Charles Lewington, CEO of Hanover Communications
Charles Lewington CEO Hanover Communications
AI forces us to reassess how we do everything. As a general purpose technology it is taking society and industry by storm. In every industry vertical, in every functional area of business, it promises to help us to do what we do better, and to tackle novel problems we didn't think possible.
There has been no other type of technology in recent history that has grown and been adopted so quickly. The question isn’t whether companies should be adopting it, it’s whether they’re doing it quickly enough. As such, the future will be written by firms which understand the inevitable tide that is AI. Those that do not will be left on the wayside.
Businesses go through changes all the time, and AI allows them to experiment and fail faster. This may be good for innovation, but how should businesses manage customers who are left disappointed by these failures? And how should they best handle employees who feel left behind and disillusioned by the speed of change? In a world where change is faster and more unpredictable than ever before, businesses need to have a clear sense of where they stand on AI and what direction it will take them into. Otherwise, they run the risk of missing opportunities, failing to engage staff, underwhelming customers and opening themselves up to any potential knee-jerk regulatory measures. Even with a strategy firmly in place, there is still the threat of a ‘reputation gap’ – that is, a misalignment between what companies do and how their actions are perceived.
Brand messaging needs to be hyper-agile to cope with the dizzying pace, and communications will be, more than ever before, a key skill that senior executives require in order to lead the charge.
In some ways AI represents a change management programme like any other, so many of the established best practices in communications still apply. But the speed and depth of this evolution present new challenges, resulting in a need for deeper and more frequent communications between companies, policymakers and wider groups of stakeholders. As the AI landscape evolves, so too do communications surrounding it.
This report provides senior executives with insights and advice to help them to navigate this new territory and create a future in which AI works for employees, organisations and society as a whole. It also includes some new findings from a survey commissioned by Hanover, which gauges public sentiment around AI and how it might affect the workforce.
Charles Lewington provides strategic counsel to CEOs and senior communications executives, including Microsoft, Sky, Tata Steel, Airbus and Goldman Sachs.
He has particular expertise in integrated media and political campaigns, crisis management and litigation support and is an experienced business advisor, taking non-executive director roles in FMCG businesses.
Under his direction, Hanover Group has grown from a staff of one to a team of 150 consultants, based in London, Brussels, Dublin and the Middle East. Hanover received the Holmes Report Global Public Affairs Agency of the Year award in 2017 and is one of Europe’s fastest growing independent consultancies.
Charles was awarded the OBE in 1997 and is a regular broadcaster on the BBC, ITV and Sky News and commentator on FT.com.