Show Notes
In this episode, CEO Erin Evans is joined by Stuart Freer, Chief Information and Digital Officer at Coates, a 140-year-old industrial business in the middle of a major digital reinvention.
With a career spanning Tesco, Coles, and Mecca, Stuart has led transformation at scale across the UK and Australia. Now, he’s taking on a different kind of challenge, embedding data and AI into a traditionally blue-collar organisation and reshaping how work actually gets done.
This conversation starts with a tension many leaders are feeling right now. AI is not coming for your job, but it is coming for how your job works.
From there, things get real.
Stuart breaks down why most AI initiatives fail before they even start, and why the real opportunity lies in rethinking processes, not just layering in new technology. It is less about replacing people, and more about stripping out friction, redefining roles, and enabling teams to focus on what actually drives value.
They explore what it takes to lead through this shift, from building trust across teams to balancing innovation with governance, risk, and accountability. There is no playbook, just a constant tension between moving fast and getting it right.
Along the way, they unpack the changing shape of the workforce, the importance of commercial thinking, and why the organisations that win will be the ones that simplify relentlessly.
A grounded, inside look at how leaders are navigating one of the biggest shifts in how we work.
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