Huma Qazi Limited

Happy November! This month our diversity calendar features a beautiful image of a dolphin’s bubble ring; a circle of air that drifts gracefully through the water. It’s one of the ocean’s most mesmerising sights, created through curiosity and play. Dolphins form these rings by releasing air and twisting their fins with precision. They watch as the bubbles rise and often nudge them into new patterns. Scientists describe this behaviour as creativity, problem-solving, and #learning in motion. Other dolphins often join in, observing and experimenting until they can create their own. There is something important in that image for the #workplace. When people have space to explore, share ideas, and learn from experience, #creativity grows. Play helps build #confidence and strengthens #collaboration. Great #leaders encourage experimentation and inspire innovation for lasting growth. We’ve linked our #diversity calendar in the comments. Each date highlights a moment to learn, celebrate, and connect with the stories that shape our workplaces. #Leadership #PsychologicalSafety #Curiosity #Inclusion Huma Qazi | Kate Stuart | Louisa van Vessem | Saad Ali Khan | Áine Maher | Sofia Beale | Sara C. | Shiva Raichandani | Rebecca Westaway

What are the real priorities shaping leadership disruption right now? Across our events, conferences, and strategy workshops with clients around the world, we continue to see the same themes emerge. Leadership disruption in the near term rests on three interconnected priorities. ▪️AI readiness for all staff. ▪️Open and effective communication in hybrid work. ▪️Balancing rapid change with wellbeing. Our latest carousel shares practical insights on how organisations can build AI confidence, keep communication human, and match rapid change with resilience. #Leadership #Hybrid #Resilience #AI #Change

Representation is leadership in practice. It shows how culture is shaped and how belonging is made visible. In the forest, fireflies synchronise their glow, filling the night with light. The brilliance we see thought is only part of the story. Beneath it lies an unseen rhythm, the chemistry that powers their light, and the signals that guide their synchrony. Representation also carries this duality. The visible matters. A panel photo, a board line-up, or a conference stage tells a story before any words are spoken. This visual diversity impacts on who feels welcome and who belongs. But the unseen is just as important. Lived experiences are layered, shaped by class, sexuality, disability, neurodiversity, education and so much more. These lived-experiences add so much more depth (even when people appear similar). Leaders who attend to both the visible and the unseen send a stronger signal. Like the fireflies, brilliance comes when alignment allows every light and every story to shine as part of the whole. As we enter the final quarter of the year, how will you ensure representation in your organisation spans the seen and unseen? We’ve linked our Diversity Calendar in the comments below. It includes known and lesser known important dates with hyperlinks to help you learn more about what dates are important to those around you and beyond. Saad Ali Khan | Sofia Beale | Sara C. | Amelia Donkor | Áine Maher | Huma Qazi | Shiva Raichandani | Kate Stuart | Louisa van Vessem | Rebecca Westaway #Representation #Intersectionality

Strong leadership values emotions and works with them directly. Dina Denham Smith writing for Harvard Business Review believes that that emotions are a leader’s most powerful advantage when noticed, named, and normalised and recommends strategic practices that elevate both people and performance. And, as AI takes on more technical and routine tasks, the ability to understand and respond to human emotion is becoming a defining leadership advantage. When a colleague expresses emotion at work, what does your immediate response reveal about your leadership style? We've linked the full article in the comments below. Huma Qazi | Kate Stuart | Saad Ali Khan | Louisa van Vessem | Áine Maher | Sofia Beale | Sara C. | Shiva Raichandani | Rebecca Westaway | #Leadership #Emotion #Trust #Resilience #Culture #Workplace #AI

A September Restart September often feels like a restart. Routines return, energy shifts, and attention turns to the months ahead. It is the right moment to ask how we hold under pressure and what helps us build resilience. Strength and Connection in Leadership Spider webs are a powerful image because they are both simple and extraordinary. A spider begins with a single strand. From it, a web is spun. Stronger by weight than steel. Sensitive to the smallest vibration. Rebuilt again and again with patience and precision. This balance of strength and connection sits at the heart of inclusive leadership. Every Role Has Value Some strands carry weight, others transmit signals, others hold the structure in place. Workplaces are similar. Innovators, stabilisers, and connectors all play a role. Recognising these contributions weaves a culture that adapts and endures. Resilient Workplace Cultures Spider silk stretches five times its length and returns to form. Inclusive cultures share this quality. Teams that welcome difference can absorb tension, recover, and continue to perform. Leaders Who Notice the Signals A web is also a system of awareness. Every tremor is a message. Leaders who practise inclusion notice the signals others miss: a pause in discussion, a tentative idea, a silence that carries meaning. Attuned leaders turn these signals into stronger decision-making. Repairing Trust at Work When a strand breaks, the spider rebuilds, often overnight. Workplaces can do the same. Exclusion or bias can be answered with renewal, and repairing with intention creates deeper trust. Illuminating Culture When the light catches, the web shines. Inclusion works like that too. The unseen effort, the connections, and the resilience all become visible, showing what holds a workplace together. Network Leadership Inclusive leadership is network leadership. It creates cultures where every perspective is valued and every challenge is met with renewal. Like the spider’s web, these workplaces are intricate, resilient, and designed to last. Download the Calendar We have linked our Diversity and Inclusion Calendar in the comments. Download your copy, explore key dates across cultures, faiths, and awareness days, and use the hyperlinks to access additional insights and practical ideas. Huma Qazi | Kate Stuart | Louisa van Vessem | Saad Ali Khan | Rebecca Westaway | Sofia Beale | Sara C. | Áine Maher | Shiva Raichandani #Leadership #Inclusion #Diversity #Culture #Resilience

How is your organisation tackling the challenge of AI quality? Generative AI is everywhere, but the real challenge is making it reliable. This Harvard Business Review article by Stefan Thomke, Philipp Eisenhauer and Puneet Sahni caught our attention because it shows how algorithms can be reshaped to be precise, scalable, and commercially effective. These are insights that matter for leaders shaping strategy, innovation, and inclusive workplaces. What makes the Amazon's #CatalogAI different is its shift away from older, keyword-driven systems. Instead of relying on static algorithms, it can generate and test millions of ideas at scale, adapt in real time to customer behaviour, and use multiple AI models to cross-check results for accuracy. People remain part of the process, providing the judgment and oversight that make the system stronger and ensuring quality improves over time. Here are five things that stood out • Start with a baseline audit to measure performance • Use layered guardrails to catch errors early • Build experimentation into the workflow • Create a system that learns and improves • Tie quality directly to ROI Swipe through our carousel for our takeaways. We've linked the article in the comments below. #AI #Innovation #Technology #Leadership #Quality

Happy August! Our Diversity Calendar this month features geese flying in V-formation, a familiar shape, full of smart design. Every part of how geese move tells us something useful about how strong teams work. ▪️ Flying in Formation Geese fly in a V to reduce resistance and support each other. In the workplace, a clear structure creates flow. People know where they’re heading and how their effort fits in. It becomes easier to stay focused and go further together. ▪️ Sharing the Lead The front bird works hardest. When it tires, another steps forward. We're not suggesting you topple the CEO. Creating space for others to step up builds trust, confidence, and stamina across the team. The rest stay close, ready to support and keep the rhythm strong. ▪️ Staying in Sync Each bird adjusts to those around it, keeping pace and rhythm. Teams benefit from the same awareness. Alignment grows through regular check-ins, mutual attention, and an understanding of when to step forward or fall back. ▪️ Supporting One Another When a bird drops out, others follow and stay nearby. In healthy teams, support is active. People look out for each other. Care is part of the system, not an afterthought. ▪️  Moving as One The flock stays on course through shared effort. Everyone contributes. In organisations, this creates consistency, direction, and resilience, especially during change. ▪️ Honking The noise may seem random, but it keeps them connected. It signals encouragement, updates, and coordination. Teams thrive with this kind of ongoing communication. Think group chat at 3,000 feet. Use it this month's focus to spark reflection and conversation in your team. Where is your formation working well and where could it shift for better flow? We've included a link to our Diversity Calendar in the comments. You’ll find key awareness dates hyperlinked to further information to support inclusive thinking throughout the year. #Teams #Collaboration #Leadership Huma Qazi | Kate Stuart | Saad Ali Khan | Louisa van Vessem | Sofia Beale | Sara C. | Áine Maher | Shiva Raichandani | Natasha Vorrasi, CPsychol | Rebecca Westaway

Why Smarter AI Needs Human Insight AI can follow rules, spot patterns, and crunch probabilities but that’s not the same as making good decisions. In his article for the European Business Review, Hamilton Mann unpacks what AI still gets wrong about human decision-making, and why integrity, not intelligence, is what matters most. Here are our five takeaways on why inclusion, context, and integrity must guide how we deploy AI at work. ◾Decisions Don’t Follow a Script Human decision-making is complex, dynamic, and deeply shaped by context. AI systems still rely on rigid sequences that overlook emotional, ethical, and social dimensions, undermining inclusion by flattening how people think and act. ◾One Brain, Many Models We use multiple modes of thinking including intuitive, rational, rule-based, emotional, heuristic, collaborative, and crisis-driven, and often in combination. Inclusive leadership values and designs for this cognitive diversity. AI currently doesn’t. ◾Pattern Isn’t Wisdom AI is good at recognising patterns, but inclusive decision-making often means knowing when to break from the pattern. That requires judgement, empathy, and awareness of when rules should flex. ◾Heuristics Can Multiply Bias AI uses shortcuts to make fast decisions, but without context or reflection. These shortcuts can reinforce bias, especially when when they are based on reputation, not capability and risk excluding diverse talent. ◾The Future is Artificial Integrity AI won’t build inclusive cultures on intelligence alone. It needs to know which decision model fits, when to seek human input, and how to interpret social values. That’s not autonomy, it’s integrity. You can read the article here: https://lnkd.in/eQU9UzFa (July 2025) #Inclusion, #DecisionMaking, #Integrity, #Leadership, #AI

The CEO As Chief Resilience Officer Resilience isn’t reactive, it’s a strategic function. This McKinsey & Company article calls on CEOs to embed #flexibility, #responsiveness, and emotional agility into every layer of the organisation from #systems and #data to #people. It's an important reminder that building resilience is now part of the day job. Read the article:  https://lnkd.in/dRsTqXW6 (7 May 2025) #Resilience, #Leadership, #Strategy, #Adaptability, #Wellbeing

Beavers build dams because they have to. Fast-flowing water makes it hard to survive, so they change the flow, slowing it down, creating deep water where they can build their lodges with underwater entrances and store food below the surface too. What happens as a result is something incredible. The land around these dams flourishes. New ecosystems take root. Other species find safety too. The way great leaders operate is not dissimilar, making informed and intentional decisions, planning and building with purpose for stability, and security. In doing so, they create optimal conditions for their organisation and people to grow. That’s resilient design! Have you downloaded our Diversity Calendar yet? It’s a simple way to stay aware of the meaningful dates that matter to your people. Download and start planning with inclusion in mind. https://lnkd.in/gfkKiTrH #Leadership #Trust #Design #Growth #Safety #Courage #Strategy #People #Innovation #Resilience Huma Qazi | Kate Stuart | Louisa van Vessem | Saad Ali Khan | Sofia Beale | Sara C. | Áine Maher | Shiva Raichandani | Natasha Vorrasi, CPsychol | Rebecca Westaway