In this Q&A, we sit down with Noah Tucker, who was recently promoted to Director of Business Operations and Technology at KMA. He shares insights from his career journey, lessons learned along the way, and how he’s leading the charge on implementing generative AI within the organization. In addition, Noah shares a behind-the-scenes look at how emerging technologies are shaping the future of HR consulting, and what’s next for KMA.
First of all, congratulations on your promotion! Can you give us an overview of your key responsibilities as Director of Business Operations and Technology? What does a typical day or week look like in your role?
NT: Thank you! In this new role, I’m focused on three areas: strategic leadership and growth, operational optimization, and advancing our technology program. I get to collaborate with KMA leaders across marketing, business development, finance, consulting, and client experience, so every day I’m connecting pathways between people, processes, and technology.
No two days or weeks look the same, which makes this work exciting and dynamic. I’m never far from a pen for sketching ideas or an Excel sheet for exploring what’s happened in the past and what should come next. No matter what I’m doing, my goal is always to balance growth with stability and create an environment where processes and technology empower people to do their best work.
We have a remarkable team of smart people, all focused on doing the right thing for our clients, for the company, and for each other. Shaping the systems and processes to support that focus makes this work genuinely rewarding.
Over the course of your time at KMA, what are some of the most valuable lessons or insights you’ve gained – about leadership, innovation, or navigating change?
NT: Communication is the common thread through all of it: leadership, innovation, and navigating change. And not just one-way communication. Particularly for leadership, listening and absorbing information is just as important as sharing it.
For change, I’ve learned the importance of communicating early and often. Building coalitions and support for change is imperative, but resistance shouldn’t be dismissed. Empathy is crucial. Not everyone loves change, and that’s okay.
For innovation, curiosity and creativity are important, but so are creating channels for – and a culture supportive of – two-way feedback on organizational and operational pain points. Again, listening is just as important as broadcasting.
You’ve been tasked with implementing generative AI within the organization. Can you walk us through your approach: how you designed the process, what speed bumps you faced, and what your long-term vision is for GenAI’s role within KMA?
NT: It was a pleasure to get to lead this initiative from the start. Unlike most business technologies that have been around for a considerable amount of time (CRMs, email, intranets), generative AI is completely new for many people and organizations. Getting to introduce something so fresh and transformative was a rare experience.
My approach began with extensive research and a deliberate effort to identify and partner with experts who could guide us through the security implications of implementation.
As I’ve said, I believe in communicating and listening early and often, so early on we conducted a survey to understand how our people felt about GenAI, and if and how they were using it. Experts agree that shadow AI – AI usage a company isn’t aware of – is a significant threat. Creating a safe space for transparent sharing was essential.
Once we’d captured baseline sentiment, we moved on to governance. We established decision-making structures and roles early on. From there, we developed an internal usage policy focused on ethical use, data privacy, and risk mitigation. In drafting the policy, we tried not to restrict innovation of curiosity. We were aware that GenAI is here to stay, so we wanted to create a policy that would support growth and embrace the technology, just with very strict and secure safeguards in place.
Finally, in that first phase, we defined what success looked like for us in an AI program. We wanted to ensure our people were competent, we wanted to encourage curiosity, and we wanted to empower our users. We also set some boundaries: we weren’t going to implement AI for AI’s sake. We wanted AI-related decisions to be driven by strategic goals, not by novelty. The clarity and specificity of this scope helped keep a monumental effort grounded and focused.
All of that happened over the course of several months, and throughout the process we communicated developments to the entire team frequently and honestly. Once our policy was finalized, we designed a hub to share AI onboarding and training experience. We also sent a second usage survey, resetting our understanding of where everyone was with AI.
This first phase of GenAI at KMA culminated in a two-day in-person staff meeting devoted almost exclusively to GenAI: learning prompting strategies, discussing areas of potential use (and what’s off limits) and trying to foster excitement and curiosity about an undeniably game-changing technology.
Clearly, I have a lot to say about this! Long-term, we’re cautiously optimistic about GenAI. And throughout all of this, we’re committed to keeping the work we do human-driven. As I said before, we have incredible talent at KMA, and we intend to use GenAI to augment that talent, not replace it.
What are you most excited to tackle in this next phase of your career?
NT: I’m most excited about leading strategy without focusing solely on re-invention. I love looking at what’s working, just as much as I love looking at what isn’t working. KMA has built an extraordinary community of clients, partners, and employees, and I’m looking forward to harnessing data, technology, and process optimization to support that community and help it grow.