Senior business leader Joan Withers. Photo / Dean Purcell
Top company chairperson Joan Withers questions if New Zealand is doing enough to equip the next generations with the tools to cope in a highly disruptive business environment.
"I really worry about the increasing disconnect between people who have got opportunities in terms of their lives and their careers and
those who are finding it difficult," Withers said in an interview with Fran O'Sullivan for the Herald's Mood of the Boardroom video series.
"And the thing that we're all facing, even those of us who are gainfully employed and view ourselves to be reasonably well qualified, is that this age of disruption is unprecedented," she said.
"We are entering an era where the key decision tool is going to be an algorithm and artificial intelligence means that a lot of what humans do is no longer going to be done by humans."
Withers, who chairs Mercury and The Warehouse, is one of New Zealand's most accomplished businesswomen and was awarded Chairperson of the Year in the Deloitte Top 200 awards in 2015.
