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Dear friendsAIPRAIRIEAICEO Your browser does not support the element. and colleagues,A belated happy new year to you all! This is my 11th new-year message to you, but the first to come so late in January. As you know, I have been recovering from a freak accident sustained during an equine leadership course that I attended in Wyoming. I’d like to thank all of you who sent good wishes, and reassure those of you who did not that I bear no grudges towards you.I have had a lot of time to think about what 2025 will bring over the past few weeks. As I say every year, the business environment is more challenging than ever. The only thing we know about the future is that it is coming. (And that it never arrives, but let’s forget about that for now.) In 2024 I coined the term “” to describe the uncertainty we all face. Although it has not caught on at all, I will be talking about it on a panel at Davos next week. I would like it to be your constant watchword.As I wrote in 2024 the biggest permavucalutionary trend by far is . I am more and more convinced that artificial intelligence is the most important technology in history since mankind discovered how to harness the power of fire. It makes me wonder what the people who invented fire compared that breakthrough to, assuming they could speak at all. (Maybe oxygen?) Anyway, it really is a privilege to be alive at such a pivotal period in the story of our species.By using machine learning to make our budgeting processes a bit more efficient we are already playing our part in history. Our task this year is to keep up the pace of experimentation. Please keep sending your ideas for how to incorporate this remarkable technology into our work to Denise and the team. Their motto—tinker, tailor, amplify, nothing beats the power of —is one for all of us to follow.This era of permanent upheaval is why I have been thinking a lot about our culture as we begin the new year. Put simply, the world may change but we must not. Our core values remain openness, humility and digital. I know some people think that digital is not a value. But I believe that digital changes everything, including grammar. That is why I’m pleased to announce that we are changing the order of our values to literally put digital first. Digital. Openness. Humility.I have also been reflecting on my own leadership style. The equine course had an unfortunate ending but it was an immensely meaningful experience in so many ways. Horses do not care about titles. They do not care that I am the chief executive of a major corporation. They do not know about my work as a thought leader and philanthropist. It’s not clear to me that they have any real appreciation of the business environment at all.But in the time I spent with these magnificent creatures, I learned two things. One is not to get too close. The other is that they respond instinctively to someone with a whip. There are lessons here for any aspiring leader. I am sending all of the senior leadership team on the same course this summer, and as long as they make it back safely, I am sure we will all benefit from the results.The equine course also convinced me that we will make real strides as a team only if we are physically together. I know many of you are upset by the requirement to be back in the office five days a week, but we simply cannot build a thriving culture if many of us are working remotely. There is a saying that you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. But I have a follow-up question. How can a horse drink if it is not near water ?Some of you have asked me whether we remain committed to causes that we have championed in the past. I want to reassure you that we do. The task of fighting climate change and saving our planet is not some kind of corporate fad. Diversity also matters more to me than ever. Those who know me will tell you that groupthink is my second-least-favourite thing, after anchovies. But as so many of my fellow Davos attendees have observed, we went too far in pushing an agenda that was nakedly political. We will no longer be funding the Centre for Responsible Business, and will use this money to set up a new foundation that promotes two long-standing passions of mine: free speech and space exploration.It is time for me to pack the merino gilet and head to the mountains. I feel humbled to have led this company for so long after succeeding my father as chief executive all those years ago. Thank you for your support and effort.Here’s to 2025! Stew Pidd,
