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Every year, Audience Audit publishes a study on what agency clients really wantand the 2025 edition revealed a stat that should stop any agency leader in their tracks: 77% of clients say theyre more likely to hire an agency thats a recognized AI expert (not just self-proclaimed). But only 32% believe their current agency fits that description. Heres whats more telling: When asked what they expect from their agency when it comes to AI, clients didnt say efficiency or cheaper deliverables. They want new ideas, sharper analysis, and real guidance on how to use AI themselves. In other words, theyre not just looking for agencies that use AI. They want partners who know how to think with it. At Quantious, being AI-fluent isnt a role, its a team standard. Every producer, strategist, and designer is expected to not just keep up, but lead. And we dont just talk about it in pitches, we practice it every day. Want to build real AI fluency across your team? Here are five ways weve made it part of our everyday work. 1. Invest in professional development like its our job (because it is) Professional development isnt a once-a-year checkbox here, its a cultural value. We budget for AI courses, certification programs, and conferences because we believe time spent learning is time well spent. Weve encouraged team members to tackle everything from AI marketing bootcamps to building apps with vibe-coding tools like Replit, Lovable, Replay.io, or Base44 (Seriously, one project lead with no coding background just built his own app!). We believe in fostering a culture of experimentation, and to some, our approach looks a little risky. When we invest in our team members professional development, we know its not always going to instantly translate to value for our clients. But guess what? Innovation stems from learning and exploring, and thats exactly how our teams end up ahead of the trends, every time. 2. Host team-led AI workshops Our favorite AI tipsters are each other. When a team member cracks a new use caselike building out a personalized GPT, or using AI to develop complex Excel formulasthey host internal workshops to share what theyve learned. Weve had workshops on everything from AI product image generation to deepfake identification. We document our processes, record quick tutorials of what weve learned, and aim to keep knowledge moving fast. 3. Encourage experimentation on live work We dont treat AI like a lab project. We build with it every day. Designers test layout variations with image generation tools. Marketing producers use AI to pull research for brand sentiment audits or to map out user journeys. Copywriters turn notes into outlines, organizing their thoughts before drafting. Weve learned how to craft meaningful prompts, how to develop our own agents, and how to build out some seriously complex spreadsheet formulas using AI. We automate time-consuming processes, using Bluedot, Slack, and Limitless to transcribe company meeting notes in real time. We use these tools with our brains, not instead of them. In every aspect of our work, we remember that AI is a collaborator, not a replacement for hard work and creativity. Say it with me: You cannot just check out and have AI do it all for you. (Just ask Randy Marsh of South Park; it doesnt end well!) 4. Treat AI safety and usage guidelines as a living document AI is moving fast, and so are the conversations around safety, security, and ethical use. Thats exactly why we treat our AI guidelines as a work in progress, instead of a static rulebook. Leadership actively invites input from across our team to flag new risks, suggest safeguards, and share best practices. AI responsibility is a shared approach we take, and we want to ensure everyone has a role to play in mitigating data privacy and bias. This has led us to embrace a smarter, safer, and more thoughtful AI practice that evolves along with the tech. 5. Help clients navigate the AI maze AI tools are evolving dailyand most of our clients are trying to make sense of whats worth their time, whats secure, and what actually works. The real value lies in making AI feel less overwhelming, and more actionable. Thats why its vital to not just use AI to drive internal efficiencies, but to help clients make it work for them in their own workflows. Whether its creating custom GPTs, mapping out automated content workflows, or guiding teams through prompt strategy, we treat AI as a collaborative layer in the client relationship. And were transparent about it. When AI plays a role in our work, we explain how, why, and what it means for the outcomes. That clarity builds trust and helps future-proof our clients teams. Our job isnt just to use AIits to help our clients understand it, apply it responsibly, and stay ahead of the curve. Thats where the real value is. The future of creative work isnt going to be driven by opening up a browser tab and launching ChatGPT. Its going to be driven by humans who can automate a tedious quality assurance process, use AI to spot brand inconsistencies across campaigns, or extract insights from raw customer feedback, safely. Because knowing when not to use AI is just as important as knowing how. Lisa Larson-Kelley is founder and CEO of Quantious.
Category:
E-Commerce
What if, instead of working toward an exit strategy, we built companies for longevity? Thats the question at the heart of employee ownership. Its not just a perk to lure talent. Its a fundamentally different way of building a business, and one that might just be the key to long-term resilience. Ive spent nearly my entire career inside a 100% employee-owned architecture, engineering, planning, and interiors design firm. Today as CEO, I lead its 1,800 employee-owners. Ive seen firsthand how this model changes everything, from how team members treat clients to how the organization is able to weather change. But this isn’t a story about just one company. It’s about a mindset shift that could help more companies build lasting value instead of just quick wins. RETHINK OWNERSHIP: BEYOND THE CAP TABLE When most people think of ownership, they picture equity grants or stock options. But real employee ownership is more than a line item. Its a structure that changes incentives, yes, but also culture, leadership, and accountability. Being 100% employee-owned has shaped how we make decisions, collaborate, and deliver work. When you know your colleagues have skin in the game, you trust them differently. You lead differently. You take responsibility in a way that doesnt hinge on hierarchyit stems from care rooted in real ownership. And when your clients know theyre dealing with employee-owners, not just employees, that builds trust in return. Clients can feel the difference. Its not always easy to define, but its palpablein the commitment, the deep sense of shared responsibility, the pride people take in the outcome. WHY IT’S SUSTAINABLEAND SCALABLE One of the most compelling reasons to explore employee ownership is its long-term viability. When a company is built around shared responsibility instead of individual power, it becomes more resilient to leadership changes. I once spoke to a CEO who said he wasnt sure his company would survive without him and his fellow majority owners. I cant imagine building something without knowing that it would endure for future generations. The companys legacy shouldnt rest on any single person. Our founding partners built the company on the idea that if you invest in the company, the company should invest in you. That spirit helped guide our transition to full employee ownership decades ago. Shared ownership encourages leaders to think beyond the present moment. In my experience, it also invites more people into that conversation. When ownership is broad-based, strategic planning becomes a collective effort, not just a top-down mandate. Teams are more likely to align on long-term goals, and more willing to adapt when circumstances change, because theyve helped shape the direction. Ownership changes the timeline youre working on. You stop optimizing for the quarter and start asking bigger questions: What will serve our team, our clients, and our communities for the next 5, 10, 15, or even 50 years? INNOVATION THROUGH INCLUSION One possibly unexpected benefit of employee ownership is what it unlocks creatively. When people feel a genuine sense of agency, they collaborate differently. Our firm uses a matrix leadership model that gives different types of experts the chance to lead depending on the problem at hand. That level of collaboration always brings its own challenges, but more importantly, it creates room for new ideas and cross-disciplinary solutions to emerge. Ownership doesnt just empower decision making; it encourages experimentation. We support things like personal development grants that allow employee-owners to pursue research projects outside their day-to-day work. One grant led to a neuroinclusive design exhibit featured at a major international architectural showcase. These kinds of initiatives dont just enrich culturethey advance innovation. WHAT LEADERS SHOULD ASK THEMSELVES Employee ownership isnt right for every company. But its a model worth serious consideration, especially for leaders thinking about employee engagement, long-term value creation, or succession. If you’re a founder or executive, ask yourself: What will happen to your company when you step away? Will the culture, vision, and value you’ve built live on? Or does everything rest on the shoulders of a few people at the top? Ownership changes that equation. It puts real sustainability at the core of how a business operates. Ive seen what happens when people arent just asked to think like owners, but actually are owners. It creates a different kind of business: one thats more resilient and more invested in the long term. In a world full of companies built for the exit, we need more that are built to last. Steven McKay is the chief executive officer of DLR Group.
Category:
E-Commerce
In business, theres one skill no leader would dare neglect: the financials. Financial literacy, like understanding a balance sheet, cash flow, or P&L, is one of the foundations for decision making. As climate change rewrites supply chains, consumer demand, and regulation, another fluency is becoming just as essential. Climate literacy will protect business growth and resilience, while leaders who ignore it are being left behind. But mastering it means more than knowing that emissions are a problem. Its about being able to read, question, and apply environmental data the way a CFO interprets financials. Leaders must be able to ask, and know the answer to, questions like: Where are our biggest emissions risks? Which investments deliver real impact reductions versus a marketing spin alone? How do we balance short-term targets with long-term resilience? Are we measuring the ROI of ongoing sustainability initiatives? OUT OF THE SILO AND INTO THE BOARDROOM Sustainability data is not just for sustainability teams. Instead of climate data living in a silo, it must become embedded in decision making across the business, reflecting how financial data is key to core business decisions and has many applications beyond the finance team. Were already seeing the shift in action. Retail teams are not only generating science-based impact data with Vaayu, but actively using it across functions. Their product design teams are testing and adjusting materials, logistics teams are optimizing deliveries, and marketing teams are building carbon data into how they communicate. One example is the intimate apparel brand Triumph, which carried out nearly 1,500 product-level analyses. The footprints revealed clear hotspots across categories, from suncare (which averaged just 2.18 kg COe per item), to make-up, where end-of-life impacts were highest. They pointed to the urgent need for stronger circular solutions and better disposal practices. Taking a different approach to applying impact data, Vestiaire Collective assessed its avoided emissions through its resale platform, enabling them to show customers that second-hand luxury can actually outperform fast fashion on cost. The unique cost-per-wear metric found that buying pre-loved luxury items was around one-third more affordable over time than purchasing new fast fashion, challenging the assumption that luxury must always come at a higher price. Far from being only about sustainability, these insights ultimately help leaders drive decisions that lead to reduced costs and risks while also enhancing brand credibility, trust, and even ROI among key audiences. Companies that fail to act arent just missing an opportunity; they are falling behind competitors who are already speaking the language of sustainability and turning climate action into business advantage. CROSS-INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS The cross-industry lesson is simple. Every sector, from finance to healthcare, will need to treat carbon literacy like financial literacy. Just as leaders once learned to parse revenue streams and liabilities, they must now understand emission scopes, avoided versus created impact, and the trade-offs between compliance and innovation. The companies that invest early in building this fluency will be the ones prepared for investor scrutiny, regulatory shifts, and, perhaps most importantly, customer trust. TURN COMPLIANCE RISKS INTO REWARDS Implications extend into mandates, too. Regulatory momentum remains. Even with delays, climate disclosure frameworks like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive are still on the horizon. Leaders need to act now to build internal processes and data systems ahead of when rules kick in, making carbon illiteracy a genuine liability in addition to being a blind spot. And regardless of policy shifts, market expectations persist. Investors, customers, and talent continue to demand a credible climate response. The workforce itself is becoming a change driver. Younger generations increasingly choose employers that align with their values, and companies that fail to embed carbon literacy risk losing talent to more forward-looking competitors. In this sense, climate fluency is growing into a defining marker of resilience, credibility, and long-term growth. Carbon literacy is fast becoming a source of risk mitigation and competitive edge. Companies that understand their products true impact can redesign them with lower footprints, communicate that data with transparency, and stand apart in crowded markets. This not only appeals to climate-conscious customers but also builds loyalty and trust at a time when greenwashing is under greater scrutiny. Now, climate data is not a specialists job but a leadership skill. No CEO would admit to not understanding a balance sheet, but soon, no leader will get away with not understanding their companys climate impact, either. Namrata Sandhu is founder and CEO of Vaayu.
Category:
E-Commerce
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