Building the Right Teams for the Intelligent Age

In my recent exploration of the Intelligence Age, I examined how technology will reshape our economy. But there's something even more fundamental that will determine who thrives in this new era: the human teams we build. But here's what most leaders get wrong: they focus on skills when they should be focusing on potential.💡

Two conversations changed everything I thought I knew about building great teams. 

The first came during the intense early days at Agilisys. Our team was understaffed and pulling ridiculous hours. That's when Manoj Badale taught me a lesson about patience in hiring that would shape my future hiring decisions. He knew we needed help, but he'd rather accept short-term pain than compromise on talent. His vision was crystal clear: building a team so exceptional that he could throw a ball in the air, not look back, and know they wouldn't just catch it - they'd score. Every single time.

My second defining lesson came from Ajaz Ahmed at AKQA . 🚀

His stance on mediocrity was uncompromising - he saw it as poison to the agency's founding values: quality, service, innovation and thought. To Ajaz, even a hint of mediocrity eroded creative ambition and undermined everything we stood for, and he'd often cite Brian Wilson's quote:

"Beware the lollipop of mediocrity; lick it once and you'll suck forever" - Brian Wilson.

His approach was beautifully simple: hire brilliant people, give them challenging briefs, and then get out of their way so they produce the best work. The results? Work like the world's first LED basketball court in Shanghai with Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Work that few had the audacity to propose, let alone deliver.

💡 "Availability is not a skillset." 

This AKQA mantra crystallised during a pivotal moment when we faced staffing a major opportunity. The easy path was there: use available people. The right path was harder: wait for the right talent. That decision point taught me that sometimes building great teams means having the courage to say no to the convenient choice.

My journey then led me to Forward Partners (now part of Molten Ventures) as COO, where I had to unlearn a lot of agency lessons. 🔄

Working alongside people like Nic Brisbourne , Dharmesh Raithatha and Andrew Crump opened my eyes to the raw power of OKRs and ruthless prioritisation in fast-growth environments. I left my ego at the door and absorbed everything I could. 

These weren't just new tools; they were a fundamental shift in thinking about how teams operate and grow. The principles I learned there - especially around simple briefs and laser-focused prioritisation - have proved invaluable ever since.

As we enter an era where AI is transforming how we work, I'm witnessing what happens when all these lessons converge at OLIVER Agency. ⚡ Recently, I watched our team harness Pencil ✏️ (The The Brandtech Group's AI platform) to create work that genuinely blew me away - and trust me, my standards aren't easily met. What made it exceptional wasn't just the technology, but how the right people wielded it. 

This moment brought to life something I've long believed: our real competition isn't other companies – it's our own potential. I fundamentally reject the idea of measuring ourselves against others. It's a sure path to becoming a pale imitation rather than pushing the boundaries of what's possible.

Our true bar isn't set by industry standards or competitor benchmarks. It's set by our potential – the fusion of our talent, technology, and culture. And that bar? It should be constantly rising, pushed higher by every achievement, every breakthrough, every moment when we prove what's possible. Because when you're truly competing against your own potential, there is no ceiling. There's only the next horizon, the next challenge, the next opportunity to redefine what excellence looks like.

🔍 These experiences across three decades have taught me something crucial:

The Intelligence Age isn't coming - it's here. And it's ruthless. Today's A-players can become tomorrow's C-players in the blink of an eye if they're not growing. The AI and automation tools we're grappling with now? They'll look primitive compared to what's coming. But here's the thing - this isn't about keeping up. It's about staying ahead.

Through all these experiences - from Agilisys to AKQA, Forward Partners to OLIVER - I've identified three non-negotiables for building teams that thrive: 👇

1️⃣ Hire for potential, not just experience

Look for people who light up when discussing what they don't know yet. In interviews, I listen for how candidates talk about their pivots and challenges. Are they energised by change or exhausted by it? The right people don't just adapt to change; they thrive on it. They're the ones who'll help write your company's future, not just maintain its present.

2️⃣ Make learning inevitable, not optional

This isn't about traditional training programmes. It's about creating an environment where curiosity and experimentation are part of your team's DNA. At OLIVER, we're seeing teams embrace AI tools not because they must, but because they're hungry to push boundaries. They're combining human creativity with technological capability in ways that continually raise the bar.

3️⃣ Lead with questions, not answers

The best teams I've worked with aren't waiting for permission - they're empowered to explore, fail fast, and learn faster. Our job as leaders? Create the conditions for magic, then get out of the way. It's about fostering an environment where great people can do their best work, whether that's creating an LED basketball court in Shanghai or revolutionising creative work with AI.

🔮 The future isn't just about artificial intelligence - it's about augmented intelligence.

Success in this new era will come from building teams that can harness new technologies while maintaining what algorithms can't replicate (at least yet): human creativity, empathy, and strategic thinking. That's where the real magic happens - in the fusion of human potential and technological capability.

The winners in the Intelligence Age will be those who build teams that can anticipate the future, create environments where learning is expected, not just encouraged, and lead with visions that inspire the impossible.

Is your team ready to thrive in a world where today's AI breakthroughs become tomorrow's baseline?

#FutureOfWork #LeadershipLessons #TeamBuilding #IntelligenceAge #AI