Human-Centred AI

Your people are why clients trust you.

AI is now entering the work they do — the calls they make, the standards they hold. Ready or not.

The question isn't what AI can do. It's whether the people you're known for can trust it, challenge it, and shape it — without losing what made the work worth paying for.

A short, candid conversation for leadership teams facing a real AI decision.

David Kolb — AI adviser and educator

Industries

Healthcare Scientific services Water & environmental Events & information Financial services Design & fintech Public sector & civil society

Education

Imperial College Business School Northwestern Kellogg MIT xPRO IDEO U

When AI moves from experiment to operating reality.

I'm brought in when the decisions get senior — for the board, the leadership team, and the experts whose standards are on the line.

A clear line on AI

Leadership needs to decide what to pursue, what to pause, and what to govern — and align senior stakeholders behind it.

Protecting the standard

Experts are wary that AI will dilute the work they're trusted for. The job is to amplify it, not erode it.

From demo to deployed

Teams can show AI working, but can't yet deploy it with the confidence to stand behind the output.

Designed around people. Not the technology.

Three commitments that hold in every engagement.

01 Understand the real work

I design from how people actually work — cautious, imperfect, accountable — not from the capability on the slide.

02 Amplify, don't replace

AI sharpens the craft your organisation is trusted for. The accountability — the name on the work — stays human.

03 Co-create capability

I build the methods with your team, not for them — so the capability stays when the work ends, not a dependency on me.

Why clients bring me in

I teach this, not just advise on it. AI x Design Thinking at IDEO U; AI strategy at Imperial and Kellogg; guest speaker at MIT xPRO.

Forged where trust is non-negotiable. Three decades in high-stakes, regulated technology — former bank CIO through FCA/PRA authorisation, and global change leadership for 2,800 people at HSBC.

I stay in the work. I lead every engagement personally and stay hands-on throughout — not a senior pitch followed by a junior hand-off.

How the work is structured

Most of my work is structured as focused phases rather than open-ended retainers.

Focused phases

A concentrated piece of work around one leadership question, one team, or one live use case — enough to create movement without drifting into theatre.

Small client portfolio

I work directly with a small number of organisations each year. That keeps the work senior, hands-on, and informed by what is happening across different sectors.

Working methods stay with you

The output is not just advice. It is decision rules, working methods, and internal capability your team can keep using after the engagement ends.

Follow-on work happens when the scope expands — a new market, a new team, or a new workflow — not because you need a permanent adviser in the room.

Selected client work

Each engagement starts differently. Here are four that show the range.

From Shadow AI to Safe Use Healthcare Infrastructure Healthcare · UK
From Drafts to Decisions Regulated Technical Services Water & environmental · UK
From Momentum to Strategy Global Testing & Certification Company Food safety & life sciences · Europe
From Licences to Value Global Information Business Events & information · Global

How I use AI

I publish the boundaries, review standards, and commitments that shape how I use AI with clients and in my own practice.

See AI Use & Principles
My point of view

Everyone will have the AI. Few will have the judgement to use it well.

In expertise-heavy sectors, AI commoditises the interpretive layer first — the advice, the analysis, the human read on the data. The defensible move isn't replacing your experts. It's sharpening the expertise behind them, because as AI spreads, trusted judgement gets scarcer, not cheaper.

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A short, candid conversation for leadership teams facing a real AI decision.