Turn AI investment into AI returns by raising your AI-Q

You bought the licences and expected a step change in productivity. Instead AI adoption is patchy, the gains are invisible, and your people are working the way they always did.

My keynotes, advisory work and workshops help you to boost the Mindsets, Abilities and Practices among your leaders and your teams, so you can turn AI access into AI capability.

Athena Peppes works with senior leaders who want to boost their AI-Quotient, helping them close the gap between AI investment and AI returns.

She serves as Director at Beacon Thought Leadership, a thought-leadership advisory firm, and as adviser at BossUp.AI, a company building AI readiness metrics.

Her book “AI-Q: The New Leadership Imperative for the Human+AI Era” is out on 12 January 2027.

Athena has more than 15 years advising senior executives across industries and spent over a decade at Accenture, working with Fortune 500 companies and public institutions.

She is also a sought-after speaker at international conferences and leadership forums, with appearances at SXSW, the Global Marketing Summit, KIMRA, Rialto’s Board Briefing series and her audiences include senior leaders from BT, Bupa, Centrica, EY, Nationwide, Primark, Virgin, and UK government departments.

About Athena Contact Athena

Advisory

For executive teams who have committed real budget to AI and cannot yet show what it bought them. Athena finds where the readiness gap sits, what it is costing, and how to close it.

AI-Q Audits * Strategic Advisory * Capability workshops

Speaking

For conference organisers and leadership teams who want a session that changes how the audience thinks and acts. Athena’s talks are grounded in original research and the realities of your industry.

Keynotes * Media * Podcasts

Discover how you can boost your own AI-Q

AI-Q: The new leadership imperative for the Human + AI era

High AI-Q leaders were three times as likely to report a quantified business outcome from AI in the last twelve months.

AI-Q is a leader’s capability to create value in a world where human and machine intelligence work together.

It has three dimensions that reinforce each other: Mindsets, Abilities and Practices (MAP).

This book shows leaders how to measure their current AI-Q and how to boost it, giving a clear path towards AI readiness.

“Over the past year, I have seen first-hand that successful AI adoption is not primarily a technology challenge. It is a leadership challenge. Organisations that achieve lasting value from AI focus on people, culture, governance, learning, and readiness alongside the technology itself.

If you are interested in AI, leadership, organisational readiness, or how to turn AI investments into meaningful outcomes, this book is well worth adding to your reading list.”

Thomas Baumgartner, Chief Finance Officer, voestalpine Metsec plc

Find out more

“AI does not only change what leaders do, but also what leadership itself means. AI-Q gives you a real way to build new leadership capability in yourself, and just as importantly, in the people you lead.”

Nikki Humphrey, Chief People Officer, Virgin Group

“AI-Q is a book that urges leaders to slow down, think critically, and take responsibility in a space too often driven by hype. It made me think, and is this not the main purpose of a good book?”

Oxana Kozliouk, Chief Risk Officer, United Bank of Africa (UK) Ltd.

“Smart, commercially grounded and genuinely engaging. Highly recommend booking her for events, leadership teams or company sessions if you want someone who can make people properly think.”

Paul Armstrong, CEO, TBD Group and TBD Conference

“Athena was invited to speak at our AI event for financial services leaders. She was outstanding at sharing relevant stories and shifting perspectives on the role we play as humans in the advancement and adoption of AI.”

Andy Ayim MBE, "AI, Humans and the Future of Financial Services" host

“Athena is a forward thinker, who is able to translate complex ideas into accessible and relevant insights for business. She brings a top class research and strategic foresight skillset, and is always a delight to work with.”

Jess Majekodunmi, Managing Director, Accenture

“Athena offers a timely and honest take on why a more robust kind of leadership is needed to unlock value from the very technology that is challenging the core of human intelligence.”

Dr. Vedrana Savic, A/Professor at Deakin Business School, and Managing Director, Taurus Strategic Advisory