Recruitment Reimagined Podcast: Episode 3
The Future of Leadership: Agility, AI & Reinventing Recruitment!
Featuring industry experts Ian Knowlson and Ade McCormack
In this episode of Recruitment Reimagined, industry strategist Ian Knowlson hosts a compelling conversation with leadership expert Ade McCormack. Ade, a renowned keynote speaker and advisor on digital transformation, shares his insights on how leadership must evolve in the age of AI and rapid technological disruption.
The discussion explores the shift from traditional hierarchical leadership structures to a more decentralized, adaptive model - where decision-making happens at every level, not just in boardrooms. Ade emphasizes the importance of trust, agility, and resilience, advocating for organizations to build distributed leadership frameworks that can respond dynamically to uncertainty.
The episode also touches on AI's impact on recruitment, discussing how businesses must balance automation with a human-centric approach. Ade warns against rigid business models, arguing that companies should develop multiple operating models to avoid existential failure in an era of constant change.
Contributor Bios
Ian Knowlson - Global Influencer & Recruitment Futurist
Ian Knowlson is a leading voice in the recruitment sector, recognized globally as a thought leader, business strategist, and personal growth coach. With a deep expertise in NLP, employment trends, and talent acquisition, Ian helps businesses and individuals not just meet, but surpass their growth ambitions.
With a wealth of experience in recruitment transformation, Ian specializes in guiding organizations through evolving market dynamics, ensuring they stay ahead of industry shifts. His expertise spans corporate client acquisition, training & coaching, RPO/MSP strategies, and innovative business development approaches. As a widely respected social media influencer and speaker, Ian’s insights into the Future of Work and Recruitment continue to shape the industry.
Specialties: Leadership Development | Organizational Strategy | AI & Digital Transformation | Keynote Speaking | Adaptive Systems | Future of Work
Connect on LinkedIn
Ade McCormack - Leadership Strategist & Future-Focused Advisor
Ade McCormack is a leadership development expert, keynote speaker, and organizational strategist dedicated to helping businesses and societies thrive in an era of disruption. With a background as a technologist and Financial Times columnist, Ade has spent 40 years across 40 countries shaping conversations on intelligent organizations, leadership evolution, and digital transformation.
As the founder of The Adaptive Edge Initiative, Ade advocates for a shift away from rigid, process-driven structures toward living, sensing organizations capable of navigating uncertainty with agility. His work integrates insights from complex systems, cybernetics, neuroscience, anthropology, evolutionary biology, and human performance, offering a transformative approach to leadership and organizational design.
Specialties: Leadership Development | Organizational Strategy | AI & Digital Transformation | Keynote Speaking | Adaptive Systems | Future of Work
Connect on LinkedIn
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This program equips recruitment leaders with practical AI strategies, tailored ROI models, and implementation roadmaps to leverage AI profitably, fostering business growth, leadership readiness, and ethical adoption.
Course Modules
✓ AI Opportunity vs. Disruption
✓ 2030 Strategic Vision Creation
✓ Human vs. AI: Recruiter Value Map
✓ AI Workflow Mapping & Demo
✓ Sector-Specific AI Play Books
✓ Leadership AI Maturity Assessment
✓ Building an AI-Enabled Team
✓ AI for Client Growth
✓ Ethical & Compliant AI Use
✓ ROI: Cost-Saving & Revenue Growth Modelling
Each module delivers a practical business output
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PLEASE CONSIDER
You have the flexibility to complete this course independently, which is absolutely fine. However, we highly recommend taking this journey alongside a few peers or senior leaders from your organization. Collaboration can offer valuable perspectives and support as you delve deeply into your business-specific applications.
Many of these modules require activities tied to your individual role and company dynamics. Working as a team to identify these aspects can enrich the experience and outcomes. Additionally, sensitive topics, like staff readiness and skill gaps, are integral to the process. Please consider this when deciding whom to invite to participate.
All activities can be reviewed and discussed during our live Q&A sessions. To move forward in the course, participants must complete the modules and join the Q&A to ensure the content resonates and meets your needs. We aim to provide personal interaction only when necessary.
Please note that while multiple team members from the same company can attend, only a single registration is required for 1-3 participants. This approach allows for a collaborative learning experience without additional costs for each attendee.
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Simon Bucknell
Founder & Tech Director
Ian has given the leadership team at EMBS real clarity of thought. Through his coaching and training sessions he has been able to elevate the leadership team and our employees to the next level.
As a result we've seen a significant uplift in revenue. Ian has also helped us to create a vision for the business that will see us work towards 'hyper growth' in the next 12 to 18 months. For us engaging Ian and the wider team has been a game changer!
I've worked with Ian in two different organisations after being impressed by listening to him speaking in 2015 at a recruitment conference.
Finding a coach you can work with is a really personal thing. They've got to 'get' you, and be able to hold a mirror up to the behaviours that are holding you back, without causing offence to your inner chimp. It's a fine art.
From my perspective as a coachee, he's patient and methodical and I find him to be challenging in an appropriate manner. Over time we've worked up a relationship where we can take shortcuts to the place we need to be on a range of situational business topics.
He's well-educated in the field of organisational psychology and draws upon this during practice in a way that's approachable at different levels of knowledge.
He's well respected by many of my peers for the value he provides to their career progression and capability as managers/leaders.
Highly recommended.
I've known Ian for approximately 3 years now and having been impressed with his style of group coaching and training sessions he'd delivered to our wider business group, I hired Ian to help coach me and assist taking my business to the next level. Ian is a fantastic mentor, trainer and coach. He has not only been instrumental in helping me put a 3 year business plan together but extremely engaging and inspiring as an individual which has helped me achieve much more than I had anticipated from a personal development point of view. If you run your own business and feel you need some direction in implementing growth plans or even manage a team and need some coaching around your approach and personal development, Ian is your man and I couldn't recommend him highly enough.
Gareth Carpenter
Executive Director
I have had the benefit of Ian's leadership coaching for the past year - coinciding with taking on a larger role, managing a complex business comprising multiple teams, and navigating the unique work environment posed by Covid-19. Ian has helped me navigate multiple strategic and tactical challenges through a combination of deep understanding of the recruitment industry, working through a range of leadership concepts and most importantly providing a trust-based forum based on his understanding of me as a professional and as a person. I have had the benefit of Ian's leadership coaching for the past year - coinciding with taking on a larger role, managing a complex business comprising multiple teams, and navigating the unique work environment posed by Covid-19. Ian has helped me navigate multiple strategic and tactical challenges through a combination of deep understanding of the recruitment industry, working through a range of leadership concepts and most importantly providing a trust-based forum based on his understanding of me as a professional and as a person.
Richard Pedreschi
Executive Director
We have worked with Ian for over 2 years now across our Global business and he has provided some amazing sessions on how to grow your business, managing teams, and even how to manage managers which has been a great help to me personally. Along with training Ian has supported and helped me on a personal level on his own personal time showing he how much he values everyone he works with, the door is always open.
Ian has always been incredible professional and extremely warm and easy individual to approach while being very direct, honest, and clear in his advice. Coming from Director level positions within the Recruitment industry he can provide some real-life truths and learns which for me was the standout difference between himself and other trainers I have worked with in the past.
James Doyle
Founder
Ian delivers our future leaders training and development/executive coaching and has been integral in that hugely important next wave, who we can grow the business around. Helping them with robust techniques for motivation, time management, man managing and efficiencies.
His teachings are used daily and account for a large part of how we culturally manage our teams. This appointment has been massively successful and all the managers like/relish his time with them each month.
Given his experience he has also been influential in visioning sessions at Director level and how we drive the business forward generally. I truly believe he is passionate about our success on all levels and to have someone of his pedigree supporting us has been invaluable.
