Tom Amies-Cull
13 Nov 2025
We all suffer from pointless meetings and the productivity drain they bring, but who’s actually responsible for fixing the system?
Who owns how we meet, discuss and get work done? How we change behaviours while rethinking the fundamentals by embedding agentic AI.
We all suffer from pointless meetings and the productivity drain they bring, but who’s actually responsible for fixing the system?
I was struck by a great piece from Pilita Clark in the Financial Times, highlighting how BHP’s CEO Mike Henry is leading from the top: setting clear standards for how work gets done and, crucially - building structured feedback loops, even for himself, to drive accountability.
It reminded me of a conversation at the Microsoft Advertising Beach House in Cannes this year, where Jaime Teevan had just given a brilliant talk on how AI can (and should!) transform the way we work. But here’s the paradox a few of us discussed after the session: while most orgs have owners for specific processes as part of their own function, there’s often no clear owner for reshaping the foundational principles of work...the “contracts” we form around meetings, collaboration, project management etc - the behaviours AND the how we apply new capabilites like Agentic AI to rethink the fundamentals.
It’s everyone’s job… but also no-one’s.
I've seen it fall to HR or IT - and while they are critical enablers, this approach can lack business ownership or buy-in from teams at the front line.
So I’m curious: in other companies, who is leading the evolution of how work is done? COO? CPO? CTO? CEO? Or is it happening organically in pockets that people hope stitch together into something more systemic over time?
I have a point of view - but I'd love to hear from others - who’s doing it well, who owns this in your business?