Lee Bryant, founder and director of Shiftbase, and a leading thinker at the intersection of organisational design, digital transformation, and value creation, joins us on this episode. 
Lee discusses on how capability mapping, automation, and systems thinking can free human potential, while translating large organisational purpose into tangible outcomes.
He explores how agentic AI and Platformization can enable humans in today’s organisational contexts, and shares his thoughts on why the most powerful innovations have always been combinatorial. 
For anyone curious about how technical, social, and strategic elements come together to create value in ways that are both human and technological, tune in.

Lee delves into the idea of “world-building” within organisations, showing how leaders can design not just processes, but larger value systems, setting constraints, and unleashing experiences that create lasting impact.
He also touches on the roles of leadership - in tying technology with purpose, cultivating distributed design, and creating environments where talent is empowered to innovate.
This episode offers practical guidance on building organisations that are resilient and competitive for the 21st century.


Key Highlights
👉 Organisations are evolving beyond rigid hierarchies as transaction costs fall and capabilities expand.
👉 Building a resilient organisation requires focusing on platforms that enable value creation, not just managing people.
👉 The “platform philosophy” allows organisations to extend beyond formal boundaries, inviting external talent and partners to participate.
👉 World-building in organisational design creates a compelling culture and environment that attracts talent, fosters engagement, and drives innovation.
👉 Automation, orchestration, and composability can empower employees to focus on high-value work rather than repetitive tasks.
👉 Leaders need to act as architects of the workplace and navigators of uncertainty, rather than bureaucratic monitors.
 👉 Mapping organisational capabilities and continuously developing them is essential for strategic advantage, especially in knowledge-based and customer-facing work.
 👉 Agentic AI and other emerging technologies can become subsidised enablers, helping organisations build “machines that create machines.”
 👉 Employees can act as distributed designers: automating repetitive work and contributing to the evolution of the organisational platform.


Topics /chapters
(00:00) Organising as World-Building: How AI & Platforms unlock Human Flourishing - Intro
(01:37) Introducing Lee Bryant
(03:10) Thinking about Organisational Design from the edge
(13:48) The Agent and Human Interaction
(20:17) Composing Capabilities Across Boundaries
(29:42) Balancing Humanity and Automation: Rethinking AI in organisations
(36:04) Rethinking the idea of an organisation as transaction costs reduce
(42:17) Building platforms that enable Value: Rethinking an organisation’s Core
(51:24) Breadcrumbs and Suggestions

Remember that you can always find transcripts and key highlights of the episode on our website: https://www.boundaryless.io/podcast/bryant-lee

Episode recorded on Oct 2, 2025

Find out more about the show and the research at Boundaryless at https://boundaryless.io/resources/podcast/

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Music
Music from Liosound / Walter Mobilio. Find his portfolio here: https://blss.io/Podcast-Music

#127 - Organising as World-Building: How AI & Platforms unlock Human Flourishing with Lee Bryant

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