Karen Lewis Enright is a change management professional with over 20 years of transformation experience across global organisations including Johnson & Johnson and Wipro. She holds a Masters in organisational psychology, but what makes her stand out is two decades spent helping leaders turn strategy into meaningful change. She specialises in AI strategy and is the first change management professional to join ChattingGPT.
In this conversation, Maryrose and Karen get into the human side of AI adoption: how to lead when you're uncertain yourself, using the image of a slipping cup of coffee to explain where people's attention goes under stress, why the sceptics belong in the room alongside the enthusiasts, and how to build trust by being honest with people about what AI changes in how they work. Karen tells the story of a self-parking car that never gets used, a miniature version of every stalled AI rollout, and makes the case for celebrating the curious champions most organisations try to shut down.
She talks through the change management tools she reaches for, from change agent networks on-site to reverse mentoring between graduate engineers and senior partners, to knowing when to pause a BIM rollout or a new tender process and let a stretched team catch up. She closes on the advice she keeps returning to: start with the why, and get the data, the governance and the change management right before you scale the technology across the practice.
Connect with Karen Lewis Enright on LinkedIn.