The first thing Lynn Guilbaud remembers building was a cardboard ship.
She was just six or seven years old, sitting at the kitchen table at her childhood home near Clarecastle in Co Clare. She can still remember being frustrated while focusing on getting the unco-operative bow of the ship to fit perfectly.
“One of the girls from the neighbourhood called to the house and was a bit flummoxed why I didn’t want to go out on my bike,” she remembers, smiling. “As a child, I was always reading, drawing or working on some project. I wasn’t necessarily one of those kids who had a great vision of what I wanted to be when I grew up. But I loved the challenge of working on a big problem. I did know I wanted to build though, and I was always curious about where things might lead.”
She couldn’t have known it then, but Guilbaud would spend much of her career doing a more complex version of the same thing, examining the pieces in front of her, working out how they connect and building stronger businesses from the pieces.
RM Block
It was that same curiosity that led Guilbaud to study Commerce and Spanish at University College Dublin, followed by an MBS at Smurfit Business School. She then spent 16 years at Microsoft in global programme, product and leadership roles. Today as a partner in organisation and work transformation at Deloitte Ireland, she helps business leaders understand how technology and artificial intelligence (AI) can improve what they do, how their organisations may need to change and bring their people with them, and to realise that the opportunities worth taking are not always the ones you can plan for.
Guilbaud is also very comfortable with that level of uncertainty. “Every day, I see that AI is developing faster than many organisations can make decisions,” she says. “Boards want a plan; employees want to know what it will mean for their jobs. CEOs and CFOs are being asked to make expensive choices about technology that’s constantly evolving. There is no well-trodden path here, and you should be sceptical of anyone who tells you they have all the answers. No one has every answer. This technology is changing far too quickly for that kind of certainty.”
So, what’s the one thing businesses can do amid these choppy economic seas? “You have to look at your whole organisation,” Guilbaud says. “The technology is just one part. You have to ask – where will growth come from now? How should we operate now given this incredibly powerful technology? What experience do you need to create for your customers that will not leave you behind. How do you know whether something is delivering value? Unless you deal with those questions together, you end up with lots of expensive activity and very little real change.”
“We’ve been walking the walk ourselves, and in fact, one of the first things clients ask us is how we are transforming ourselves at Deloitte, where we are seeing value and what we have learned? It’s a fair question. There is a lot of talk about AI and transformation across professional services and the disruption we will experience.”
But first goes first, and if the world’s number one professional services firm is asking clients to make bold decisions, rethink established ways of working and tolerating uncertainty, Guilbaud believes Deloitte must be prepared to do the same.
“We can’t ask clients to take that journey while we stay safely on the sidelines,” she says. “We have to try these things ourselves, push beyond what is familiar and be honest about the results. That experience means the advice we give is grounded in what actually happens when an idea meets the reality of an organisation.”
‘Ireland has the talent, experience and international outlook to lead in applied AI. And Deloitte also has an important role to play in helping convene the people shaping that future’
— Lynn Guilbaud, partner in organisation and work transformation at Deloitte Ireland
“We operate under an AI-first, human-powered priority,” Guilbaud says. “It might sound glib, but to us, it means using AI where it can help us work faster, spot patterns, remove repetitive tasks and truly transform elements of our business, while also recognising that our teams – some of the most brilliant minds across our global network – bring the challenge, curiosity, judgment and cutting-edge thinking. The technology is powerful, but the real value comes from how people use it. So if we are to be credible, we have to use the technology and develop the scar-tissue that comes from using it.”
Guilbaud admits that approach requires a degree of audacity. “We’ve used AI in the creative process behind our most recent brand campaign, NeverStop, putting the technology to work rather than simply talking about its potential. Our Clarity Incentives Platform is also helping supporting businesses to claim R&D tax credits, freeing up more time for innovation. AI fluency is also critical. Our research found that 66 per cent of organisations report productivity and efficiency gains from AI, yet only 34 per cent are using it to reshape how they work. We’ve seen huge gains by introducing Solaria, an AI tool we’ve adopted widely across our organisation, freeing up our people to focus more on critical thinking, professional judgment, and the work that builds trust.”
Internally, Deloitte’s regular hackathons also allow people to take an idea from conversation to something they can demonstrate within hours.
“There is something very energising about saying, ‘Let’s try it and see what we learn’,” Guilbaud says. “You have to challenge familiar ways of working, measure the result honestly and change course if something is not delivering. We are then able to bring our clients much more value as a result.”
In her role, Guilbaud understands some of the darker conversations that has recently surrounded AI. “Models need proper oversight, organisations must remain accountable and somebody has to question an answer that sounds convincing but may still be wrong. We have to use this technology in a responsible way.” she says. “People need to understand the technology well enough to challenge it, see its limitations and take responsibility for what happens next.”
Ireland is also extremely well placed to influence what happens next. Its mix of international technology companies, regulators, researchers and skilled talent pool gives the country influence beyond its size. It can connect the pace of global innovation with Europe’s focus on trust and accountability.
That opportunity comes into focus at the International AI Summit taking place in Dublin this week which ensures some of the foremost voices in AI come together to talk about developments, trust and responsibility. Run by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Deloitte has also been helping to bring together leaders from business, technology and government to consider what responsible progress should look like.
“It is an extraordinary opportunity to have this level of expertise gathered in Dublin,” Guilbaud says. “Ireland has the talent, experience and international outlook to lead in applied AI. And Deloitte also has an important role to play in helping convene the people shaping that future.”
Leaders naturally may still worry about choosing the wrong technology or backing an idea that fails but Guilbaud says that must be weighed against the cost of waiting.
“The first risk in transforming your business is getting it wrong,” she says. “But the greater risk is doing nothing at all. You do have to start somewhere. The businesses making progress are the ones willing to begin.”
The scale of her cardboard creation might have changed, but Guilbaud’s instinct remains on steadying her client’s ships via businesses transformation, ready for a future that can’t be predicted with certainty.
“People ask me what careers will matter in the future,” she says. “There are so many opportunities now and people can change direction, pivot and reshape their careers in ways that were much harder in the past.
“My parents always encouraged me to stay curious, keep an open mind and do what I loved. That is the same advice I gave to my son recently who is in fifth year in school. I tell him to double down on what he loves. It has served me well. You can always build from there.”
To learn more visit deloitte.ie
