AI Is a Contact Sport: Andy Baldwin on Leading Through the AI Shift (IBM)

AI is a contact sport: you have to play with it to learn it. Andy Baldwin, SVP of Offerings and Growth at IBM Consulting and Chair of the IBM UK Board, joins Garrick Jones and Paul Ashcroft on The Curious Advantage Podcast to unpack what AI is really changing for consulting firms, their clients and the people inside them. We cover the shift from AI pilots to scale, token economics, outcome-based pricing, blending human and digital labour, IBM's "show, don't tell" culture, how to lead a workforce through AI change, quantum computing, agent-versus-agent cybersecurity and data sovereignty. 00:00 Welcome and introducing Andy Baldwin 01:41 How Andy defines curiosity 02:55 What's really changing in consulting and technology 06:12 AI's broader application across the enterprise 10:23 From pilots to scale: using a Ferrari to fetch the milk 15:44 Show, don't tell: a software culture in consulting 16:38 Token economics and the new pricing paradigm 22:31 Leading people through AI change 28:18 Adaptability, guardrails and democratised AI 32:28 Quantum computing: the first new paradigm in 50 years 36:24 Quantum, cybersecurity and agent versus agent 38:45 Working with OpenAI, Anthropic and a multi-model future 43:24 Data sovereignty and protecting your expertise 47:04 Leading large organisations with curiosity 50:25 What Andy is curious about now 56:38 Final thought: AI is a contact sport The Curious Imperative, the new book from Paul Ashcroft, Simon Brown and Garrick Jones: [LINK] Listen on Apple Podcasts: [LINK] Listen on Spotify: [LINK] Subscribe to The Curious Advantage Insights on LinkedIn: [LINK] #CuriousAdvantage #AI #FutureOfWork #Leadership #IBM #Consulting #Curiosity