will do what, and how will we get it done?

There is no ‘they’. We are they.

Make the situation clear, let people contribute and give them something to say yes to. When you encounter the Department of No, ask: “Under what circumstances could you say yes?” That turns resistance into a discussion about the real issues.

Be straight, transparent and crystal clear. Make it simple. Start with what you have, then work out how to get the rest.

Q5: What’s one practical communication lesson you wish more leaders understood right now?

Communication is not about sounding impressive. It’s about helping people achieve their outcomes.

I see too much corporate and political communication trying to sound clever, using a big vocabulary and confusing people. Talk like you talk to your mates. Explain your job to your mum.

And don’t be afraid to ask the dumb question. If you’re sitting around a table and have no idea what somebody means, half the other people are probably thinking the same thing. Ask: “What does that mean?” “Why do you say that?” “What does that acronym stand for?”

Good leadership isn’t about sounding like a corporate superhero. It’s about being understood.

For more about Peter, see his LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rexster/

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