Artificial Intelligence is regarded as the most powerful transformation to affect business and society since the invention of electricity - and is now in reach of the Board and Executive team.

So how should our business leaders consider the ethical challenges that A.I. presents?

From big data and analytics, to image recognition, voice recognition, emotion recognition and robots, AI is set to be part of our daily lives in new and unexpected ways.

In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, Shara Evans (Technologist, Futurist, Keynote Speaker and Self-Proclaimed Sci-Fi Geek) discusses her background, how she transitioned from technologist to futurist, and what sparked her interest in the Smart Community space.

What happens when you transplant the DNA of Silicon Valley into financial services firms?

It’s quite a big leap for a traditional HR division.

Are you responding to your customers’ needs as quickly as they’re adopting the technology that’s making your organisation obsolete?

The world of crypto currency is exciting, fast moving, and still a bit risky in terms of valuation, hacking of digital wallets and exchanges or losing your password (and access to your crypto account). In spite of these risks, early products such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and many other digital currencies are currently being used or trialled around the world.

Teaching organisations to look beyond today, and prepare for the emerging technologies of tomorrow.

There is a war for top talent and not everyone is going to be a winner. According to the 2017 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends report there are "widespread talent and skill shortages" making attracting the best talent a "top concern of business leaders." In this time of talent grab you need to ask:

What makes our organization stand out above the others?

You never hear job ads looking for people who can effect real change. Sure, there’s the ads seeking “ambitious go-getters”, or the old chestnut: “think outside the box”.

But that’s not really what they’re looking for.

The housing market has hit the wall.

After years of unrelenting strength, house prices are dropping. Not by much, at this stage, but the heat in the Sydney market in particular, has suddenly turned cold.

The fascinating and scary thing is that the price falls are increasingly widespread.

It's a bumpy ride ahead, says noted Australian economist Saul Eslake, but perhaps not as bad as it could be.

Property on the blockchain? Smart contracts and bitcoin-like management of decentralised property ownership is coming. And that's just the start.

Although consumer demand has driven the widespread adoption of online real estate listings, the mechanisms and processes of real estate have gone largely unchanged for decades - or longer.

That's all starting to change.

Disruptive technology isn't the only threat to the real estate industry. Technology's effect on people is where the most transformative disruption is taking place. Whether it's buyers, sellers or those providing services at every step of the real estate journey, technology is making people more connected, informed, empowered, demanding, impatient, even narcissistic.

Digitisation is reshaping the future of real estate.

Today's mobile interfaces have enabled buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants to make smart decisions in real-time... but that's just the beginning...

In this Future Trendspots video, futurist Anders Sörman-Nilsson gives us a glimpse into the future of real estate.

Flooded with options, where does one start when looking to purchase a property? The number one route is through word of mouth. Clever branding and a stellar experience can create endless strings of valuable leads. A few ingredients which I think would be essential, are:

Meaning is very quickly becoming the most powerful driver of engagement, fulfilment and performance in the workplace.

The movement towards meaning has been bubbling away for some time, but it’s still pretty misunderstood. A few years ago a major report from the Career Advisory Board made a couple of eye-opening findings. When asked, managers felt the most important factor for millennials was securing a high-paying job. But when that question was asked to millennials themselves - money was secondary. For millennials, meaningful work was the single most important factor in defining a successful career.

If you ask a banker what the biggest threat to their industry might be, the answer would likely be "blockchain"... the ominous-sounding technology that powers cryptocurrency and is proving something of a headache for banks trying to innovate their way out of the red tape of the past. 

But that's only half the story...

The business world is obsessed with millennials. Who they are, what they want, and how they perceive the world. Dr John Izzo believes that virtually no-one understands what really matters to millennials.

It's time for lenders to face their fears. It's a battlefield out there for lenders, where leadership and courage must go hand in hand for previously unassailable institutions to survive.

Matina Jewell outlines what's required of true leadership to face the challenges of the 21st century - and they're not that different from what's required of combat leadership.