Two of the advertising, marketing, and media industry’s most visionary leaders, Rishad Tobaccowala and Jack Myers, recently came together for a compelling conversation on Tobaccowala’s What Next podcast, exploring some of today’s most critical leadership, organizational, and technological challenges. Their thoughtful dialogue provides indispensable insights for anyone navigating the intersection of technology, humanity, and sustained business growth in the rapidly advancing AI era. Listen to the full conversation on Spotify here and on all podcast platforms.
Myers, a renowned author, media ecologist, and strategic advisor, offers profound perspectives from his groundbreaking new book, The Tao of Leadership: Harmonizing Technological Innovation and Human Creativity in the AI Era — currently a #1 Amazon Best Seller in Management Skills, Organizational Change, and Human-Computer Interaction. Myers’ central premise is that the integration of technological innovation with human creativity is not just beneficial but essential for organizational survival and success. Throughout the conversation, Myers emphasizes five core Taoist principles — harmony, flexibility, balance, stability, and integrity — as critical leadership qualities for effectively steering organizations through periods of profound change and technological disruption.
Tobaccowala, a respected author, Publicis Groupe strategist, and futurist whose recent book, Rethinking Work, challenges traditional notions of workplace dynamics and leadership. Tobaccowala advocates for reimagining work through the lens of human potential, arguing for a more human-centric approach to organizational structure and corporate culture. His ideas dovetail beautifully with Myers’, as they jointly underscore the essential need for organizations to remain deeply human even as technology increasingly automates and optimizes tasks.
Central to their discussion is Myers’ focus on the unprecedented acceleration of machine intelligence, which demands a fundamental realignment of leadership priorities. Myers argues persuasively that existing corporate structures, still predominantly modeled on outdated frameworks like General Motors’ World War II-era production line, are ill-equipped for the agile and adaptive demands of an AI-driven economy. He underscores the necessity for companies to abandon these outdated models in favor of innovative structures that prioritize collaboration, agility, and human creativity.
Myers articulates a compelling historical insight — that every significant technological disruption throughout history has been accompanied by a corresponding explosion of human creativity. Citing historical examples such as the Renaissance emerging alongside the printing press and the creative digital revolution sparked by the internet, Myers emphasizes that companies and leaders today must actively foster and harness this renewed creative energy to remain competitive and relevant.
Myers and Tobaccowala also explore the concept of the “Nexus Generation,” a term Myers coins to describe individuals born into an AI-integrated world. This generation, Myers explains, is fundamentally different in their approach to technology; rather than seeing artificial intelligence as merely a tool, they inherently view it as a collaborator and partner. The podcast delves deeply into how educational institutions, businesses, and society at large must adjust their expectations and strategies to prepare this generation for future success. Tobaccowala complements this view by emphasizing how educational and corporate systems must evolve rapidly to nurture critical human skills such as creativity, empathy, emotional intelligence, and complex problem-solving, thereby enabling effective collaboration between humans and machines.
Throughout their engaging conversation, Myers and Tobaccowala consistently remind listeners that technological advancement, no matter how profound, will never supplant the unique human capacities for creativity, intuition, and ethical reasoning. The future, they suggest, belongs to those organizations and leaders who can skillfully blend the precision and efficiency of machine intelligence with the wisdom, vision, and emotional depth uniquely inherent to human leadership.
This What Next podcast episode represents a rare opportunity to listen to two industry veterans with decades of experience between them, candidly discussing critical topics that are reshaping not just the advertising and media industries, but the very nature of leadership itself. Their insights are particularly relevant for senior executives, HR professionals, business strategists, educators, and anyone concerned about how to thrive personally and professionally in a world transformed by technology.
Don’t miss this illuminating exchange between two pioneering thinkers as they chart a clear, actionable path for leadership, innovation, and techno-humanism in the AI era.
Order The Tao of Leadership and Rethinking Work at all booksellers and download The Tao of Leadership eBook now for only $0.99 to understand why the world’s greatest corporate leaders are turning to Myers’ and Tobaccowala’s transformative insights. Listen to the full podcast conversation on your favorite platforms or click this link for direct access.
