3 quotes that tell the story of UNLEASH America 2024

UNLEASH America 2024 was an electric event. The vibes were simply off the chart as we had the best and brightest of the HR and business world take to the stage across three days in fabulous Las Vegas.

Myself and the rest of the Editorial team had the pleasure of being on-site in the US, listening and learning from our incredible speaker line-up.

This marks my fifth UNLEASH event in three years, and these shows just keep on getting better and better!

Of course, AI took center stage. Importantly, UNLEASH America 2024 proved that the HR world is starting to move away from hype and towards practical ways to implement AI into our workplaces in an ethical way.

There was also significant discussion about leadership, particularly in the tumultuous times we’re living in economically and politically. It’s time for leaders to be courageous, empathetic and curious.

That’s my top line overview of this year’s Las Vegas show.

Now, let’s dig into the content specifics – we had over 200 speakers across the three-day show; such an impressive job from the UNLEASH production team.

Here are some of my standout quotes and thoughts, which tell the story of the 2024 Las Vegas event!

Feeling the FOMO? Then make sure you join us in Paris in October for UNLEASH World, or next year in Las Vegas for UNLEASH America 2025! Don’t miss out on grabbing your ticket.

Ethan Mollick: “AI is fundamentally a people problem”

Kicking off Day Two on the UNLEASH America Main Stage was The Wharton School’s Ethan Mollick.

“Your IT department is going to hate AI” was Mollick’s view.

Organizations need to get out of the mindset that AI is a technology issue, instead “AI is fundamentally a people problem”, and everyone needs to experiment and figure out how they want to use it at an individual level.

Josh Bersin, HR analyst and CEO & Founder of The Josh Bersin Company, agreed during his standing-room only Expo Floor session on Day Two.

“You need to educate yourself; you need to become familiar with the nature of this technology and what it does,” stated Bersin.

For Mollick, AI needs to be in the hands of people who understand human beings – aka HR departments – and therefore they can see where the technology is really helping employees do their work even better.

HR’s crucial role around AI was a major topic of HPE’s VP Innovation & Deployment People Systems and Automation Sadie Bell’s breakout session, also on Day Two.

This was one of the five must-attend sessions I picked out ahead of the event – Bell is an UNLEASH regular, and she is always such a huge hit with our audience.

She told the HR leaders in the room: “I love HR. HR has come to a point today that it’s never been before.

“We all have to be designers of the intelligence and use artificial intelligence for our benefit and our acceleration. And this is where HR has to take on a new role and seat the table.”

The ethical landscape of AI was also a major topic of discussion at UNLEASH America 2024.

Mercer’s Jason Averbook picked up on this thread during the Vendor Summit on Day One. He stated: “Every organization has to have governance for AI. It’s like traffic lights to keep us safe.”

At the same summit, Jeannie Cole from Deloitte then shared: “If we’re not being transparent enough, they won’t build trust – and this is imperative for every organization.”

This thread of trust and transparency around AI was also picked up on the mainstage by Glamox CPO Natalie Wintermark.

“At Glamox, we develop our managers to trust their employees and to encourage them to use AI.

“A year ago, I noticed that people were a little bit embarrassed to admit that they used AI in their everyday work, but they shouldn’t be.

People use calculators everyday, but nobody sees that as cheating, so why is AI any different?”

Dr Kirstin Ferguson: “Every single one of us has the opportunity to lead”

Dr Kirstin Ferguson, author and world-renowned leadership expert, took to the mainstage after The Wharton School’s Mollick.

She described modern leadership as “a series of moments”, and everyone offers an opportunity to have an impact – and the greatest impact comes when people lead with compassion, courage and humility.

Leaders shouldn’t just talk, they need to really listen, and accept that there are limitations to what you know – having self-awareness about this, and their impact on others, is essential.

Dr Ferguson closed out her session by declaring that while everyone in the room knows their leaders, in reality, everyone in the organization is leading (regardless of their job title).

“We can do better at reminding all of the people that they too can be a modern leader” – and to do that they need to home people (or ‘heart’) skills like curiosity and empathy.

I can’t wait to see Dr Ferguson continue this conversation on the UNLEASH World main stage in Paris in October.

Cardinal Group’s CPO Peter Lynch also talked about heart in his breakout session – “you cannot be an authentic leader without a giving heart and a giving mentality”.

Success is based on what you get; greatness is based on what you give.”

I knew Lynch was going to be full of gems of insight on leadership because my Senior Journalist colleague John Brazier had the joy of interviewing him ahead of the show. You can catch the full interview here!

Magic Johnson: “HR just like anything else is changing; embrace the change.”

Closing out UNLEASH America was NBA legend turned entrepreneur Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson.

Taking an unconventional approach to a keynote, Magic came off the stage and walked among attendees, taking selfies with them and answering their questions, all while sharing his learnings from transitioning from being a sports icon into a successful business man.

UNLEASH America MC George Rogers, Chief Culture Office at Lighthouse Research & Advisory, joined him amongst the crowd to interview Johnson.

When asked what makes a courageous leader, Johnson declared it is someone who is value-driven, doesn’t judge others, and they stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves.

This is key to building trust – “It’s hard for somebody to trust”, so when someone comes to you, and are looking for advice, always be ready to listen.

“The greatest leaders I know can also be led” – they listen and learn from others, and they collaborate on winning as a team, not as an individual, and are accountable.

All of this might be much harder to do in times of uncertainty.

Rather than fighting these challenges, it’s time to build a “coalition of the willing” aka “people who buy into the vision that you have painted, and want to jump on board and can help catalyze others to jump on board as well”, according to Gary Bolles, Chair for the Future of Work at Singularity.

Ultimately, with change comes opportunity.

“HR just like anything else is changing, embrace the change”, concluded Johnson.

We all need to grow and adapt, and become ready for the future of AI and courageous leadership.