In this episode of The Shift Code Podcast, host Pierre Le Manh is joined by Pearson’s CEO, Omar Abbosh, to explore what happens when AI changes how people learn, work, and lead faster than institutions can adapt. Omar explains why traditional education must evolve toward lifelong learning, why assessment becomes more important when answers are instantly available, and how Pearson is building its strategy around assessment, next-generation education powered by AI, early careers, and enterprise skilling. He also shares why companies need to rethink skills as roles change and what leaders must get right when driving transformation. At the center of it all is a distinctly human challenge: AI can improve analysis, productivity, and decision support, but motivating people, exercising judgment, and building trust remain critical leadership responsibilities.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why traditional education must evolve toward lifelong learning and alternative skills pathways
• How AI can support teachers and learners without removing the effort required for real learning
• Why assessment becomes even more important when learners can access AI-generated answers instantly
• How Pearson’s “one plus three” strategy builds growth around existing competitive strengths
• Why CEOs should use AI as a thought partner while keeping people-related decisions firmly human
• How enterprises can manage AI costs through multiple providers and fit-for-purpose models

Omar Abbosh is the Chief Executive Officer of Pearson, the global lifelong learning company, where he leads the organization’s strategy around assessment, next-generation education powered by AI, early careers, and enterprise skilling.

Before joining Pearson in January 2024, Omar served as President of Industry Solutions at Microsoft, helping customers create value through digital transformation. Prior to Microsoft, he spent more than three decades at Accenture, holding senior leadership roles including Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Executive of the company’s Communications, Media & Technology business, where he led a team of 100,000 people and a $9 billion business unit.

• Omar Abbosh on LinkedIn
• Pearson Website
• Pierre Le Manh on LinkedIn
• Project Management Institute Website
• Project Management Institute LinkedIn

In this episode of The Shift Code Podcast, host Pierre Le Manh is joined by Chad Latz, Chief Innovation Officer at Burson, to analyze the shifting mechanics of strategic communications. As generative search engines replace traditional lookup tools, brands face a zero-click reality where algorithms mediate public perception. Chad shares how Burson uses advanced cognitive models to calculate unexpected shareholder returns and predict public reactions in seconds, giving leaders an objective framework to protect their license to operate.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to measure reputation as a tangible financial asset using Reputation Capital
• Why Generative Engine Optimization is the new battlefield for brand visibility
• How Decipher uses cognitive AI to forecast audience reactions in real time
• The operational realities and hidden compute costs of scaling enterprise AI adoption
• How to build organizational trust by letting team members build customized agents

Chad Latz is Burson's Chief Innovation Officer, leading a team of AI-focused practitioners and partners across data, technology, and academia. In 2017, he articulated the agency's first AI strategy, and in 2023 he led the development and launch of Decipher, a cognitive AI platform that forecasts audience belief and engagement across reputation management, consumer marketing, and healthcare. He's been recognized on PRWeek's Power Book 50 and its "Dashboard 25: AI Edition," and PRovoke Media's 25 Most Innovative Professionals. A frequent industry speaker and commentator, Latz has presented at the Oxford University Generative AI Summit and been featured in PRWeek and Axios Communicators on AI and misinformation.

• Chad Latz on LinkedIn
• Burson Website
• The Reputation Economy Report
• The Credibility Paradox Report
• Pierre Le Manh on LinkedIn
• Project Management Institute Website
• Project Management Institute LinkedIn

In this episode of The Shift Code Podcast, host Pierre Le Manh is joined by Paul Coxhill, Chief Operating Officer and President of LIONS Intelligence, to dive into the operational and strategic realities behind the world’s largest marketing and advertising festival.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to structure portfolio governance across 20,000+ attendees and multiple global stakeholders
• Why brand marketing is gaining renewed importance in the context of AI-driven discovery
• How AB InBev built internal systems to deliver creative outcomes consistently
• Where the boundary currently sits between AI capability and human creative judgment
• How to measure creative ROI at the enterprise level

Paul is Chief Operating Officer of LIONS – the group of businesses including WARC, Effie, Contagious and Acuity Pricing and the home of Cannes Lions – and President of the LIONS Intelligence digital and learning businesses. As an ex-CMO and leading industry voice, Paul is a passionate advocate for the role of marketing as a driver of business growth and the power of creativity to accelerate marketing impact. He is an IAA Board Member and Fellow of the Marketing Society.

Episode Resources:

• Paul Coxhill on LinkedIn
• LIONS Intelligence Website
• Cannes Lions Website
• Pierre Le Manh on LinkedIn
• Project Management Institute Website
• Project Management Institute LinkedIn

In this episode of The Shift Code Podcast, host Pierre Le Manh is joined by Alexander Budzier, Fellow in Management Practice at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School, to share insights on what project success actually means and why traditional metrics fail to capture it.

What You’ll Learn:

• What truly separates successful projects from slow-motion failures
• Why the best leaders focus on building systems rather than giving firebrand speeches
• How projects can succeed spectacularly on one dimension while failing on another
• The “uniqueness trap” as the single biggest red flag for cost blowouts
• Why investing 20–30% of the total cost in planning dramatically improves outcomes
• How AI is already boosting individual productivity by 40%, but only 5% at the corporate level

Alexander Budzier is a Fellow in Management Practice at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School, where he researches and teaches how to set major projects up for success. His dataset of more than 22,000 capital investment projects across 126 countries is the empirical foundation for two books published by Wiley in 2025: How to Measure Anything in Project Management, co-authored with Douglas Hubbard and Andreas Leed, an Amazon number-one bestseller in software and IT project management; and Intelligent Change: The Science Behind Digital Transformations, which draws on Oxford research to establish what actually drives success in digital programs.

His research has appeared in the Harvard Business Review, where his article on uniqueness bias, co-authored with Bent Flyvbjerg, was selected for HBR's 10 Must Reads 2026, and in leading journals across management, energy, and transport. He is CEO of Oxford Global Projects, a specialist advisory firm, advising governments and major program teams across transport, infrastructure, IT, and energy. He completed his doctorate at Oxford in 2015, having previously worked at McKinsey's Business Technology Office in Düsseldorf and Chicago.

• Alexander Budzier on LinkedIn
• Oxford Global Projects Website
• Pierre Le Manh on LinkedIn
• Project Management Institute Website
• Project Management Institute LinkedIn

In this episode of The Shift Code Podcast, host Pierre Le Manh is joined by Julia Dhar of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to discuss why most change initiatives stall, how to architect decisions that accelerate adoption, and the human behavioral science principles that separate transformation success from failure.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to shift from false alignment to true agreement
• Why agency matters more than involvement in change initiatives
• How to architect choices that accelerate adoption
• The critical difference between threat, fitness, and destiny organizational change narratives
• Why process excellence is inseparable from human success

Julia Dhar is a Harvard-trained behavioral scientist and Managing Director at Boston Consulting Group, where she founded and leads BCG’s Behavioral Science Lab. She has spent more than a decade applying experimental behavioral science—drawing from psychology, economics, and neuroscience—to large-scale organizational change, advising CEOs and leadership teams across industries and countries. Julia’s TED talks on productive disagreement and constructive conversations have been viewed more than 8.5 million times. She is a Forbes columnist who has written for The Financial Times and Harvard Business Review and is a member of the Aspen Institute’s Advisory Board on Social Trust, and the National Advisory Board for Disagree Better. She holds a Master's in Public Policy (MPP) from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor's degree in Economic and Social Sciences from the University of Sydney. She has worked in more than 25 countries.

• Julia Dhar on LinkedIn
• Boston Consulting Group Website
• Pierre Le Manh on LinkedIn
• Project Management Institute Website
• Project Management Institute LinkedIn

In this episode of The Shift Code Podcast, host Pierre Le Manh is joined by Roger Martella of GE Vernova to dive into how a 2023 spinoff from GE transformed a legacy industrial conglomerate into a purpose-built energy technology company.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to balance short-term nimbleness with long-term strategic conviction
• The simplicity principle for transformation
• Why service mentality unlocks innovation at scale
• How to navigate policy misalignment without compromising purpose
• The role of purpose in driving enterprise-wide alignment

Roger Martella is Executive Vice President, Chief Corporate Officer, Chief Sustainability Officer, and Head of Government Affairs at GE Vernova, where he leads global efforts to address the energy trilemma: reliability, affordability, and sustainability. Previously, he served as General Counsel of the U.S. EPA, confirmed unanimously by the Senate, and as principal counsel for complex environmental litigation at the DOJ.

Episode Resources:

• Roger Martella on LinkedIn
• GE Vernova Website
• Pierre Le Manh on LinkedIn
• Project Management Institute Website
• Project Management Institute LinkedIn

In this episode of The Shift Code Podcast, host Pierre Le Manh is joined by Luisa Barraza, Chief Vice President of People Experience, Organizational Development, and Transformation at Pfizer, to discuss why the human element is the foundation of enterprise agility, how to apply human-centered design and agile principles across complex organizations, and the strategic shifts required to thrive in an AI-disrupted world.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why transformation fails when you lead with technology instead of people
• How to apply human-centered design to internal transformation projects
• Why AI projects fail at scale and how to reverse course
• How to future-proof your workforce amid AI disruption
• The critical rebalancing act for global corporations facing deglobalization
• Why you should shift from change management to change-making

Luisa Barraza is the Vice President of People Experience, Organizational Development, and Transformation at Pfizer and an “intrapreneur” who is passionate about transforming how organizations work. Luisa has over 20 years of experience in roles across global markets and functions, including Technology, Corporate Audit, Global Marketing, Innovation, and People Experience. Her favorite part of these experiences has been leading enterprise-wide transformation initiatives.

Episode Resources:

• Luisa Barraza on LinkedIn
• Pfizer Website
• Pierre Le Manh on LinkedIn
• Project Management Institute Website
• Project Management Institute LinkedIn