The Secret CEO Lunch

What do business leaders really think about the impact of AI on business, and how it’s changing their relationships with their customers?

What is the Secret CEO lunch?

Last Wednesday, with our fabulous partner agency Noble Performance, we held our inaugural Secret CEO Lunch at The Groucho. 

The idea is that a small group of business and marketing leads from a range of UK brands get together to debate one of the biggest challenges facing their businesses. 

Why secret? It’s Chatham House rules, meaning that everyone can be totally honest about their views.

At the event, we were incredibly fortunate to have a CEO from a major consumer investment platform, an executive director from one of the UK’s leading market research firms, a producer and TV/Music powerhouse behind Simon Cowel, Take That and many, many others AND a CMO lead from a national legal firm. 

The topic for last Wednesday was: “How do you build meaningful connections with customers in a world of AI?” And what a chat it was. 

Let’s jump in.

AI is everywhere, but clarity is lagging

Something that came up again and again was just how quickly AI has entered businesses and, at the same time, how inconsistently it’s being used and understood. 

Everyone agreed that most companies are already using AI in meaningful ways, often more than they realise, but what’s lacking is a clear view of exactly what it should be doing, and how. 

“We’re more prepared than we think, but also less prepared than we’d like.”

The impact of AI was described as powerful and impressive, but, at the same time, unsettling. It’s changing how content is created, how people get advice (including financial and medical), and how decisions are supported. The key hiccup here, as noted by several people, is that speed has outpaced strategy.

“It’s incredible, and it’s a bit scary.”

What’s more? There was also a concern that the tail is wagging the dog a little. People commented on how AI is often baked into existing ways of working instead of forcing a wider rethink of how businesses operate: New tools, old thinking.

Trust (and human connection) is becoming more valuable, not less

As automation increases,  and AI becomes more ever-present, trust kept coming up as the real differentiator.

When information is everywhere, and articles can be generated in seconds, credibility, reassurance and accountability matter more.

“People want to know someone’s making the right choice for them.”

AI can give out information, speed up processes and remove friction, but the concern was that there is not the same level of responsibility and accountability. Particularly in high-stakes decisions, customers still want a human who understands context, nuance and consequence and can provide that reassurance.

“People want reassurance. They want to know they’re making the right decision.”

Businesses are still run by people, and relationships matter

“We’re still working with clients that are now C-suite, who were juniors when we first met them.”

Several people talked about how, despite huge technological shifts, business is still fundamentally built on trust between people. Despite the dramatic impact of AI on businesses, it hasn’t changed the fact that relationships matter.

What’s more, that trust between people means, at least for the moment, that people are willing to pay for advice and expertise from a real person who has actually been there, seen it and done it.

“At the moment, people are prepared to pay for expertise because it’s backed by experience.”

This was particularly relevant in complex or high-risk categories. In those moments, relationships, reassurance and human continuity still carry real weight. People may use AI tools to get advice on their health, their money or their big life decisions, but they still want to run their decision past a real person a lot of the time.

“The difference at the moment is that you’ve got a person who actually cares.”

The real question is, “Which parts of your business are truly defensible?”

From a commercial standpoint, as business owners and leaders, a point made that really struck home was:

“I know which bits of my business are defensible and which aren’t, and that’s changed massively.”

AI is moving at pace, and the impact of this is that products and services which previously could be protected and, therefore, were inherently valuable, may no longer be. In a world where a song can be made by AI in minutes (and literally ranks in global charts), creative content as an output is no longer as defensible as it once was. If everyone can have their own personal Taylor Swift-esque catalogue, then poor old Taylor may see fewer streams. 

The upshot of this is that business leaders need to think carefully about which parts of their businesses are actually where customers can access value and are defensive both now and in the months to come.

“I don’t think anyone’s comfortable right now.”

Want to join our next secret CEO lunch? 

The first lunch was such a roaring success that we’ll definitely be doing it again. Don’t want to miss out on the action? Drop me a line at dominic@yourssincerely.online.