Flux B2B

Across our recent CEO Tables this month, in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, the conversation around AI shifted… into something much more consequential. Leadership. Leaders moved quickly beyond what AI can do to cover: • Where accountability sits when decision-making is partially automated • How trust is maintained when digital and human outputs blur • What happens to teams, structure and capability as AI accelerates change • And how leaders make decisions they’ll be proud of in 3–5 years What’s become clear is that people and actionable leadership remain central to success and evolution of business.  This is a leadership, people and culture conversation. And that’s exactly where we’re heading next. 👉 Our next CEO Table series in May will focus on 'People Intelligence'.  Our Co-Founder and strategy lead Gisela Montello-Bruce 🦄’s post below outlines why this matters. Meanwhile we'll be releasing the CEO Table summary of insights from the March AI Tables - capturing the signals, tensions, questions and the shared intel that emerged from the room. If the last few tables are anything to go by…. this next conversation matters even more. So if you're a CEO thinking deeply about what your business will need from its people next - signal your interest for our May Tables here: https://lnkd.in/e5DxTsYH Dates will be released soon. #TheCEOTablebyFlux #AIPeopleandCulture #AdapativeWork #ActionableLeadership. Michael Friedberg Cam Sharplin

The CEO Table arrives in Christchurch, the final chapter in this first series. Three cities. Three distinct reads on one of the most consequential leadership challenges of today… and tomorrow. This morning, eight southern leaders will share, challenge and connect on the topic of AI and leadership. We know this one will be unique. Because every city has shown up differently. Auckland was direct and honest. Leaders agreed AI literacy is becoming indispensable, but openly wrestled with the human cost of rapid technological change. The consensus: there are no clear answers — only transparency and honesty as we lead through the next evolution of work. Wellington was punchy and sharp. A room full of CEOs who already speak the language of disruption and are choosing to get out in front. Realistic takes. Practical advice. Less hand-wringing, more forward lean. Now Christchurch. The South Island has a reputation for doing things its own way. Quietly. Deliberately. With a groundedness that doesn’t need to announce itself. How will that show up today? Will Christchurch bring a different kind of wisdom to the AI conversation? We don’t know what this morning will bring. But we do know that open, honest spaces like this are what leaders need as they work through the chaos. And by the end of the morning, the picture will be a little clearer. The signal a little stronger. And all of us a little better prepared for what comes next. And a big thanks to our southern Flux Ambassador Ray Stanion for his ongoing support. Michael Friedberg Gisela Montello-Bruce 🦄 Cam Sharplin

Today, the CEO Table arrives in Wellington. As we wait for the sun to break the horizon and the leaders to take their seats, it’s exciting to note that everyone joining us today is stepping into the CEO Table community for the first time. A new city. A new Flux team. A new group of leaders around the table. Which is always interesting. Because every table develops its own personality. Auckland was direct. Raw. Many tensions surfaced quickly. Today, we’re curious to see where the Wellington leaders take it. Tomorrow, Christchurch takes us home. Flux Community Lead Cam Sharplin will be our Facilitator this morning, which is an exciting milestone for Flux. And a big thank you to Mark Di Somma, who continues to support this work as a Flux Ambassador, bringing an experienced voice to the table. Let’s see what Wellington adds to our leadership conversations.. Gisela Montello-Bruce 🦄 Michael Friedberg

Yesterday in Auckland we brought 8 CEOs together to discuss AI through the lens of leadership responsibility.   Today we're doing it all again. The conversation at the table was confronting, insightful and future-focused realities aired.  Great perspectives and advice were shared, and it felt like creating the future in real time. A few CEOs raised key considerations, many others are also experiencing: → Governance is lagging adoption Teams are already using AI in ways leadership hasn’t fully caught up with. The real question wasn’t “should we use AI?”  It moved to do we understand the risks we’re creating? → Trust through ‘real’ people, will become the new moat When AI-generated content becomes indistinguishable from human output, what do customers trust? Technology may scale operations. But building real trust will be what closes the deal. →The workforce divide is here. One CEO described it as "Formula 1 drivers vs everyday drivers." A small group operating at extreme capability with powerful tools - while others struggle to keep pace. → Is core strategies shifting to speed? The advantage may no longer be the product itself… but how fast we bring new value to market. This morning we're host the second and final Auckland table … then the conversations continue next week in: 📍 Wellington - March 11th. 📍 Christchurch - March 12th / March 13th. If you're a CEO who wants to join a future table, signal your interest here: https://lnkd.in/e5DxTsYH Gisela Montello-Bruce 🦄 Michael Friedberg Cam Sharplin Lee Eglinton Ray Stanion Mark Di Somma Dorenda Britten Ltd. Nigel Sharplin

Today we’re kicking off our 2026 CEO Table Series with the AI Table in Auckland. Wellington and Christchurch is next week. This isn’t just another AI discussion. For NZ leaders, the next 6–12 months will shape cost structures, talent leverage, speed to market and competitive distance. The calls being made now won’t be neutral. What matters isn’t access to tools.
It’s judgment under pressure.
It’s how we lead through ambiguity.
 It’s whether we sense early and move — or wait and drift. The power of this format is simple: small room, real candour, shared stewardship. When dozens of CEOs surface the same tensions behind closed doors, it stops being noise and starts being a signal.

This isn’t about keeping up with AI. It’s about deciding what kind of leadership NZ needs as it accelerates. Want to be part of the conversation? Get on the invite list for WLG/CHC 👉 fluxb2b.nz/theceotable Michael Friedberg Gisela Montello-Bruce 🦄 Lee Eglinton Ray Stanion Mark Di Somma Cam Sharplin

The CEO Table conversation is getting more serious. And serious leaders are leaning in. Last week, we brought our CEO Table Ambassadors together ahead of our upcoming theme - The AI Table - and it was one of those moments where you realise something important is evolving. Ray Stanion, Lee Eglinton and Mark Di Somma are all senior leaders themselves, and they are all stepping forward as ambassadors to steward this next conversation because it matters so much more than a tools and tech discussion.  (There are plenty of those going on elsewhere!). We quickly agreed that if this becomes another AI tools conversation, then NZ leaders will have completely missed the point. This CEO Table discussion is about leadership in the time of AI. The next 2–3 years will shape so much more than efficiency and productivity gains. It will sit around trust, culture, governance, ethics and long-term impact. But what kind of impact? That’s a responsibility for us all. At these leadership Tables we don’t curate the answers and leaders in the room determine the direction… but at this AI CEO Table we will be asking leaders this question: “Do you know what you ‘should’ be asking your organisation about AI, beyond productivity advantage?” We hope conversations will go deeper than surface-level tools and prompts, into much more important leadership responsibilities. Our Ambassadors will be pushing the room to think beyond efficiency and into stewardship. Not: • What can AI do? • What should we automate? But: When decision-making is partially automated… When judgment is augmented… When speed increases… Where does accountability actually sit? This will be a powerful leadership lens because it will enable CEOs in the room to ask themselves: Are we still leading? Or are we outsourcing judgment? And what are we unintentionally giving away? The CEO Table is becoming what it was always meant to be. Leaders coming together to help leaders navigate consequential decisions. If you’re a CEO who recognises the weight of current times, you’ll understand why this room matters. And why AI is no longer a tech conversation, but a critical leadership one. Seats are limited. The conversation is real. If this feels like a room you should be in, signal your interest 👇 https://lnkd.in/e5DxTsYH Michael Friedberg Cam Sharplin Gisela Montello-Bruce 🦄

"New Zealand workplaces are evolving. But leadership systems may be lagging behind." This is just one of the insights from the 2025 Best Places to Work™ Insights Report. This year’s report tell a more nuanced story that previous, and the insights reveal an interesting pattern: 📈 Innovation confidence up 12% YOY 📈 Wellbeing up 4% 📉 Trust in Leadership down 3% 📉 Team connection down 4% 📉 Tools & Technology down 4% 📉 Connection to Purpose down 2% Interestingly.... whilst wellbeing is up, core foundations like trust, clarity, connection and systems are actually under pressure. 62% of employees would recommend their organisation (something to celebrate!). Yet only 6% sit in “highly engaged” environments. To us this signals that workplaces are trying to evolve, but leadership systems haven’t fully caught up with the accelerated pace of constant change.  That gap is where leadership shifts matters most. → What This Means for Leaders We believe these insights reinforces something we see through our Flux work every day.  That engagement and performance are not actually not separate conversations. Engagement and performance are actually systemic outcomes of leadership clarity, alignment and execution. The data also highlights pressure points that directly affect commercial performance: ┨ When trust in leadership declines, execution slows. ┨ When team connection weakens, collaboration friction increases. ┨ When tools and technology fall behind, productivity stalls. ┨When workload pressure rises (70% feel workloads are not manageable ), sustainability erodes. For us this reinforces our viewpoint that we are witnessing the shift into what we refer to as ‘The Era of Adaptive Work.’ And adaptive work requires, strong actionable leadership and strategic alignment. With AI reshaping roles, and employees (rightly so) want clarity, inclusion, autonomy and confidence in where things are heading. This report is a clear reflection of where we are right now, and a very strong signal of what leadership must become as we move through volatility and uncertainty. The report closes with a powerful call: " Leaders must intentionally design workplaces where engagement and performance fuel each other" That is the work ahead. We so 100% agree. Grab a coffee or read over lunch - You can access the 2025 Best Places to Work Insights Report here: https://lnkd.in/gdeZGBEE Or down it load below 👇 ___________________________________ As a committed partner of Best Places to Work, at Flux we’re helping leadership teams turn insight into aligned action and commercial momentum. If you need support to turning your survey insight into adaptive advantage. Reach out to connect and let’s start a conversation. #ActionableLeadership #BestPlacestoWork #FluxAdapativeStrategy #NextEvolutionofWork Michael Friedberg Gisela Montello-Bruce 🦄

We’ve just released something we’ve never shared before. Our first CEO Table Deep Insights Report: The Unfiltered State of NZ CEOs - Part 1. You can download directly below. Or visit our insights page here: https://lnkd.in/gTRn-uXz This Insights Report serves as a snapshot of leadership psychology at a turning point, and touches on themes that are the operating conditions CEOs are facing in 2026 and beyond. Over the past year, more than 40 CEOs across Auckland and Christchurch sat around The CEO Table with us under Chatham House Rules and engaged in honest conversations about what it actually feels like to lead right now and the impossible situations they’re facing. They’re navigating economic uncertainty, pressure to drive sustainable growth amidst constant shifts, trying to adapt to fast moving technological shifts, Managing supply chain disruptions and instability, needing to attract and retaining tech ready talent… the list went on and on. But the real bottleneck is leadership depth and shared ownership. There was a sense that too much still depends on them personally. We heard that change fatigue is real. That clarity in teams is rare. That cadence is becoming less about project management and more about energy management. We also saw something uniquely New Zealand. Auckland carrying the pressure to perform on a global stage. Christchurch holding the pressure to protect people and community.  Execution discipline on one side. Moral stewardship on the other.  Of course both are necessary as AI raises the stakes of leadership… There was a clear and apparent widening divide around AI in general, and it’s not a technical one. It’s leadership. The gap is opening because of how leaders relate to uncertainty, not the tools. In March, we convene our AI CEO Tables.  These next CEO Table conversations won’t be about AI tools, we're all a bit over the tech hype. These conversation will be about power, judgment, stewardship and what changes when thinking and doing collapse into one. If you’re leading in this environment and feeling the fog, know we’re all in it - even those at the very top that seems to know all…. They really don’t. But together we can navigate through it, together we can share what’s working, not working and spark ideas as a collective leadership CEO community that will take us forward. Read Part 1. below - reflect on where you see yourself.  Drop us a comment or a note if you're open to share your reflections. And if you’re keen to sit at one of our Flux CEO Tables, where real conversations are happening, signal your interest here: https://lnkd.in/e5DxTsYH We’ll see you at the CEO Table. #FluxCEOTable #AdaptiveStrategy #ActionableLeadership #FluxSeriesTheAITable  Michael Friedberg Cam Sharplin Gisela Montello-Bruce 🦄 Lee Eglinton Ray Stanion Mark Di Somma

This month we welcomed phew Cyber Security to the Flux fold! 🎉 Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve had the privilege of working closely with the phew. team to unpack strategy and what drives their ambition. phew. are reshaping how organisations experience pen testing. Their work helps businesses understand where they stand, what’s at risk, and what to do next - without theatre, complexity, overwhelm or ego. In a market that often amplifies anxiety, phew. are building trust through clarity. We’re so proud to support Paul Bryant, Nicole Selby and the phew. team as they strengthen their strategic foundations and step into their next phase of growth. Welcome, phew.!! We’re excited for what’s ahead. Let's goooo 💪 Check out more about phew. and the work they do here 👉 https://lnkd.in/gCNQGfZ #FluxB2BGrowth #FluxAdaptiveStrategy Michael Friedberg Gisela Montello-Bruce 🦄

📣 Our Flux CEO Tables are back in March and the upcoming theme is 'The AI Table'. As requested by popular demand, this specific table will be increased to TWO HOURS, with each attendee receiving a tailored “what to do next” action distilled from AI Tables across NZ, priced at $295 per seat, with more dates available across Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. WHY? Because for NZ CEOs the question is no longer “should we use it?”. AI technology is evolving at the fastest rate we’ve ever seen… and likely the slowest we’ll ever see again. And as we launched 2026, it's become apparent we're no longer having a tech conversation. It’s become a leadership one. For NZ CEOs operating with smaller teams, constrained capital, and global competition, the margin for error is thin. You don’t get many second chances to burn trust, with customers, partners, or your people. By 2027, every CEO will have an AI story....this is where you'll shape yours. Over 2hrs there will be more in-depth discussion, real examples, and CEO-to-CEO problem-solving that goes beyond surface level. CEO's will be unpacking: → Where AI is creating real advantage in NZ businesses (and where it’s noise) → The hidden risks CEOs are thinking about but are rarely able to say out loud → What “AI-ready” actually looks like as we kick off into 2026/27. → How they are thinking about AI across sales, operations, decision-making, and workforce → The deeper leadership implications: trust, control, governance, ethics and responsibility 👉 If you’re a B2B CEO and this feels like a conversation you want to be part of, signal your interest here: https://lnkd.in/e5DxTsYH We're curating the March tables right now. If you missed our CEO tables last year, this theme builds on from: ┨ Sales Shift → that exposed where growth is breaking in a distracted market ┨ Strategy Table → that forced clarity on who's playing where and how to gain advantage when everything is shifting. This AI Table is where those threads will collide → execution leverage + advantage, without damaging trust. JOIN US! #TheCEOTable #FluxB2B #NZCEOs #AILeadership #TrustAndStrategy #B2BGrowth Michael Friedberg Cam Sharplin Gisela Montello-Bruce 🦄 Mark Di Somma Lee Eglinton Ray Stanion __________ The CEO Table is Flux-powered leadership series for B2B CEOs who want less theory, more truth and a smart room to think in - together. It's an invite-only quarterly breakfast series for CEOs building resilient businesses in a shifting world. 8 CEOs. Unscripted. Unfiltered. Unplugged. Register your interest here 👉 https://lnkd.in/e5DxTsYH