WEBINAR

How do you design the operating model of the future when AI is part of your workforce?

Join industry and organizational design experts to explore the operating models of tomorrow.

Tuesday, 20 October 2026
14:00 - 15:00 GMT+1
Speakers: Oliver Plunkett, Mark Lancelott, Andy Cross (Host) 

Three leaders designing their operating model, holding planning documents, with dynamic light trails and abstract patterns in the background.

There is no single blueprint for the AI-enabled organization.

Should AI be treated as a tool to deploy, or as a new type of workforce? How does AI change what customers value and who can provide it?

Join Hult Ashridge Executive Education for a discussion that brings together different perspectives on some of the biggest questions facing organizations today.

Combining strategic thinking with real experience of what it takes to implement the underlying operating model, our panel will explore how leaders can make informed decisions about AI without chasing trends or waiting for perfect certainty. And how boards and executive teams can approach AI integration in ways that support both business performance today and organizational viability for the future. 

What you will take away

Fresh perspectives on how AI is democratizing value creation, and what businesses can do to sustainably differentiate themselves from the competition 


Considerations for where AI can improve, remove, or create work across the value chain, and where human judgment should remain central 


Insights to help reflect on whether your wider operating model can absorb AI without creating new bottlenecks or eroding critical capabilities 


Practical approaches to defining risk appetite in terms of purpose, autonomy, consequence, and reversibility 

Meet our expert speakers

Headshot of Oliver Plunkett

Oliver Plunkett

Chief Executive Officer at Buro Happold

An outstanding strategist, with a background as an innovative structural engineer, Oliver is Chief Executive Officer of Buro Happold.

In his role, Oliver is responsible for Buro Happold’s commitment and approach to client focused leadership. He ensures that the firm’s work centers around the needs, values and desired outcomes of all its clients. Oliver maintains Buro Happold’s global network of key relationship managers and subject matter experts who are empowered to contribute broadly to achieve excellence.

Oliver draws on his extensive experience as a Chief Operating Officer, Managing Director and Global Projects Partner, having previously led Buro Happold in the Middle East, India, Asia and Europe. With a background as an innovative and award-winning structural engineer, he is passionate about design and the use of technology in the built environment.

A passionate, personable collaborator and communicator, Oliver is an excellent judge of character and opportunity. His personality and skillset are used to great effect to inspire and lead the firm’s design teams and ultimately exceed clients’ aspirations.


Headshot of Mark Lancelott

Mark Lancelott

Associate Faculty at Hult Ashridge Executive Education | Co-author, Operating Model Canvas

Mark is an operating model and organization design advisor, working with executive teams and boards at inflection points to build organizations that perform today and stay viable tomorrow.

He starts from the outside in – the world the organization operates in, and how it creates and captures value – before designing how it operates: the processes, people, information, structures and management systems that deliver it.

His current research interests include how organization designs encode assumptions about pace – the speeds at which different kinds of work can move – and how AI is reshaping the operating model, with the tensions and opportunities that creates.

Founder of Better Business by Design, co-founder and teacher on the Designing Operating Models program, co-author of The Operating Model Canvas, Mark previously held senior roles at Korn Ferry and PA Consulting.

Headshot of Mark Lancelott

Headshot of Andy Cross

Andy Cross

Professor of Organizational Behavior at Hult International Business School

Andy is an experienced consultant and executive team coach with a track record of working with leaders to achieve the transformational change necessary to deliver business growth, with specialisms in strategy execution, organizational design, creativity and culture change. 
 
Andy has held a range of Executive HR, transformational and operational roles at Virgin Atlantic, BT, Colt and Unum Provident. He specializes in Organization Design and Operating Models, helping organizations across all sectors to align strategy, structures, working practices and the people agenda to achieve lasting change. Andy’s clients value his warm and creative approach whether this is in the classroom or on consulting projects. 

Register for the webinar

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Tuesday, 20 October 2026

14:00 - 15:00 GMT+1


Online Event

You will receive a Zoom link via email


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