The Culture Impact: Three Key Trends Reshaping The Future Of Work

A conversation with future of work expert Ollie Henderson reveals the transformative trends that forward-thinking leaders need to embrace.

As we hit the second half of 2025, work continues to evolve at breakneck speed. During a recent conversation with future of work expert Ollie Henderson—a chap has interviewed hundreds of business leaders on his podcast Future Work Life—three interconnected trends emerged that are massively morphing how we work and the cultures we build around that work.

These aren't just technological shifts happening in isolation. They're human-centred transformations that require leaders to think differently about skills, generations, and the very nature of work itself.

The Rise of AI Agents: Our New Digital Colleagues

We're entering what Ollie calls the "agentic AI era". It’s a world where AI agents act as digital co-workers rather than simple tools. Think of them as sophisticated software that connects different tools, makes autonomous decisions, and reports back to you.

"It's like a digital co-worker," Ollie explains, though he's quick to clarify this isn't about AI replacing humans entirely. Instead, it's about the powerful combination of human creativity and AI efficiency.

He tells me how Salesforce now handles 25,000 of their 35,000 daily help desk requests through AI agents—a massive jump from just 6,000 six months ago. However, what's fascinating is that when the agent can't provide a satisfactory solution, it escalates to a human being. It's not a replacement—it's an enhancement.

The Culture Impact: This shift frees up your people for more creative, strategic work while handling the repetitive tasks that, let's be honest, nobody really enjoys. But it also means leaders need to think carefully about reskilling and redeploying talent across their organisations.

The Skills Revolution: Technical Meets Human

The skills landscape is splitting into two crucial categories, and both matter more than ever.

Technical Skills are gold. If you're hiring graduates today, there's an expectation that they're comfortable with generative AI tools like ChatGPT. It's no longer a nice-to-have—it's essential.

However, here's where it gets interesting: as AI handles more technical tasks, what Ollie calls "power skills" - the evolved version of soft skills - becomes your competitive advantage. We're talking about critical thinking, communication, empathy, collaboration, and, above all, adaptability.

"If you're not adaptable, you're really going to struggle in this new world," Ollie notes as he puts down his coffee. "You need to be adaptable as a leader, and you need to be adaptable as a member of a team."

The Culture Impact: Organisations need to invest heavily in developing growth mindsets. Microsoft's approach of shifting from a "know-it-all" to a "learn-it-all" culture perfectly captures this evolution. Your culture needs to celebrate continuous learning and make it safe to admit when we don't know something.

The Multi-Generational Workforce: Five Generations, One Vision

Right now, we have four generations working together: Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and, coming in fast, Generation Alpha joining the workforce. Five generations with different expectations, boundaries, and skills all trying to work together.

But here's the plot twist—we're also working longer. Life expectancy is increasing, but social systems aren't designed to support extended retirement. As a result, many people are discovering that purposeful work gives their lives meaning in ways that retirement simply can't match.

This means people won't have one career anymore. They'll likely have five or six different roles, constantly learning new skills and pivoting into other types of work.

Leaving me thinking, where will I end up next?

The Culture Impact: Leaders need to create environments that harness the diversity of thought that comes from multiple generations while building learning cultures that support continuous skill development. It's about creating space for different perspectives rather than trying to make everyone think the same way.

The Power of Reflection

Amidst all this change, Ollie shared something personal that resonated with me, and likely will with many of you who have undergone a massive shift in mindset post-Covid. It’s come with so many people navigating career transitions, and a secret weapon through that has been the power of reflection.

"The biggest insight I've had in my career over the past five years is the importance of reflection," he says. After spending ten years grinding without pause, he discovered that stopping to reflect wasn't a luxury—it was essential for identifying what truly energised him and what direction he wanted to go.

Over the last year, Ollie and I have buddied up and taken walks around parks in London while we work through our reflections together. It’s been invaluable, enlightening and very supportive. If you’re stuck for time and not sure where you’d begin with reflecting, start small.

Take a walk away from the desk and reflect on your week every Friday. What gave you energy? What didn't? Use those signals to make decisions about the following week. See how you go from there.

Leading Through Transformation

What ties all these trends together is the need for authentic, clear communication from leaders. Every exceptional business I meet has an exceptional communicator at the top. It’s always someone who can articulate why they do what they do, who it's for, and how everyone contributes to success.

This isn't about being the most charismatic or most popular person in the room. It's about being clear, consistent, and authentic. When employees believe what you say and see it reflected in their daily experience, that's when culture starts poppin’.

As we navigate these transformative times, remember that technology doesn't remove the need for human leadership. If anything, it highlights the fundamentally human aspects of leadership—vision, empathy, communication, and culture-building—more than ever.

The future of work isn't just about adopting new technologies or managing different generations. It's about creating cultures where humans and AI collaborate, where continuous learning is celebrated, and where every generation feels valued for their unique contributions.

The companies that boom will be those that embrace these changes not as disruptions to manage, but as opportunities to build even stronger, more purposeful cultures.

Want to dive deeper into future of work trends? Check out Ollie Henderson's newsletter "Ollie on Work" where he explores these topics with business leaders from around the world.