Rebel Technologist Brett StClair on AI, Disruption & The Future of Business Innovation

Brett StClair stands out among today’s leading technology speakers, renowned for his hands-on approach to digital transformation and disruptive innovation. 

With a career spanning roles at Google and Barclays, Brett brings unmatched insight into how businesses can leverage emerging technologies—not just to adapt, but to thrive.

In this exclusive interview with Champions Speakers Agency, he shares what it means to be a “rebel technologist,” how leaders can harness disruption through AI, and why the future belongs to those who are bold enough to reinvent faster than ever before.

Q: You’re widely known as a ‘rebel technologist.’ What does that term mean to you, and how has it shaped your approach to innovation and leadership?

Brett StClair: “Well, change is actually incredibly difficult. And so, both in business and in life, we’re constantly fighting this change, and everyone talks about it. 

“I’ve spent probably a career of fighting this technological revolution, and in this revolution I’ve learnt how to build this modern tech. I kind of learnt my way in the days of Google, you know, working as a product manager, and we were all trying to figure out how to unlock the world of digital. 

“And then when you leave Google, you tend to go to places like a bank. But it was amazing because in a bank there are so many problems, and at Barclays I got to actually spend at least three years working with 780 people — all resistant to change — and in that time we were able to literally turn the organisation around. 

“But it took a revolution again. So I kept seeing this ‘rebel’ term float more and more. If you want to make technology really work in an organisation, you need to think of it like a ‘rebelhood’, because pain is associated with the change. 

“And you need to do a lot of effort around the political world, power, you need to be focused around the investments that need to be made — it’s a lot of pain. And so we need to think of it like a revolution. 

“And so, to make technological change, I always look for other rebels. And so, I’ve been committing most of my life to really two things: 

“The first one is how do I find other rebel technologist people who are willing to tackle this revolution of adding technology to a business problem and solving it quickly. 

“The second, which is something that feels like it’s really taken grip of the world over the last year, but it’s been around for 57 years, is the world of AI. 

“My focus right now is to help every single business adopt AI. There is such a huge opportunity for society. 

“And so, when I look at myself, what do I see? I see that rebel technologist — scarred, battle-ridden — looking for others to join my revolution.” 

Q: You’ve often said, ‘disrupt or be disrupted’—particularly in the context of AI. How can business leaders actively harness disruption rather than fear it?

Brett StClair: “Well, especially in the era of AI, we’ve all heard of the term: it is not AI that will disrupt humans and society, but it will be the humans that use AI to disrupt others who are not. 

“And so that’s becoming a very plausible term that we’re seeing more and more. Where to start? How do we start this disruption? 

“Most businesses don’t want to change because of the pain that’s involved. So they’re looking for a return on investment — that in return needs to be a tenfold return, because the pain they’re going to face is vast. 

“This moment in time is bringing on a huge ability for us to use AI to get that tenfold improvement. And that tenfold improvement is really coming through productivity. 

“And so, this disruption that we’re seeing — this fear of being disrupted — is truly being empowered by one technology, and that technology is artificial intelligence.”

Q: As AI continues to evolve rapidly, how can organisations move from long-term speculation to short-term, strategic implementation to remain competitive?

Brett StClair: “In order to be able to futureproof your organisation, you need to know what’s going to happen in the future. 

“Previously, businesses spent five to ten years literally planning ahead: “What will the next five years look like? How will we put plans in for the next ten years?” 

“I’d love to go back and speak to those businesses that had a ten-year plan that was put in place five years ago. I bet that plan is extremely different. 

“The objectives might have been reached, but how they achieved those objectives are going to be vastly different. 

“And we’re only seeing an acceleration of that. In fact, what we’re seeing is: if you’ve got a plan to deploy AI in your business over the next three years — well, that’s just too slow.  You need to be thinking about what you can do in the next year. 

“Now, if you’re going to really look forward, the only real light that we’re starting to see that is going to be for certain are two things — and the combination of those two. 

“The first is: every human will end up having their own personalised AI. It will be as ubiquitous as a mobile phone in all our pockets. 

“Now, if every human is going to have their own AI, then every business will have its own AI. 

“And it might start with a proliferation of AI doing different things — different models, different tools within the organisation — but over time, it will amalgamate into one AI source, one large language model for that business. 

“And so, if we know that each individual will each have their own AI, how does that impact the world of marketing? 

“How do we market as businesses now to personalised AIs? 

“How do our personalised AIs know what’s good for us, and what products it could be purchasing for us? 

“It becomes an incredibly exciting time. 

“Picture all those to-do lists that you used to have to get your head around, plan for the day — and whoever executed those to-do lists were deemed successful. 

“Well, actually, AI will now do those to-do lists for you. And if AI is doing those to-do lists, and you’re the business on the other end of it — how are you responding? How are you automating those experiences? 

“It’s no longer about building fabulous experiences for humans, but building fabulous experiences for humans and their AI counterparts.”

This exclusive interview with Brett StClair was conducted by Mark Matthews.

The post Rebel Technologist Brett StClair on AI, Disruption & The Future of Business Innovation appeared first on European Business & Finance Magazine.