Latest news with #transformation
Forbes
3 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
Building An ‘AI-First' Culture: What Does That Even Mean?
AI-first means people-first Lately, there's been no shortage of talk of managing organizations around 'AI-first' approaches, meaning managers would consider whether AI could do a job, or set of tasks, before humans are brought in. But AI-first goes deeper than that, suggesting an organization's entire culture can be redesigned to incorporate the broad intelligence solutions that AI platforms and tools can offer. How would such an organization look, and is this something a decades-old company could pull off? Cisco Systems, which was founded more than 40 years ago, has been undertaking such a transformation over the past three years across all aspects of its business. This includes transforming 'the way that we build product, the way that our products get used by customers, the way that we actually get jobs done within the company,' said Jeetu Patel, president and chief product officer for Cisco. Even in what is one of the most technology-savvy companies in the world, such an effort will meet resistance, Patel recently explained on a recent episode of Michael Krigsman's CXOTalk. 'It's a cultural shift. It's actually fraught with a level of skepticism." Still, 'If you looked at us a year and a half, two years ago, no one would have really said that Cisco is AI first,' he said. An issue being encountered is 'people have actually been afraid of AI, saying, 'Hey, AI's going to take my job, so I'm not going to go out and use it,' Patel added. 'I actually find that it's less about AI taking your job, it's more about someone that uses AI better than you in their jobs is probably the one who's going to take your job.' Ultimately, 'the dexterity that you need to show in the way in which you do everything with AI is going to be pretty important,' he said. 'We've always felt like there's only going to be two kinds of companies in the world. Ones that are dexterous with the use of AI, and others who really struggle for relevance.' There are three key considerations in building an AI-first culture, Patel explained: Customers are also part of the transformation to an AI-first culture. 'One area that we struggle with is that the pace and rate of change is so fast that communicating that to our customers and having them digest that change is a challenge,' said Patel. 'I don't think we've cracked the code on that.' Customers have a view of Cisco from more than three years back, 'and frankly, it's an entirely different company than what it used to be three years ago,' he added. 'I feel like there's so much coming at people all the time that you have to make sure that you distill it down to a few things that make sense.' For example, AI is accelerating the company's responses to support tickets. It also is helping to reduce overhead costs. On the sales side, AI will help accelerate sales meetings, as well as legal and accounting processes involved with the sale. 'All of those things will have AI as a pretty critical component of it, and I do feel like the sales process is going to change quite materially over the course of the next few years. And you will never be in this position where you go completely blind and unprepared into a conversation because AI can get you prepared within a very, very compressed amount of time on what needs to happen.' What's important now for the new generation that's entering the workforce – as well as existing workers – is not to operate out of fear of AI, Patel advised. 'You have to operate from a place of looking at the possibilities and looking at the opportunities that actually can be unlocked. I would urge people to just have a very different kind of mental model, which is, there's nothing that should stop us from actually being curious about how we might be able to use AI, and this technology is going to get easier and easier and easier, where no longer is technical dexterity going to be an impediment.'
Telegraph
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
The £100,000 facelift that's knocked years off Kris Jenner at 69
Everybody loves a transformation story. Had Grease been written in 2025, however, Olivia Newton John would have had to do a lot more than shuck on a biker jacket and a pair of Spandex trousers to make an impact. In a world where billions are vying for attention by ever more desperate means, transformations are two a penny. These days, no diet, makeover or wardrobe glow-up in the world can compete with the impact of a really good facelift. We all know Ozempic can make us thin, and that a stylist can help us dress better. But turning back the years to look 10 years younger? That's still a mystery; a cloak-and-dagger affair whose dark magic occurs behind closed doors, by unknown hands, at unknown cost, with unknown pain and recovery time. Which is likely why so many women can talk of little else these days than Kris Jenner. From the cruise shows of Avignon and Rome to the restaurants of Mayfair to the beach bars of Ibiza, the chat is the same: how, exactly, did the 69-year-old matriarch of the Kardashian clan get her dewy, youthful, plump-yet-taut new visage? And where can we get one? While most women might buy some new clothes to wear to a hen weekend, Kris Jenner went out and bought a new face. When the hen weekend is thrown by Jeff Bezos' soon-to-be-bride Lauren Sanchez, and takes place in Paris, perhaps a Me+Em dress doesn't cut it. No matter that Sanchez, Katy Perry, Eva Longoria and Kim Kardashian were dressed up in their finest garb: they may as well have worn Shein. All eyes were fixated upon Jenner. 'She looks just like Kim!' the internet exclaimed. Which she did – despite being a quarter of a century older. On Tiktok, the hashtag #krisjennernewface has been trending ever since Jenner unveiled her new look, with 57.5 million posts and counting. How-to videos abound, with everyone from surgeons to influencers to your auntie Karen chipping in with their opinions. 'She looks like she's fresh out of the womb,' says the influencer GK Barry, in a post that's had 468.9K views. 'What kind of freaky sorcery is this?' says another user. 'Who is this surgeon, because they are an artist.' The 'artist' in question is Dr Steven Levine, the New York-based surgeon beloved by A-listers for his natural-looking facial enhancements. In a statement shared by Page Six, Levine's representatives confirmed him as the surgeon behind Jenner's most recent work, though they didn't give further details about the procedures. Which hasn't stopped people from speculating. While most celebrities are understandably tight-lipped about the work they've had done, Jenner has previously been open about going under the knife, with one of her procedures even being documented on an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians. It's believed that this is Jenner's fifth surgery: as for what she's had done, that depends on who you ask. 'To achieve this sort of transformation in someone who is in their late 60s would likely require a deep plane face and neck lift, blepharoplasty and fat grafting to address lower face jowling and laxity in the neck area,' claims Dr Jonny Betteridge, founder of JB Aesthetics in Mayfair, London. 'This is likely revision surgery, as she would have had surgery in previous years.' According to leading plastic surgeon Patrick Mallucci, Jenner's rejuvenated face has made an impact on account of being unusually well-balanced. 'Looking at her before and after pictures, it appears she's had a brow lift, possibly her upper eyelids operated on, and a very well-done facelift, possibly a deep plane, though it's very difficult to tell the technique by looking at a picture,' he surmises. 'When you look at the thirds of her face – the upper, middle and lower – she's got a very nice, balanced jawline. Unlike some of the facelifts of 20 years ago, where people looked very obviously overpulled and overtightened, this really brings out her good features.' Mallucci's clinic in South Kensington, London, has seen a 30 per cent increase in facelift enquiries over the last five years, as the stigma of 'going under the knife' wanes, and procedures improve in terms of results and recovery time. 'While non-surgical treatments can complement face lifting and stave off the knife until later, ultimately there comes a time when only a facelift can truly rejuvenate an ageing face requiring anatomical improvement,' he says. The 'Rolls Royce' of these is the deep plane. Where a traditional facelift tightens the skin, a deep plane lifts and repositions deeper layers of facial tissue, including sagging muscles and fat, allowing for more natural-looking results which are also longer-lasting. A traditional facelift typically lasts five to seven years: a deep plane can last for up to fifteen. Their subtle results have made 'guess the deep plane' the internet's favourite parlour game, with Nicole Kidman, Anne Hathaway and Lindsey Lohan all recently being cited as allegedly having had the procedure, though this is pure speculation. For her part, Lohan says her appearance is thanks to a healthy diet and laser treatments. Celebrities who have admitted to having deep plane facelifts include the socialite Caroline Stanbury (who had hers aged 49) and the designer Marc Jacobs (who had his at 58). 'There is no such thing as an ideal age for a deep plane facelift, but over the age of 40-45 would generally make a great candidate,' notes the consultant plastic surgeon Mark Solomos. 'You can actually do a deep plane endoscopic facelift at the age of 35 without any obvious scars in front of the ear.' Nor does any previous work tend to be a barrier. 'The only things that would matter would be treatments such as Sculptra. Hyaluronic fillers don't matter too much unless you've overdone it, likewise excessive radio frequency, which tends to burn the fat and creates problems in the subcutaneous tissue.' As for whether 'the Kris effect' means surgeons should now be braced for a wave of clients wanting to look not 10 but 30 years younger than their age, Dr Mallucci believes that managing expectations is key. 'It's very important that I understand what it is that my patients are looking for, but it's equally important that I communicate to them what's realistically achievable. Promising results which are not surgically achievable serves no purpose and only causes disappointment.' And also a depleted bank balance. While a deep plane facelift typically costs between £25,000 – £60,000, it's estimated that the bill for Kris Jenner's work cost in the region of £100,000. Small change for the world's most successful 'momager', but a prohibitively eye-watering amount for most. When your life is lived through a long lens, in the pressure cooker that is Hollywood, it takes more than 'lots of water' to look your best. For better or for worse, the six figure facelift era starts here.
Daily Mail
9 hours ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Mum looks unrecognisable after jaw-dropping NINE stone weight loss - and she DIDN'T take Ozempic
A mother has revealed how she lost nine stone in just 12 months without resorting to weight loss jabs or surgery—instead turning to an 'old school' meal replacement diet. Mother-of-two Amy Swan began her transformation in January 2024, swapping all meals for formula products such as soups, shakes and snack bars. The strict regime—just 800 calories a day—helped her drop six stone by June, and nine stone by the end of the year. Alongside the plan, she drank three litres of water a day, but did very little exercise. In a TikTok clip that has now been viewed 2.5 million times, Ms Swan, 33,—wrote: 'Here's how I went from being severely overweight, under-confident and chronically people-pleasing to nine stone, getting my spark back and setting loving boundaries—in just one year. 'I started a total meal replacement diet—that's four products a day. 'I did this for six months. I fell off the wagon three times but got straight back to it— remember that part please. I lost six stone by my birthday at the end of June!' The strict weight loss method is designed to provide essential nutrients and a reduced calorie intake which results in rapid eight loss. Ms Swan does not name the plan she used, however there are a number of options including The 1:1 Diet by Cambridge Weight Plan, LighterLife and KeeDiet, among others. Many were developed in the 80s or 90s and, since the launch of weight loss jabs like Ozempic, have increasingly been seen as old fashioned approaches. Despite this, many who don't wish to resort to medication or can't take it look to such plans to help them shape up. Typically, the diets limit slimmers to 800 calories a day for a number of months—less than half of the 2,000 recommended for women—before normal meals are reintroduced gradually. Once Ms Swan started to allow herself to eat conventional food, she tracked her calories through an app. 'I kept my meals high protein, generally low carbs but didn't shy away from them—sweet potato wraps are so good for this stage,' she advised. This is also when she introduced exercise, walking 10,000 steps a day—and later training to run five kilometres. Experts have long advised dieters to opt for foods that are high in protein, as studies show these meals keep you fuller for longer, reducing the chances of snacking. Meanwhile, walking 10,000 steps a day has been touted as the ideal goal to keep fit and healthy. Ms Swan outlined that on a summer holiday in August she gained 10lbs, but quickly managed to shed it again, within ten days of returning home and to her routine. She spent the rest of the year steadily working up a healthy balanced diet that doesn't involve axing sweet treats all together: 'I have to have something sweet daily so I'm never going to cut that out, what's the point!?' She concluded: 'I've steadily maintained my nine stone weight loss for three months now, I'm working towards running a 10k and I have a new found obsession for cinnamon swirls 'Yes, I made a serious sacrifice for the best part of a year, but I've actually enjoyed the majority of it and finally got to a place of loving food, nutrition & exercise again…and you can too!' Meanwhile thousands have turned to weight loss jabs like Ozempic and Wegovy as quick fixes to weight loss. A parade of slimmed-down A-list stars on red carpets have fueling concerns that the jabs are driving a return to the size zero trend—Oprah and Sharon Osbourne are just a couple of the celebities who have admitted to using the drug. Ozempic and Wegovy contain the active ingredient semaglutide, which mimics glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)— a naturally occurring hormone released in the small intestine when eating. The chemical signals to the brain when you are full and slows digestion. This keeps people feeling fuller for longer and dramatically reduces appetite. It also slows the liver's production of sugar, forcing the body to burn stored fat for energy. But a study in the journal Epic Research found that 44 per cent of people who lost at least five pounds using semaglutide and then stopped the drug regained at least 25 per cent of their lost weight within a year. Dr Emma Cunningham, an aesthetics expert who treats patients suffering cosmetic complications of Ozempic, told the Irish Independent it's those who become completely reliant on the drug, and fail to make lifestyle changes, who end up putting the weight back on.
New York Times
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
A Memoir of Divorce and Xenophobia, Narrated by a Clam
CLAM DOWN: A Metamorphosis, by Anelise Chen The narrator of Anelise Chen's off-kilter new memoir isn't Anelise Chen. At least, not exactly. Instead, the events of the book — Chen's divorce, a soul-searching trip to New Mexico, a reckoning with her family history — are told in the third person, a deliberate artistic choice that grants Chen 'a top-down view,' she writes, 'like seeing yourself from the perspective of a map.' Oh, and the protagonist of her story happens to be a clam. Yes, we are talking about the humble shelled sea creature, tight-lipped and tasty in chowders. On the page, it's not as strange as it sounds. 'The clam and her husband were sitting on a bench overlooking the East River,' reads a typical sentence. Chen adopts her clam persona after she notices that her mother keeps texting her to 'clam down' rather than 'calm down,' an opportune typo she seizes on and runs with for roughly 350 pages. Like clams, she too 'swallowed whatever was bothering her and worried it under her tongue until it gleamed.' As her marriage falls apart, Chen transforms — emotionally, at least, even if she isn't literally confined to the ocean floor. 'Clam Down,' then, is an exploration of the clam state of mind, and the benefits and great costs of shutting oneself off from others. It's a personal story, but its ambitions radiate out to familial and eventually even societal questions. What does it mean to be part of a certain family, or Asian American, or a clam? For Chen, these identities are all linked. Her father, Henry, also exhibits unmistakable clam-like tendencies: 'withdrawing, closing, retreating, hiding.' During her childhood, he spent a decade living alone in Taiwan, apart from his wife and daughters, attempting to create an ultrasecure accounting software named — incredibly — Shell Computing. 'Certainly, if she's a clam, it's because he's a clam,' she realizes on a visit home. 'They were all shut tight against one another. It was the classic Chen family coping mechanism.' To tell her story, she must tell her dad's; and she does this masterfully, with a novelist's ability to enter another person's head (Chen's previous book, 'So Many Olympic Exertions,' is a novel that deftly blends fiction and nonfiction). 'Clam Down' includes entire sections written from Henry's point of view, convincingly plunging the reader into the mind of a put-upon husband and father. 'For almost her whole life,' Henry grumbles about his daughter, 'whenever she need something big, she always wait until last minute in order to force me to give it for her. Almost like, you know, hostage situation.' Chen's rendering of a certain kind of Taiwanese American dad is almost painfully accurate: the blend of petty criticism and implicit affection, aggravated and funny at the same time. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
News24
a day ago
- General
- News24
Academic excellence through mentorship
Strategic Mentoring Programmes Drive Academic Excellence and Transformation Grow your own timber. This philosophy, rooted in the commitment to invest in 'home-grown' academic talent, has seen the University of the Free State (UFS) continue to make remarkable strides in transforming its academic landscape through innovative mentoring initiatives. Building on five years of success, the university's comprehensive Transformation of the Professoriate Mentoring Programme has significantly enhanced research output, leadership capabilities, and institutional cohesion. MENTORSHIP AS A CATALYST FOR TRANSFORMATION At the UFS, the strategic implementation of structured mentoring has proven to be a powerful tool in building a pipeline of accomplished scholars who are ready to excel at the highest academic levels. This approach recognises that true transformation requires more than just appointments – it demands sustained development and support. A PORTFOLIO OF SPECIALISED PROGRAMMES Since launching its Transformation of the Professoriate Mentoring Programme five years ago, the UFS has expanded its initiatives to address the specific needs of academics at different career stages. The current suite of programmes now supports 165 staff members across four tailored interventions: THE FUTURE PROFESSORIATE PROGRAMME Targeting academics five to eight years post-PhD, this flagship programme focuses on developing scholars who are poised to become professors and associate professors. The two-year fellowship emphasises building international profiles, increasing research impact through quality publications, and achieving recognition as established researchers through NRF ratings. In total, 41% of the 2025 cohort are black South Africans, 41% are white South Africans, and 18% are foreign-born African scholars. Supplied THE EMERGING SCHOLAR ACCELERATOR PROGRAMME (ESAP) This programme supports academics one to four years post-PhD, helping them increase research productivity, prepare for NRF Y-ratings, develop postgraduate supervision capabilities, and advance to senior lecturer positions. ESAP provides crucial early-career guidance that establishes foundations for long-term academic success. In the 2025 cohort, 54% are black South Africans, 32% white South Africans, and 14% foreign-born African scholars. THE WISE PROGRAMME (WOMEN INFLUENCING SCHOLARSHIP AND EDUCATION) Recognising the unique challenges that mid-career women academics face, WISE provides targeted support to female scholars. The programme emphasises strategic career planning and creating pathways for advancement. Among its 23 participants, 61% are black candidates, reflecting the university's commitment to intersectional representation. THE RESEARCHER EXCELLENCE ACCELERATOR PROGRAMME (REAP) REAP supports staff members who are completing their PhD qualifications or have recently graduated. With 54 participants (54% black and 69% women), the programme focuses on successful PhD completion, publishing research findings, and developing scholarship of engagement skills. ESTABLISHED PROGRAMMES – EXCELLENT RESULTS The Future Professoriate and ESAP programmes have had a significant impact on the career progression and research productivity of candidates. The results after five years of structured mentoring speak volumes about the programmes' effectiveness: EMERGING PROGRAMMES – PROMISING RESULTS The REAP and WISE programmes launched in 2024 are gaining momentum and continue to effectively support members in achieving their career goals. Beyond these quantifiable achievements, the mentorship initiatives have also fostered a culture of collaboration and excellence that permeates the institution. COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT APPROACH The UFS mentoring programmes implement a holistic approach to academic development: Intensive Writing Support: Regular writing retreats provide dedicated time and space for focused research output, with guidance from experienced mentors and editors. Expert Mentorship: Participants benefit from both internal mentoring and connections with external mentors from leading South African universities, many of whom are A- and B-rated researchers. Tailored Workshops: Programmes offer customised workshops on supervision, academic leadership, grant writing, time management, and presentation skills. Peer Learning Communities: Strategic retreats and group sessions foster collaborative networks across departments and faculties, breaking down institutional silos. Individual Guidance: Each participant receives personalised career planning and progress monitoring towards specific milestones. Supplied ADDRESSING CHALLENGES PROACTIVELY While celebrating its successes, the UFS recognises the challenges facing emerging academics, and the toll that high academic output can take on scholars' health and family life. By identifying systemic barriers and providing targeted support, an environment is created where talented academics choose to build their careers at the UFS rather than seeking opportunities elsewhere. This proactive approach has proven effective in retention and succeeded in cultivating a strong community of emerging scholars committed to the institution's future. BUILDING ON SUCCESS As the UFS mentoring initiatives enter their next phase, the focus is on sustainability and expanding impact. Alumni of the programmes now serve as mentors themselves, creating a virtuous cycle of development and support. The university's Vision 130 strategy emphasises continued transformation of the professoriate, with these mentoring programmes serving as cornerstone initiatives. Through strategic mentorship, the University of the Free State is not only transforming its professoriate but also redefining what academic success looks like in the South African context – ensuring that excellence and representation go hand in hand. Contact Us: Bloemfontein Campus: +27 51 401 9111 Qwaqwa Campus: +27 58 718 5000 South Campus: +27 51 401 9111 info@ More information: URL ________________________________________________________________ UFS social media Facebook:
