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“When we talk about emerging technologies, we often focus on the surface changes,” said Harfoush. The changes that we see. We say this is going to have an impact on recruitment, our security, operations, or marketing.“Technology is moving so fast, we’re overlooking the deeper, cultural impacts these tools are having on our world and how we see it. If we don’t take the time to understand these hidden and slower changes, we will overlook the impact it is having on our world.”Highlighting the positive and negative impacts of an increasingly digital world, Harfoush explained how tech is shaping our interactions, self-perception, decision-making and other areas of work.

A new working order

Harfoush shared a map of the thousands of AI and machine learning companies operating in the sector.“Technology has now become embedded inside every single aspect of the business, every role and every function. When you look at HR, that runs from recruiting and hiring, right through to onboarding, performance management and beyond. What we’re also seeing is technology causing a blending of functional responsibilities.”Five years ago, people could work in relative silos, and focus on their roles and objectives, she added.“Now, people have to know a little bit about everything. The leaders of tomorrow will have to be able to act as a bridge between culture, technology, strategy and people. You can’t just be a tech person and not talk about culture anymore and you can’t be a culture person and not think about tech or strategy, if you want the complexity and expertise to be a leader that thrives in this new economy. And for that – you need a bit of a mindset shift.”Leaders need to possess the ability to not only absorb shocks but to use these disruptions as fuel for growth and innovation.“Leaders have to cultivate a deep understanding of digital culture, trends in technology, and the impact of these forces on their organisations and industries. This requires a shift towards a leadership style that is dynamic, responsive, and adept at leveraging the insights and opportunities afforded by the digital age.”Harfoush calls this disruption-busting mindset shift – FOPA. Future-oriented, but present-acting.“We’re so obsessed about talking about the future. What's going to happen to jobs, the influence of AI and so on. The reality is the decisions that you make, every single day, from the types of tools you use, to the people you hire, or the policies you put in place – are all directly related to what the future is going to look like,” she said.“Being future-oriented means having a really clear goal about what type of company you want to have. The teams you want to grow, and the types of behaviours you want to encourage. While understanding that to get there, you have to be very clear and intentional about every decision you make on a day-to-day basis.”

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Focus, create, innovate

To develop a FOPA mindset, Harfoush emphasised the need for focus. “Cultivating focus sounds easy but it’s the most critical skill to build in today’s technological context.”Harfoush discussed the harms of distraction in the workplace and the values we normalise – expecting people to always be available and immediately responsive. These are often reinforced at work by various tools like Microsoft Teams and Slack, all in the name of productivity.However these values we respect and uphold as organisations and people create a hyper-prioritised and fragmented work environment.“When you use Microsoft Teams, that green circle says ‘available’. It doesn’t say strategising or collaborating. We get notifications from every single platform because it’s considered rude to not respond right away. What this has created is a norm where we are constantly interrupted.”According to Harfoush, the average employee gets interrupted every six minutes and it takes them 25 minutes to get back on task after that interruption.“We’re tapping, swiping and clicking about 2,600 times a day.”Interruptions and over-stimulation is problematic on many levels but in the workplace it can be especially damaging.“Creativity is the basic skill-set you need for innovative and strategic thinking and creativity requires your brain to be de-stimulated. It needs your brain to have uninterrupted thinking time. It may even require you to be bored.”Creativity is not just reserved for those in the creative sector, either.“If you are strategising, communicating, collaborating, managing, leading, training or doing any of these sorts of activities, from a neuroscience perspective – you are a creative professional. Because those are the skills we need to foster innovation. If you want to unleash your creative performance, your best ideas and strategies, you have to give your brain room to do so.”The workplace in some ways is stuck in a paradox. “We have all of these tools that are supposed to help us collaborate and communicate better but we’re accidentally using them in a way that prioritises urgency and addiction.”This creates team cultures that are rewarded for these behaviours, instead of deep, thoughtful time on the complexities that organisations have to manage on a daily basis, she argued.“Just in the UK, distractions cost the economy roughly £142 billion annually. This translates in managers losing around 683 hours a year to distractions.”As businesses become more reliant on tech, she urged companies to promote deep thinking and allow their people to process ideas, and the data and insights provided by these tools, in order to extend their knowledge base._{Interactive workshops run throughout the day at the UKG 2025 workforce management summit}

Building expertise with AI

Harfoush shared how AI is positively transforming businesses. From predictive AI software aiding manufacturing and maintenance to enhanced scheduling and workforce management that provide better flexibility for employees to custom training.But in an age of automated and augmented creativity, research shows we are moving from a “searching culture” to a “generating culture” that is changing how we learn, said Harfoush.“We used to look for answers and piece things together to find a solution from different sources. For an entire generation, that process is going to look completely different. If they have a question, they’re going to ask the AI, and the AI will give them a solution. How are we going to interact with ideas if we’re just given one solution instead of finding one? One of the biggest risks of not being intentional with these tools is that we risk losing the mastery of thinking.”Mastery of thinking includes the ability to problem solve, generate solutions, to iterate and bounce back after failure.“Problem solving isn’t just about finding a solution. It’s a really good practice for your brain and we have to make sure technology doesn’t remove that and hurt our skills.”Citing a Microsoft study from earlier this year, she said that every technology investment made by companies should be matched with an investment in human expertise.“Navigating this disruption is going to require all of us to be really invested in our own knowledge base. Making training and learning vital, not just for frontline workers but all the way up to executive level.”Looking closer at talent management specifically, she added that companies are shifting from “knowing employees to learning employees”.“The traditional HR strategy was to go out into the market and find the person that had the exact skill-set and bring them into the organisation but technology is moving so fast that that’s no longer going to be possible. We now need to hire people with a rich capacity to learn.”Sharing the profile of what a successful candidate looks like, she stated that we are now moving away from seeking purely expertise, towards: “Is this person curious? Are they comfortable with change? Do they have a flexible thinking mindset? Because those are the sorts of people who will be able to learn again, and again.”Harfoush also urged organisations to use digital and social platforms to better understand their employees and tap into the diverse experiences of employees across the globe.Most importantly, she told organisations to carefully consider the cultural context embedded within the technologies they use. “Technology is the manifestation of belief systems,” warned Harfoush.“Every piece of technology that you use has someone’s idea of what the world looks like. When we use these tools we are effectively co-signing on their vision of what they want the world to look like. If we’re not careful, we can risk being swayed by those views without even knowing it. If you bring technology into your home or workplace without thinking about what it believes, you might be gaining information with a very specific worldview.”

Harfoush’s top tips for companies navigating disruption Deep thinking – Design work environments that prioritise focus and reflection to be able to process, innovate and create Build human knowledge and expertise with AI – Use AI tools that deepen the human expertise of your workforce, not replace it Look for encoded beliefs in your technology – Understand the underlying cultural values of the technologies you adopt in the workplace Seek and connect diverse views – Embrace platforms like TikTok, which offer insights into real-world workplace experiences Embrace duality and change – Understand that tech will simultaneously help and harm, raising critical questions about ethics, environmental concerns, truth, and democracy

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