Keynote · Change management · 45–60 minutes · EN · DE · FR
Change faster without losing yourself.
Change management in the AI age for organisations that cannot afford experiments. The talk AstraZeneca booked for its DACH team, adapted to your organisation.
I start with the uncomfortable part. In my own company I let two people go whose work I could not have done myself before, a lawyer and a designer. I took over their jobs, with AI. I tell that without pride and with the full ledger, because otherwise your audience would rightly ask where I think I know this from. And because the same two fears sit in every room: the pace, and being replaced.
Then we test the fears against the numbers. There is little evidence that work is running out, and a great deal that it is being exchanged. Adaptability is not a character trait; it consists of four habits that can be practised. And in the study the talk rests on, people with the same training made the result better or worse. The difference lay in four moves, not in knowledge.
The third part is the one organisations skip most often: permission. Most employees would like to use AI and do not know what they are allowed to use, or for what. The talk answers the three questions every AI policy has to answer, and your audience takes them home on one page.
What the room leaves with
Four habits of adaptability
Foresight, control, curiosity, confidence. All four can be practised, none is innate. The second is the one transformations damage first.
Four moves that separate amplifiers from losers
Frame the problem, bring your own expertise, revise in several passes, supervise the machine. Having expertise and bringing it in are two different things.
The three questions of the AI policy
What may we use, for what, and who is responsible? On one page your audience takes with them and your leadership can sign on Monday.
Which events this is for
- Leadership meetings during a transformation
- Employee events where worries are in the room
- Pharma and medtech: medical, clinical operations, commercial
- Hospitals and clinic groups
- Insurers, banks, energy, public sector
Formats
Keynote
45 or 60 minutes. The examples come from your industry, and a conversation with somebody from the audience is part of the preparation.
Keynote + working session
The talk in the morning, ninety minutes with the leadership team in the afternoon: your own adoption bottlenecks named and ranked, and the first draft of your AI policy.
Quarter programme
Diagnosis, workshop, review after ninety days. For organisations that want to measure the change rather than announce it.
Why me
- I went through the change I speak about myself, with staffing decisions and numbers I disclose.
- My company is preparing the rollout of clinical AI across about 50 hospitals, one of the hardest environments for change there is.
- Booked in 2026 by AstraZeneca and Medtronic among others, and since 2016 on stages for Roche, Pfizer, Bayer and Siemens Healthineers.
It has become clear to me that we all need to hear this to understand how we need to work differently going forward.
An intelligent mix of practical examples and scientifically grounded knowledge — refreshing.SVP Roche Diagnostics Germany
To take with you
The AI policy on one page
The three questions every organisation should answer before the first use, and five rules from places where mistakes are expensive. As a PDF, in exchange for your email address.
Questions organisers ask about this talk
Our employees fear being replaced. Does the talk fit?
It starts with exactly that fear, and it does not gloss over anything. The fear is tested against the numbers, not argued away. Organisations often book this talk precisely when a restructuring is in the room.
Can we combine the talk with a working session?
Yes, and it is the most common booking. Ninety minutes in the afternoon with the leadership team, with the first draft of your AI policy as the result. One date, one trip.
What does the keynote cost?
Keynotes start at €5,000, plus travel, VAT and the agency’s fee, depending on format, audience and preparation. Working sessions are quoted per brief. Athenas sends the quote inside the working day.
Is a change coming up in your organisation?
Send the date, the audience and what needs to shift. Athenas manages my calendar and answers inside the working day.
